Friday 28th February

Had a quick spa this morning sometime before 8am but missed out on the bathroom so ended up in the study talking through the window to Anson clad in must my towel.
You didn’t really need to hear that did you?
But just wanted to point out that even in a house with 2 bathrooms and only 3 kids I still cannot get in there when I want to!
Finally managed to get in and complete my ablutions and find some clothes.
Anson & Shoshannah were on tenter hooks, they were sposed to be heading off on a three day hunting trip with Jonny but at last minute it all fell through.
The countryside is just so dangerously tinder dry at present that the forest owners are not happy about letting anyone in.
This is one of my favourite dressings which I buy when I am in Auckland from Sabato.
Took a pic to send to Genevieve to show her what it is and Mahalia decided she needed to model it 🙂

I had time to do some banking and then Merv & Dean arrived in their boat to pick me up.
We shot along to Waterfall Bay to see Seb & Phoebe.
Much easier and more pleasant route than driving over the hill.
Had a very enjoyable pow wow together, talking business and other stuff.
I got some Sapphire cuddles, she went to sleep on my shoulder and then slept on in her buggy despite Dean’s very loud explosive laughter 🙂
She woke just before we were leaving.

The district nurse arrived as we were about to walk out the door.
It was lovely to meet her.
She weighted and measured Sapphire – she is 9 weeks and is now 7.64kg (16.84lbs)
Plus she’s grown another 2cm in length = 63cm.
Growing like a wee mushroom!

The guys dropped me back home in time for the mailboat.
I helped Anson & Shoshannah move his table into Azzan’s room.
We are storing it for a while to give Anson & Marah more room in their wee house.
Mahalia cleaned The Cottage and Azzan did some cleaning up around the house.
I somehow do not think as much got done as I had put on his list – come to that, I wonder if he even read his list!

Spent the arvo doing mail and paying bills and organizing mail etc.
Trying to simplify things for when I am not here.
I have things to do, places to go and people to see 🙂
The nurse came over to visit Marah & Eden and then popped around to visit me.
Went for a wander up the hill to her car with her.
She is lovely – the girls are very blessed to have her come to them.

Mahalia & Azzan made salmon & kumara fritters for dinner.
Azzan arranged beautiful salads on our plates.
He wanted to make them as healthily as he could.
It was very tasty with interesting flavor combinations.
Shredded lettuce, carrot sticks, boiled eggs with crystalized ginger and shredded almonds on top.
There was a lot of tomfoolery and craziness going on all the while they were making dinner.
We sat in my bed and watched ‘Life as We Know it’.

Had a long chat with Phillipa after the kids went off to bed.
Then chatted with Jesika after they arrived in Kalgoorlie.
Nice to know they shave reached their destination and not been bowled over by roos or camels, or run over by the huge 4 length road trains!!
Pretty lethal that desert 😉

Day 3 for Jesika & Evan.
Eucla – Kalgoorlie.
Jut a short hop today – approx 900kms in 13 hours!
Jesika drove this stretch today – bet that was booorrrrriiiiing!

Thursday 27th February

Had a very lazy day today.
Not much to talk about really.
Just decided I didn’t need to do anything so I didn’t.
Was good.
Spent most of the day laying on my bed watching ‘The Mentalist’.
Did get outside at one point and planted a tree we had been given a few weeks ago.
Hadn’t really been able to decide where to put it but finally figured it had to be put in the ground so put it in the new garden where the aviary used to be and hope that it doesn’t grow too huge!

Shoshannah made dinner – Pad Thai with grilled chicken. Very yummy.

I saw this poem today.
Really spoke for me.

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

~ Jane Kenyon

This blog also came to me at the right time.
Stone Cold Grief.
I can really vouch for that need to be in control.
When everything in your life is so out of control you really desperatly need to have control of the small things and when you lose that it tips you over the edge.
I have experienced that so many times but didn’t recognize it until recently.

Jesika and Evan have safely traveled their Day 2 across the Nullabor.
Port Augusta – Eucla –  954.8 kms in 14 hrs.
After seeing her photos of the Bunda Cliffs it makes my feet itch to get over there to see them too!
They look absolutely amazingly breathtaking.

