Sea-wall work almost done | Otago Daily Times

Sea-wall work almost done | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News

Work to secure and stabilise the damaged sections of sea wall and the Esplanade at St Clair should be completed by this weekend.

Since the installation of new sheet-piling at the bottom of the sea wall was completed last week, contractors have been filling gaps behind the wall to protect it from the thumping of waves.

A gap between the sea wall and the original sea wall behind it has been filled with fine gravel, and holes that appeared in the Esplanade have been filled with coarser gravel.

The holes were created when the wall was undermined by high tides and heavy seas that removed more than a metre of sand from the beach at the foot of the wall and created gaps through which fill from behind was sucked out under the wall.

Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Stand-ring said he expected the filling work to be completed by this weekend.

The sheet-piling and fill would protect the wall from further damage, but the area round the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club's ramp would remain closed to the public for a significant amount of time yet.

Contractors would next go over the damaged area looking for any less obvious damage that had not been picked up yet.

The next major stage of work would be looking at addressing the sand retention on the beach in the long term.

Council staff had narrowed down the 11 expressions of interest received from consultants across the country for that work, and were in discussions with three companies.

It was hoped a decision on a consultant would be made by the middle of next week.

- debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz

Dave Parmenter

Awesome. Dave Parmenter has a website up and running called Nowtro. It's a great looking site, and the content is what you'd expect from one of the more considered and literate surfer/shapers out there. There's his writing, there's his boards and there's a link to buy his collection of fiction which I did and I highly recommend. (Although for some reason it's printed in oddly large type. Nice for us older blokes I suppose, but I'm a little way from seeing that badly yet.) Parmenter has quietly laboured away on the frontlines of hand shaping surfboards and brought us the Stub vector and a lot of the widowmakers out there- here's a hero in my eyes. All photos swiped from the site except the one of my clear widow.

chinoiserie in the powder room

Using the powder room at Marion's 

can be quite a visual adventure, haha!

It contains a fun collection of chinoiserie 

and other sentimental treasures

The fleur de lys sconces are from
 her childhood home in Cologne, Germany 

Her husband proposed to her in the living room 
of her parents' home where these sconces originally hung 

 The adventure continues, 

when Marion and I go antiquing next week!

Ciao! Fabiana 

Beginners luck

Have you ever noticed how some beginners have the most incredible good fortune.
People making incredible finds who have only been metal detecting a short time. 
In my opinion, the main reason why beginners are able to make incredible finds is because they are newbies. 
I use tales of fantastic "beginners luck" as motivation to keep thinking and treasure hunting outside the box. 
I really do not believe there is such a thing as beginners luck, novice beach and shallow water hunters make the find because they are not preconditioned to search in a certain way. 
They have probably never heard of the list of things that you are supposed to do by detecting forum experts and bloggers before you can find treasure.
Search two hours before low tide, use a super large search coil, dig everything,  etc
Beginners have no sense of beach hunting right or wrongs, they are prone to do what other beach and shallow water hunters have forgotten to do.
They go treasure hunting regardless of the conditions or place they are about to search. 
With no preconceived best things to do and best places to search on the beach, they go out and have so called beginners luck.
Most times in obvious places that seasoned beach or water hunters would probably have over looked anyway.
I always avoid box hunting and try hard to hold on to a beginners simple view of beach and shallow water hunting.  
Maybe that is why I am so lucky, I never do the expected and think like a beginner with a free mind. 
the next time you go to the beach, free your mind and try thinking outside the box.
Ask yourself where would a beginner have beginners luck? 
It is probably in an area on the beach or inside the water where others would not think to search.

fruits of the garden

Summer in the garden means lots of harvesting.  Easy harvesting!  It's basically just apple and grape picking.  This variety of "Anna" apple grows well here in Newport Beach and produces in June and July. 

Most of these "Flame" seedless grapes will be ripe in July and August.  We love to share these with our friends and neighbors.  We get soooo many!   They are just a great variety of table grape to munch on!

 

We also have quite a few citrus trees.  This one is a "Valencia" orange.  We also have lemons, limes, tangerines, and kumquats.  They mostly produce in the winter months.

Thanks for stopping by!

xo

ciao! Fabiana

shades of green in this outdoor space

Local Laguna Beach interior designer, Sheldon Harte designed his own cozy backyard in beautiful shades of green, both in the decor and in the plants.  The small size of the yard was a challenge, but unifying the space with tranquil green was just the right choice to connect with elements found naturally outdoors. 

luxurious pillows create an inviting seating area

lushness of the plant material

and a natural color palette create a relaxed vibe 

comfortable chairs are always enticing 

chic hunter green striped chaises

are perfect for lounging around the pool,

  and look like they belong at a posh hotel  

featured in the summer edition of 

Deck, Patio & Outdoor Living.

