Monday 30th July

 

 

 

I had a very slowish day.

In fact so slow that I never got dressed at all.

I was pottering around in the study keeping warm and catching up on mail.

Was planning to have a spa but Azzan went out for one first and came back inside quite disgusted.

The spa had gotten very low while we were away and it had turned the heating off and was cold and dirty.

Shanni said that it had been making some weird noises but as she didn’t know what to do she didn’t do anything – right

I’m hoping nothing has gotten stuffed up in the meantime.

I turned it off and asked Azzan to empty it.

He wasn’t terribly forthcoming with energy so not a lot happened in his department either.

Tim just pottered about for the morning.

He had a good sleep in the arvo.

Shanni cooked dinner which was lovely.

I finally decided to have a bath in the late arvo.

Lay back and wallowed enveloped in hot purple bathsalts & read my book – delicious

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew Tim had come in and dropped a beautiful stalk of Daphne on my chest.

It has such a strong scent – absolutely gorgeous.

He always brings me the first Daphne of the season – his wee bit of romance

 

I got out of the bath but stayed in my dressing gown – hardly worth getting dressed at that time of day!

It was actually quite nice to fall into bed reasonably early for a change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 29th July

 

 

 

Seb & Phoebe headed off to church.

I left Tim to potter around the house and rest for the day.

Picked up Mahalia at 10:30 and got her some breakfast before dropping her off at her harp lesson.

I went grocery shopping.

Picked her up and we drove out to Brightwater.

We were going to our friend’s unveiling at the Mt Heslington cemetery.

So hard to believe it is a year since Nick left us.

 

We were there early so had time to go visit my friend Kathee.

 

It was a grey, cold, windy, murky day.

But at least the rain held off.

I was very glad of my warm jacket and had been trying to get Mahalia to add an extra one but she braved it out – her wonderful bright colours brightening the bleak day.

Soon everyone began arriving and the proceedings were underway.

It really is a wonderful place for a cemetery, fabulous expanses of our Maker’s creation around us to calm the soul.

It was an easy ceremony with a couple of songs.

I wished I had been able to record the singing.

Sally has such an amazing voice – so powerful, she has need of microphones.

Here is the hymn sung in Maori – not nearly as amazing as hearing Sally sing – but very beautiful nevertheless.

E te Ariki, 

Whakarongo mai ra ki a matou,

E te Ariki Titiro mai ra ki a matou,

Te nei matou O tamariki,

E whakapono ana matou Ki a koe

 

Aue! Aue!

Te Matua, te Tamaiti, .Wairua tapu e

Te Matua, te Tamaiti, .Wairua tapu e

Oh my God, Listen to the cry of your children

Oh my God,

Look down upon us your children

Here we are, all together

And we worship and we say

That we love you

 

Alleluia, Alleluia

The father, and the Son

And  the comfort of the Holy Ghost

The father, and the Son

And  the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

Tony officiated at Nick’s funeral last year and he led this day too which was lovely.

I love this photo of Kashana’s eyes – so bright – Sally’s beautiful daughter

Jackson helped his mother take off the covering

 

Tony blessed the stone and explained the significance of the greenstone on it etc.

Sally’s Mum & Dad.

Sally found this beautiful piece of marble on top of Takaka Hill.

It was all covered in dirt and not yet a thing of beauty, but the heart shape could be seen.

The stone mason has uncovered the beauty that was hidden.

 

Afterwards a tree was planted in Nick’s memory.

Oops! Jackson’s lovely purple shoes have got mud all under them. 

Not a good look for a trendy lad

Azzan went for a wander.

The cemetery is really old and it was very interesting for a young lad to check out.

He was sad at the young ages on some of the graves.

We all went back to the local church hall for afternoon tea.

It was a lovely afternoon.

Sally spoke before we all left.

She did so well.

I don’t think there was a dry eye in the whole hall.

I love this photo with her and the children.

The cross is hanging in just the right place

 

I had to go looking for Mahalia when I was ready to leave as she had gone off with all the other young ladies.

We headed back into Nelson.

