A beautiful day

The children were all up early so we got their breakfasts organised and then I got mine and I sat curled up on the sofa and watched a movie. Mahalia got my dressing gown for me to cuddle up under as it was a bit cool just siting there eating cold fruit and yoghurt.
The movie wasn’t cold though – it was brilliant.
So good that I am going to have to buy a copy of my own.
It was called ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ starring Jack Lemmon.
Cry! Did I cry.
It was so good.
If you haven’t seen it you gotta get it.
I was telling Christine about it and she had read the book.
It was mandatory for those working in palliative care.
So, I guess I better look for the book now cuz I want to read it too.

After that finished I ended up spending the rest of the morning in the study.
I was playing with http://www.photomax.
I have joined up and I was experimenting and ordering stuff.
Am slowly getting the hang of it.
It is great.

I also had a long chat with the Council – we have to do major stuff to/with our wharf.
Whatever we do is going to be horrendously expensive and the paper work/red tape to do before we even get to start work on it is so daunting that I just cannot get my head around it.
I am now in consultation with a guy who is going to assist us with it all.
I have decided that I have way better things to do with my time and energy than to to get stressed out trying to do something that someone else can do in no time at all cuz they have been doing it already and know what they are about.
It is absolutely bizarre though – our wharf has been there for around 100 years. Built out of timber from around here with no modern treatments. It has stood the test of time and will stand much longer if left be.
However the powers that be have decreed now that all foreshore structures must have a resource consent which hinges on an engineers report.
We know darn well that it won’t pass one of those.
But if/when we buy new wharf piles they are only guaranteed for 30 years and the consent is only for 15 years.
No quality in anything today eh??
As well as that I have just realised the Waterfall wharf has to be renewed next year so I may as well do all the paper work at the same time. I told Tim that at least I won’t be doing the next one.
He was a bit dismayed to think I am thinking I won’t be here in 15 years.
But it actually wasn’t that – I was thinking that by then I would have resigned my post in the office and would have handed the baton on to a younger member of our family society
After all, I have better things to do and to look forward to than playing with red tape

I finally got out to the kitchen around 11am.
Nathan had made two French chocolate cakes.
I got him all cleaned up and sorted and then I began my cooking.
I made a venison casserole for my catered party and then another venison and mutton one for our dinner tonight.
I also made lunch and used left over sausages to make a casserole for tomorrows lunch – but Bri has decided that it will be enough for dinner.
I’m outa here tomorrow so whatever they do with it is fine by me. As long as it gets eaten

This afternoon I got caught on the phone with a neighbour who is also going through wharf issues – that was quite a long conversation and then another call from our accounts manager who had all the time in the world to discuss my accounts programme issues. By this stage Christine had arrived around for a cuppa so I was pretty keen to get off the phone. She saw I was on the phone so went down for a swim with the children.

The children swam and then came up for a spa and food.
Christine & I finally got our cup of tea and chat while we watched the children from the decking.
Bri took Shannie out for a sail in the catamaran.

Nathan decided it looked so good he got the optimist out for a sail too.
Then Mahalia and Azzan went kayaking with Tereza.

There was quite an armada in the bay.

They had so much fun.
Bri had the catamaran all over the bay. It was fair moving along.

Christine decreed that our children have such an idyllic life – and I would have to agree

They got back in time for dinner but then Tristan and Steve went out fishing in the kayaks. It proved to windy for Steve so he returned but Tristan stayed out till dark and came home with some good sized cod.

Nathan zipped up to WB in the dinghy to get Mike but Mike had already walked around the track with his pack. He is leaving tomorrow to head back to Palmerston North and University.

I have got the children all sorted for tomorrow – as per normal, I have had to wash their town clothes at the last minute so they are now in the dryer.

I am hoping to be outa here well before 6am so I had better get off to bed now.
Got a good day planned so hopefully it will all go well. Have to have Mike at the airport by 9am so hence the need to get away early.

I was up at 5:30am Tuesday.
Went straight out for my walk.
It was so cool to be walking along the track at that hour – it was light but pre sunrise.
The birds were dawn chorusing, the cicada’s were chirping deafeningly in the trees and the wind was blowing warmly around me as I got to the points.

Had a good start to the day.
Tim and Nathan & the 2 guys took off out to begin the yearly weeding programme.
We have a map each year of the farm and as they complete each block it is coloured in to show how much is done and what is remaining. Gives great incentive to see all those red lines increasing each day.

