Our New Family Member

Charlie

After telling everyone that I was never, never, ever, ever, going to get another dog, well we now have one, a Springer Spaniel, 7 weeks old, he arrives next week.
This has introduced me to a number of tasks, which are to puppy proof the section, build a dog run etc.
You can expect to see a few more puppy pictures...

It was a very  busy Thursday with the decision the get Charlie, that's the pups new name, and someone coming in to see my paintings and even buying one, which was great.

The painting was one of Kitchener St., Martinborough, which was one of my favourites so now its painting, painting as the walls have become a little bare with the 4th painting plus the commission selling in the last 6 weeks.

Painting Commission

 

At last I've finished my painting commission of a team of Clydesdale horses working at a local Gladstone farm, a bit of a challenge, it has been the first time I've painted a horse.

Quite pleased with the results, so I'm going to do a series, there's plenty of reference around Martinborough, with a local stables and horse paddocks just down the road.(painting size760 x 600)

The Americas Cup

They say it's not over till the fat lady sings, well, at this moment she's in the taxi on the way to the theatre...

Tower Health Insurance - Now nib

After being with our health insurance provider - Tower for about 30 years, yesterday I received a letter informing me that Tower Health had been purchased by some Australian company and as a result due to various increase in claims in NZ and the profile of my age group, blah, Increase benifits, blah, justification, justification, platitudes, blah, they, nib have had to increase our monthly premium by a modest 150%!!!! that means we will now be paying over $10,000 per year for a medical only policy.
There were a number of reactions that raced through my mind, one was to do with sex and travel.

The Stress Of It All

I couldn't watch this last race, thank goodness for the replay channel on TVNZ, yes, Team NZ won.
I could only watch, after I found out who won, what a race.

A Fantastic Day

The other day I had a call from a friend from my old home town of Palmerston North, to say she was in New Zealand on holiday and was going to drive down to Martinborough for a visit.
What a fantastic day, it was wonderful to catch-up after such a long time. It had been over 40 years, gulp...

Saying Goodbye

On Thursday I had to say goodbye to my beautiful friend and constant companion for the last 9 years, it was  a terrible decision that I had been putting off for the last few weeks but it had to be done.

Goodbye Oscar RIP.

Wellington Storm

We have had a huge storm early this week, had some gusts recorded of 200km/hr!, Wellington is a complete mess around the coast.
One of the large inter-island ferries broke her moorings and needed the help of 2 tugs to hold her while she was able to take over under her own power holding her own in the middle of the harbour.

I had to go and check my boat at the marina, all a bit dramatic, boats with broken moorings and blown out Genoa's, that had unfurled, that was only along my pier,
One of my stern lines was looking a bit stressed but I was able to get an extra line around the stern pile with the aid of a fender that I floated, Read, blown around the pile and then tied to the Port stern cleat.
All a bit tricky...
The picture of the Ketch (above) was next to me, when I was on the hard last week while my boat was being anti fouled and new anode fitted.
Luckily I was now back in the water in the relative safety of the marina.

The Possible End to the Golden Weather

Over the past couple of days we have had a reminder that winter is on it's way, with frost on the cars in the morning.
The grass has changed to a bright green and now we are back to mowing the lawns every week.
The wine growers have finished picking and from all accounts it has been the best season in Martinborough for 20 years, and now we are all looking forward to some tasty Pinot's...
I have had the gallery open most weekends with a reasonable flow of visitors but have only been able to use my new shiny eftpos machine once and that was for the princely sum of $20.00 for some greeting cards.
I don't think I am going to make my fortune this month!
Just finished organising for the boat to come out of the water for its annual bottom clean and anode replacement.
I hope that the anti-fouling is still in good condition and will last another 12 months.

Duramara

At last the boat has a visible name, Duamara.