New Year Fireworks

 

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2015!

 

Feel any different yet?
I certainly do, because I'm typing on my very new computer!!!
Still at the frustration stage as I learn where everything is, but it's so amazing. We have two screens side by side, which run as one big screen. Mind boggling!

The photo above is from last night's fireworks. Mr Actor and I were trying out the firework settings on our cameras. Yes, Mr Actor scored a new camera for Christmas, a smaller version of mine. (He is now telling me what all the buttons on mine do!)

Not sure how frequently I'll post this month, as we are on holidays as a family, and will do at least one more trip. But I wanted to mark the change to this new year.
I wasn't even blogging, this time last year!

We are starting a new tradition this year, writing time capsule letters to ourselves to read this time next year. Hopefully we'll remember where we put it.

Hope your new year is a humdinger.
And remember to keep on creating and showing your beautiful unique selves to the world!
Love you heaps,
Jazzy Jack

Christmas Sculpture

Hello folks. It's Christmas Eve...a day that has Christmas in the title! So I can finally post my Christmas post.

We have a non-traditional Christmas tree this year. We imported a sculpture from our garden.

This consists of an old wire bedbase we found in an old fire at 'Heartwoods' (our bush block). Someone had obviously burnt a bed (desperate for wood or what!)

I love old rusty things, so we brought it home...as you do...and made it into a sculpture  in our garden, with three branches for a teepee.

When we were looking for a Christmas tree idea I noticed the tree shape, and so decided on this!

It's so lovely and ethereal being see-through.

Here it is in the day time.

 

With the blue lights shining...

 

And here with the red. It changes the feeling totally!

Smart-Blue obviously approves...or he is about to pounce on them ^o_o^ !

 

The windmill type decorations are some I made with NZ flax.

 

We hope your holidays are filled with light, love and laughter. Bushy is on holidays for the whole of January...whoopeeeee!

Looking forward to sharing more fun shenanigans with you in 2015.  Thanks for being part of my blog and my life this year. You rock!!

'Til next time, keep creating and showing your fabulousness to the world!

 

Love,

Jazzy Jack, Bushy, Mrstrs Actor and Artist, Winter, Smart-Blue, Jade and Blueberry(budgies), and all the fish(no name brand)!

BeautyScope 190: Floral clock

backlit blooms

tell of life's cycle

to bud and bloom

then wither...?

BeautyScope 189: Springtime spindrift

BeautyScope 188: Kangaroo Paw

ghostly cicada shell 

clings to a kangaroo paw flower

the beast transformed amongst beauty

Lava Glass Sculpture Garden

"Greetings O My Foster Cousin, canst sit up and partake of nourishment?

Or dost thou still think it more genteel, to nibble at thy food and appear delicate?"

Oops, sorry! A line from Ali Baba that we did at school!

The next line as I remember it: "One pomegranate seed, just one pomegranate seed"

Wouldn't get fat on that!

Anyway, I digress.

Here are some more NZ photos, from a visit to Lava Glass, a glass works about 30 mins south of Rotorua. They've recently opened a sculpture  garden, and here are some pics!

(This is where my glass mushroom came from)

I think they speak for themselves. Ahh was a wonderful day with my good friend!

And finally, here is a photo series I forgot to share awhile back. It shows the bag I bought in the night markets in Rotorua, close up shown in  this post.

And here is a weirdo smiley face to end on!

I just adore glass. I hope you enjoyed my obsession!
Until next time, keep creating and showing your gloriousness to the world!!

Love,
Jazzy Jack
PS Linking up with Patti looking gorgeous in a grey dress on visible monday And also with Anne in her snuggly clothes for 52 Pick Me Up Frozen.

BeautyScope 187: Present

christmas ribbons 

wrap the bark

back onto the tree

BeautyScope 186: Flower stalk nest

Photo taken by Mr Artist

floral baby bird

sits atop its nest

waiting for the courage 

to fly

underneath 

stunted leaf arms

stretch out wide

to catch it

More Kiwi Adventures!

Hello folks!

Another exciting chapter in the Kiwi adventure book.

But first I want to show you my favourite NZ bird. It is a Tui, and it loves blossoms, so in Spring it goes mental! Here is a few shots of Tui going mad over some bottle brush trees near our hotel. I just love their little white pompoms under their chin...and they have the most amazing multitudinous calls.

 

So here we are in our motel, the Alpin Motel which comes with a small heated pool, and individual thermally heated spas for each unit.  All set in a "tranquil garden setting" in a courtyard in the middle of the buildings.

 Mr Actor and Bushy playing in their natural element...water. Bushy looks a little waterlogged because he has been swimming underwater with Mr Actor on his back.

 The spas are very commodious, but take a little time to fill. After this, we learnt to partially fill it before the swim in the pool! Bubble bath is also provided, which the kids adored.

 On to our next adventure, which is ascending the mountain by gondola, then careering back down on a luge. Loved this bike rack outside. Bushy and Mr Artist deciding on the best deal...hmmm how many times do we want to scream!?

 Waiting for our gondola. Mr Actor (in green) is all organised. Note the cyclists getting off...they have a mountain bike run as well. There is a pushy photographer every time you get on trying to sell you your own image, but we passed. It's a pretty ride up the mountain.