Spent an hour or so packing up the Terrano.

Mahalia opted to stay with Phoebe for the rest of the week which meant we could fit all of our stuff in.

We had a good trip in with Azzan curled up on the back seat in a wee corner, stuff kept on falling on top of him as we went around corners, but he survived!

 

Shanni was watching a movie when we got home but took a break to help Azzan and me unload the Terrano.

Tim is not allowed to lift yet so he was told to sit back and rest.

He was happy to do that because Jynxie had returned home and he hadn’t seen his pussy cat for a few weeks

 

 

 

 

Saturday 28th July

 

 

 

We had a nice slow morning.

Sebastian was up and gone to jujitsu around 10.

We pottered about.

Tim rested.

 Had more pain attacks in his eyes – that seems to be the worst part of his post op effects at this point.

I kept the many loads of washing going through the machine & dryer throughout the day.

There’s always heaps more when Seb arrives back from work.

I had to pick up some things from Kathmandu, so I ducked into town for a wee while.

Tim went back to bed for a sleep.

Best thing for him.

Later in the afternoon Nathan came to visit.

It has been lovely this week to have the children coming and going.

Especially the ones we don’t get to see very often.

Tim was rather anxious about getting the harvest bags labeled but he was under strict instructions not to lift, bend forward so Nathan & Seb lugged them inside and then Phoebe did the labeling for him – under close instruction 

Phoebe cooked a delicious dinner.

I was rather weary but I had said I would go to my friend’s house warming party.

So after dinner I tidied myself up to presentable and then drove out to Richmond.

It was a lovely evening.

Becky has made a good move and has a lovely new home for her and her children.

So good to help her celebrate that

When I left she was dancing her wee heart out.

Go Becky!!

 

I stopped off at the service station on the way back to pick up some newspapers because the article on home education that I was interviewed for was in it.

It was very late and the first time I have fueled up when the check out is behind security glass.

It was kinda freaky with several young hoonish types coming and going while I was there.

I felt rather vulnerable

I bought the papers and headed back to the house.

Seb & Phoebe were watching a movie and Tim was in bed.

I had quite a lot of internet stuff I had to do so stayed up late to get some of it done.

It is frustrating at home to be on such a limited amount or bandwidth so great to be able to use Seb’s when I can.

Anyway, here is the link to the article.

I was actually pleased with the final results.

He did a good job

The online version does not give all the photos so I have scanned these two photos from the hard copy of

Mahalia & Annemieke,

and myself – waxing eloquently – or verbosely would be more like it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 27th July

 

 

 

Tim slept well and woke feeling sorta okay.

His nose was still oozing a lot.

Not long after he woke he had a really bad pain attack in his eyes.

I threw pain meds into him and he was soon feeling better.

We were both really worried when it happened so very relieved that the attack didn’t last too long.

I had to take Mahalia into the Dr at 9:45am so we both raced through the shower after having a relatively leisurely start to the morning.

Halia has been getting a lot of pain in the back of her foot and also her wrists and I thought it time to get them looked at.

The Dr was a bit flummoxed about her foot, the Achilles was a tad thickened and sore, she suggested that maybe some heel supports might help.

Then Mahalia showed her the inside of her new bright pink boots – I never realised either, but they have high heel and arch supports in them.

Our Dr laughed and said that maybe she had bought the right boots for her therapy and to gauge it for a few weeks of wearing them to see if it helps!

As for her wrists – well we now have a referral to a hand physio as the Dr thinks it is all stemming from her broken wrists.

Man! The ongoing problems that fall has caused – crazy!

And she still wants to go back to gymnastics once she is all good again

 

We went back to the house and found David & Sasha there having a chat and a coffee before they headed off down home to stay with Shanni for the weekend.

They loaded in as many harvesting bags as they could plus several lots of flowers that Mahalia and I had bought for Shanni to plant.

We had found them on special at The Warehouse the previous night.

12 pottles normally around $10 but they were reduced to $3.

So how could we leave them there?

We bought up heaps and shared them with Phoebe.

