Can hardly believe its a winters day

More beach stones

For the last day in July we've been delivered up a perfect day - pity its a work day. When I went out for an appointment at 10am I didn't even take my jersey because its so warm and sunny. Hard to believe that August is generally the best skiing. The skifields are taking a bit of a hammering over the last few days with nor'west winds but I'm sure a southerly will come through to top them up before too long.

We had quite a productive weekend. With all the fine weather I was easily able to get all the washing done (it looms large on my horizon in winter weekends) and I. got more done on the front verandah. I even helped with the sanding down of some of the verandah posts!! Also did a token amount of gardening as well - its vital to fill the wheelie rubbish bin as otherwise you feel as though you're wasting an opportunity. The neighbours came back yesterday so it was our last chance to use their bin as well so more of the macrocarpa hedge was pruned. Its looking reasonably tame for the first time in ages.

Yesterday was fine but cold and wasn't really conducive to working outside. As I hate housework, we decided to go to the Little River Cafe for lunch. Before going I made the neighbours a welcome home lemon tea cake, which was a bit rushed and a little light on the lemon as I only had 1.5 lemons, instead of the required 2. We also lit their log fire as we thought they might be feeling the cold having been in Europe for a month with all the hot weather (we were right!).

Little River was full of cyclists as the Little River Rail Trail opened in the last couple of months so there were lots of people wandering around in their little dinky shorts and flash jackets (very cold wind). The cafe was doing a roaring trade so already Little River is reaping the benefit. Eventually the Rail Trail will go all the way from Hornby (Christchurch) via Lincoln and on out to Little River. When we were driving back to Chch all the cafes on the way had cars with cycles on racks at them.

What surprised us was how many people were walking the Trail. It goes around the edge of Lake Ellesmere and Lake Forsythe and I guess there are lots of photo opportunities but its a long way on foot!

One of the best things about the Little River Cafe is that there's an art gallery attached so not only do you get to eat great food, you get to have an art fix as well. They have a lot of local (Banks Peninsula and Christchurch) artists, which is great. I always come away wishing I could actually afford to buy art! But I also feel a bit more inspired to give my own art a go.