Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Jaunt


Recently Mr Shoestring and I took a trip to Napier and enjoyed a stay in Ormlie Lodge, a Victorian mansion with picturesque grounds.  



 There was a dovecote with a flock of amorous doves






 a romantic gazebo which was illuminated at night time


and a picturesque fountain where the blackbirds splashed and fluttered to their hearts' content


The summer was at an end but the garden was still looking pretty and the doves in their dovecote were cooing and pitching woo.  (Mr Shoestring didn’t manage to make it indoors without getting bird poo on his trousers, but that was only a minor inconvenience.)  The whole experience was very special. 

We also spent a night in our favourite hotel, The Masonic, oozing art deco ambience and  being refurbished and gussied up in a very sympathetic way.  We have "done" the art deco walk in Napier already but it was good to do it once more and brush up on some of the sights we had forgotten. 
 The original light fittings in the municipal theatre are amazingly colourful and in original condition
The deco details are all round the town to be taken in at one's lesiure

Walking up in the hills behind Napier we saw these beautiful swallows sunning themselves; somehow they are even more appealing than the doves

And there were lots of interesting fungi growing in the botanic gardens and in the hills, including these russety coloured ones

The view from Te Mata peak is spectacular, the rugged landscape awe inspiring

Back to reality again it looks as though Mr Shoestring may soon be joining the ranks of the employed once more, a great relief for all of us and cause for much celebration and rejoicing at Shoestring Cottage.  I do wish he wouldn't insist on telling people that he is about to leave the ranks of "the great unwashed", but boys do tend to favour these less than colourful utterances from time to time.  I always remember that when I was expecting our third child Mr Shoestring took to singing, "I've never been so broke I couldn't leave town" in the shower each morning, which I found somewhat unsettling to say the least!