Primroses and pansies to decorate our banks this spring – lovely

 

We had lunch and then I took Mahalia into town.

Bedelia did my make up for me and then I dropped Mahalia up at the Winningtons.

Chrissy was going to take her and Azzan to the Men in Tutus show that night as I couldn’t go now due to the Blenheim dinner clashing.

Left instructions for Tim to quietly start getting himself ready for the evening out.

When I got back Phoebe had given him a hair trim and he’d shaved but not a lot more had happened.

At least he had gotten some more rest.

We had been sitting on something confidential for several weeks.

We had to get Seb to the MFA awards night dinner in Blenheim.

So we told him that we really felt that it was important we started networking more within the mussel industry and we wanted him to get involved with us so were shouting him and Phoebe to a night out.

It wasn’t all untrue

Seb decided his car was more comfortable so he drove us over.

Had to leave at 4pm to get to the Blenheim Scenic Circle Hotel in time.

We arrived at 6pm and mingled with the pre dinner drinks and canape crowd.

It was fun catching up with folk we have known for years but hadn’t seen in ages.

Tim is not one for meetings so he just gets on with his work and lets others play politics.

It was quite noisy as more & more people arrived.

We perched Tim on a stool at the bar and surrounded him to protect him from being banged or bumped etc, the noise was a bit much for him.

The dinner began at 7pm.

The wait staff took our orders from a set menu and then while we waited for our entrees they proceeded with the first awards.

The first was ‘Young Achiever Award 2012′

‘Presented to a participant in the marine farming industry having shown enthusiasm and excellence in the workplace.

The award is limited to participants 25 years of age and under.’

The presenter began reading out this citation

‘The recipiant began working casually as deckhand in the marine farming industry at 15 for local skippers on ‘Lady Winn’ and ‘Tardis’ and then at 16 he began full time work with MacLab on the ‘Tasman Challenger’.
He soon moved to employment with Marlborough Mussel Company where he spent 2 1/2 years anchor & block laying on the ‘Pacifica’ and from there continued to work as deckhand on several of their other mussel barges gaining experience in all aspects of the marine farming industry.
He gained his PADI Open Water Diver certification last year and then spent 3 months deep sea fishing near South Georgia on ‘San Aspiring’ before coming home to get married 2 days after his 21st birthday.
He is now employed by Sanford on ‘Lady Marie’, has just passed his  Inshore Launch Masters Certificate.
He has taken a ‘school boy’ job and is successfully turning it into his career.’

We were in on the secret so I had my camera secreted on my lap.

Seb never moved a muscle during the speech, even though he said later that he cottoned on very quickly that it was him that was being spoken about.

And the ‘Young Achiever Award 2012’ is – Sebastian Shand!

Congratulations!

Thanks everyone, it’s been great

There were more presentations throughout the evening interspersed with dinner.

Tim was not doing too well for a while.

He had a massive pain attack in his eyes again just after Seb’s presentation.

I had some really strong pain killers with me so once he had taken them he was a lot more comfortable.

The evening went really well.

It was fun to catch up with old friends and lovely to meet new people.

I took a couple of photos with my iPhone but I am still getting the settings sorted so they are not too great.

You can still see the big smiles though

Dean, one of Seb’s previous bosses, was very proud of his protegee and told him & us many times

He was rather amusing and had us all in stitches.

Tim also enjoyed meeting Gus, a neighbour of ours.

He has lived not far from us for 32 years and this was the first time we had physically met.

So despite the rocky start and Tim feeling decidedly not great he did enjoy the evening.

He wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

We had to pull him away at 10:30pm so we could get on the road home.

I drove back.

It was the first time I had driven Seb’s car so it took a bit to get used to and then we hit fog.

All the way through Okaramio, Havelock to Rai Valley.

It was really hard driving.

But we made it safely and fell into our beds at 12:30am!

It had been a wonderful night and we were and are very very proud of our young man.

He is doing good

 

 

 

Thursday 26th July

 

 

 

 

I had been instructed to call the hospital at 9am to get a discharge time for Tim.

They told me to come up at 11am.