Seb stayed home to do some school work.
Tereza spent the morning cleaning the Cottage.
I began making dinner but as Cat was insisting I delegate – which I usually do – I asked Seb to do The Pumpkin.
It had been a unanimous decision from him and Cat that we have Pumpkin & feta salad. I am happy to make it but cutting and skinning the pumpkin into cubes is very tedious. So the agreement was that Seb would do that.

Cat biked to work around midday.
Then a friend of Seb’s zoomed into the bay in his dinghy from across the waters.
So guess what?
Seb got occupied for the rest of the afternoon and the pumpkin remained as it was until around 5ish.

I continued with the delegating.
Nate came home and after lunch he made mushroom stroganoff.
Shannie began scrubbing the potatoes.
Tereza finished them and made a salad.
Azzan wanted to make a hidden treasure dessert so I helped him with that – pretty basic really – mix an instant pudding and fold in choc chips and lollies – too jolly sweet for me but he had found the recipe in Shannie’s Scooby Doo magazine and just had to make it. He loves those recipes

Tereza took the children swimming which was great. They love to get down to the water at least once a day.
Hali & Azzan had been on the beach earlier int he day and found heaps of crabs.

In the meantime I was beginning to make progress in my bedroom with sorting out art gear – basically moving stuff, sorting and getting rid of rubbish and excess boxes so far.
I called my friend Bethel in Oz and had a lovely catch up chat.

It was now getting quite late but I was able to begin the pumpkin salad.
(If you want the recipe let me know – it is wonderful )
Consequently by the time I finished it, it was near 7pm and I was beyond tired.

Steve, Tereza & Tristan quickly washed up the dishes and rounded up sleeping bags and bed rolls so they could get up the hill.
They were sleeping up there so they could catch the sun set, stars and sun rise.

Tim had to go kill some muttons so Seb put the children to bed for me.
I was just way too tired to do anything.
I crashed out on the couch and watched ‘What’s eating Gilbert Grape’.
Must admit is was amusing seeing Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio as young fellas!

I was feeling totally anti social and just needed time for me with NO ONE around me.
So when Bri & Anna arrived home around 9pm they didn’t get any response from mother.
That is until they and Seb decided at 9:45pm to hop in the spa.
Tim and I always have our time in there around 10 so they were booted out just a few minutes after they got in.
It definitely was don’t mess with mother night!!!

I didn’t even read my book last night.
Tim was up at 5:30am today and I dragged myself out soon after to make up some sandwiches for the 3 up the hill.
Tim & Seb have gone up to get them and they will do a run on the weeds while it is cool.
It has dawned very cloudy with a lowish fog so I think they have missed sunrise today.

I am skipping my walk this morning – may go for one later on.
Got a really busy day today as I am off to town tomorrow with the 4 children and have to prepare for a catered party this weekend.
Am cooking for 10 guys for 3 days.
A breeze I know after catering for 15 here most days.
But when they are paying $$ for it you always feel more conscious of what you are serving.

Last night we went to sleep with the sound of the southerly pounding in on the shore.
This morning it had blown itself out and the bay was mirror calm.

I left home a little later than normal this morning – the sun was already on the house

I went walking along here…..

this would have to be better than pounding the concrete pavements or working out at the gym – wouldn’t it?

I get glimpses through the pine trees of home on the way back

Aren’t telephoto lenses great!

Especially when you can use them to see way over to Waterfall Bay…

Tim took Steve out to cut up a tree that had fallen over the road and then to muster some cattle.
Tereza & Tristan finished the mussel ropes and cleaned the Cottage.
The children cleaned their rooms and I began to clear the school room.
That was after I had cooked dinner.
Hence the reason I never got too far with the school room.
One day I am going to get a good run at it with out being interrupted by organising food or people-!!

Azzan came and told me that his room was ‘deliciously clean’
That was after days of trying to convince him to tidy it to my specifications – not his!!

Richard arrived just as we were clearing lunch. So we sat and talked for quite a while.
Steve & Tristan went fishing in the double kayak – they were gone until very late this evening.
They came home with some cod so were most proud.

The children watched ‘We of the Never Never’ A great Australian classic story.
Tim took Richard up to Waterfall to have a look and see if he liked the prospect of care-taking it for us.

The answer is Yes!
So we now have an official long term caretaker – yahoo!

They arrived back just in time for dinner so we talked some more and more.
Then Tim went mustering again and I put the children to bed.

And so the evening went…..
and it is off to bed for him and off to bed for me

Another weekend disappeared.

