a Jeni design

Making Smiles on Faces Award

2009-11-15T11:13:00.005+13:00

Kia ora

I have just been notified that the lovely Birgit, from swappinghowdies, has honoured me with an award for my blog. Thank you Birgit. My very first award and I'm so proud that my blog is able to make Birgit smile.

There are so many blogs out there that make me smile, so many that I pop into from time to time and Birgit's has always been one of those. I love reading about Birgit enjoying things to do in her homeland, Germany, it's so great to learn about another's culture and her photographs are exquisite.

Again, thank you, Birgit.

Jeni

Lovely Louvre

2009-10-18T20:46:00.009+13:00

Kia ora

My tulips are out and looking beautiful. Louvre is a lilac flower with a fine fringed edge and, last night, with the raindrops on it, this tulip looked quite lovely. I hope you like this desktop of a beautiful flower.

I had the opportunity to visit TriflorNZ last year and bought some bulbs and this is only one of them. Of the fifty bulbs I bought, I kept thirty and gave twenty to a couple of my sisters and they have some wonderful displays in their gardens also.

You can download a zip with three sizes here.

Thanks for looking.

Jeni

Gethsemane Gardens in Christchurch

2009-10-09T10:59:00.004+13:00

Kia ora

Having recently been visiting Christchurch, I was reminded of the pix taken at Gethsemane Gardens on Clifton Hill near Sumner in Christchurch a while ago. A beautiful sanctuary overlooking the Canterbury Plains and Christchurch, Gethsemane Gardens is an ideal place to get away from it all for a few hours.

A zip file with three sizes can be found here.

I hope you enjoy this Gethsemane Gardens desktop.

Thanks for popping by.

Jeni

Beautiful Rosa

2009-08-04T12:25:00.005+12:00

Kia ora

Following along with Judy's beautiful script for the tiles, here is a desktop using them.

The desktop shows another image of the beautiful President Herbert Hoover rose from my garden.

A zip file of three sizes can be found here.

Thank you Judy at TOC.

Enjoy.

Jeni

The Rich Red Velvet of my 'Hippy'

2009-08-02T14:35:00.008+12:00

Kia ora

A flower has opened up on my beautiful Hippeastrum, also known as an Amaryllis [Amaryllidaceae]. I love the rich red velvet of her...another is still to open, a truly magnificent sight. I have found this to be the second flowering of this plant in the one year. I keep the bulb outside in a pot and only bring her in at the beginning of winter where she gets warmth and, once flowered, will go back outside.

Enjoy the beautiful Hippeastrum, the photograph was taken last evening.

Jeni

Beautifully fragrant

2009-07-15T18:57:00.004+12:00

Kia ora

A beautiful fragrant rose in my garden is President Herbert Hoover. Pretty colours of orange, gold and pink make this a really lovely rose.

I have created a desktop using an image I took of this rose in my garden last summer.

You can download a zip file with three sizes here.

Thanks for popping into my blog for a look.

Jeni

Celebrate Winter

2009-06-28T17:24:00.004+12:00

Kia ora

Another view of Queenstown where the Winter Festival is happening at this very moment.

A busy centre for adventurous people from all over the world, Queenstown is an exciting place to be at any time of the year.

Hope you like yet another view of the Remarkables from Queenstown. I took heaps of pix.

Jeni

A Remarkable place

2009-06-25T22:10:00.003+12:00

Kia ora

The Remarkables mountain range, near Queenstown, looked stunning in the early evening when I took this photograph. Some say the range of mountains is called the Remarkables because it is one of two ranges, in the world, that run directly north/south, others say it is the sight during sunset that is remarkable, either way this range of mountains is very beautiful.

Please enjoy this desktop, zip file found here.

Thanks for popping by.

Jeni

a Week in Paradise

2009-06-24T23:47:00.007+12:00

Kia ora

Having just spent a week in paradise, I thought I'd share one of my images with you.

This photograph was taken this arvo in Queenstown, taken from the Skyline above the town. A gondola takes us up to the skyline where the adventurous play, there is parapenting, luge and bungy jumping available up on Bob's Peak, above Queenstown.

Hope you like this pic.

Jeni

The elegance of days gone by

2009-06-07T15:07:00.008+12:00

Kia ora

This image from Dover Publications appealed to me and this desktop has been created from a card I made a couple of weeks ago, using this same image.