So I zipped on into town to do some shopping.

Mahalia & Phoebe arrived in an hour later.

We visited Curves to see what they could offer us.

Then I left the girls to be girly and I went off to pick up Tim.

Got up there to find he had just had a shower and his nurse wanted him to rest a while before getting dressed.

So she said to come back in an hour.

I tore off over to Tahunanui and picked up a big load of mussel harvesting bags that the guys are going to need very shortly.

They were quite weighty and made driving interesting.

Just had time to get out to Super Cheap Autos to pick up some more stuff for Tim before heading back to the hospital.

Tim’s nurse was still not too happy about him leaving but he had the Drs discharge notes so he was going!

She took him down to the main entrance in a wheelchair and parked him up to wait for me.

The first time I arrived I had gotten a park close to the entrance but this time I had to park way down the hill.

Typical

I got the Terrano and loaded him in and we trundled off to get his meds from the pharmacy before driving out to Phoebe & Seb’s.

I got him settled in, gave him some lunch and left him to rest while I shot back into town for a 2pm appointment.

After all the running around it was nice to stop and lie back for an hour and enjoy a facial and manicure.

When I arrived back at the house it was like entering a man cave.

Tim was entertaining – or was being entertained by – his bro Martin, his cousin Phillip, his son Nathan, and my cousin David!

Phoebe had wisely taken herself off to the bedroom for a rest.

They say laughter is the best medicine and there surely was a lot of that happening.

They all finally headed off about 4:30pm.

Mahalia & I had to go back to town too to get her harp string replaced.

We did some quick shopping and bought Tim a lovely new cuddly warm blue dressing gown and some sheepskin slipper.

He reckons he didn’t need them but he has been wearing them ever since.

I think he actually quite likes them.

Mahalia also got some boot slippers.

We picked up the harp from Annemieke’s and then whizzed back to the house for dinner.

Seb had arrived back from work and left pretty much straight away for jujitsu so we waited for him to get home so we could all eat together.

Tim was very happy to fall into bed straight after dinner.

I went in a couple of minutes later and he was out cold!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 25th July

 

 

 

Tim was up early so he could take the truck and trailer to Hira.

He left it ready in the hope that someone will take pity on him after his op and take him home real quick!!

He hitched a ride back in with a friend and then he and I drove into the city.

Tim left me at my 9am therapy appointment and went off to do some last minute chores.

I had taken a copy of this poem which I had found to share with my counselor.

She read it back to me and it hit me why I had liked it so much.

He was writing about me!

Needless to say after my very fragile week I had a very emotional session.

 

Mandy arrived to pick me up so I drove her into town while she talked on her phone.

Of course we ended up at Starbucks.

As Mahalia cheekily commented ‘I should have guessed!’

 

Phoebe arrived soon after we had gotten our drinks, with the kids.

They took money and headed off to find the morning teas they each wanted.

Then Tim arrived.

We chatted a while before getting the kids bags and farewelling the others.

 

Tim had to be at the hospital by midday so we went straight there.

I went up to admissions to suss out the schedule and find out when I could return etc.

He was 3rd on the theatre list and had around 3 hours to wait

He was happy to sit and read so I left him and took the kids to quickly get lunch and find a hire movie.

I had a massage booked for 1pm.

As we headed out to Bishopdale we were passed by 2 ambulances and a police car speeding through the traffic with lights and sirens blazing.

It always makes my stomach lurch when this happens as I am thinking of the poor souls who are injured or worse.

We found out later that it was an awful accident at the timber mill where my cousin works.

 

I went to the old address of the massage place, didn’t know she had shifted, so thankfully I was there early!

Because of road works w had to wend our way around back roads to get to her new place but managed to arrive on time.

She was really lovely and let the kids watch their movie on her large screen in her house instead of sitting in the car watching it on my laptop.

They were delighted.

 

Renee gave me a wonderful 90 minute therapeutic massage.

It was wonderful.

The kids movie finished at the same time so we were quickly on our way out to Richmond to meet Andrea.

She gave Azzan his piano lesson first then Russell arrived to take him home.

