Deck Delights

Sorry for the late post this week. J and I took Monday off and went and spent a wonderful weekend with our friends in Taupo. I haven't had a chance to look through my pictures and get a post together from that trip, so you get this one that I had ready, but forgot to post before we left.

As you all know, reading in the sunshine is one of my absolute favourite things. NZ is perfect for it, because while the sun can be deliciously roasting, the air temperature is often cool enough that your basking remains pleasant, rather than turning into an oven situation. In Wellington, there is usually also a cool breeze, which is perfect.

In addition, our current house provides amazing views along with the sunny place to read, which results in a situation that is remarkably close to perfection.

I didn't use the deck all that much over the winter, although there were occasional days warm and sunny enough to enjoy it. But now that it's summer, some days I am barely fully awake before I'm out there with a good book and a cup of tea.

See? How wonderful this that? That particular day, you'll notice that there were lots of clouds. It was warm enough that I didn't mind the times without direct sun, but not so warm that I wasn't happy when it came out again!

I thought these clouds over the hills were particularly wonderful.

I usually start out in long pants and a hoodie, and then just take off layers as the morning warms up. I wear lots of sunscreen and always wear my hat - I don't want skin cancer concerns marring my perfect days.

One beautifully sunny morning blew suddenly away, replace by solid rainclouds and gale force winds. I ran around the house closing all the windows, feeling like I was on a ship, battening down the hatches. I was then quite entertained watching the spotted patterns appearing on the wood of the deck as it started raining.

This day was wonderful, because while there were clouds, the ones above me were not thick enough to completely take away my sunbeams, but rather just so soften them.

Look how amazing those hill in the distance look! They're the ones you can see between the middle and right hill in the picture above. Some days you can't see them at all, and some days, like this one, they're strikingly clear.

Just in case you were missing sunrise pictures, here's another one! Usually if I'm up early enough for the sunrise, it means I'm headed to work rather than out onto the deck, but I always take a few minutes to enjoy it!