Saturday Tim was up bright and early – he took Steve, Nathan & Tereza up the hill to muster the sheep and wean the lambs. Rie & Bara did mussel ropes all morning.
Tim went to use the tractor after lunch and for some reason the hydraulics wouldn’t work so that canned the work he wanted to do for Cat. She got the girls to sand and paint one of her boats and then took Tereza and Steve to tidy up some wood.

I made a vegetarian Shepherds Pie for dinner. I use lentils instead of meat – it goes down real well with most of the crew!
Seb & Hazel went around the track to chainsaw a couple of fallen trees that are making it rather difficult to get around to Waterfall Bay.
I blobbed out in front of a chick flick in the afternoon and then again after dinner.

This morning I woke up at 3:30am and realised Seb was not in bed.
Couldn’t get back to sleep so got up at 4:30am so I could take Hazel around to the neighbours as she was getting a ride out to town with them at 5:30am. Found several of the older crew in Cat’s hut – they had not been to bed at all so I was glad I had woken in time to drive her around.

We got there in plenty of time.
Steve & Rie had gotten up at 5am and walked to the top of Crichtons Hill to see the sunrise.
I saw a little of it through the clouds when I returned at 6am but I couldn’t be bothered waiting another 20mins at the top of the hill to see it all.

Decided to have a read and soak in the bath when I got back but kept on dozing off so ended up putting the book down before it fell in the water and just dozed a while. Definitely needed the extra zed’s-!!

Christine walked around to join us for fellowship and Baz, Janice and family came too.
Wendy was driving out so she took Bara & Rie to Takaka with her.
Then the water taxi arrived bringing Tristan from Berlin.

After a late lunch Baz & Janice left – they had enjoyed their weeks holiday with no phones ringing or TV blearing in the background. Lots of fishing and R&R

Tereza convinced Steve & Tristan to go kayaking and the little ones were playing happily so Tim, Nathan & I watched ‘The Wind and the Lion’. A real good classic movie set in Morocco. We really enjoyed it. Lots of drama, but as Tim commented – it was great to watch a movie that had no foul language or explicit sex. A very pleasant change. Okay! It did have some fairly interesting scenes of head removals with Berber swords – but heck! it was a true story

I was going to make savoury pin wheel scones for dinner but the filling proved to be more than I could pin wheel so I turned it into a Berber pizza. It was delicious. We then had crepes for dessert. Totally unhealthy dinner but the kids loved it. Too much wheat for me though – I have had an upset tummy ever since – back to the diet tomorrow.

Update on Emma.
She is home as from last night.
But sadly had to leave her wee man in hospital as he is not developed enough yet.
That was real hard for her, but her other darlings were needing her so she felt it expedient to go home.
The wee man has a name – David Colin.
David means ‘beloved’
Colin is after her obstetrician who was responsible for saving her life though all this trauma.
When I researched the name Colin, I found it to be a diminutive form of Nicholas – which means ‘victorious people’ AND he was the patron saint of children.
How appropriate-!!

Another hot day.

Today went pretty well really.
Tim & Seb went out early to finish the mussel work.
Nathan took the girls down to the wharf and showed them how to do the mussel ropes and sand the boat.
Cat and Steve made a start on Anson’s abode.

I made dinner & muffins while Nathan & Hazel baked cakes.
It was so hot today.
At one stage it was 25’C inside and later this arvo it was 34’C out on the verandah.
That is hot for here – I know it isn’t for those of you who endure temps of 42’C plus. But it is all relative and when I say it was hot, it was!!
Everyone was wilting at lunch time so they all went swimming.

Louisa came on the mailboat and collected her three darlings. I am not too sure who most pleased to see Louisa – the children or the grandmother

They are off to have a week with their Dad now.
It was lovely for them to have the mailboat trip rather than the drive – much more relaxing for them all.

Cat & Steve carried on building afterwards.
I went to have a rest but ended up chatting on the phone to my bro instead.
It was nice to have a catch up as we hadn’t talked in a while.
He has been pretty cut up over losing his old dog and then a week later his wife’s horse.

Got the rest of dinner underway with Hazel’s help. Iced the cakes and then put on my walking shoes and walked around to Waterfall Bay. It was a good walk, lovely in the bush as it wasn’t so hot.

I haven’t walked through there in a while – it was all over grown with several fallen trees blocking the way and felt all jungley.

Christine rowed around from Bush Inn.
Charlotte was at her yacht and she and Wendy had taken a cruise in her rubber ducky around the bay whilst waiting for us.
Tim was last to arrive in his dinghy.
There were 3 or 4 dolphins were playing right in close to the shore tonight.
Beautiful.