He is spending a few days with Asher.

After Mahalia’s lesson she sat in the car and watched some of her move.

Andrea and I talked.

She is such a precious friend.

During the day I had gotten much needed emotional therapy, massage therapy and Andrea gave me hug therapy and the some prayer therapy before I left

It was just after 5pm.

I had a good run through the traffic back to the city and arrived at Starbucks a few minutes before closing and got a very needed double caffeine shot in my caramel frappaccino.

Mahalia and I popped up to our mail depot the Winningtons to pick up a heap of parcels that had accumulated over the past few weeks.

I called the hospital to get an update on Tim, but he was still not back from recovery.

We went and did some grocery shopping and then phoned again.

He was still not back but was expected in around 30 minutes.

I took Mahalia back to Phoebe’s and had a quick munch on some chicken before heading back into see Tim.

I arrived at 8pm.

His brother Martin was waiting, Tim was still not back in the ward.

Finally about 10mins later he was wheeled through.

It was a horrid feeling to see my darling one out cold on the bed.

They asked us to wait for a few minutes while they got him sorted.

Finally I was allowed to go visit.

He was just coming to and was very pleased to see me.

Martin came in and chatted for a wee while before leaving us alone.

It was really lovely that he had made the effort to come visit.

Tim had a lovely Scottish nurse who had previously been through similar surgery so she was very informative and just lovely to him.

I checked out Tim’s charts to just see exactly what it was they had done to him.

His specialist is a very serious young Chinese guy.

Apparently the best in the game and he had described to us what he would do and the possible side effects – which were rather concerning.

So technically speaking this is what they did to him.

A bilateral frontal sinus traephination & washout, FESS, septoplasty.

Tim was really pleased that despite all the packing in his nose he could actually breath with his mouth shut.

He hasn’t been able to do that in a very long time.

 

I stayed with him till after 9:30pm.

He didn’t want me to leave but as 9pm was the hospital curfew, and I was getting very tired and hungry I finally had to go.

Phoebe & Mahalia were watching a movie so I had a delicious dinner of roast chicken and pumpkin & feta salad.

Finally got Hali off to bed after 11pm and then Phoebe and I sat and talked – until far too late!

It’s too easy after a busy emotionally charged day to sit and relax for too long

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 24th July

 

 

 

It was a wet and windy morning.

After my late sleepless night I was rather slow to get into action.

Tim was away before me as he had some loading to do at the top of the hill.

By the time the children and I had showered and packed the Terrano it was about 9am.

Shanni came up the hill with us.

We were escorted by four crazy dogs.

The road was very greasy and I got quite a fright as we did a bit of a greaser not far from home.

I let Shanni out half way so she could do her possum traps & take the dogs back home.

It was very windy at the top of the hill.

Loved the patterns and textures in the clouds and sea as we drove around Admiralty Bay.

I took it fairly quietly as we drove, the road was rather wet and rutted.

Lots of potholes at present.

We caught up with Tim at main road turn off.

Arrived at Phoebe’s just before him.

Unloaded all the stuff and then carried on into town.

We were meeting Noel & Mandy at their ‘new’ place.

It was raining quite heavily by the time we found the new address up on the hill.

Azzan had left his jacket at Phoebe’s.

Mahalia had left hers at home

Tim took the brollie and wandered down the hill while I locked up the car and followed as fast as I could.

At least I had remembered to bring my raincoat!!

Despite the steep drive and hill access it is a great location, Mandy is delighted to have found it.

The children entertained themselves while we talked.

Mahalia ‘borrowed’ my iPhone!

Below are some of the random photos I found.

Her new boots.

I don’t lose her in town now

Noel, Tim & I having our business meeting.

Mandy – sitting still for once!!

Two cheeky posers!

 

I was keeping a close eye on the time as Tim had to get to Motueka by 4pm.

I managed to get him out the door by 2:45pm.

But he and Noel decided they had to go have a look at some machinery for the boat.

I hadn’t planned exactly what I was going to do, but as we all left I decided to head to Richmond and do a couple of jobs while I had some time up my sleeve.