Wednesday 26th February

Just another day.
Kids and I did normal morning stuff, dishes, washing, floors, mail etc.
Michael came down to see us and then walked up to visit Tim.
Not an easy walk as it is the first time up to the grave site for him.
Jesika & Evan left early this morning for their journey across the Nullibor.
This is them all loaded up and leaving at 5:30am on the first stage of the trip.

Jesika was sending me messages along the way so I was able to track them on Google maps.
They drove via Bordertown and then up through the Borossa Valley to Port Augusta.
A much prettier route than traveling through Adelaide city but still a very long day.
***I have just been messaged to say they have arrived safely in Port Augusta.
1037.7kms in 15.5hours – what a mission.
And that is just Day One!

Drove over to Waterfall Bay at midday.
Shoshannah relieved Phoebe of the baby so her arms were free.
Kids and I whizzed around and helped Phoebe get some stuff done.
Anson & Marah arrived with Eden.
We got the wee girls sorted with their aunts and uncle so the 5 of us could have an uninterrupted meeting.
Sat and talked for several hours.
First time for a business meeting, but not the last.
Was good to make the time to communicate and make plans.
Our lives get so busy just living that we have to force the time to stop and touch base.

It was most exciting to see this grey heron land on the chimney.
Apparently there have been quite a few coming in, it is the first I have seen in ages.

Shoshannah took Eden walking in the buggy to get her to sleep.
It worked.
She was quite dewey eyed and cuddly when she woke up.

Sapphire had a feed and then slept through the rest of the meeting.

This is apparently her waking up face.
It had me laughing so hard!
Sort of slightly incongruous with her tee shirt eh? 😉

I had taken over a pasta bake from my freezer which we heated up for lunch.
My three were all being rather wilting on the sofas when not needed any more for babysitting duties.
Mahalia cleaned the Lodge and I put several loads of washing through and the kids and I hung it all out.
Anson wanted to get back to kill some sheep so they left once we had finished up.
Shoshannah went back with them to help with the kill.
I was planning to leave soon after but got side tracked.
Went for a wander to talk with Ritchie.
He was conditioning ropes so showed me their system and the ‘new’ forklift which I am pleased to hear is making life so much easier for them.
Seb was in the workshop inventing a rope measuring machine.
He was failing fast and needed to get to bed so I didn’t hold him up.
Just praying that the powers that be will get moving and he will get into the spinal specialist real soon.
I chatted some more with Phoebe.
The kids and I finally left and got home around 6pm.
Mahalia went up to water Olly and the orchard.
It is so dry here at present, all the leaves are falling off the fruit trees.
Decided to have a quick and easy dinner so we made rice paper rolls.
It was fun and the kids loved them.
We filled them with slices of capsicum, grated carrot, fired onion, guacamole and salmon.
Watched some of The Mentalist and then the kids all headed off to bed.

Tuesday 25th February

Lovely morning for a spa today.
The weather has cooled down a lot, we are still getting very hot sunny days and it is incredibly dry, but the air temp is cooler.

Shoshannah is determined to get her Firearms Safety course done so was working away it most of the morning.
I spent all morning buried in more paper work.
Had to scan heaps of forms and then email them all off to the right people.
Some need references and others need endorsements, it is never plain and simple!
Filling out the forms brought me to tears when I had to write only my name as the parent.
It has always been Tim & me, me & Tim.
It’s the same when I sign greeting cards – feels totally wrong only putting my name there 😦

Michael arrived around midday.
He’s come to hang out with Anson for a couple of days before heading off to Sydney on his adventure.
Caught up with him briefly as I was heading out the door.
I had to be over at Waterfall Bay by 1:30pm to drive some guests up the hill as they didn’t have a 4WD vehicle and Seb was not home.
I grabbed a quick sandwich as I was leaving.
Each time I went to step out the door I got caught by phone calls.
Finally Azzan & I were away.
Shoshannah hitched a lift to Marah’s so we stopped off to drop off some things to her.
Eden was playing on the floor – cute wee girl was spreading her food everywhere and getting into the cupboards.
Left Shoshannah there and drove over the hill.
Sapphire was asleep in the buggy.
I caught up with Phoebe while Azzan brought in the washing.
Then we loaded the guests’ gear in and whizzed them up the hill to their car.
I was back home in no time.
Felt totally wiped out so went and lay down for a rest.
Azzan came in for a cuddle.
He was crying, missing his Daddy.
I side tracked him off to do some science experiments.
He had some fun doing them.
Mahalia went up to see Olly and give him a wash down.
She is now sporting a bruised arm from banging into him.
The kids cooked dinner.
Mahalia experimented with aubergine and fried up wiener schnitzel and a vege stir fry.
Shoshannah boiled up some potatoes for her and me.
It was a very tasty dinner 🙂

