Fond farewell

I never say goodbye...its too final.  I always say 'see you later', and that is what I had to say when I left work for the final time yesterday.  I had a good cry the night before - hoping to get all cried out before my farewell morning tea.  I was fine during the morning tea - said a speech and everything, but later on before the end of the day, people came to see me before I left.  That was hard, there were tears from both sides, so I didnt feel so bad.  I loved working at Tai Poutini Polytecnic - its an awesome place to work.  The people are awesome and I will miss them terribly.

I got some lovely gifts.....

A big bunch of flowers.....

A huge card signed by the staff, and 2 charms for my Evolve bracelet (New Zealand version of Pandora).  Also one of my crafty friends there knitted me a wee bag in my favourite colours of green and purple and she made me an awesome green bead bracelet.

Here is a closeup of the charms.....I was given the New Zealand native butterfly and the other charm is safe travels.

Here is a close up on the bracelet

And here is the whole bracelet.

The murano glass charms signify different places in New Zealand.  So I have on my bracelet, places that I love - Waikato, Dunedin, Central Otago and the greenstone one is for Greymouth and the West Coast.  And then I have a ruru (morepork - our native owl), mountain daisys, a merino sheep, a heart that was the fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake, amd a dairy cow.

Now onto a stitching update.  I have almost finished the gift for my friend.  I have been managing to get in a few stitches each night.

Now for a bit of amusement.  Moving back to a city always means fighting traffic, and finding carparks -  so this is what my DH has brought me to get around on up in Lower Hutt.....

Its a brand new Suzuki AN 125cc scooter.  Very economical.  I can't wait to try it out.  I had a scooter about 20 years ago when I was in Hamilton and I loved it.  DH has brought himself a big motorbike for commuting.  Both bikes are in the shop still waiting for us to go and collect them.

Oh well thats it for today.   Happy Easter everyone.   I am now going to go out in the garden and get it tidied up one last time before we leave.