I dropped off the spa water sample for testing and then headed to Mediterranean Foods.

Arrived to find they were closed already.

As I turned around we saw Tim driving slowly by looking very lost.

Thankfully I had heard Noel say where the place was so I went ahead and Tim followed me.

So I got to see the machinery too – most exciting

But guys being guys had to have a very good look

and dissect it from one end

to the other!

This is the part that is ours and will be fitted onto the ‘Tardis’ soon.

I finally managed to prise Tim away and send him to Motueka.

He was really pushing for time.

Thankfully when he got there the boss hadn’t quite locked up and he was able to unload and reload posts.

I talked with Noel for a while and then headed off to the Mall to get something to eat.

We were all very hungry.

I got waylaid in Sassy’s so Mahalia went shopping for some rice balls at the food court.

Azzan helped me with his very discerning eye as I tried on some sale clothes.

I had found a top I really liked.

The sales lady got some white pants to go with it.

Azzan told me I looked like a Smurf with them on.

When I took them off he then remarked that I looked like a Smurf with it’s pants off.

Charming boy!

 

I brought Mahalia back to Phoebe’s.

Azzan & I had a quick dinner, changed into tidy clothes and then headed back into the city.

We spent a very enjoyable time watching the Black Grace dancers.

They were so good.

Their precision and choreography is wonderful.

Their tour is called Waka.

There was a wonderful review in the Nelson paper the following day.

When we got back to Phoebe’s Tim was back and getting cleaned up.

He went off to bed and then Phoebe and I talked for ages.

Another late night, but nice to have time and quiet to talk!

 

 

 

 

 

Monday 23rd July

 

 

 

Monday was not at all a good day for me.

It was a total meltdown day.

My stress bucket was just completely full and everything was making it spill over.

I spent the first hour of the day with Azzan sorting his new terms GO work.

He is having to do some debating this term on a very interesting Conceptual theme

‘Life’

Life has many meanings.
Life comes in many forms.
What are the boundaries of our current understanding of life?

 

Then once he had done some of the thinking and made a start on his work and then lost his interest in the topic, he escaped and I began to get the accounts underway.

I absolutely had to get the gst finished.

It was my last day at home for a week and d-day was approaching.

I also had several other business things plus heaps of banking etc I was dealing with.

I was still very tired, brain and body weary.

Several times throughout the day I just completely lost it and sat and cried and cried.

I managed to make several mistakes because of my emotional distress.

Azzan came in a few times and just massaged my shoulders.

He is a real wee honey like that.

Can drive you to total distraction one moment and then the next is so loving and caring and apologetic for being a pain the previous moments!

I was also trying to get the children to pack and help towards the leaving.

Tim was busy getting his chores done as he knew he would be away and then out of action for a wee while.

My plans for the next day were also changed which added a tad more stress.

I was originally not leaving until around midday but then Tim teed up a meeting in Nelson at midday so we had to be gone from home by 9am to get there.

Just meant I had to be organised earlier.

I was very glad when I had gotten to the end of the day.

Had dinner and gotten the kids off to bed.

Tim and I sat in bed with some delicious steamed pudding and ice cream and had a moment.

Much needed

I did get to bed early – before 9pm.

But I just couldn’t settle to sleep.

Tim went out like a light as usual but I ended up turning the light back on and reading until near midnight.

My body is just too wound up right now, feels like a coiled spring and I can’t relax at night to sleep

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 22nd July

 

 

 

I couldn’t sleep this morning so got up early and made a few cards.

Seb & Jeff went out hunting early.

They had not gotten in till around 1am so Phoebe slept in, consequently she never saw her man till lunch time

I had a spa after Azzan.

Am reading a really intriguing book at present.

‘The Silver Sword‘ by Angela Elwell Hunt.

It is historical fiction set at the time of Jan Hus in Prague.

Once I was dressed and breakfasted I decided that I needed to sort out all the veges and bananas I had brought home.

The small freezer was so badly iced up there was only one thing to do.

Unload it all and clean out the ice.

