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.