Wendy had begun dinner and Mike completed the preparations.
It was delicious. Roast chicken and fresh vegetables and good company.

We had a very relaxed and friendly evening.

Only stresses of the night were that the blasted freezers are playing up and Tim & Mike had to juggle stuff to make room for the fishing party’s fish. It is a 4 day party so they need quite a lot of room.

We have just enjoyed a zippy ride back in the dinghy and now I am off to bed.

Catching up

Wed morn sorta disappeared fairly quickly.
I was up at the crack of dawn to fit my walk in before the day went crazy.
Tim and the guys left early to do mussel work – we are finally having some harvests done.
They were sposed to begin back in August but it has just been too dry and conditions not right for fattening.

Then the two Israeli girls left – they had stayed longer due to the storm.

It was such a fortuitous meeting – they hadn’t known about us until they met up with the 2 Israeli guys who were booked to come in. They all came together, the guys could only stay one night but the girls stayed on and on and on – and would’ve stayed on longer if they could’ve.
In fact they are threatening to come back – we will welcome them with open arms when they do

Mahalia has disappeared while I was in town.
She has taken up residence with Christine and the Davidson children at Bush Inn.
It is so quiet when just one child is removed from the equation-!!

I had a VERY long catch up call with Phillipa.
It was great.
We talk frequently but usually just for quick info calls.
So a 2 hour deep and meaningful call was a special time.
Made easier because I now have 3 cordless phones in the house and I could carry on doing things while talking.
In fact my stove top got a good clean for the first time in a while – thanks Phillipa

Cat helped to organise the 2 new wwoofers while I was occupied.
Finally got some shrubs planted that had been sitting at the backdoor for weeks waiting to find the right place.

Because I get up and go walking in the morning I am dressed but not showered and some mornings once I set foot in the house life just takes over and I don’t actually get to find the shower until much later in the day. BEMW (Before Early Morning Walks) if I got up and put on my dressing gown and started to get things underway – it was pretty jolly obvious that I wasn’t decent to face the world, so I would get to the shower a lot earlier. Nowadays I keep on getting caught out and Wed was one of those days. Finally after dealing with heaps of calls and visits a neighbour arrived in his boat after lunch. So I decided it was time!

My day was also a little difficult cuz I was realising that I had made quite a mistake in accepting the last minute wwoofer I had brought home the night before. She was just not gelling with us. It does happen occasionally, but once it happens and esp so early in the visit I find myself having to work out how to diplomatically getting them to leave. Most folk rub along really well, we do get one or three that are a bit ‘different’ but then just occasionally we get someone who just rubs us all up the wrong way – and now is that time

Shannie, Tereza, & Rie went kayaking around to Jack’s Beach to spend the afternoon with the rest of the children. Christine had organised a picnic there for them.

Tim & I took our lunch down to The Cottage and had a chat with the crew down there. It was a nice interlude to the day.
But after a while I found myself nodding off so while it was quiet I came back home and had a of a rest.
I was quite weary. It was a bit of a struggle to drag myself off the bed to get dinner prepared at 5pm.

After dinner I blobbed out in front of a movie.

Thursday –
My alarm woke me at 5:30am. I am setting my cell alarm at 8 hour intervals to remember to take my antibiotics. At this point they seem to be working, my tooth has settled a lot. Just have to pray it will continue to improve and not keep niggling.

Tim, Steve & Seb were back out doing mussel work – Tim likes to leave by 7am to catch the early morning stillness. He does not like working on the mussel lines when it is windy. He is most fortunate that he can have that preference because we live on site.

I went for a walk and then got Nathan to take Rie and Bara up to Waterfall Bay in the dinghy to help Mike for the day. Tereza helped me. I don’t think we really did a lot. I was planning on getting the school room cleaned up – once again it has become the dumping zone. Cat told me that the hole in the hall ceiling is going to lead into a storage area. Great news! At long last we might have somewhere to actually store things and not have to move spare bedding etc around the house. But until it is completed I will continue to juggle boxes.

Anyway, I never did get to the school room. I did actually walk in there and around it and then came straight back out. Too hard. I was too tired to think about it.

We were having lunch and Brynn and Jo arrived for a visit. It was great catching up with them. Brynn worked for us when Anson was a baby – 1995/96. The marker for remembering this is that he was here when the Mikhail Lermentov sank in Port Gore.