 View from halfway up (Mokoia Island), and from the top. If you look carefully, on the bottom photo just outside the peninsula, you can see the paddleboat we took across Lake Rotorua.

Before, during and after the fun!

 After you careen down the mountain, you get to catch a chairlift to take you back to the top for another turn. I love the luges attached to the base of the chairs. It's a very restful quiet ride through the forest after the adrenalin rushed descent.

 Halfway down you can stop on little rest areas to see the trees, and become better acquainted with dinosaurs...eeeeek!

So as Bushy and Mr Actor take the chairlift one more time, we say farewell once more to the luge.

Until next time!

 

Keep on creating, and being your wonderful unique selves!

Love,

Jazzy Jack

BeautyScope 185: Pink and grey

gossiping galahs

turn pink with excitement 

spying on human rendezvous 

BeautyScope 184: Seed Pods

mouths agape

dried pods

tell tall tales

of youth

BeautyScope 183 : Tree roots

great anchors

grip the ground

through wild winds 
hold upright
teaching us
the secret of stability 

BeautyScope 182: Aerial dancer

green tipped explorer

tastes the air

...innocent beginnings

Perilous Voyage Across Lake Rotorua by Paddleboat

Hello me hearties! How about joining the intrepid voyagers, exploring Lake Rotorua (ex-volcano!)

If you look hard, you can see the craft on the top right of this photo. The wind was rising. I had already abandoned my hat!

Here she is SS Lakeland Queen, complete with people being shot (help!)

All aboard! (Rotorua's sulphurous air rusts EVERYTHING!)

Famous explorers, Bushy and Mstrs Actor and Artist, inspect the sea worthiness of our vessel.

Evidently it passed inspection because the captain and copilot (cocaptain?) carefully ease us out of our berth. 

(Copilot Mr Actor made his own shirt!)

Mr Artist checks up on the paddle wheel.

Hmm yes, I think we are going straight.

The wind rises as we head out into the caldera.

I hope the volcano doesn't decide to blow!

Mr Artist, being the scientist on board, decides to conduct some wind experiments. (Shhh top secret!)

An explorer must look their best at all times!

Here I am attired in my night sky leggings-retail Black Milk;  

tunic, leather jacket, and scarf- thrifted.

Well we managed to escape danger and return to shore with our top secret data intact.

Farewell Lakeland Queen! 

So ahoy and begorrah...no, wrong genre... 

see ya later, mate!

'Til next time, keep creating and showing your beauty to the world, one gorgeous attribute at a time!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Jazzy Jack 

Edit: Linking up with Spy Girl 52 Pick Me Up
with all our jazzy legs!

BeautyScope 181: Insideout

watery vision

please don't cry

one day a sewer

the next...the sky!

Kiwi thrifting and scarf play!

Warning photo heavy!!!

Hello you gorgeous peeps! I'm back! Back from The Land of the Long White Cloud,  aka Aotearoa, aka New Zealand. It is as beautiful as ever, and I'll share some piccies later on.
To start off, I have a photo Bushy took of me taking a possible BeautyScope shot. Typical me, out in the middle of a lake, balancing on a rock, fully dressed to go out, with my shopping over my arm!

This is Lake Rotorua, and I'm taking shots of carvings in the rock...trying not to include my feet!

I visited my favourite consignment shop in Rotorua when we were there. I was in luck, there was a sale! Yes please! I abandoned my family to putput golf, and tried on a few pieces. I found 6 items, at $10 each! Now how to fit them in the suitcase...hmmm.

  A lovely cream linen shirt with buttons down the back.

 A light cotton shirt with interesting majorette detailing and a navy linen dress with apple shaped buttons.

 Two jackets found their way into my grasp, a print stretchy one that rolls up into a tiny ball...great for summer emergency cover. And a cotton twill white jacket with cute fraying edges.

Finally a silk velvet stole, lined in silk with bead detailing. Gorgeous colour! 

This is the amazing bag I bought on a market stall. A maori tiki face embroidered on to recycled fabrics, with a tie handle. She didn't include a label, so can't tell you her name. Gorgeous machine embroidery!

I had a play with some of my scarves today. This is the lovely coloured rainbow they make in my drawer. Wouldn't that entice you to play?

Here I have combined a beige wrap with a silk velvet flower pin I bought in Rotorua.

 This is a multicoloured rectangle silk scarf...I just love its sheen. 

And finally a trio of square greeny striped silk tied on the side with a half bow, a twisted green silk oblong scarf tied at the back, and a viscose gauzy wrap tied into a turban.
In the first shot you can also see the new white jacket.

 Here I am wearing my new navy linen dress, with a headband made of ribbon to which I have pinned a clown brooch. He's having a lie down as clowning can be very exhausting! On my wrist is a necklace twisted into a bracelet. 

 While in NZ I caught up with my good friend, and we spent a day at Lava Glass just south of Rotorua. I couldn't resist this little mushroom to go with the blue and orange bowl (first pic) Bushy and I bought ourselves for our wedding anniversary a while ago. It seems to be interesting our little worm ...! 

So back down to earth. After those glamorous poses, this is how I ventured out into the rain to collect the kids from school! 
(shorts added for decency, new gumboots thrifted...first wearing:)

So my lovelies, until next time, 
keep creating and showing your uniqueness to the world!
Jazzy Jack