Thank you Judy for your beautiful tulip script found here.

I hope you like this desktop.

You will find a zip file of three different sizes here.

Below is a card for you, just click on it to open and right click on it to save to your hard drive.

Thank you.

Jeni

The Earth's Shadow up on Camp Hill Road

2009-05-27T10:36:00.006+12:00

Kia ora

Last evening, as the sun was going down in the west, I hurtled up to Camp Hill Road, near Wyndham in Southland, and took this photograph of a tree on a hill.

It was lovely up there and the views across Southland were spectacular. I've been back up there this morning to look out over the province at the frost settled in the valley and on the hills where the sun has yet to shine. So, from the Takitimu Mountain range in the west, to the islands off the south coast and right across to Slopedown Range looked beautiful last evening, and again, this morning.

I have uploaded a file of three different size desktops here.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Thanks for popping by.

Jeni

Summer's Sunflower

2009-05-21T21:22:00.009+12:00

Kia ora

I know some of you might be sweltering in the sun, lucky you! I took this photograph of a sunflower, a super-macro image, in summer, it is now winter where I live. The sunflowers grew along the fence line at home and looked wonderful, as sunflowers do. Beautiful big golden heads as well as small, they all looked stunning in their display.

The image in the centre of the frame was played with in Aviary, a suite of new design tools from the creators of Worth 1000. New to Aviary, I have enjoyed playing there.

This desktop comes in a zip file with three sizes here.

I hope you like it.

Below is a card for you, just click on it to open and right click on it to save to your hard drive.

Thanks for popping by.

Jeni

Tulip Script from Judy

2009-05-01T14:42:00.008+12:00

Kia ora

If you haven't already seen Judy's gorgeous new script for making tulips, please take a look at her blog where she has the script available to purchase for the small sum of $US2.

Thanks Judy, I love it.

You will find the tulip script at http://www.judyattoc.com/2009/04/spring-tulip-psp-script.html

Jeni

ANZAC Day

2009-04-24T16:56:00.005+12:00

Kia ora

Tomorrow, 25 April 2009, we celebrate ANZAC Day. To New Zealanders and Australians all over the world, this is a special day. A day where we all remember the fallen from the wars we have been involved in with our near neighbours.

ANZAC, to those who do not know, is the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

To see a larger image, just click on it and it will open in another window.

Thank you.

Jeni

A Protective Cob

2009-04-13T15:40:00.009+12:00

Kia ora

Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Easter.

Finally managed to put together another desktop, this time using an image of a Black Swan taken at Maple Glen gardens in Glenham, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

A few weeks ago, when I was at Maple Glen showing some friends around, we were warned about the Black Swan and the need to keep away from him because he was protecting his female, who was brooding. In the above image, he had just forced us away from his family who were wandering on the other side of the bridge, he stamped his feet and marched across in front of us to stop us walking near her and eventually got us to walk over the bridge and away from his family.

The five cygnets are now seen wandering in close proximity to the female (pen) and the ever watchful male (cob) keeps everyone away from his young family.

Originally from Australia, the Black Swan or Cygnus atratus was introduced into New Zealand in 1864.

The birds at Maple Glen are all bred there. Other images of the Black Swans can be found here. They are taken by Rob Davison of Maple Glen.

A zip file containing three sizes can be found here.

I hope you like it.

Jeni

Floral Haven

2009-03-28T15:28:00.006+13:00

Kia ora

A beautiful space near my home is Maple Glen. These wonderful gardens are open daily from 9am to 5pm.

I was over there last evening with some friends from Christchurch and we wandered around the top to the crocus lawn then continued across the island, where the black swan was nesting, to the nursery and car park.

I have created a desktop with some of the beauties found there. I hope you like it.

To download a zip file with three sizes, please go here.

Thank you.

Jeni

A Sunny Flower

2009-03-21T21:23:00.006+13:00

Kia ora

The sunflowers are looking wonderful in my garden at the moment. A line dance of a dozen or so beautiful tall golden orbs stretching up to the sun in our blue autumn skies. The seeds are showing, already, on many of the flower heads, the birds have been up there on the flowers attempting to dig out those nutritious seeds.

You may download a zip file of three sizes here.

