Hi folks, you might have thought that I'd dropped off the edge of the earth, but the truth is that I've been feeling for a while that my blog has mostly run it's course. There's nothing worse than forcing a blog, so my blog posts have become sporadic, and now they might only appear once or twice each year, but it will be when there is something I feel is worthy to share. What I have been doing ..read more

Blooms from the pohutukawa - New Zealand's Christmas tree Wow, where did the past year go?? It's Christmas Eve here in New Zealand. The eggnog is prepared in the fridge, as is the trifle, parts of the salads prepared to go with the cold chicken and ham. Family are bringing the potato salad and cheesecake. Plus there are all the trimmings, like cherries and fudge, camembert and crackers ..read more

Hi All. I was going to take a little blogging holiday, but thought I'd just fire some random things on here to let you know that we made it back from the cruise ok. It's not all about the trip tho. There were good times, but as I suspected, it's not our preferred mode of travel, mostly because of the sheer number of people.  Dravuni Island, Fiji Dravuni Island in Fiji has only about 158 ..read more

Hi All. I feel guilty. Every time I travel now( which we are reducing). It's climate change - I know that the way we travel doesn't do the planet any good and it makes me feel like a hypocrite. But we live on an island in the Pacific, and family members live overseas. So we are off on a cruise soon. It's our family catch up. I've never been on a cruise before, not sure how I'm going to like ..read more

Design on an upcycled denim jacket by fabric artist Jenny Hill - Intercept instigator Some weeks back I was approached by Jenny with the idea of rescuing some of the fabric that is going to the landfill from one of our big op shops (thrift store).  The manager has told her that $60,000 dollars per year is spent on dumping fees by this store alone. They currently send a skip to the landfill ..read more

Hi All, this post is all about saving things from going to waste. I believe that we should treat everything as a resource, sending them to the landfill should be the very last thing, when there's no better option. These Boots Were Made ....Shorter These leather boots had languished in my wardrobe long enough. They were mid calf length - which is an unflattering place for a boot to end on me ..read more

Sorrel  Disregard the spelling mistake! The other weekend I went to a plant and seed swap (just wonderful to do). The generous garden owner shared a taste of his sorrel and I couldn't believe that I had never tried this before - tangy, lemony goodness in a leaf! He kindly dug out a piece for anyone who wanted some. I can't wait for it to grow big enough to divide and make more plants, and to ..read more

Most mornings I try to ride 8km on my spin cycle (exercycle). This requires good reading material as it's a pretty boring activity. I found this book  "Woman in the Wilderness" by Miriam Lancewood in the Hospice shop and swooped it up excitedly as I had seen her in a tv interview a couple of years back.  It's a fascinating tale of living for years in the wilderness of New Zealand, just ..read more

 Most of my readers will have probably perfected DIY yoghurt years ago, but this is for the ones like me who have had not-so-good results for years. For a long time I wouldn't even try making yoghurt, other than from using sachets in the Easiyo maker, because I didn't think there was any point if I had to buy milk in plastic bottles. Since we can now get milk in glass I've tried again, but could ..read more

I love to read about the plastic-free movement and how many people get switched on to it starting with a pledge to try Plastic Free July. I've been gradually working towards being as new-plastic-free in my purchases as possible, and I'm still not there. Let's face it - it's hard. One of my goals this year has been to find a sandwich bread recipe that is virtually no knead, like my other ..read more