In amongst all of this every day stuff I am sussing out a few things towards our road trip planning.
We are on count down!!

Monday 24th February

Lay in the spa and watched  a session of The Mentalist.
Then….

A day of paperwork.

So many changes afoot.
One thing sparks the need to do another.

Firstly – Jesika’s news.
To quote her announcement –
“ SO! Our next adventure is about to take off!! 
We will be leaving our humble home in Melbourne and driving across the Nullabor in our trusty new steed with all our worldly possessions in tow ALL the way to Perth where we will be making our new home!! We are shipping out before dawn on Wednesday and excitedly travelling to a whole new chapter of adventures, beaches, sun, sand dunes and heaps more!”
And here is proof of the action.
It’s all most exciting – somewhere else to add to our holiday destinations 🙂

Then Shoshannah’s news.
She has decided she really wants to go to school.
It is too hard for her here now.
And a face to face learning opportunity will be good.
I’m okay with it as she is coming up 17 and I have managed to get her thus far.
Now it is her time to start the wing spreading, the climb out of the cocoon.
Over the past few days I have been doing lots of homework in preparation for this to happen.
Today I have spent all day filling in forms.
Enrollment forms, boarding allowance applications, etc etc
I have made lots of phone calls to get more info on how to present that into.
Nothing is easy or straight forward!

Anson came to visit.
He had been around his possum traps, they are catching a lot at present which is wonderful.
He and Jesika were going to do a currency swap so he checked his Australian bank account online for the first time since he came home.
As he hardly ever uses his Aust card here in NZ plus he has no computer, he hasn’t bothered to check the account.
We found heaps of mysterious withdrawals from weird places and a very depleted balance.
He called up the bank in Australia and had a long talk with someone who then put him on hold for ages and finally he got to talk to the fraud squad.
The withdrawals have been happening for a year now, just 3 or 4 semi smallish amounts each month, very cunning, very sneaky, but over time they have added up to a lot.
Then we had to email all those places to ask if they know anything about the withdrawals and if we have not heard from them in 7 days then the fraud squad can activate an inquiry.
Well guess what we found?
Every website & contact email addresses was very very similar.
So I am figuring that we will most probably never hear a peep from any of them.
In the meantime his account has been frozen so they can’t touch anymore of his hard earned  money.
A really good warning to you all – keep an eye on your bank accounts.
There’s some rotten scumbags out there who are very happy to part you from your hard earned savings

Sebastian drove over with Mahalia.
She had cleaned the Lodge for/with Phoebe today and Seb had papers to pick up.
More paperwork re his back.
Another warning to you all out there – make sure you know exactly what your insurance will be covering and get all the fishhooks sorted before you pay any premiums.
We were under an understanding re ours and now find we were not told about something very important.
Needless to say I am furious.
All the red tape involved with getting help and assistance for him is ridiculous.
And the time it is taking is crazy considering the amount of pain he is constantly experiencing.
Just hope they get things kicked into action real soon, it’s been going on for over 5 months now.
Far too long to live with that amount of pain and for his body to deal with the high dosages of pain killers  he has to take to manage it.

So picture the kitchen table with Shoshannah trying to study her Firearms Safety course at one end, me at the other trying to get all the forms sorted, and in amongst this Azzan is supposed to be doing some English and  Maths.
Only problem is he is wanting my help and attention.
But my attention is divided – being sliced up too many ways!
Because I cannot give it to him 100% he is off on his exercise tangents or throwing a wobbly because he can’t do it and I can’t help him right when he needs me to.
He is up off his seat hoola hooping, then skipping, then using ‘7’ app on my phone, then on the treadmill going flat out.

