A very merry Christmas to family and friends. We have three days off to gather strength for the inundation of holidaymakers and to enjoy Christmas and egg nog with family.

May the New Year bring you all you desire.

Still struggling to keep up my postings. My day starts around 6am when I make the daily bread and cakes and prep for breakfast and lunch with extras such as opening mussels and filleting fish. Then it's feeding the holidaymakers until 3pm when we close the kitchen but are open for coffee and cake while I prep up for dinner service which lasts until the last person leaves, sometimes 10pm, sometimes 1am.
It's hard yakka at this time of year but most satisfying making people happy. About 80% of our customers are regulars or have been recommended so we know we must be doing something right.
Our long range weather forecast is not good with a humid and wet summer and the possibility of a cyclone or two which usually means people don't come to the beach.
Maybe it will be a quiet one and I'll be able to go skinny dipping at Lonely Bay without scaring anybody!

A Pregnant Thought

The winning sculpture 'A Pregnant Thought" by Lauren Kitts which will stay in our permanent collection

'Medusa' by Anna Korver

'Ohinau Sunset' by Donald Buglass

Scene from the balcony with my, as usual,
unfinished wooden sculpture

A few images from the symposium. We are enjoying lovely rain at the moment, washing the dust from the leaves and ripening plums and returning the garden to some semblance of normality

Unexpected visitor

So we were quietly (well we don't do anything quietly!) cleaning the restaurant when this large road roller skidded out of control down into our front garden, coming to rest on Dr. Margot Symes lovely sculpture 'Four Elements' (stone, water, fire, air) which now can be called 'Five Elements' with the addition of steel! After much discussion with the sheepish driver we decided it (the roller) didn't add much to the ascetics of the place so they towed it away leaving a tiny scratch on said sculpture and a large dent on said drivers ego.

Never a dull moment!

Wow what a week! 17 sculptors with 9 inch grinders competing with graders and rollers fixing the road. We feel like we have been in a quarry and now are praying for rain to wash all the dust away. We've sold six pieces so far, not brilliant but only one behind last year and the quality is better than ever so are confident of more sales. A customer last night asked how much it would be to ship a big head (1200kg!) to California. I shudder to think but it's worth a try. I am in the process of placing them in suitable positions round the garden.
I started a big wooden sculpture but ran out of wood so started on stone but with feeding and looking after a group of tempremental artists didn't get anything finished as per usual. They aren't really difficult. As a group they work hard and get on very well and we had some wonderful nights of music and fun.
Hope to have some images tomorrow.