On Eagles' Wings

About this time of the year I'm wondering what Bible plan I'm going to use for the next year or two. I think I've mentioned that I like to read the Bible right through at a leisurely pace (that is, not in a month or six months or even a year). In the past, I used to read it from cover to cover every eighteen months, but the last cycle I decided to do over two years, repeating the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs in that period.

This worked really well (plus for my personality, finishing something at the end of the year rather than part-way through feels more right) and I'm looking at doing something similar for this upcoming new cycle. However, because I like to change things around at times, I've decided this next cycle I will read chronologically. I have two versions of chronological Bibles so there's no flicking from one book/chapter/verse to another book/chapter/verse while I'm reading (something I particularly hate because I'm 1. lazy, and 2. usu…

Take one bench seat that has been hiding away because it is no longer needed as seating and decide that it would make an ideal place to sit when one is putting shoes on or off, to fold and stack laundry, to dump the peg bucket ...


Find some old paint tins that are lying around and give the seat a coat of Resene Sea Nymph followed by Resene Pearl Lusta after having first used an old candle on the areas where one does not want the paint to 'take' ...


When dry, sand back to reveal some of the 'old' colours ...






Is it just me, or are those colours slightly reminiscent of Christmas? Pistachio Bark or White Christmas Slice, perhaps? (After posting these photos I decided the seat looked too clean and took to it with yellow, brown and grey crayons to age it. [Aren't we strange when we spend hours scrubbing and cleaning, only to value 'ingrained dirt' on something old?] I think it looks much better now but I doubt the photos will show much difference. Still I'l…

These lazy sun-filled days after Christmas serve several purposes:

1. To relax and enjoy family who are still in the area (Son#5 has only just left to go home), who in turn provide an excuse to eat more chocolate and play games (and win!) and not do any housework (not that we should need to given the amount that was done in the days leading up to Christmas);

2. To make the most of the summer weather which always seems to kick in after Christmas;

3. To get stuck into those long term projects that have been put off all year long.

It's #3 that's hardest. Not because we lack the time or skills or resources (or sometimes we do) to get stuck into them, but due to the decisions that must be made. What do we start first? Should we do it this way or that way? Would we be better to do it ourselves or get someone else to do it? What colour/design/etc would look best?

And so it goes.

DH and I have decided that the major project that we [he] need[s] to work on this year - more important th…

A little late, but a Happy Christmas from our family to yours ...

A few days ago I realised that in all the posts and photos I've shared about our family Christmas pudding making that I've never shown the final steps.

Well, I'm still not going to, because a photo of two puddings bubbling away for eight hours on the stove is not very exciting. Neither is this ...


... especially when the delicious aroma of spices and all things nice cannot be conveyed through a photo. This is the hanging-to-dry stage after eight hours of boiling. (Now you know why we aren't too concerned with little people making our puddings: they are boiled for so long that no germ could possibly survive!) Every time we opened our freezer cupboard, where the puddings were drying, we were greeted with the wonderful aroma of Christmas.

But, alas, it couldn't last and DH was concerned the puddings were drying out too fast (not a problem in their country of origin  - nor would be mould, I suspect, which is something we have to watch for in our Christmas climate) and …

Quote of the Day from The Most Adorable Granddaughter#3: "Eating is not making."

Really? Then someone forget to tell these Most Adorable Granddaughters ...























Yep, it was Christmas Pudding Making time again and we all survived to tell the tale. I'm convinced this gets messier and more and more fun every year.