He is just non stop!
Then Mahalia arrives and adds her stuff to the equation.
She is supposed to be doing maths & harp.
The harp practice happened but that’s about it!
My head is swirling.
Everyone is hungry.
Shoshannah makes herself some lunch and then heads off to bed for a sleep.
She is very tired and her eyes are playing up badly.
Mahalia prepares all the additives for me and then I create some omeletes for the three of us.
We eat them in my bed and watch the final of Mentalist Season 3.

Then it is back to the paperwork.
Azzan got the washing in, folded it and put it away.
Mahalia did some dishes.
Shoshannah lit the fire to heat up the water.
She also did a check through the curriculum handbook and marked off all the subjects she is interested in.
Tomorrow we will address those and narrow the field.

The other news of the day is that Nathan passed his Full Drivers License test.
Fantastic Nathan!!
Well done, now a fully legal driver 🙂

Shoshannah made herself some dinner and headed off to bed early.
Mahalia & Azzan prepared dinner for the three of us.
Boiled potatoes & carrots with steamed broccoli and cocktail sausages in a creamy tomato sauce.
Very tasty.
We cuddled up on my bed again and watched some more of The Mentalist.
Now it is late and time to shut shop.
It is very night time quiet here, a bit creaky and a bit spooky.
There are noises from outside – just large bugs flying to the lights and banging around on the skylights etc, cat meowing outside the door, moths dive-bombing the windows….

Time I made a drink and headed off to bed.
Night all xxx

Sunday 23rd February

Slept in a tad after the late night.
Phillipa, Pat & Lydia were heading off to church so I packed and got myself moving.
Said our goodbyes as they played the ‘hunt for the car keys’ game!
Finally found and they were off.
I just had time to get myself down the road to Crusoes’s Cafe to meet up with Cat.
She arrived with Leeann & Sasha.
We have a lovely couple of hours catching up over some good food.
Well some of us did.
Cat & Leeann had decided to go on a juice fast that morning so they were drooling over our food.
Here they are with their empty glass mugs waiting for their herbal tea to brew.

While they watched Sasha and I enjoyed our brunch 🙂

Bit rough eh?
They were so desperate they ate the brewed herb/fruits from their teas 🙂

Me and my girl 🙂
She is on call and probably won’t get home this time onshore so it was really nice to be able to catch up with her before I came home.

I had to zip into the city before 1pm to pick up some stuff for Anson so lots of hugs and we were off and away.

Got Anson’s stuff and then went back to Tahunanui to visit Sally.
She has recently had a major shoulder op so was good to see her feeling so much better already – be it a tad bored and frustrated with her confinement!
The weather had taken a change for the worse and it was really really windy.
I zipped back into the city and picked up the girls.
We went to The Warehouse, Countdown and United Videos to get last few things and then stopped at Z Fuel, Starbucks & Hangar 58 to fuel us up for our trip home.
Actually left town around 4pm – amazingly early for us.
Road is really rough at present and very dusty as there has been no rain in ages.
We stopped at Tim’s cairn to replace the flowers and found his boots and rocks falling down so we spent some time getting it sorted.
Went down to Waterfall Bay to drop off Mahalia and pick up Azzan.

Phoebe’s family were there en mass having dinner.
Caught up with Sapphire – she has grown so much in the few days since I last saw her!

We finally left just on dark and stopped in to drop off Anson’s stuff.
Eden was asleep so we tippy toed in.
The kids just about put Marah through the roof as she was not expecting them and they loomed up out of the darkness and peered in through her kitchen window 🙂
Arrived home and unpacked the car.
We all needed to get off to bed.
Azzan came back out to see me.
He was upset.
His Daddy wasn’t here and he wanted him to be.
We had a cuddle and he shed a few tears before going back to bed.
It’s tough.

I recently found this poem on this blog site.
It says it all.