Steve and Tereza went on a long walk around the farm – Steve had done it on Tuesday and Tereza wanted to see it all as well. She is a bright wee button – very enthusiastic & pleasant to have around.

Azzan has taken to asking me if he can use my camera to take photos. So I out the strap around his neck and turn it on and off he trots. He takes a few and then comes back happy as Larry. Most of them I have to delete as they are blurry. But this time he actually captured his magnetic sculpture very nicely.

After they left I went and lay down on my bed and slept. Once again I had to hurriedly wake myself to get dinner finished. While I was waiting for everyone to arrive in I got a few batches of butter made to put in the freezer and also got 2 loaves of wheat free bread on the go for Tim.

Hazel (Seb’s friend) is visiting this week. It has been really nice getting to know her. She is a delightful girl. Azzan has also been enjoying her company. They both helped me make the bread and get dinner finished last night along with the 3 critters that my children were given at the ‘Just Because’ party at Bush Inn.

For once everyone turned up for dinner pretty much on time. I just hate preparing food and then having people either coming in real late or not coming at all and then finding food disappearing at random hours of the night. It is so hard to budget the food when that happens. When we only get to town intermittently and I am feeding around 12-15 plus people each meal I have to have a handle on the amounts. Food is not cheap either and I hate waste.

Mahalia arrived home for dinner too. She was looking very partied out.

It was such an amazing evening that after dinner the children all took off down to the beach. Tim was down on the wharf getting the mussel rope gantry set up for the girls to do the ropes this morning. I think it was close to 9:30pm before we managed to get them into their beds-!!

By this stage I was beside myself with tiredness. I had forgotten though to cook the bread so I had to wait up for it to finish. I waited for Tim to get in and shower and then I fell into the spa. Decided last night that today I would take it quietly and not head of early for a walk. So set my alarm for 6am instead and I woke just before it. Have had a good catch up here on the computer and now I am going to hop in the shower before today disappears……..

The Road to a Friends House is Never Long! – remember that if you come to visit us :-)

Monica & I left home just before 7am today.

We headed up our road

to the top and drove through our Boundary paddock.

It was a beautiful clear calm and warm morning.

Zipping along, over cattle stops.
Fewer of these on the road now as the farms are being sold and land de-stocked.

Met some local critters who move off the road at their leisure, not our request!

Admiralty Bay was a mirror this morning

quite different from last Saturday

and then on around more corners and up hills

until we get to the best view ever – I never tire of this.
Every time I drive out I love to stop and look across the bottom of D’Urville Island and northwards through French Pass

Monica had to capture it too just before we meandered away from the pasture lands into the bush.

Through the Garnes/Saville Reserve

Nearly at Canoe Bay

And finally,
Voilà! Tarseal – yippee
here we are at the Elaine Bay turnoff.

Mind you, tarseal does not mean the end of the hills or multitudinous bends and corners to navigate around. It just means you are more likely to meet a huge truck somewhere where you least expect it

And down McLarens Hill we zip and zig and zag..

and at the bottom for the unwary is…..

the one way bridge.
Been caught out here a time or two

Then through Moncriefs Reserve

and up another small hill

and down the other side to

civilisation
people
holiday homes
Okiwi Bay
The first, or last, which ever way you happen to be approaching, toilet stop on the trip-!!

Then it is onwards and upwards over the Ronga Saddle and at last we get to make a decision

Which way shall we go??

Well, we could always turn around and go home

No!
Not today.
We continue to wend our way over more hills to Nelson

on State Highway 6.
Can you see it there amongst the bush?

We got to Nelson, Monica dashed into Starbucks for our brekky fix and then the rain began.
We had jobs to do.
So we ducked and dived from car to shop to car to the next shop.
It finally came in so heavy that we were actually getting wet.

By then it was time for my dentist appointment so I left Monica at the Info Centre.
James found thankfully that there is no abscess yet.
And that the copious amounts of Vit C and Garlic I have been taking is actually helping the low grade infection to subside.
He prescribed some antibiotics to try and stop it in it’s tracks.
If it does not calm down by next week then I have no option than to have it pulled.
There is not enough real tooth left to save this time

Disaster struck
I discovered to my horror that the necklace that Tim gave me when I was 16, that I have worn continuously ever since, was not there.
My nexk was naked.
The catch of the chain must have malfunctioned and it had dropped off somewhere in my running about in the rain.

