Home Improvement # 4

In this fourth instalment in my long-running Home Improvement series, this week I have had to carpet installed throughout and lino in the kitchen.

Here are a couple of pictures from the kitchen and lounge, which gives you a bit of an idea of how it all looks. Next week I hope to have the double glazing installed. After that, the only thing left will be some curtains to protect the vision and psychological well-being of the neighbours :-)

Android mapping app

In preparation for an upcoming trip, I have found an Android mapping app that should make my life a lot easier in some strange cities. TravelDroyd is an app that apparently provides turn-by-turn navigation and a useful general map for many major cities around the world. I only say apparently as Wellington is not one of the cities and so I can't test it before I head off... Also, although the app is free [and comes with Berlin for free], the other maps are paid for.

There is another related app, MapDroyd which contains world-wide maps for free, but without the navigation and a few other features [yes, I have that app also]. Here are a couple of pictures.

Home Improvement # 3

I don't think this one requires much explanation... I'll let the pictures do the talking :-)

Home Improvement # 2

OK, after my last post, here's the next set of photos of the bedroom renovations. In here, the skirting has primer on it, likewise most of the window frames [just waiting for the weather to improve to complete this].

The walls have their colour on them. I've decided that painting concrete block walls is not much fun :-) although a couple of walls have both top coats on now. Just waiting for a couple or 3 hours to put the 2nd coat on the remaining walls.

Once this is done I'll be able to put the top coats on the skirting boards, the door, then finish off the window frames.

 

Home improvement

I'm not sure how many of you remember the 1990's sitcom Home Improvement, but I'm been trying to finish off some improvements to my own place. The last room to do [and the first one I am doing mostly by myself...!] is the bedroom. I'll try to not destroy the room as often happened in Home Improvement, although there are times where more power and an enhanced tool or 2 would be nice!

After trying to get motivated for some time, I completed the sanding a few days ago, and today I put some paster on the bits of the wall that needed it [small holes...], put some Selley's No-More-Gaps in a gap [obviously] and put a primer coat of paint on the door.

I'll probably need to leave the plaster until late tomorrow to dry [some of it is a bit thick], then tidy it up. I might get to put the primer coat onto the window frames tomorrow and if things go really well with the plaster, I might get to put the primer on the skirting boards. We shall see!

Anyway, here's a couple of photos of the work in progress. You can just see the wet plaster in the first photo below the left-hand side of the window.

Visit to Auckland

I spent last weekend in Auckland. Mostly this was so I could catch up with some friends visiting from Canada, but was also an opportunity to catch up with people at Mountainside Lutheran Church, Auckland Aero Club and to have a quick look around the city.

Photos this time are as follows:

Photo of Andrew, Anita and baby Tahi [a big Kia Ora to Anita's colleagues and students - be nice to your teacher :-)]
Auckland's iconic sight, Rangitoto Island
Auckland CBD from Mount Wellington
3 x pictures of/ from One Tree Hill

Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield in this incredibly funny and fruity sketch!!

Christmas Holiday in Whanganui: post 2

After the visit to the Durie Hill Tower, another "must" is Virginia Lake. Virginia Lake used to be the main water supply for Whanganui [many years ago], but nowadays is a renowned small lake with ducks, geese, pukekos and various other wildlife present, as well as an aviary, gardens and more. The ducks and geese all look healthy - I'm not sure that my comments of "that would be nice for dinner tonight" were appreciated though... :-)

The following pictures are from around the lake, and then some of the birds in residence. Most of the birds were really friendly, and happy to pose for a photo or two!

Christmas Holiday in Whanganui

This year I went up to Whanganui to visit my folks for a few days. It was nice relaxing time, with a bit of "geek" stuff to do [setting up a secure wifi router], and a good chance to catch up with a number of other rellies.

Amazingly, the weather was very good all bit one day - that "one day" was windy and wet... much like Wellington is on a regular basis!! :-)

We did get out the see some of the sights. In this first post, there are pictures of, and from, the Durie Hill Tower. it's around 30 meters [100 feet] above the ground level. You'll see from the pictures that it is also a great vantage point to see over Whanganui.

Photos are of the Durie Hill Tower and of Whanganui, starting from the river mouth. Enjoy!

Sunset photo

I have recently been playing with stitching photos using the free Canon software. Here's one of the images. Obviously I have a lot to learn about getting the photos right in the first place - while I was using mostly manual settings, it looks like I left the auto-focus on... doh! Oh well, more practice over the next week or so might produce a better image!

Remember to click on the image to get a much larger version!