The Cure

by Albert Huffstickler

We think we get over things.
We don’t get over things.
Or say, we get over the measles
but not a broken heart.
We need to make that distinction.
That things that become part of our experience
never become less a part of our experience.
How can I say it?
The way to ‘get over’ a life is to die.
Short of that, you move with it,
let the pain be pain,
not in the hope that it will vanish
but in the faith that it will fit in,
find its place in the shape of things
and be then not any less pain but true to form.
Because anything natural has an inherent shape
and will flow towards it.
And a life is as natural as a leaf.
That’s what we’re looking for:
not the end of a thing but the shape of it.
Wisdom is seeing the shape of your life
without obliterating (getting over) a single
instant of it.

Saturday 22nd February

Woke at 7:30am.
All very quiet so I did some stuff on the computer and then got up and chatted with Phillipa for a while.
The clock was ticking along faster than I was so it soon got to be mid morning and I could see my time to get the things done in town fast disappearing.
Got myself showered and ready to face the day and was out the door around 11am.
Went to see Ross & Andrea to drop off some things.
Lovely to have a few moments to talk with Andrea before I had to leave at midday.
Met up with Sally at Sinful Coffee.
Never been there before, never even knew about it.
It is a really nice cafe – great food and apparently according to Sally, wonderful coffee.
I’m not sure if it was the heat, or that I was over hungry, or if it is just the emotional stress, but my stomach was not happy.
I was feeling quite sick and churned up.
Sally shouted me lunch – it was my birthday present – Thanks Sally it was a lovely gift 🙂
But the best present was to get to spend a couple of uninterrupted hours with you xxx
It was so good to talk with her and to be able to share so much.
The emotional turmoil is relentless at the moment and I ended up having a good cry on her shoulder.
It was after 2pm and I had to reluctantly leave.

Just had time to nip into a couple of shops to pick up some things I needed for the birthday present before heading back to the house to get ready.
I took Phillipa, Pat & Lydia in my car and we drove out to Motueka to join other friends and family in the celebration of Colin’s 60th birthday.
It was really nice to be able to be there but it was also really hard.
I was feeling wrung out emotionally and not up to too much talking.
Most folk respected that, but I did get cornered at one stage which was very difficult.
Some people just do not know when to back off and stop asking personal probing questions.
And right now I cannot deal with that.
I have a few close friends I can talk with about personal things, but it is just way too hard to go there with others.

Colin & Jillian have 10 children and  a number of grand kiddies – only 3 were not there.

Happy BIrthday Colin 🙂

We enjoyed a buffet bbq and then cake & dessert.
The girls all hopped into the spa and the boys hooned off playing games in the dark while the adults talked.
It was after 9:30pm when we left.
Got back and had coffee and buns which Phillipa’s Norwegian boarder had made.
Rather tasty and good comfort food to go to sleep on.

 

Friday 21st February

After several nights of not getting to sleep until the early hours I was glad my alarm clock was set as it jarred me awake at 4:50am.
I staggered through the shower, which was only luke warm, but thankfully Shoshannah had lit the fire for even that short time last night so it wasn’t stone cold.
Got the kids up just before 5:30am.
I had the can pretty much packed up and then the girls came out with their stuff.
What!
‘That much gear for just 2 nights!’ I exclaimed to Mahalia as she towed out her large suitcase and carry bags.
‘We are sharing the bag Mum’ she said.
And Shoshannah was taking all her school work too so I couldn’t argue with that!
So we unpacked and repacked to fit in all their gear and make sure the harp travelled safely.

It was dark when we left at 6am but as we drove up the hill the dawn was breaking and we could see that the whole bay was enveloped in sea fog.
We stopped at the top and revealed in the glory of the beautifully ethereal morning.
The fog was covering all the bays on both sides of the farm, out into the Strait and up the Sound.
And the sun was just beginning to rise through it.
The morning star was shining so brightly.
It was glorious.
Mahalia & Nathan braved the morning chill to enjoy it with me and take photos.

Mahalia leaping as the mist began to rise and swirl around us.
And the the west, this is the back of our farm – there is sea way down under all of that fog.