I am totally gutted and am now trying to find photos of me with it showing clearly enough to be able to show to insurance and jewellers so I can have it remade.
It is very unusual, I have never seen another like it.
It had a large teardrop shaped Amethyst in it with a pearl set in a very old fashioned gold setting.
Apart from the sentimental side of things – I actually treasure it way more than my wedding ring – it is actually worth quite a lot of money.

I found Monica and we went clothes shopping at Mariposa.
I just LOVE that store.
We had such fun, and came away with a few more necessary articles of clothing

Popped across the street to Morrison St Cafe and met Bri & Anna for lunch.
Just squeaked our orders in before the 2:30pm deadline.

We parted company after that Bri had to go to the physio, the girls carried on shopping.
They are heading down the West Coast on a road trip for a week.

I zipped up to the gym and did my work out then met up with Tereza from Czech Republic.
We wen to The Warehouse and Countdown and the got a heap of hire dvds and pizza for dinner.
Picked up Tereza’s friend Bara and headed out of the city around 7am.

The rain had stopped by this stage and the fog was lifting so we had a good clear trip home.

Bara didn’t appreciate all the corners and spent the trip with the window right down trying to contain the cherries she had just eaten.

Finally at 9:30pm we got to the gate.

The moon was glorious and full.
It kept on disappearing behind the clouds.
Tim said that the bay was totally whited out today as the winds were so strong.
I think I did my travelling at the right times today

Time for bed now.

Quick Emma update first though.
She text me today to say she has done a ‘Lazurus’.
Praise the Lord
She is feeling a lot better and has been able to hold the wee man and is also now able to express to feed him.
Wonderful news.
A big thanks from her to all of you who have been praying and supporting her.

In her words
‘Thanx 4 rallyn da saints!

Piccadilly Circus!!

I woke at 4am-ish today with a really sore mouth so I got up and rummaged as quietly as I could for some pain killers.
Eventually found some and then decided not to go back to bed.
Got into the study and tackled the accounts.
It was brilliant.
Those few hours of solitude achieved more than several days.
Tim & Steve were up at 6am to go and do some mussel work.
By this point I was practically finished so I went for my walk.
Met Shannie at the door getting her togs – she was going for a swim with Anna & Bri – Bri was perched at the top of her stairs not looking terribly morningish.

When I got back they were all in the spa.
I had left over Tiramisu for breakfast – terribly healthy, but it was MY birthday dessert so I felt totally entitled to it.
Especially when I found all the birthday cake had disappeared by lunch time – it was huge.
The gannets had been in and devoured it all.

Bri was making a lot of noise up in the attic so I popped up to see what was happening –

chainsaws & hammers etc – not too sure what is going to finally happen up there but I am sure she has a plan. Even if she doesn’t she won’t tell me cuz it will formulate as she goes along

Monica cleaned out the two freezers for me this morning with Azzan’s help.

While she did that I was finding all the random foods that had been hiding at the bottom.
Tim had brought down some stewing meat so Rie and I made 2 huge stews.
They will be good for tomorrow night as I won’t be here to supervise dinner.
Bri, Anna & Monica are also leaving tomorrow to go on a road trip down the West Coast and Cat will be working. She was sposed to have the day off but harvesting duties call.

Rie ended up hanging out the washing several times. We ended up putting most of it through the dryer.
The day was really strange.
It was fine, with a bit of cloud and very muggy. It tried to rain several times but just enough to dampen the dust.

Baz & Janice’s youngest, Jackson was out fishing in the PL3 with them all when he began having major problems bringing in his line. His big bro was rubbishing him and telling him he needed to be stronger etc – as big bros do, when all of a sudden big bro also realised that on the end of this teeny tiny line was a humungous snapper. The tune changed dramatically as he yelled for his dad to get the gaff.

It weighed in between 11 – 12 lb.
Very impressive!

After lunch Tim did an oil change on the 88-South.
I sent Nathan to bed for a rest as his midnight to bed hunting expedition was telling on his behaviour. I think Seb and the Cottage crew were closer to a 4am bedtime so they will all be ready for sleep tonight. They were just going to bed as I was getting up. Crazy lot we are.

Jesika text me to say she had a landline number at work I could call her on if I was able so Azzan I got to have a 2 hour catch up with her. It is easy to fill 2 hours when you haven’t talked for several weeks

It all of a sudden got very chaotic in the late afternoon.
The 4 Israeli’s came up to use the phone and were in a dither as to what to do and where to go,
then Mike’s Mum, Wendy arrived with Hazel – Seb’s friend.
and then Ed & Liza arrived in their boat with their 3 young men for a quick visit.
I was going around and around in circles seeing to all the needs and wants of them and others.
In one door and out another…..
The two Israeli guys decided to head off to Picton, the 2 girls decided to stay another night.
Wendy is staying with Mike for a week so she headed off over there.
Eventually it all calmed and I got to chat with Lisa and ply her and the boys with sweet things. Well, it was 5pm-ish and their blood sugars were getting rather low while the two daddies were chatting out on the boats.

