I'm eternally grateful for being blessed with some very thoughtful friends. Thank you Stella for the gorgeous flowers. My favourite 'vase', an old Agee preserving jar. The real vases are still packed away. The pest control people are coming on Wednesday to bomb the house as we've discovered lots of unwelcome visitors living here since our arrival, so I'm still living with boxes. Thursday will be a hive of activity as I'll finally be able to open my treasures and put them in their rightful places, and get the Christmas decorations out.

Until then I'll have to make do with the view from the front room, the Pohutukawa in flower. Not a bad compromise as it is our native Christmas tree. It reminds me of past Christmases spent walking along the beach, the trees humming with bees. Happy days...