It was rather chilly so we hopped back in to the car and turned on the heater and headed to town.
Nathan knew he had to work late tonight so he slept most of the way.
Skip was sleeping between the girls.
It was a very quiet trip so I asked Leonard to keep me company which he gladly did 🙂
In the mellowness of the morning my mind was reliving the past as I drove.
And for the first time I clearly remembered the moments of the afternoon when I said goodbye to Timmy for the last time.
I could feel his arms around so tightly around me and his kisses as he said goodbye and ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
I had the privacy of sleeping passengers to allow tears to pour down my face.

When we arrived in Nelson we dropped off Nathan’s gear and then Mahalia took her harp up to Annemieke so she could fix the broken string.
It was an F string this time, not the G string which had amused her siblings last time 🙂
Then into the city centre to meet up with Cat & Leeann.
They arrived moments after us and we had 10mins to quickly catch up before they had to go meet a friend.
There can never be a serious photo which this lot in it 🙂

Leeann happy to be reunited with Skip.

We said goodbye and then Nathan & I went to Starbucks for frappainos and Shoshannah whizzed up the road to Colombus to get drinks for her and Mahalia.
Mira arrived.
I think Nathan was very happy to see her 🙂
Was trying to get a quick pic of them both but someone kept photo bombing!
Becky had organized a morning tea for some of my friends at Melrose House.
Unfortunatley she was unable to come as she is still recovering from an operation.
Michele & Gabrielle came

As did Phillipa & Margaret

And Ella & Chrissy.

Shoshannah & Mahalia were there too.
We had a lovely time enjoying the good company, lovely food and beautiful surroundings.

Mahalia had to leave just before 11am as she had to walk up the road for an appointment and then go on to her harp lesson.
Shoshannah and I had to leave at 11:30am.
It would’ve been so nice and very easy to stay much longer, so next time I will not be making any appointments which will cramp the time with my friends!
We said goodbye to everyone and drove to Richmond.
We had an appointment with one of the 2IC’s at Waimea College.
Shoshannah is looking at many options at present and one of them is to go to school.
We had a lovely time with the lady there.
I was very impressed as to how she was happy to meet Shoshannah’s needs and not squeeze her into their boxes.
Shoshannah was very happy with what she heard and saw there.
Some decisions to be discussed over the next week!

We then zipped up the street to pick up some dvds which were being redone for me.
The first lot I had gotten done had been botched – thankfully Nathan drew my attention to that so the situation could be redeemed quickly.

Back into Nelson, dropped Shoshannah off at the Winnington’s.
I am sure the car groaned with relief when all the girls gear was unloaded 😉
Then down to the cbd to do a few things.
Had a 3:30pm appointment with my therapist.
It was a very emotionally draining time as I worked through some major stuff.
Felt really wiped out by the time I walked out the door.
But had some new tools to think over and work with.
Just had time to go do a few more things before closing time.
Met up with Shoshannah & Katherine at Nelson Beauty Therapy.
Good to get Bedelia to check out something for Shoshannah.
Seems her skin problem could be a stress related eczema so needs to be treated differently to what she had been doing.

Dropped the girls up the street and then I headed to Hangar 58.
I was supposed to be meeting Cat & Leeann there but they had text to say they were too tired to come in so sadly I ended up there on my own again.
Nathan had reserved a table which was tucked in by a screen.
A great place to sit and people watch and not feel too conspicuous about being alone.
He made me this wonderful cocktail – it looked so delectable that several ladies were asking me what it was 🙂

I was really hungry so ordered a salmon trio.
Sat and lingered over the food and drink for an hour or so while they did the Friday draw.
I had saved up a lot of vouchers – over 100 actually – but despite the odds being greatly in my favor I didn’t win the $2000 tonight.
Ah well, always another time.

Popped into New World and picked up a container of Kohu Road Salted Caramel Ice Cream.
Then I went to pick up the harp and spent half an hour or more chatting with Annemieke on the street.
It was after 8pm by the time I arrived at Pat & Phillipa’s.
It was really good to collapse for the rest of the evening.
It was quite late when the adults of us cracked open the lid of the ice cream.
I think I have two more converts 😉
It was a most relaxing evening but obviously time to find our beds!

I spent some time researching some school and boarding information for Shoshannah before my head finally hit the pillow.

