The Mirror Crack'd...

Been a long time between posts. I drove to Portland on my birthday to spend the weekend with Southern Belle.  Here's the view from my bedroom window on my first day of being 58.

Breakfast on a misty morning with Southern Belle on the ocean-facing deck.

We decided on a picnic lunch at national park where no cycling was allowed - to find a race in progress.

So, of course, we had to look out.

The next day we visited a lavender farm.  Jill and Steve have their own lavender fields so really it was a case of industrial espionage.

All too soon it was Monday and I had the long drive home, happily bearing apples from the orchard and fresh laid eggs from the Isa Browns.  Mum had sent me some money to have a birthday meal on the way to Portland but there wasn't time, so I indulged in Hamilton on the way back.  I had a look at the Art Gallery and took a photo of a dragon pot for Georgia.

I love Regional Galleries - they are just the right size for me.  I don't get overwhelmed.

This visit was amazing.  Art Deco in the foyer (where I wasn't game to take a photo).  Then a ginger pot in their Asian Collection.  Jill and I had been talking about ginger, loss of sense of taste with aging, and having a pot of crystallized ginger on the mantle-piece.

And then a display including lots of Morocco, where Jill and Steve will be traveling soonish, including this Tom Roberts that I thought (my) Steve might like.

I had lunch at the Dariwell Farm cafe - heaps of smoked salmon and other goodies with a glass of wine.  Then detoured to Nigretta Falls.  I figured this may be my last chance to see them flowing for a while.

Here's the river at the bottom of the falls.  Next year it will probably be in drought and dry again.

I got home in time for tea, then had to work four days straight to make up for my Monday off.  Sadly I was then fluey over the weekend.  Then we had computer / internet problems.  Now we seem to be back on track.