Bingo!............

Last night I played bingo at a real live bingo centre and to be able to play bingo there you need to become a member of the bingo centre. Hence the card. Now I can go and play bingo anytime I wish. All I need to do is flash my card and I'm in. I hear you asking 'Why is she playing bingo?'. Well a couple of other chicks and one bloke( the bloke is French he just didn't have anything better to do) were using it as a learning experience. One for listening to the number caller spitting all those numbers out in French really fast and realising that I don't know my numbers as well as I thought I did and two it is just one of those things you have to do at some point. Learning that you have to be a certain kind of person to play bingo.

We played a few games then it started to get serious and the big money was coming out but by that stage our brains were starting to throb so we went off and had cocktails instead. Much more pleasing to the brain. I wish I had my camera with me as I had this lovely drink called a 'Lotus flower' and it was the most amazing colour. It was full of raspberries which made it a deep deep shade of red and made it taste delicious as well.
Anybody else out there played bingo lately??? It doesn't count if it was with your kids.

New...........

I started another blog called 'Travelling in New Caledonia'. I hope to just talk about our adventures here and give anybody who is thinking of travelling here some idea of what to expect. The idea that got hubby and I thinking was that we wanted to do some kind of camping guide for travellers. We like to camp and there isn't a whole lot of info written about them anywhere so you just sort of head off and discover what is there when you get there. I think this blog will be a good excuse for getting out of town. Not that Noumea isn't a great place. I will be putting a lot of what we find out about this city too. Especially finding a decent coffee. I can see many a research opportunity there.
Don't think you will have to scoot over there to see all the scenic pictures. I will still put some up here as well.
Happy Wednesday to all.

Tagged............

I was tagged by Anna and can't think what to write. Maybe because I am so indecisive about stuff.

Here are the rules:
a.Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.
b.The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
c.At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people & posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged & asking them to read your blog. I don't know if I will be able to tag 8 others but I will do my best.

Here goes-

1. Can be a bit indecisive. I think I always like to hedge my bets.

2. When I left school I went and did an apprenticeship in footwear patternmaking and spent the next 13 years making shoes. Then spent the next 5 selling them to people like me.

3. I really really love shoes.

4. I want to get a pair of roller skates. Preferably 'Redstone'. That's what I wore when I was 13 years old.

5. I have always driven an automatic car and at the tender age of 391/2 learnt to drive a manual because I had to.

6. When I was growing up I always wanted to have children with curly hair but alas I married a man who has dead straight hair . Mine isn't much better so needless to say the kids have their fathers hair.

7. Up until I was about 24 I had a poster of Jim Morrison of 'The Doors' on my wall. I thought he was gorgeous.

8. I have always loved dolls but have had a renewed interest in them since having my kids.

Now here are my few to tag-
Jennie
Matroskin
Emma
Melissa
Taimarie

More exploring..............

We are back again from another weekend of exploring. This time we went across to the east coast of New Caledonia to a little mining town of 'Thio'. We are finding it hard to know what to expect when you are driving around this country as it is all so different and we are surprised everywhere we go. This little town is towered by mountains that are carved out to mine the nickel then there is a black sand beach (see below) down a forest track out of town at one end and a white sand beach at the other end.

Then if you drive south of the town you go along a cliff top road that has the most sensational views. The day was a bit cloudy so sorry the photo isn't so clear. I do need to learn to use my new fancy camera properly. These huge mountains are incredible they are covered in plants that you would find in Australia then sweep down to the waters edge and are covered in coconut and banana palms. So very diverse.

I have a friend who travels to this place every week to teach at the high school there. She has herself a little studio set up to stay while she is there and she has offered it to use so many times. Finally we took her up on the offer. It was no means the flashiest of accommodation but it was a great place for us to stay. I don't mind when the place you stay is like that it relieves any fears you have that you(or the kids) are going to damage it in any way. The kids had a hoot running around the garden and us sitting in the little outside area eating, drinking and talking. The photo is of Django, Juliette and their cousin Kate having breakfast in that said spot. Look at the greenery and there are mountains in the back of the photo. If you look hard enough.

I am going to come back later and do my ' 8 bits of info about me' tag. I think I have had enough time to think about them. Until then, au revoir.

Mailbox..........

A petite envelope was waiting for me in the mailbox when I arrived home from my little tropical Island getaway. I left a comment on this here blog and she sent me a nice postcard.
Thank you!

Also while I was away I got tagged by this here blogger. Now this post will have to wait a couple of days till I can figure out what to write and who I can tag in return. I don't know many people out there in the blogging world. If you wish to be tagged by me let me know real soon otherwise there is going to be a few bewildered people out there wondering who the hell I am. I am nice, really I am!
Hope you all wait in anticipation to read ' the 8 things you don't want to know about me' post.

Isle of dreams.......