Azzan helped me.

I got all the food out and most of the ice off the sides then he hopped inside clothed in his hooded winter jacket, gloves and gumboots!

He shoveled out all the ice and mopped up the water.

Then once he was out I wiped it all clean and then we proceeded to split up all the bunches of bananas and put them in large bags in the bottom of the freezer.

We now have enough to make smoothies, muffins and cakes for Africa!!

 

Around midday I decided I needed to get my replacement treadmill put together.

It had arrived just before I left for Christchurch and I didn’t have time then nor the energy when I got back.

I started doing it and thankfully Tim came and offered to help me.

I was very glad of his help.

We finally got it running but by then I was too tired to actually use it.

Another day!!

 

Seb arrived back and told us to come see what he & Jeff had caught.

A 104lb (47+kilo) boar.

Two very happy hunters

Tim had to check out the tusks

 

It took a while for the guys to skin and deal with the pig.

They finally came down and had lunch.

Then there was more animals to cut up.

Seb had shot a sheep yesterday and a small sow this morning so they needed to be processed for his freezer.

Phoebe was very tired and very ready to leave when Seb finally came down for a shower at 4:30pm.

They had a 3 hour drive ahead and then still had to sort out food for his work for this coming week.

Both of them needed an early night!

We all need an early night!

 

I made some crispy parmesan eggplant chips/fries.
The recipe actually called for zucchini but Phoebe suggested using eggplant and it worked well.

They were so delicious – well worth the fiddling around to coat them.

We munched on them dipped in mayonnaise & hummus while waiting for Tim & Shanni to get back from their late arvo/early evening hours cruise around the farm.

Shanni went nuts over them too so I can see we will be making them again.

I roasted up a dish of veges and Tim fried up some venison – easy dinner tonight.

And now early to bed for me.

I am so hoping that I will get a good nights sleep tonight.

I have not been sleeping at all well lately

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 20th & Saturday 21st July

 

 

 

I was feeling like I had been hit by a bus for a couple of days.

Tim unpacked the Terrano for me.

The children were happy and busy and pleased I was home.

I sorted through the mail and did what I had to.

I had to go have a sleep in the arvo as my body just would not function.

I must’ve gone into a deep sleep – I woke gradually, having the weirdest dream, and then my cell phone went off.

I could barely read the message and drifted back to sleep..

Then Azzan decided he needed to come ask me questions.

I was not impressed at all at being woken.

He did come back later and apologise.

Shanni had made dinner so I didn’t have to worry.

We all went off to bed fairly early.

Seb & Phoebe were on their way down but were late so I left their dinner in the oven.

Phoebe popped in to say hullo when she arrived.

Seb & Jeff arrived in the 2nd vehicle a bit later.

 

 

 

Saturday

I was so very tired I didn’t get up until after 8am.

Just had a leisurely shower and slowly got into the day.

I was not coping terribly well.

My body was aching so badly & I was fighting a headache.

Phoebe got me down on the floor and gave me a heavenly massage before dinner.

Made me feel so much better.

Seb & Jeff came and went – spent most of their day our hunting.

Phoebe hung out with us.

The children really love having their sister-in-law around.

Mahalia was not feeling wonderful.

She has a sore throat, blocked nose and sore tummy so stayed in bed most of the morning.

That didn’t stop her getting lose with my iPhone camera though

We were making soup and preparing dinner veges.

and Azzan was playing on the computer for a wee while.

 

 

Phoebe & Azzan went off to find Olly.

Being a horsey lady Phoebe is very helpful with advice on what to do with Olly and his behaviour and needs.

I cooked up a delicious roast dinner and made banana caramel for dessert.

Also made 2 very large banana cakes – the equivalent of 6 normal cakes.

Well, that’s what one does when one brings home 60kg of ripe bananas!

We chatted a while over dinner and then Seb & Phoebe went out possum shooting with Jeff for the evening.

They returned around 1am.

Caught some poachers at the top of our hill.

Cheeky beggars!

I think when they saw Seb unfold himself out of the truck they took fright