Greymouth

Out and About in September 2025

December 14, 2025 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

The girls love to stop along the road in the spring to pick some daffodils–and their daddy loves to oblige them. So, we did that.

This is a lake along the road going over Arthurs Pass to Christchurch. It was actually much bluer than this picture shows–it’s breathtaking at times!

One thing I love about going to a homeschool mother’s retreat every September is the views from the hill, looking over Lyttleton Harbour. Such a gorgeous view!

This is the new house in front of ours. James got hurt while working on this house, so he didn’t get to help finish it. Joe did, though! (Joe was formerly called Mr. Sweetie on this blog; he’s over 16 now, so I’ll use his name.) He works two days a week with James and his crew; here he is talking to their boss and doing some work on the house.

The day we went to the Bookarama, we had a picnic out by the beach. There is an enormous structure built of driftwood above the high-tide line, and we had some fun exploring it.

June 2025 Photos

July 27, 2025 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the rest of June’s pictures! We often see beautiful rainbows toward the south, out our living room window.

One day when we were in town, we ate a picnic lunch at the breakwall. This bird was flying up the river, then swiftly riding the wind back out to sea. I thought at first it was an albatross, but a week or two later we went out to the breakwall on the other side of the Grey River mouth and saw the sign below. I’m guessing that it was a Petrel, instead. It certainly had a different way of flying than the seagulls that flocked around!

This was the view across the river mouth on the second day.

The cows spent a day in the empty section in front of us just before work began on a new house there, and Miss Joy enjoyed watching and photographing them. This won’t happen again; the new owners have moved a caravan in and are living on the section.

Miss Joy

Mr. Imagination has been making a lot of knives; lately, he’s been working on learning how to harden the saw blade steel he uses. He is doing it in the fire in our lounge, and then quenching the blade in oil. The only problem with that? People often kick the oil accidentally.

Picnic

October 6, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I took the children to town today. There was a Bookarama–a huge book fair–and I decided we would go secondhand shopping, as well. There are four secondhand shops in Greymouth, and I don’t get to them very often, but thought today would be a good time. Elijah was working in town, laying carpet or vinyl in a house (I forgot to ask which), so I asked him yesterday if he would like to eat lunch with us. I was just planning to take along sandwiches for us, but he decided he wanted to order pizza, instead. So, he ordered it and I picked it up. Then, we met at a beach about five minutes’ drive from where he was working, and we had a picnic. It was sunny and not too windy, although not very warm, either. The waves were gorgeous, and we had an incredible view of the Southern Alps, which were covered with a fresh layer of snow. It was a nice time together. I enjoy getting to spend time during the day with my adult sons who work! The cloth we sat on, by the way, is a sheet I had just bought at an op shop. Little Miss loves that set. I’ll be putting them on her bed tomorrow.

Children’s Night Out

February 6, 2022 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Something that our children like to do occasionally, since the older ones have full licenses now, is all go out to eat somewhere, leaving Gayle and I at home alone. They don’t do it often, and they don’t get fancy; fish and chips is a favorite. They went to town one evening in January, bought fish and chips, and ate them at a trailhead on a hill above Greymouth. Then, they walked to the end of the track, enjoying the scenery and each other. Esther and a couple of the boys took pictures on their phones, and then I borrowed the pictures.

Left to right: Mr. Sweetie holding the food box, Elijah, Little Miss, Simon, Miss Joy.

The Grey River in the foreground, Cobden in the middle, and the Tasman Sea out to the horizon.

Part of Greymouth

Looking up the Grey Valley. Left to right: James, Mr. Sweetie, Simon holding Miss Joy (who informed me later that she had walked up the entire track!), Mr. Imagination, Elijah, Little Miss.

The Grey River and Grey River Valley

My three girls–Little Miss, Miss Joy, Esther

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

Then, Miss Joy wanted to do it, too!

Off they go down the track!

Meanwhile, at home, I made a special candlelit meal for just the two of us! It was a very good evening.