We have been away on a little break (if anybody was missing me) with some relatives who are here for a bit. We trotted off to the 'Isle de Pines' for 4 glorious days. This isle is about 80km south/east of Noumea. The place is just your typical tropical paradise. White fine sand, blue, blue water and interesting fish just metres off shore. The weather was perfect for lazing on the beach reading, the kids popping in and out of the water when they felt like it and still warm enough to have sundowners* at sunset on the beach with the kids still dancing around the waters edge. Spring has definitely sprung here in New Caledonia but I don't think winter actually made its presence felt!
This Isle really is a beautiful place and this being the 2nd time we have been there really do love it and we will try to make it become one of the places we visit a lot in our time here.

I hope you enjoy the snaps.

*sundowner- a beverage you have while watching the sun slip beyond the horizon.

Craftzines............

I got a surprise in the mail yesterday. I had ordered a couple of craft related zines a little while back and one of them has turned up. It is from this lady over here and it is called 'Erraticus Zine'. It is a lot to do with collages and the like and there is some really great images of that in there. She features a few pages of her journal that she keeps. I think she puts together a page a day of cut-outs of interesting things she finds and a few words. They are really very nice. I feel inspired do something like that about my new life( my 10 months old new life) here just to have some record of it's existence.There is also a little about swaps she has been involved in with other women and some small blurbs about them and their work. It's not a zine full of how to do things but a little zine to flip through while having a cuppa and get inspired by. I will leave you with a few images.





Some journal pages.The one on the left is called the beach house. Sorry not great picture.










Some cut out sheets included below.I could use them in my first journal entry perhaps.










One of her swap buddies. Once again, sorry about the snaps doesn't quite capture all the detail.










Anyway I'll be on my way now.
Happy Wednesday to you all.

I wish..............

What is it with girls and ponies anyway?? All we have heard from Juliette since moving to Noumea is 'I wish I could go horse riding, I wish I could go horse riding'. Well she finally got her wish and has dragged her brother along in the process much to his disinterest. The kids are on school holidays and they have been put into a stage(holiday program) that is all about horses. Being together at things like this I think helps them cope with still not having a full grasp of the french language. If one doesn't understand what is going on maybe the other will and they won't feel completely like fish out of water. In saying that we did choose this stage as some of their friends were going and they are totally bi-lingual. Translators galore but they haven't been much help so far as they have all been split up into different groups and Django & Juliette have no contact with the others. The two of them came home wanting to go tomorrow so it obviously wasn't so bad.
Me on the other hand am floundering about with the french language. I have had two phone calls from a lady in at the customs office, I think. But I have no idea of what she wants. I do hope she calls again as I am prepared with some sentences the fire at her to get to the bottom of these calls. I am waiting for the mixtapezine to arrive. I hope it's about that.


Bits that I was able to tinker with without the kids around. Hopefully when finished they will resemble rabbits and an elephant.

International roaming.............

Today I got my first comment from somebody on the other side of the world. Helsinki, Finland in fact. I'm so very excited and pleased. See it doesn't take much as I think I have said before. She left me with a small but lovely comment. So without further ado I am going to leave you with the link to her blog and get back to whatever it is that I am supposed to be doing. I have a table full of material calling my name as well as the new Harry Potter book. Which way do I go!! I think it is about afternoon tea time here so I could have a 20 minute break, read some then go do something with the material. Sounds like a mighty fine plan to me.

A good weekend to all!

Rain..............

See it isn't always blue skies here in Noumea. Sometimes it even rains and is very grey. It has been like this for two days and is expected to be the same for a couple more. When it is like this and you are looking out at it from inside the house you think it will be cold out there and you will need your woolliest jumper but alas no. It might be raining but it is still warm. I have tried very hard to rug up in my favourite cardigans that I brought over with me but they are just too hot. So I have finally reach the conclusion that it is to be short, 3/4 or long sleeves in a very light fabric. I think that also means some new pieces of clothing in the spring wardrobe which should include some sewing on my part and that's what I should be doing on these days is sewing but all I have been doing is reading 'the life of pi' and what an interesting novel it is. I will get my butt into gear. The incentive is to go to the wardrobe and decide that I have nothing to wear to do it. Oh well while you all ponder if you have nothing to wear in your wardrobe I need to go off to my french lesson. I will try and learn to say,in french, "I don't have anything to wear so I need to go and buy new clothes." I will then say it to my husband and he will nod and say " oui,oui" not knowing what he has said yes too.

To finish this post I have to send a very big cheerio to my friend Lucy. It was a special celebration for her a couple of days ago but she knows I am always thinking of her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!

Buttons & brooches..........

Not much happening around here today. I thought I would just add a picture of some brooches and buttons. The coloured flower brooches are fun to make when you have scraps of leftover fabric. I got the tutorial from over here some time back. The skull was made to put onto a bag for the a grown up pirate girl. We are doing a painting/bag swap. I already have my piece of art and I will show it when she gets her bag. Which I have finally finished.
The buttons aren't overly exciting but I have difficulty finding interesting buttons or trims in this place so I decided that I needed to make my own and even they aren't great but they were for a particular purpose. I did like making them though and I think I will try it again. If you want to see some great things done with buttons have a look here.