Thursday 20th February

I slept till after 7am this morning, which was just as well cuz last night was one of those can’t settle to sleep nights and I think it was getting on towards 1:30am before I actually managed to crash out.
But the payment for that is no morning spa cuz I have slept too late and the others have begun to rise.
Luke was up and getting himself packed as he knew he was heading out with Anson sometime this morning.
Azzan wanted to do some science experiments to hopped online to find himself some to try.
Did this one and was rapt it reacted so fast.
He put this white rose into blue food coloring.
Last night the tips were just beginning to turn blue.

This morning it was this colour.
Gorgeously exciting for him.

There was not a lot of connection between the body and brains of my two girls this morning.
I was wanting some things done but Luke was leaving so sitting in the sun with their cousin was much more interesting that doing chores 😉

I had a few things to do so it took me a while to get to the shower.
I had no sooner gotten in that Shoshannah was banging on the door with the phone.
Merrin called up for a chat so we talked for a few mins and then I was back under the water.
Dressed and packed up ready to head over the hill.
Anson arrived round with Eden to pick up Luke.
He headed away after all the hugs & goodbyes.
I over the vehicle up the track a bit so I could hose off the windows when Mahalia came up with the phone.
This time it was the orthodontist giving us an earlier appointment if we wanted it.
Decisions!
Too hard to make on the phone so hung up and discussed it with Shoshannah and decided that no, we couldn’t leave on our road trip a week earlier now so we will leave the appointment as it stands.
Then I was back in the car and off up the hill.
Soon came up behind Anson, driving at granddad speed.
Seb called me back so stopped to talk with him and gave Anson time to get up the hill.
Got up there to discover the whole of Admiralty Bay was covered in a dense sea fog.

It stretched right across the Cook Strait.
The very tops of Stephens Island and Rangitoto Islands were just poking out through the fog.
No wonder the Wellington airport was closed.
Marah had been feeding Eden hence the slow speed top the hill.
She was just putting her into her seat when we arrived.
Little bundle of cuteness was fast asleep.

Azzan and I drove on over to Sandra & Phil’s.
They didn’t know we were coming and they were all on their lonesome so it gave them a nice surprise.
It was Sandra’s birthday – Happy Birthday my friend xxxxx
Sandra was about to make a cup of tea when I asked for some ice and presented her with this bottle of Irish Cream liqueur.
Nathan had given me the box set of bottle and two glasses for my birthday and I had forgotten it was there on Tuesday when all my friends were over.
So I decided to crack it open with my wonderful friend on her memorable day.

I poured us a glass each while she got out some crackers and cheese.
She was laughing so much.
Her comment was – ‘My teetotal friend has arrived with a bottle of Baileys to drink and it is not even 11am!’

But she didn’t argue very hard and we sat out on the check and enjoyed a couple of hours of the gorgeous day together.
Phil decided he should join the party and that cuz we were hitting the bottle he could too so poured himself a rum and coke 🙂
The things we old folk do!!

Finally had to drag ourselves away around midday.
Azzan and I zipped over the hill to Waterfall Bay.
But on the way the sea fog was coming in over the Te Kopi saddle and looked so cool that I had to stop and take more photos.

It was whisping up through the Sounds, it kept threatening to engulf Port Ligar but then it would retreat again. 
I took Azzan down to Watefall Bay.
He is staying with Phoebe & Seb while we are in town.
He walked in the door and looked around and said, ‘Well I guess I had better start cleaning cuz that’s what I’m here for.’
He proceeded to do the dishes and put away groeceris and tidy things for Phoebe.
I was reclining on her bed talking with her while she fed Sapphire.
He presented us with a platter of sliced fresh fruit and cucumber and offered to cook dinner.
Then he hung out washing and brought another load in.
What a lad.
Need to keep him on 🙂
I needed to get back home as I had things to do before leaving in the morning.
Got to top of hill and the sea fog was still thick as over in Admiralty Bay.

And this is the view I had as I was coming down our hill.
 
It was all quiet when I arrived home.
Shoshannah had put the chicken in the slow cooker and Nathan was roasting up some potatoes.
They were all resting up.
I did the same and then we had dinner.
Watched some of The Mentalist and then cleaned up.
Shoshannah washed the dishes and got the fire going.
Mahalia swept and washed the floor before having her shower.
I’m trying to get finished and packed so I can hit the sack too.

