Changes

Nothing in life stays the same for long... here are some of the latest changes we've made since Brendan went flatting. We think it's a huge improvement.

But wait, there's more... (as well as the new tv, if you look carefully, you'll see that the Wellington Phoenix are playing LA Galaxy at the Westpac Stadium in front of a capacity crowd and David Beckham is the star of the show!!!). Unfortunately the Phoenix are coming second at this stage...

It's a perfect night in Wellington for the game, as it has been here today - all day, and for the past week as well. Summer is here right now. Don't know about the week after next, but for the moment we are all happy!!!

Nana is especially happy. Not only did she get to have a whole day out enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, she got to play hookey too. Here she is avoiding the annual CS Christmas party...

Before she went home, we treated her to 'real food', again out on the deck. She went home worn out but full and happy.


And, in news of other changes, this photo caught my eye in the paper last week. PNGHS is revamping it's summer uniform and 3rd formers will begin wearing it next year. Apparently it has had positive feedback so we'll wait and see. It appears very traditional to me (and a bit reminiscent of the Carncot uniform) but we'll see soon enough what the girls can do with it... There's no change to the winter uniform. Any comments???

Farewelling Jane & Visiting Whanau

This week I have been to Hamilton to farewell Jane, our neighbour in Turangi, who died last week. The funeral was on Monday morning, at Hamilton's Anglican Cathedral, and was a fitting send-off with many of Jane's friends and family attending. Since Murray was away in Sydney, I drove up as far as Turangi on Saturday after finishing work, intending to spend most of Sunday relaxing in Turangi. Unfortunately, I managed to score my first ever speeding ticket (over the Desert Road). Bugger!!! First thing Sunday morning I spent an hour in the river, fishing. The weather was perfect - blue skies and very little wind. However, in spite of my plans to do nothing but fish, read and relax for the rest of the day, early afternoon found me in Hamilton catching up with my sisters (and their other halves and offspring) in Hamilton.

I stayed the night with Jenny and Chris at their new house, and met the other members of their family:

This is Gracie:

This is Russell:
And this is 'Dorothy':

As you can see, they live a 'Green Acres' type lifestyle.

As things turned out, I ended up staying another night in Hamilton so that I could also catch up with my brother (who, ironically, had been down to Turangi overnight). But I got back to Turangi in time for another flick in the river and I also made time to mow the lawns before heading for home. Needless to say, after Saturday's close encounter with the constabulary, I drove with one eye on the speedo at all times!

Who would ever have thought????

For those of you who are interested in Palmerston North goings-on, I thought this was a gem you'd enjoy (from Manawatu Standard of Tues 13 November):

I apologise if the print is too small to read. Apparently the NZ Institute of Architects, in awarding the prize, described the clocktower as "an elegant and memorable focal point for Palmerston North by both day and night". Yeah, right...!!! The people of Palmerston North have labelled it as everything from an "abomination" to a "total disaster" since its renovation.

And then I found this:

To be fair, I think this photo is the nicest depiction of the clocktower that I have seen. But photos can be 'twiddled' - and I have never seen the clocktower look this good 'in the flesh' so to speak.

Darby & Joan

Another weekend over - and things are now completely different in the household. Brendan has moved on - he's gone flatting with his mates. Not only that but having sold his car a week or two ago, today he bought himself a new (used) upgraded shiny bright red car. This is how it looked when he brought it round to show it off:

This means we now have another room to spread out into, and we are making plans. Brendan has yet to take the last of his bits and pieces so we'll give him a few days to do that before we put them in a bin bag out in the garage... To be fair, until today he has been limited to what he could carry on his motorbike (the biggest part of his shift he did with a van borrowed from work).

In other news, we spent a quiet weekend fiddling in the garden which now looks better for the TLC. The weather has been fantastic for the past 4-5 days and everyone is much happier for it. Nui came for the afternoon both on Saturday and Sunday - we took her for a spin through The Warehouse and she is still reeling from the experience...

After we took Nui home, we had our second barbeque of the season out on the deck. In case you were wondering, this photo was taken by a friendly 'park bench' which explains the strange angle. We're also eating in this corner of the deck because that's where the last of the day's sunshine was.

And after dinner Murray and I went out for a walk - we've just started the regime again - three nights so far. Here's a photo of the Manawatu River taken around 8.30 last night. Great time of evening for a walk...

So that's the latest gossip from the folks back home. Over & out!