Heather R

Ah. The chap was so nice - from Riverview Motel in Whanganui. We had to cancel a family trip as my mum was in hospital and they didn't charge us a cent despite me cancelling very late. We were able to go a few weeks' later than planned and most definitely rebooked with them!

Also, I recently had to cancel a motel booking, and the first question they asked when I phoned them up was "did you book directly through us?". Apparently cancelling would have been much harder if I'd said 'no'.

So beautiful and so shiny!

No, I hadn't - thanks for that :-)

Three huge bird of paradise flowers in a large green and blue glass vase. In the background is a chair and a full bookcase.

Gorgeous!

Earlier this week I was amazed to find two HUGE bird of paradise bushes blooming near my new apartment - tucked behind some other bushes on public land where I assume they self-seeded. I've been delighting in these three all week :-)

Oooh! My parents got me three little books when I was about that age - Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and (I presume?) Ancient Rome. I found the Greece and Egypt ones absolutely fascinating.

Three large dramatic orange and purple bird of paradise flowers in a large green and blue vase. There are also ox-eye daisies in the vase. The vase is on a metal tray and there's a bookcase, heater and chair in the background.

Yesterday I spotted two huge bird of paradise bushes near our new place. I suspect they were self-seeded as they were tucked away behind some other bushes on public land. I'm very much enjoying the three blooms I picked - the middle one was a bud picked in error, but it's started to open already.

Package wrapped in cardboard with beautiful striped string and a note saying I was bird and beach's first customer :-)

@birdandbeach.bsky.social what a delightful surprise and honour!

That's awesome! So well done :-)

This is epic!!

Wow! That's a pretty impressive document. Hope it gets heard :-)

Hey - guess who just had a hmmm and realised that tomorrow is a public holiday, and if I don't want to spend the day sorting out my fabric order, I could just keep tea towel pre-orders open for another day...
Because I wouldn't want you to miss out on the new Absurbirdies - Kiwi on the Couch & IYKYK

Montage of the Front cover (Oriental Bay, Wellington); back cover - 12 thumbnails of illustrations of landmarks across the motu; and the May and December pages, showing Lake Wakatipu and Rangitoto Island. All art copyright Ryan Nielson.

Pōhutukawa tea towel, featuring an illustration of a massive pōhutukawa in full bloom by Elisabeth AKA The Sewphist. Illustration copyright Elisabeth Witbrock.

Elisabeth's latest Absurbirdie tea towel features a rotund kiwi, kicking back on the couch watching telly, curled up with a small grey tabby cat.

Did you see the news?

Birdandbeach.co.nz is live!

We have the 2026 Calendars ready to go, and as a special treat, tea towel pre-orders are live right now through until Sunday 26 Oct. There are 4 new designs to complement the ones we used to offer as @thesewphist.bsky.social.

Go check it out!

Four cakes in a row on a benchtop - alternating large square ones and loaf ones. In the background are a couple of pots and two Christmas cake muffins (there were actually four of those - one is hiding and one has been eaten!).

A bit later than usual due to moving house (we aim for late September), but 2025's Christmas cakes are out of the oven :-)

Oh, that's so sweet - the dolly had henna too!

Hurrrah!!

Happy Birthday!!

Gah!! :-(

I just realised it's not doing combined shipping - is it possible to change that and buy three with $7.50 postage?

The calendars are gorgeous, but when I went to buy a few for Christmas presents the postage seemed really steep ($22.50 within Ao/NZ) - is it possible to have a cheaper option?

These are always such a delight - thank you for doing them, and for sharing them here :-)

I so appreciated you sharing this a few months' back and have become a firm fan. I have a seat cushion that could do with darning and will be bringing up her video to re-watch before tackling that. Thank you!

Settling in well, thanks. It's so warm and quiet here, there are fantastic views across West Auckland, and we're getting to know one lot of super-friendly neighbours already. Still some stuff to do around the house but it very much feels like home.

Yum! I'm just about to put rhubarb scrolls in the oven :-) Extra-excited about this as I moved to an apartment about a month ago and the rhubarb is from pots on my balcony. The rhubarb's loving all the sun and doing so well :-) <happy dance>

Awesome! Hope it goes well :-) I don't bother defrosting the yoghurt before dropping it in, and if the cubes are stuck together I find I can usually separate them OK with a bit of time and thinnish knife.

I hear you!

It's OK to not vote. Like, voting is important, but so is parenting and staying alive. Do what you need to do. I think we have way too much messaging in this world that everyone needs to do everything that's important, but we just can't - especially with disability thrown into the mix.

A fairly open patch of ground with native trees and brush.

A fairly open patch of ground with native trees and brush.

We've recently moved ad today I went for a wander in my nearest park, Chalmers Reserve. I was delighted to discover a lovely bushy glade that was a great spot for a think :-) I was less delighted to discover and remove a bunch of rubbish - including 6 disposable nappies :-(

Wow! That's pretty full-on! Well done for surviving...

Wonderful - thank you!