It came into rain a bit heavier so we all walked down to the wharf to meet Tim & Edward
Jordan, Sam & William all being terribly scary buccaneers on the wharf –

While we were down there chatting our crew returned from their swim out to the boat and back.
Issac (big bro) was filleting fish and feeding the scraps to our sting rays.
They wouldn’t come near him.
But when Cat got in and began enticing them with food they all flocked her.
Funny how she attracts them.

I took heaps of photos as they were just so amazing to watch – here are some of the better onesof Cat playing with them.

There were about 8 around the wharf tonight.
Aren’t they cool?

After dinner Tim took off for a muster so Anna & Monica helped me put the 3 wee ones to bed.
I have given last minute instructions to my two boys as to how I would very much like them to help their Dad by looking after and out for the 3 youngest tomorrow while I am gone. They both assure me they will so thanks boys!

Please keep Emma and her family in mind – pray for her recovery.
She has been experiencing some post op complications, babe is doing well, and the rest of the children are good.
It is a hard road, she is so thankful to have family and friends.
I have been telling her of all the support from all over God’s globe
She is very blessed.

Happy Birthday to Me :-)

I woke at 5am-ish today and was thinking I should get up and do some work on the accounts and also thinking I should go for a walk. But it was easier to roll over and doze some more.
Then I opened my book – ‘True Believer’ by Nicholas Sparks – I am a bit hooked on his books right now.
I read and read. Then Shannie brought in a fresh hot grapefruit & honey drink for me.
So I got up and had my Sunday morning weighing session – yippee, back down to 74.1kg.
Back to bed to drink my drink and read some more.
Some amazing smells were wafting through from the kitchen, Mahalia popped in to say Shannie was cooking me breakfast.
I quickly popped a couple of Panadol so I could eat.
Then the children delivered a tray of bacon, eggs and tomatoes on toast and vegemite – yummy
I sat up and devoured most of it along with my book.
I shared the bacon with the children and Tim – I enjoy a small amount and there was quite a large portion on my plate.

I then lay back down and read until I finished the book.
Mid morning I got up and showered and went out to greet the day.
It was a beautiful day – glorious in fact. Still calm and very sunny.
We had a late fellowship meeting.
Christine & Madeline, Mike and the 2 German girls came to join us.
Afterwards Tim cooked up a pan of liver and bacon – yuck
I made pasta –
Mike took off home as he had forgotten it was my birthday and he had promised to bake me a cake. So he went back to do just that.
Verena and Marlene then left to carry on with their tour of the South Island.

I went back to my bed and read another Nicholas Sparks book – ‘The Notebook’. I had already seen the film but I really enjoyed reading the book. If you haven’t read it or seen the movie you should it is the love story to beat all love story’s. So cool

While I was reading Tim came and lay down for a rest too. He got his book, turned on his bedside light and promptly began snoring. This was despite the very loud hammering from through the wall and the loud music blarring from the living room. While we were at the sports day Cat had cut a hole in the ceiling of the hall. Bri has made a set of steps to go up to the hole.

There are plans afoot to build something up there. More on this later.

I finished my book a few hours later so got up and did a bit of emailing etc.
I have been totally spoilt with cards, texts, emails and greetings from fellow bloggers, phone calls – including one from our Italian friend Thanks so much to you all for making my day special

Brianna & Nathan cooked a delicious dinner.
It wasn’t ready till quite late so we joined Azzan in a dancing session.
He has his favourite music he loves to jive to – mainly from Madagascar.
It is very easy to dance to and after a good session of that you feel like you have had a half an hour in the gym!
I don’t know how he does it.
He should sleep well tonight.

He loves to wear a dress so he can get a good twirl going
I heard Bri trying to convince him to go put on some boy clothes before dinner but to no avail!

Mike serenaded us from outside but we couldn’t actually hear him above Azzan’s music.

Probably just as well

We finally sat down to dinner at 8pm.
Roasted chicken pieces, roast herb potatoes chunks, peas, carrots and salad. Very tasty – thanks Bri and Nate.

Then it was tomfoolery time again.
Our resident caretaker sporting a stunning hat – Shannie’s I believe.

