RANDOM MEANDERINGS

With my lovely daughter staying with us for a few days, it was a good excuse to go for a drive up North for the day. Along the way we stopped at the cement works ruins , Warkworth. We also visited Warkworth Museum which was a delight and worth every cent. On the way home we stopped at historic Puhoi for the scrummiest Devonshire tea at Puhoi Cottage Tearooms , reputed to be the oldest running tearooms in NZ to serve Devonshire teas. Look at that photo for a setting! There's Jess and my partner Mike waiting for our eats :-) The tearooms had the most adorable kitty and the owner provided the very cruisy live guitar music as entertainment...what a delight this place is and the scones were HUGE! Tea room kitty :-) A lovely day in all, although i did hyperventilate having to drive past cemeteries i didn't have time to stop at and wander through! Photos of Waiwera beach, Warkworth disused cement works Photos of Warkworth Museum, Puhoi, Puhoi cottage tearooms, trip back to Auckland

Little sparrow Originally uploaded by SandyEm I took this photo several months back in the Jewish section of the Symonds Street Cemetery here in Auckland. I love this cemetery :-) He is resting at little Stanley SIMON's grave. Symonds Street cemetery history My Symonds Street cemetery set on flickr

I wanted to attempt making miniature sushi so i have. My friendly entomologist at work suggest i make a cockroach to put on them, so i did and have made a sushi board and cockroach just for him! Sushi board and cockroach 3 little cockroaches - talk about fiddly to do..i'll have to perfect them too but from a distance they look rather cool :-) One sushi cane does many sushi make! i must have got about 300 of them all up.

Distance shot with extra items to date added. Coin at base for scale Lollipop on shelf under bench; bag of lollies by vegetable basin; apple cut in half on shelf under bench; icky apple core at front of bench Softdrink cans on shelf under bench; garden terracotta pot holding knives, forks and spoons tipped over, spoon hanging over edge; Brush and mug tipped over; apples in sink with false teeth on top; cork from spaghetti jar by apples, with spaghetti over sink; mussels and shells beside fish; apple core front of bench; Lollipop under benchtop Icky half eaten apple, top and front of bench; apple shortcake front of bench; half peeled apple by leeks; spaghetti jar fallen over back of bench with spaghetti fallen out in to sink; loaf of bread partially sliced with crust off Life of grime - Part one Life of grime - Part two

The moments have come finally! I get to put all the bits and pieces i've bought and made on to my grotty bench scene and do the final tweeking. Here's the photos so far. It's so time consuming! Not finished yet. For scale, see this photo Biscuit plate detail Kitty bowl tipped over Leeks in place :-) Peas and carrots waiting placement Close up of peas and carrots There goes teatowel 1 Mucky jar of marmalade in place with donuts underneath Dirty dishcloth at back of basin. Made from a piece of chux dishcloth. Oreo packet on bench splashboard with biscuits in; l eeks in place; licquorice lollies in jar and plate of biscuits, cake and kiwifruit Fish and halved lemon; pot of peas and carrots, jar of licquorice lollies; mucky jar of marmalade; partially peeled Apple and potatoes and donuts behind the pot. Bowl of potatoes carrots and a cabbage and lolly packets beside the basin Under sink to left of basin. Cat biscuits, tipped bowl and contents and kitty litter. Toaster, patty p

Just a quick post of a couple more miniatures i made this week: Teatowels Side view tea towel 1 Both made from clay I have made these to look screwed up and slightly tattered. They are for my 'Life of Grime' diorama Teatowel 1 front view Teatowel 2 front view Teatowel 2 side view Leeks The first two photos are the leeks i made for my 'Life of Grime' diorama. I have made them so that the leafy greens hang over the end of the bench These leeks were my first practice ones. Pumpkin pies These turned out okay. However, i'm not too happy with the bottle tops....might hunt around for little pie dishes instead.