The Hills Look So Big Today

Distance

Nile Street

Gianni Pizza

It was previously like this.... I kind like this one better.

Courthouse Face Lift

All those tapes around the Courthouse wasn't a Crime Scene thing, that much I knew. It turns out it is getting a whole new section in the front. But it appears they are going to take away the parking space further, so I don't know what's going to happen on the Mondays when they pick jury members!

Sports Cafe

Sports Cafe sign in clear blue winter sky.

Ice / Grit

A big cold front and frost is all over the town. The grit is there from Monday (I think), and still there today.

Dilemma

My fairy-goddaughter turns 2 in a little while. So I was thrilled to find that a jacket I've been looking at all season was on sale Friday and I was able to buy a heart-patterned tights with the difference.

My dilemma is this: I'm tempted to embellish the jacket, perhaps by embroidering or adding ribbons or beads on the back, but I don't know if her Mum will go for red, and so I've gotten an exchange ticket as well, in which case I shouldn't alter anything... Hummm.....

(A plain pair of tights were a perfect color match, but they weren't one-tenth as cute as these!)

Clean Slate

I've been in the process of cleaning my stash room and trying to convert it into a workable design room. With great difficulty I finally moved everything out, but now we're not sure what to do.

The shelving Ben built were meant to be for yarns only and were never reinforced to hold books, but I bought a few and accumulated a greater number of sketchbooks and notebooks in the ten years since we set this up. We' looked into different possibilities of reinforcing/dismantling, but haven't found an affordable solution that I like. it's hard because the room is tiny; less than 3 meters wide by just over 3 meters long. This room also acts as the junk room for the entire house, too. We've looked into making this our main bedroom (because it's quieter than our current bigger one,) swapping OUR study (which is the next cleanup/reorg project,) with this to make this BEN's office and my taking over the big office, and came back to new/more storage here. (Oh, I guess we didn't discuss my taking over the living room yet, Honey!!)

If you know of tiny but nice studio/stash room pics floating on the Internet, can you please let me know? I keep going back and forth between quick/cheap updates and pretty/not-extravagant options. Oh, the stash-reduction rate has also improved in the last couple of years, I'm happy to report.

Cold Morning

In the very cold morning, I looked up and find the tip of willow tree was taking a sparkling backlit.

Yes, Another

Tresson design store was a lovely design store, so posh I've been inside only once to meet a friend. Down the road a smaller design store, Material Effets, closed its doors a couple of months ago.

Another Reason to Like Morrison Street

Betts Closing Down

As sad as Checkers and Black Market closing down are, we still have Everyman for our music needs, and several import shops on Hardy Street, so it's chatting with the owners that will be missed the most. But the slow demise of Betts Stationary (art supply) is a more serious matter.

This is the only dedicated art supply shop in a city that claims to be (one of) the art center(s) of the country, and owner Tony Moon's knowledge will be lost to us. Artist and hobbyists and students in the Bachelor of Painting program at the polytech now have the choice of buying low-end material at discount shops, or quality material over the Internet.

Tony had been reducing stock for the last couple of years while the shop was on the market, so I knew some day this would happen, but I can't help worry about the long term consequences for Nelson as an "arty" place, and for our painters, pastel artists, and students.

There'll be a few more of Betts and Tony in the new little while.

Another Closing Down Sale

Black Market Imports is closing down also. Bridge Street.

Closing Down Sale

It must be lease renewal time. Checkers is closing, (see Suzanne looking at her screen at the counter?) as are several independently-owned shops which add uniqueness to a town. In my recent travel to the North Island city of Napier, I was blown away by its charm of the CBD (central business district = downtown) area, which came down to the comparatively greater proportion of independently-owned shops, and particularly, cafes. The main streets of Nelson will look more and more like any-other-town, New Zealand.

So it is almost too sad to tell you that Nelson has been judged the third most charming small towns by the travel website tripadvisor.com. First and second places wen to Stragford-on-Avon and San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

Return

Falling Leave

The Power of the Internet

I joined Facebook back in February, and then Classmates.com, and was "found" by some friends from my past. This is the first time I've ever received an invite to my high school reunion, and it's sad I can't go, but I hope to see pictures on the Internet.

Ben's amazed this invite reached us, but there is only us on the phone book with our last name. (Though there is another family in Nelson, because we keep being rung up about a wee girl who doesn't show up at her swimming class.)

I'm not. I once received a letter addressed to "Mimi, Yokohama, Japan" in the early 80's from someone in the US not playing with a full deck; it had a stick of gum and an unintelligible scribbled note on the back of something or rather, and my mother almost reported it to the police.

Hi to everyone from Washburn Class of '77! I sure hope you all have a great time in July.

Incidentally, this is NDP's 1000th post. So yay to us, too!

Cheers for #999!

Sorry, the wine is not from this region but from Hawkes bay. It's a celebration! So, we cranked open the 1998 vintage. Cheers!

Roger Davies' Tractor Seat Chair

This is hardly a pic to showcase his furnitures, but just before we went to the book fair, we popped into see Roger Davies who has a studio in Founders Park. I think he might say he is better known for works where he coax wood into lovely curved shapes like Japanese flower arrangement, but he did a series where he morphed Furguson tractor seats into comtemporary indoor pieces.

Good Doggie...

I can't help it; he's so well-behaved. And of course I mean the pooch!! Several minutes passed between these two pics.

Old

@ The Founders Park. (another shot)

Chowder at Founders

Seafood chowder (and burger) at Founders Organic Brewery Cafe, delicious, and the best value for your money in Nelson as far as chowders go. (And Ben knows chowders in Nelson.) But you might consider not finishing all the butter that comes with the delicious bread; the block is about the size of a child's fist!

The brew of the day was Long Black.

Founders Park Book Fair

The annual week-long Book Fair at Founders Park closes today at the end of another successful year.

This is one of the longest-standing Nelson tradition that we know of, and fortunately, in no danger of going away any time soon. Anyone can drop off pre-loved books and old magazines at the park's reception all year and the Fair is open for a week every winter selling many, many books at around $1 or $2 for the most part. (Used book shops' sale go down for a while around this Fair, too.) I've captured perhaps half of the hall in the picture above, so it is also on a very large scale for Nelson. For the whole week we see people walking around with with two and three shopping bags full of books.

Fortunately, yesterday, we went in just before closing time so we came out unscathed. Next year might be a different story.

It's World Enviroment Day

I didn't know that...

New In Store

Not Just for Girls

Isn't it so last century to specify which gender of kids for toys? I always wanted a Tonka truck, but never got one, and I lived in Minneapolis!

Preparation

Nelson Airport. (B&W)

Moon Light

@ Tahunanui Beach.

Theme Day : Feet

Marahau, Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand
This is a repost from old archive of my sketchbook blog.

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