More dancing of a more robust and blokey kind

We were actually waiting for Baz, Janice & family to come join us for dessert.
They finally arrived…..

…..sometime close to 10ish so everyone serenaded me with the proverbial Happy Birthday song and we cut the cake and Tiramisu

as you can see I am sporting a good dose of sun from yesterday

Janice & Baz gave me a lovely silver wire neck-band with a paua pendant on it.

We were all out on the deck enjoying the delicious dessert and night air when the phone went and the rest of Baz’s party were reporting in slightly lost.

Baz went up to find them – they were all up at the top of the hill enjoying the sunset with our 4 Israeli guests whom I had given up on arriving. So it was after 10pm when they all got down to the house. The Israelis are dossing at The Cottage with Baz’s crew. Should be a fairly riotous night down there.
They were all in fine spirits – it is close to midnight and I can still hear them down on the wharf fishing in the dark.

Seb, Nate and Thomas have gone possum hunting – should be a real good night tonight – it is the calm before the approaching storm.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my day.
Plenty of R&R and a lot of fun to finish the day.

I am ready to begin my new year

Te Towoka Sports Day

Tim and I were up bright and early.
Ray arrived well before 7am so after a coffee he and Tim went and loaded sheep.
I made Tiramisu for tomorrow – my birthday treat for me and the others

We all got prepared for a 10am take off in the boat.
Had everyone on standby and then at 9am Tim announced that it was way to windy so we would have to drive to the sports day.
Bother and blast.
We then had to look at numbers and allocate seats and see how it would all work out.

Seb took Rie & Steve (from France who arrived last night) up to Waterfall Bay to help Mike clean the Lodge.
Our older crew did not want to go so the rest of us were able to fit into my Safari and the Teranno.
Because it is quicker to drive we were all ready with no where to go for a while.
So we had another cuppa and a chat and then finally decided to load up around 10:30am.

Christine, Tania and Louisa were all leaving after the sports day so there were 5 vehicles leaving our place.
The winds were making such cool patterns on Admiralty Bay as we drove around I just had to take some pics.

We were actually early – first time ever.
So we were able to enjoy a leisurely picnic – just interrupted periodicaly by very strong gusts of wind.
There were 20 in our wee group.

The races kicked off arouind 1pm.
The children all had a great time.
Mahalia came home with a heap of prizes.
This is her and Madeline wth some of their winnings.

Everyone who wanted had a race or two – there were running races, three legged races, sack races, wheel barrow races, relays etc etc
Nathan went in several races including the cross country.
Monica & Verena did the women’s three legged race and they and Marlene ran int he unmarried women’s race.

Bailey, Mahalia and Madeline are in the centre of the field for their sack race.

Shannie is 3rd from right – love this pic of here right off the ground.

Christine and I went into the women’s power walking race.

We really were power walking…….

it is just that the competition were a lot younger and more sprightly than us – but we did it and it was fun

Nathan got loose with my camera while I was walking

Mahalia (purple top in centre of pic) & Madeline did really well in the wheel barrow race. They came a very close 2nd

well done girls

Tim and I supervised the women’s nail driving competition. It was close with 4 women using only 3 hits of the hammer in the semi finals.
My cousin Sally won it in the finals with only 2.
Pretty darn good I reckon!

The wind was a real pain, we didn’t know whether to put jackets on or take them off. Sun hats went flying etc. But it was a fun day. A lot less of a crowd than usual but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm.

We had another snack and then loaded into the Nissan’s and headed home. As we got to the top of Cissy Bay the children wanted to see the llamas. And as we could see they were all up near the buildings and Clarrie and Syth were home We all went over to say hullo.
The children had lots of fun feeding them. The white one was particularly friendly so ended up getting most of the pellets.

By the time we got home it was getting late but the children wanted to go swimming. So they went with Anna & Cat and Azzan & Seb & I hopped into the spa. When the others all arrived up we had 8 in there and it was flowing over the top.
Bri had cooked spaghetti bolognaise.
It was very yummy.
My only problem of the day is that each time I try to eat or drink my tooth goes demented. The pain just surges and I begin to feel real sick. I have had Panadol a couple of times today which does help immensely. I just do not like using the stuff unless I am really desperate. So I time it with meals to allow me to eat. I am so glad Tues is only a few days away.

Am off to bed to read my book.
It is the last night I will be 50.
It’s been an interesting year.
The time has flown so fast and so much has happened.
Mostly good but some horrid.
But generally I am looking forward to this coming year – it can only get better