Wednesday 19th February

I woke up this morning feeling absolutely rubbish.
My head was aching and I was already crying.
The day was echoing my emotions – flat with low misty sea fog.

I went out to have a spa around 7:30am and met up with Luke.
He was just about to head off with Anson so I waited till they were gone.
The mist came in even thicker over the next few hours.

My whole body was just wracked with sobbing.
I couldn’t control it.
Just lay on the bed and let myself cry and cry.
Haven’t been able to cry like that for nearly a year.
Azzan came in and sat with me, he didn’t talk, just stroked my arm and my back and hugged me.

Shoshannah was working on her Firearms Safety course and Azzan had begun his English.
Eventually I was able to go out and help him.
I was totally wrung out and not functioning well.
Got Mahalia out of bed around 9:30am and she joined the school book ranks.
I guess some work got done, I gave up trying to keep track.
Azzan cracked open a bottle of sparkling grape juice that we forgot to open last night.
We had that for brunch with mini cupcakes – so deliciously healthy 😉

Azzan went to do MathsBuddy online and neither Safari or Firefox would work.
My head really was not in a place for sorting any problems so I had to work very hard to keep my big girl bloomers pulled up and not lose the plot over minor issues.
Minor things tend to become very large at times such as these
Finally had to make an emergency call to Ross for help.
Turned out FlashPlayer needed updating so had to get that done and then he was away.
Nathan spent the morning sorting out all his stuff and bagging up anything he didn’t want.
The kids were given free range to go through it first and Shoshannah was pretty stoked to get some of his shirts.
Watch out Natey Joel – she’s about to rip your Jeep shirt off of your back 😉

Mahalia came running in at 11:30am to tell me to get my camera as the bay was so beautiful with the low sea fog stretching through from Cook Strait and the wake of the Tardis breaking the calm water.

Then about 20mins later Tardis headed out to go seed up a line further up the Sounds and the wake was reversed.

It was such an ethereal day with the mist hanging about, coming and going all day.

Anson & Luke came back.
That put paid to much more academia happening.
Everyone foraged for their own lunches.
Plenty of food in the fridge so no need for anyone to go hungry.
Shoshannah had a brilliant idea.
She reckons we should have a bbq once a week and then we wouldn’t have to cook for the remaining days!
Sandra phoned up to check on me.
I really appreciated that call xxxx

Anson & Marah went for a walk up to visit Tim’s grave this arvo.
They took Eden up to meet her Poppo for the first time.
Love this photo Anson said I could share here.
He would’ve so loved this cheeky wee miss of a granddaughter xxxx
Tucked in behind her is the jaw from the last boar Anson caught with his Dad.

Once the kids decided to go swimming I came back to my bed.
Just needed to lie low today.
Mid arvo and I was hungry for something savory so Azzan made me a cheese toasty.
He asked me what I wanted on it and I had said onion, tomato and cheese.
He came back and said that he couldn’t find the tomatoes so did onion, capsicum and cheese.
I told him we had lots of tomatoes to which he replied, ‘Well I had a boy look and couldn’t see any so that will have to do.’
This is what he presented me with – delicious 🙂

I was lying on my bed working on my computer, still feeling pretty low when Shoshannah came to visit.
I asked her to help show me how to use Picasa cuz she uses it all the time and does some cool stuff.
I have only just downloaded it and hadn’t got it sussed yet.

Christine came to visit so joined out bedroom party.
She loved seeing all the photos of Auckland and Lily.
It brightened the day somewhat – especially Shanni’s antics in the midst of us.


Christine headed off home sometime after 7pm.
The kids wanted to watch The Mentalist so we organized some food and then watched a couple of episodes in between phone calls etc.
Tardis came back in just on dark.
Nathan & Luke went off with Anson late this arvo.
He had some shearing to do for a neighbor.
They never got home until nearly 11pm.
But better to work in the cool – it was been really hot today.

Jesika messaged me tonight with some wonderful news.
Can’t divulge all now,  but that prayers have been answered, it is very positive and their new adventure is just beginning.
And no, she’s not pregnant – just saying 🙂