The pleasures of the flesh
Speaking as someone who has rather more flesh than I'd like, I'm delighted to see this lifesize painting by Lucien Freud (grandson of Sigmund) has just become the highest value painting ever sold, going for a mere US$33.6 million to an undisclosed bidder. The blog heading is mine - the painting is actually called "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" - the model was doing that job at the time.
I don't think a similar painting of, say, Kate Moss (substitute the name of any other stick-thin model/actress/celebrity here) would have the same impact, do you?
The Graduate part 2
Here's Cass in his regalia after getting degrees #2 and #3 (architecture) with Hattie (aka Red Delicious). Don't they make a lovely pair?
A weekend away at Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is a small town nestled close to the foothills of the Southern Alps. It's very popular due to its hot springs. This is the 1937 cottage that I rented for the weekend. That's my friend Bronwen coming around the corner.
Autumn is very beautiful here as there are lots of deciduous trees.
Looking up Conical Hill in the township.
We drove up over the hills to Molesworth Station, the largest farm in New Zealand, which is owned by the Department of Conservation. This is the view back over the plains from where we'd come.
This is the terrain of Molesworth, which is a high country station. There wasn't much snow yet.
You can see how rugged these hills are.
Poodles enjoying a run in the tussock beside the river. It was a lovely day.
The poodles and Bronwen's poodle/bichon cross, Buddy, who is mainly poodle except for his tail. They all got along well. There were a lot of wet feet.
Looking back up the river. I love this scenery.
So here's a bit more of it! A lovely place to go for soothing and nurturing. And wonderful to have to make no harder decisions than "where shall we go for coffee?"
Surprises in the mail, and an irresistable book
But wait! There's more! First up is a completely gratuitous sunrise. Just because.
And then there's this lovely skein of sock wool that I somehow scored from
Vintage Purls through my blog friend
Stell of Knit, Knit, Frog . Stell is also a Kiwi, as is the Vintage Purls shop. I hadn't come across it before. Am I lucky or what?
Today in the mail I received my first copy of
Interweave Knits which I have started to subscribe to.
I have been totally seduced by the photos in this book, and I just want to make them into artwork. I succumbed at lunchtime and bought it (all $90 of it) - it's a large heavy book, with the most stunning photos imaginable. I'll share some with you next week. After buying it, I read Donald's comment on my last post and thought, yes, I AM very influenced by the landscape around me. I guess I hadn't realised how much.
Autumn and Winter Landscapes
New Zealand is indeed a beautiful country, especially down south. No-one captures this better than my friend Donald (this is one of his photos that I've "borrowed").
See more
here .
Autumn Snow
I must have taken this photo on a strange camera setting as it's very grainy - however, you can see the snow on the foothills of the Southern Alps that I can see from upstairs. We had a brisk frost this morning, so that put an end to the tomatoes.
.....two socks!
Hooray!
I am totally into socks at present and have already started to make another pair for me - using a very unusual pattern where you knit the cuffs sideways, then pick up stitches along one side for the rest of the sock. this fastens with a couple of small buttons.
I've also started a surprise pair for Sophie which are "graduation" socks, in charcoal (like her regalia)pink and blue - she had both pink and blue hoods for her 2 degrees. Also she tends to not wear bright multicolours like her mother (ahem!) so these will be more SUBTLE.
And here is the interesting sunset of the day I arrived back home to a pre-winter cold weather front.
The Graduate
I've just spent the last couple of days in Auckland at my daughter Sophie's graduation. Here she is with her Arts hood (pink lined). She was also later capped for her Law degree with honours (pale blue lining). She wore her regalia all day.
I was also celebrating my son's graduation which unfortunately was scheduled almost a week later so I won't get to see him this time. Hopefully I'll be able to post some photos that someone else has taken.
We all went out for meals together and had a great time. Gaudeamus igitur!
Speaking as someone who has rather more flesh than I'd like, I'm delighted to see this lifesize painting by Lucien Freud (grandson of Sigmund) has just become the highest value painting ever sold, going for a mere US$33.6 million to an undisclosed bidder. The blog heading is mine - the painting is actually called "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" - the model was doing that job at the time.
