Coffee Dates with Pansies
Posted on November 12, 2015 Leave a Comment
She had asked me to come for coffee to her favourite cafe. I was there a couple of minutes early and so was waiting outside to meet up…why go inside when the sun was beaming down outside, right?!
With all the warmth of spring their little pots adorning the door and windowsill were blooming gorgeous pansies.
How wonderful to have this time to just enjoy them… To appreciate each bloom bobbing in the sun, looking so healthy and inviting.
Grateful for this gift.
Lynda Symons©2015
Game On!
Posted on October 27, 2015 Leave a Comment
The suggestion was made and everyone was up and ready.
“Wanna have a round?”
Daughter laughing all fun and happy.
Son quietly taking us all on.
Grandma sitting on the sidelines watching the play while wearing a smile.
Granddad bouncing light and nimble at the ready.
And that darling dearest of mine in his element enjoying one of his favourite games with his family.
The game was on!
Grateful to see them all at play.
Lynda Symons ©2015
Honoured
Posted on October 19, 2015 Leave a Comment
The 2015 Active Arts Taupo’s 50th Annual Exhibition opened on Friday amidst lots of gold glitter and celebrations. Celebrating not only another year but 50 great years encouraging creativity here in Taupo, New Zealand. During the course of the evening the winners of each division were honoured for their work.
I was honoured for my entry “Gateway to the Mountains” in the painting division.
“Gateway to the Mountains” is a vista found whilst walking that lovely dog around the lake shore. I decided to have a go at acrylic on canvas applied with a palette knife only.
I had spent quite a few frustrating hours holding paint up to the open sky trying to get the colours just right.
Or time on multiple occasions spent debating the hues of the lake with a friend as we walked. (I’m surprised she still talks to me…I kept on about it so!)
Grumbling to my ever-patient son when the ‘blasted lake’ kept giving me curry.
Gotta say I am glad I persevered.
And as if that honour wasn’t enough someone doubled, no tripled, the honour by not only purchasing it but being the the first off the block once sales opened.
May they have many years of enjoyment from it.
#Grateful for the honour.
Touches of Rosemary
Posted on October 8, 2015 Leave a Comment
When your 24 year old son offers to cook you a roast, you accept.
All afternoon we had been smelling those scrumptious odours…tantalizing!
He even made the gravy himself using all the juices from the bottom of the pan…Mama taught him good!
The call went out that dinner was ready and we were all scurrying quickly towards the table…eager.
Pouring the gravy I noticed that my wonderful son had been out in the garden and picked rosemary to garnish his roast. The odd leaf had found it’s way into the delicious brown sauce. I love roasts done with herbs.
Grateful for the extra little touches of rosemary.
Thank you, Son, for a perfect Sunday roast.
Lynda Symons ©2015
Painted Toes
Posted on October 6, 2015 Leave a Comment
Everywhere around about the South Waikato region there are large areas of Pine being harvested. The land is then cleared with roots and scrub being swept into piles and burnt off before being replanted or turned into lush dairy farms. I don’t know much about the harvesting of Pine trees, but it must be in the air at the moment.
This sunshine-filled afternoon had us out in the sun with trousers rolled up. This baring all revealed the winter growth usually kept hidden beneath warm layers now discarded. Yewh! Not a good look! So, she brought out the basins, towels and fresh razors. It was de-forestation time for us, too.
The gentle bending up and down was a great stretch for my sore back but after two legs of bending I had had enough. The toes with nail polish all chipped and worn would have to wait for another day.
As I moisturised freshly shaven legs carefully, she folded up the towel and laid it across her knee. One at a time she cleaned and painted each of my toes. I was very grateful for her kindness. She had them looking lovely.
Each morning since then as I put on my socks I have admired them but today I was smiling again at her gift. At the beach, shoes gone and toes bared to the gently exfoliating sand, I looked down and was grateful all over again. No having to tell myself not to worry today. I was sporting freshly painted toes.
Thanks, precious girl!
Lynda Symons ©2015
Perfect Green Orchids
Posted on October 1, 2015 Leave a Comment
It was the perfect way to say ‘Thank-You’, ‘We love you’, ‘We hope your new home turns out to be everything you desire’.
Orchids.
A whole array of them to choose from.
We let her choose, so it would bring her the maximum amount of pleasure.
True to form, she chose the only green orchid, soft and delicate, with a dainty pink centre… just like her.
In the shopping trolley it went. Other customers passing commented on how pretty it was. They were right.
