What made me happy this week - 4/52

All the glorious fresh Summer Fruit that is available!!

Fresh juicy Peaches, Nectarines, Plums,

and many more on offer this time of the year!!!

Now this is what I really call SUMMER!!!

OMG it has been soooooo HOT lately, today we even nudged our way up to 30* maybe even higher.  All I can say is thank goodness for desk fans, ceiling fans, and air con in cars and shops.  This has been the long hot summer everyone ordered, now peeps are complaining about it being too hot. Crikey, next thing we will be up to our armpits in Winter, so I for one are going to keep enjoying it.

The garden and all my pots are looking so colourful, and I have a daily routine with my watering can to maintain this look.

 So much glorious happy colour!!

I do not know the botanical name for this, I have always know it as a Climbing Lily.  Some bulbs were given to me by my Grandmother Lilian years ago and once a year she appears in my garden, forcing her way up through the Daphne.

Silly dogs lay panting in the heat!

I have consumed quite a bit of cooling and refreshing beer. 

Big knows that if he rests on the tea wagon he is under the ceiling fan!! 

Toebee goes from being cute and cuddly to KILLER CAT, well more like catch and play cat.  He has numerous places through the day to rest and keep cool.

I have lots of colourful Statice that I am hanging to dry.

I've been out in the country catching up with friends.

I bought this off Dawn, one of her latest creations.

You can burn a tea light or incense inside it.

Wearing cotton is a must, I added length and pom poms to my tropical dress as I prefer long when it comes to summer frocks.

We have had so much humidity that these guys have returned. 

TOF and I went to the movies to see Darkest Hour, my my what a good movie it was too.  We  were like real grown ups and went out for dinner after the movie. Next thing we will be going for Sunday Drives!!

So the bike on the left you will remember I bought off trade me.  Well the man listed the trike so I could not help myself. Such a little beauty too, but she will be more beautiful once she has had her tray planted.

I saw this awesome old Tandem bike on Trade Me, but alas it was way out of my budget and in the South Island.

The op shops are back open and full to the brim with opportunities!!  Between them and Trade Me I have been getting some good finds.

This trifecta of goodness was all from trade me.  The chairs were a bargain, in fact TOF and I reclined on them in the middle of the lawn late one hot night and watched the stars!!  Gorgeous cushions from a foreign country and Blueberry plants that are producing a handful of fruit a day, YUM!

When having a bit of a sort of things I rediscovered all the tins I covered in photos for Jak's 21st a couple of years ago.  This one has a favourite photo of us all so it holds all my Gel pens used for doodling even tho this only shows a few. 

Although I am back at work I am happily spending my afternoons in the garden which usually ends up being the evening when the flowers look so magical.  These photos were actually taken on my mobile phone.

This little assortment has made their way inside today to be enjoyed in the cool of the lounge where the ceiling fan has not stopped.

WORDS TO PONDER:

and

What made me happy this week - 3/52

This makes me happy every day

and has done

from the day he came into my life a year ago.

Yes people,

TOEBEE!

My adorable little iddy biddy kitten is now an adorable young cat!

What made me happy this week - 2/52

Look I am back like promised,

let's see how long this lasts!!

The cutest ever alphabet stamp set and lots of colourful gel pens

have brought me hours of happiness!!

This little city girl spent a day in the BIG SMOKE!!!

As I am still on holiday and likewise my youngest son we decided to do another road trip, this time our destination was Auckland, a one and a half hour drive on a good day from Hamilton.

I was grateful to have a driver as Auckland is our biggest city in NZ and bloody busy.  Not sure I am ready for Motorway driving!!  With the help of google maps on my phone we made our way to the city centre and parked in an underground car park right below our first destination.

Up out of the car park to the Aotea Square, what a vibrant place it was too, and the weather was stunning.

In the Aotea Centre The Art of Banksy exhibition was on and for the $37.50 per person I thought it was worth every bit of the entrance price. You were allowed to take photos as long as you didn't use your flash.  So here we go!!

It was bloody awesome, so if you cannot get to this you sort of just have, with me. You are most welcome!!

We decided to go for a bit of a wander like tourists in our own country once again. We passed a very cool community garden and an old Church, both I thought were very cool.  
 

Destination number two was The Sky Tower.  All 328 metres (1076 feet) of it just beckoning us to go up.

OMG!!!  The worst part was waiting in the que to  purchase tickets for the lift ($29 each).  I am so glad I went up, fricken amazing, even the lift with the glass bit in the floor, no I didn't look down, but I did look out the glass door as we literally whizzed up past the buildings at a super fast pace.

It took just over two years to build and cost $85million to construct!!  The views were spectacular.  I think I would like to go back again early evening and watch Auckland light up.

From there we headed back to the car and again with the help of google we made our way through the busy streets to The Auckland Domain to go to the Auckland War Memorial Museum on one of the many hills.  As NZ residents our entrance price was a donation.  I have not been here since a high school art trip - yeah that long ago!!  This Neo Classical building was opened in November 1929 and cost 250 pounds to build.

Three floors of amazing permanent displays and special exhibitions that you could easily spend an entire day mooching about taking is all in.  We didn't have an entire day but we saw most of it.  Such a gorgeous building inside.
 

Loads of interesting and thought provoking and emotional War History.

Natural and NZ History.

The most amazing Crown Lynn Display, 

gorgeous old furniture and clothing.

A massive collection of Maori artifacts in a long space with a gorgeous ceiling.

Vintage toys and household things and of course dear old Rahja the Elephant.  In 1936 amid fears he was becoming more dangerous (untamed at the Auckland Zoo) he was executed by a zoo keeper.  It took over 7 months to have him stuffed and then he went on exhibit at the Museum.  I remember seeing him as a small child and being so fascinated.

From the Museum we went to check out The Winter Gardens also in The  Domain.  Construction on the two large glass houses started in1916 and they were opened in 1928.

The last time I visited these I was a young girl so it was nice to return as an adult and appreciate it all.

Then it was time to find the motorway and head south back to Hamilton.  We had a fabulous time in Auckland with me ticking off a few more Tourist destinations on my 'Playing Tourist in my own Country' list.