20 Days to go...

...'till the shortest day.

Luculia Flowers in the garden - we need smell-o-cam!

It's already winter and I still haven't finished my autumn cleanup chores.
But it's a day for counting blessings...

I've been sorting through all of my bead stash for stocktaking and have put all of my gorgeous bead jars into the shop part of the workroom to sell from.  I get lots of people sharing their beading ideas with me and seeking my input and advice - there are lots of really creative people out there!

Part of the sorting out process has been labeling, pricing and coordinating all of the bits and pieces.  I'm almost finished with the Swarovski Crystals - just the last few jars to clean and labels to go.

I need to order another box of the little plastic jars so I can display the findings, too and get some hooks so I can hang little bags of findings up - if you're into fine detail this is fun for a while...

All of this means that the (lovely clean, tidy) bench has had little use in the past few days and I'm itching to get on with the business of melting glass.
 The last play I had was with plain clear class and white - I'm loving the crispness of the two together.

I felt a bit overwhelmed with winter and rote chores last week, but this week I'm loving winter - we've got into that part where it's freezing at night but we have glorious days.  Pure Golden Bay weather!

I'm enjoying wearing my Doc Martens again - these red ones are still my favourites.

The winter garden flowers are blooming - there's always a gap between the end of the autumn and true winter.  The winter sweet is making a whole corner by our bedroom simply radiate perfume - the flowers aren't much to look at the perfume has to be smelled to be believed!  The pink luculia has sprung its first flowers and they are always beautiful - they're another one we need smell-cam for!

In true colourful and vibrant Golden Bay style, this Saturday morning has been a blast!  We've had our monthly (weekly in summer) market here and there have been people dressed in fantabulous hats promoting their new theatre production, there's been a peaceful protest in the main street (it started outside our door ) against the use of 1080.  There's been music and buskers and all the usual locals hanging out and smiling together in the winter sunshine.
I think I really do live in paradise!