Now it graces their living area and hopefully reminds of how much we love them.
Grateful for that one perfect green orchid.
Lynda Symons ©2015
Wheelchairs
Posted on September 29, 2015 Leave a Comment
Plain and simple, I shouldn’t have done it!
But I did and now it was biting me in the butt…literally 😦
Visits to the best chiropractor around had helped but it still wasn’t playing ball enough to allow me to get home.
He had been suggesting it each day and i had been pushing the suggestion away. It hurt my pride. And when he told me how he had done it and how helpful it was I hung onto my pride even tighter. I was 20 years younger. It couldn’t be my turn already.
But facts are facts and on the last morning I had to admit that there was no way I could manage it on my own two legs.
I called.
A wheelchair was ordered.
With a million apologies to the airline staff they took off at a trot telling me not to worry about a thing. They were as good as their word.
With an upgrade for ease and comfort, all baggage attended to for me, whipped through priority lines at customs and boarded first, and then the same reverse process at the other end right out to the car door I was impressed and convinced.
And grateful.
Grateful to have swallowed my pride.
Grateful for a service that made the impossible possible.
Thank you Air New Zealand.
Lynda Symons ©2015
Kereru and Wood Pigeons
Posted on September 10, 2015 Leave a Comment
Yes, the Maori name for New Zealand’s native Wood Pigeon is ‘Kereru’. This may seem like double the trouble to write, but we were seeing double that day.
Not one, but two big fat Kereru no more than a metre above.
Feeding as if there was no tomorrow, even though their rather rotund undercarriage suggested they could cope with no food for a day or two. In this lovely little quiet by Lake Tutira in the sunny Hawkes Bay, they were doing very well for themselves and today was no exception.
My darling Dearest had his camera out and was able to get right up close…lots of photos to be had. The purples and greens of their back feathers showing up well in the late afternoon light. The white feathers cradling their burgeoning bellies.
I leaned against the car and watched his pleasure abounding. His elation at being able to get so close was infectious. For more than half an hour they happily kept on feeding and paid him no mind. Not until a Tui came flying in and aroused them from their reverie. With a zip and a zap the Tui was gone followed by the heavy wingbeats of two VERY fat Wood Pigeons lifting their cargo to another tree further off.
What a treat!
Not sure if I am more grateful for the Kereru or watching my darling Dearest get so much pleasure… maybe it’s just a day for double troubles.
Doubly grateful!
Lynda Symons©2015
A Hand Up
Posted on September 8, 2015 Leave a Comment
Miserably cold and wet with a biting wind, he suggested we walked through the bush to escape the elements.
The dog was keen with the bush idea.
So he led and I followed.
The trees did their job of protecting against wind and rain and it was a nice change of scenery from our normal routes…
…until…
I don’t know for sure what happened…
But suddenly the track was no track at all and the wet clay soil was showing it’s more unforgiving nature. The dog didn’t mind. She just zipped under this and lept over that making her own merry way.
Son made some rude quips about pay-backs for times I had led them astray in the bush when they were little kids. Breaking the cardinal rule of not leaving the track, etc. Incredible how they can have the memory of an elephant on some occasions yet forget in a nano second when asking them to do the dishes!
Pushing aside bushes and broken branches he was such a gentleman making sure none of them flew back at me coming behind.
At each slippery rise he offered a hand to help me up and make sure I didn’t slip.
If only his daddy could see him following his example so finely…this culture he had instilled in his children. He would have been real proud. I was 🙂
And grateful.
Grateful for a son who can have fun with his mother but looks after her too.
(just quietly, I was grateful that he found the way out)
Lynda Symons©2015
Lemon Fruit Triplet
Posted on August 19, 2015 2 Comments
I LOVE lemons!
From their vibrant yellow to the refreshing tang, I just love lemons. In fact, every morning I start with a warm freshly squeezed lemon drink. Then lunchtime sees me squeezing lemon juice over my salad…my all-time favourite dressing. Where ever we live my garden always has a lemon tree. It’s one of the happiest trees around with all those dashes of bright yellow adding to the garden colour.
So, painting all that beauty seemed the natural thing to do.
Three watercolour paintings showing the life cycle of a lemon.
Click on the painting below to see all three.
Send me a message if you’d like to buy a set for your kitchen. And do leave a comment below telling me what your favourite fruit is…maybe, I could paint that one too 🙂
Lynda Symons ©2015
Lynda Symons Artistry 