Jeni

Jiminy Cricket, it's a Cicada

2009-03-20T23:48:00.007+13:00

Kia ora

Commonly known as crickets, although not actually so, this little fella sat on my hand in the car in a nearby town a few days ago, then wandered up my shirt front and into my hair, where I forgot about it, until the tickling down my shirt front, reminded me of the young cicada...it ended up on my runner beans a few kilometres away. It was the smallest cicada I'd ever seen, only about 10mm in length, they are normally twice that size which is why I think this one was just a baby.

You can download a zip file of this desktop in three sizes from here.

Thank you.

Jeni

Everyone's Irish on 17 March

2009-03-10T20:29:00.008+13:00

Kia ora

St Patrick's Day is the National Day of Ireland and is said to honour the patron saint of that country.

St Patrick, born circa 385AD, died 17 March 461AD and this same day has been celebrated every year since, as a day for the Irish and those of Irish descent to wear the green and/or to eat Irish food and drink Guinness, Irish Whiskey or Bailey's Irish Cream on St Patrick's Day. Some might enjoy the lot.

A tale abounds that St Patrick used the three leaf shamrock to explain the Trinity. I have used the three leaf white clover, trifolium, that I found in my garden, on this desktop. The shamrock is thought to be a young clover.

I love clover, and remember searching for the pink flowered clovers to suck the honey. It is a long time since I have done that.

You can find a zip file with three sizes of desktop here.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you.

Jeni

Times gone by

2009-02-26T13:44:00.010+13:00

Kia ora

I was recently at the Agricultural & Pastoral [A&P] Show in Gore, Southland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, where I simply had to take a few photographs of the lovely old vehicles. Normally, I'd call them vintage, however, when I looked the term up for the definition, I found vintage was pertaining mostly to wines, and when I looked up antique I found a definition for the old vehicles such as these ones, hence my reasoning for using antique instead of vintage.

A zip file with three sizes can be found here.

Thanks Judy for the use of your Colours of Australia Multidot Overlay tiles which I colourised to match the desktop.

Thank you. I hope you like this desktop.

Jeni

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T21:37:00.009+13:00

Kia ora

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Thanks also to Jon Sullivan of www.public-domain-image.com for his beautiful rose image.

Jeni

The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.

Jalal-Uddin Rumi (1207-1273) Turkish Sufi Mystic Poet

Valentines Day is almost upon us

2009-02-11T09:48:00.003+13:00

Kia ora

A new desktop for Valentines Day.

I know not everyone will want the Timaru150 desktop so decided that whilst the creative juices were flowing, I'd also make a Valentine desktop.

Hope you like it.

The zip file with three sizes is found here.

Jeni

2009-02-10T20:31:00.007+13:00

Kia ora

A few weeks ago, on 17 January 2009, a re-enactment took place of the landing of the Strathallan 150 years ago, in Timaru, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

This event was pertinent to me because one of my ancestors, Richard CHAMPION, emigrated from Ewelme in Oxfordshire, England on board the Strathallan.

It was a wonderful day and I have used the same image as that used for my blog entry below. The image shows a few of the people of Timaru dressed in costume to greet some of the descendants who arrived on the beach at Caroline Bay in January this year.

I hope you like this new desktop, it has been a while since I have created any desktop for you all.

A zip file with three sizes is available here.

Thank you for downloading my desktop.

Jeni

Waitangi Day in Aotearoa/New Zealand

2009-02-06T13:05:00.005+13:00

Kia ora

Today marked the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. It also marks the time when the flag of Te Hakituatahi o Aotearoa, the United Tribes of New Zealand, was replaced by the Union Jack.

Now, debate is going on as to which flag should fly for the Maori, Te Tino Rangatiratanga, another design, or the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.

Which will it be?

Jeni

Magpie at the Vat-t-can, Milburn

2009-01-31T22:33:00.008+13:00

Kia ora

I have a new friend. This time, a young magpie who lives at the Vat-t-can in Milburn. She found a piece of black plastic, long and thin, and must have thought this was a worm because she would roll over trying to get this 'thing' into her beak. In the photograph above, she was squawking to me because she was hungry, wanting some mince, she is hand fed although has the run of a garden with lots of vegetables in it, and, I'd guess, a few meaty worms.

I have used a mask by Ginny Hopping of Bunny's Attic, although her site is now hosted by PSPMadeEZ.

I hope you enjoy my new friend.

Jeni