Ciao! Fabiana 

easy summer tablescapes

Just a few pretty ideas to make your summer entertaining easy....

use natural materials and seashells

add a fresh element to your theme

 

be creative with place mats and napkins

pick a color and run with it!

add some fun! 

make your tablecloth the star and accent around it 

a simple flower is so elegant

burlap and yardage from a fabric store are a great base for white plates

simple with a few rustic and charming touches 

a sprig a lavender will sooth all your guests

 keep the theme simple with flowers of the same colors

3 stacked fishbowls with orchids floating in each one, fabulous!

via easy tablescapes

ciao! Fabiana

Protecting Cockenoe Island

Today our staff helped the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to fence off Cockenoe Island in Westport. This critical waterbird nesting habitat currently supports three pairs of American Oystercatchers with at least four chicks. During our visit a gull attacked one of those chicks that escaped by entering the water and swimming away! It was able to make its way back to shore just in time as it grew tired quickly and began to struggle.

Here's a shot of a couple of our crew hard at work.

There were also 75 to 90 Common Terns in the area with about 50 chicks on Cockenoe among the many nests. Take a look at all of them in the air!

And here you can see those chicks.

Hopefully this work by USFWS and the AAfCW work will help protect the island and the nesting colony throughout the busy summer as boats enter the water and activity rises in Long Island Sound, especially around the 4th of July. Additional signage will be going up to help educate people that pass by about the birds nesting there.


Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, Audubon Connecticut and the Connecticut Audubon Society partnering to improve conditions for coastal waterbirds in Connecticut.

Keep moving

Try to move around as much as possible, avoid going back to the same beach over and over again just because you made a good find there in the past. 
You can always tell a beach or shallow water hunter that moves around a lot, by the variety of their finds.
People who specialize in finding one type of find, such as old silver coins or gold rings often go back to their comfort zone of a beach they are familiar with.  
Weekend warriors often make this mistake, taking the easy approach of following the detecting crowd to the same beach every Saturday or Sunday morning.
Searching the same beach day after day in the hope of finding another old silver coin is like waking up in the movie Groundhog Day. 
This kind of narrow thinking leads to a lack of variety in your metal detecting finds.
I love searching for Spanish silver reales on shipwreck beaches in Florida, I know the beaches that produce them but I never go back day after day regardless of the conditions. 
I make my Spanish treasure coin hunting a part of my bigger beach and shallow water treasure hunting plan, searching a variety of beaches leads to a variety of metal detecting finds.
If you want to make good finds on a regular basis, you are going to have to stalk and chase those good metal detecting finds down.
I firmly believe that you will find this a better beach and water hunting strategy than waiting for treasure to show up on the same beach every day. 

These three gold chains were found on three different beaches, two of the gold chains were found on beaches that are not detected as often as larger tourist beaches in the area. 
As you can see by this photo, moving around is a good gold jewelry hunting strategy. 
Its tempting to go back to the same beach when you find something, even more tempting when you find something else.  
Before you know it, you are like a gambler playing the slot machines feeding money into the slots because you got a little payout.
Just like the slot machines, beaches that do not pay out very often are best left for small time gamblers.
Play to win on several beaches, where there is not always a beach hunter waiting for a different result every day. 

An Abomination of Desolation on DOMA

Marriage is a God-instituted union between one man and one woman, that is what the Bible upholds which no Supreme Court can rewrite or reinterpret.  Additionally, "No court decision or public opinion poll can affect that which is evident in biology, logic, common sense and the collective wisdom of human history" (John Stemberger, Florida Family Policy Council). By its ruling today against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Supreme Court committed a sacrilege in all sense of the word, an abomination of desolation, and the gay community is rejoicing.

Today's news might be disappointing, but when I remembered the following Words of the Lord my worries turned to understanding and hope.
God's Word says, ". . .be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, living according to their own desires" (2 Peter 3:3).  But they are forgetting something ". . .Long ago the heavens and the earth were brought about from water and through water by the word of God. Through these waters the world of that time perished when it was flooded. But by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:5-7 HCSB).

Now, if you're wondering what God is doing at the moment and why He's allowing these events to happen, read once again His Words and you'll understand why,

"When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction (italics mine).  He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory (Romans 9:21-23 NLT). 

God is creating today a stark contrast between the ungodly and his righteous glory for all to see.  Hence the more that you see these abomination of desolation, this sacrilege to the holy institutions of the holy matrimony and of the church, look up for the day that the Lord has said will come.  It may seem like the church is losing at the moment, but wait on the LORD.  His Day will come.


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summer bike riding fashion

From Who What Where, 

here are some cute summer fashion choices seen around the city.

Ciao! Fabiana