Science and Carpets

November 28, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I started going through a new science textbook with my three schoolchildren in October (sure seems strange to only have three in school! Technically, there are four, but Mr. Diligence is now working almost all the time, since he turned 16.). We are working through Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics, from Apologia. I’m finding it quite interesting. I think I may have done some chemistry in high school, but I really don’t remember for sure—and if I did, I don’t remember it! The children are struggling to understand what we’re learning and to enjoy it, but they love the experiments!

This experiment was to show how substances of different densities react. We mixed differing amounts of salt into these cups of water, and then put some into a straw. It was a lot of fun to figure out how to do this.

One jar held salt water, the other plain water—the egg floated in one of them.

What things float and what things sink?

Each of the children got to fashion a boat from a piece of foil. Which ones would hold up the most coins?

Mr. Sweetie was the winner! He shaped his foil over a bowl.

Elijah is enjoying his apprenticeship as a floor layer. One job he did a couple of weeks ago was to lay carpet tiles in the dining room/lobby of a seven-story hotel in Greymouth. He was given this diagram to follow. It is supposed to symbolize the Grey River, the sea, and the mountains. I was in town several days later, while he was working on the upper floors, and stopped in so I could see this amazing floor. It was still under plastic to protect it while renovations continue, but even so I could tell it is beautiful!

Here is a picture Elijah took from an upper floor. What a view! That is the Grey River, emptying into the sea in the distance.

Fishing and Milking

February 15, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One Saturday afternoon in January, a friend invited us to go out to the sea with him while he put his longline out to see what fish he could catch. Gayle and Mr. Sweetie were already in town (Greymouth is along the coast), so our friend took the other boys with him. Esther and I and the little girls went later, when we learned that everyone else in our church was there, too! They caught 11 elephant fish, a kind of shark. Someone put one of them in the coals of the fire that was going, and we ate it while we were there. Someone else took several of the fish home with them, and we brought eight of them home. The boys and Gayle filleted them the next day (they were in a chilly bin on ice overnight). Yum! This is Mr. Intellectual with one of the fish right after taking off the longline.

Simon starting to fillet one of the fish.

Those are big fish. One of them is more than enough for a meal for our family.

One morning I finally remembered to take a camera along when I went to milk. Mr. Intellectual had to go out and bring the cows up to the shed. The cow, Poppy, is in the lead; the heifer, Pansy is following.

Poppy goes into the stall with no hesitation; she knows there will always be treats waiting for her.

Pansy wants the treats, too; most of the time, she comes and tries to get them.

They actually spend a lot of time hanging around the shed, chewing their cuds, it seems like. Most of the time lately, they’ve been waiting for me there when I go down to milk.

See the roses climbing high in the tree?

The neighbor’s rose hedge was amazing when it was in full bloom! By now, it’s done blooming, and last week, she pruned the whole thing back to not much. This kind of roses grow very fast, though; soon it’ll be beautiful again. I walk past it every morning and evening when I go to milk.

And on the Home Front…

March 9, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

My sons who stayed home from America had quite a surprise for us when we came home. I thought they were joking when they talked about building the bunkbeds in their room which I had suggested some time ago—but they actually did it! I was very impressed.

On the other side of the room, they built a closet to store their clothes and other belongings. This takes the place of some shelves that used to hang above a bed, which I always thought was a bit dangerous, and a couple of dressers. There are a lot of shelves inside this closet. The room feels much larger now, and the boys have room to have a table at which they can play games or build models. So nice! They were very excited to show it to us when we arrived home; I had to look in the window at it before I even came into the house! They also installed a light in the kitchen that I’d been wanting, to replace a fixture I hated.

They also had time for some fun. A few days before we came home, they went fishing with a friend two evenings. He has a Kon Tiki, or longline, for fishing in the ocean. A small motor pulls the line out, and then another reels it in. They didn’t have a camera, but Gayle took a few pictures of their catch with his phone. These are mostly sharks, which are fairly good eating.