An 'L' of a Party

Here's the only known photo of me taken on the day I turned 50. Cheers!


The whanau gathered the following day for a small and extremely select 'dinner party'. It was dubbed an 'L' party (isn't it obvious? - L is 50 in roman numerals). Here's a round-up of what the clever people turned up as:

Murray thought out of the square and came as 'Elvis'; yours truly turned up as Loretta Swit (if you squint into the sun with your fingers crossed behind your back after swallowing a bottle of vino, you'd be fooled too).

Jenny made an extremely elegant Leopard, while Chris tried to make out he was a 'Lecherous Lothario' (you've either got it, or you haven't!)

Ian and Robyn were a 'Leopard' and a 'Litterbug' respectively (An entirely new twist on the meaning of 'kitty litter'...)

Philippa came as the 'Lotto Lady' (very clever) while Paul did his best to be a 'Lout'.

Ian had a back-up plan in case his leopard gear was too uncomfortable (which it was - or maybe he just has trouble making decisions?). In his second life he came back as a 'Long-distance runner'.

Judy came dressed as a 'Learner Driver' displaying not only 'L' plates, but also a newspaper headline of a car accident. Very appropriate, given the fact that she has just recently crashed the car and caused a fair degree of damage.

Winston made a particularly splendid 'Lighthouse' (Pencarrow, in case you were wondering).

The venue for this little shindig was a marquee on the back lawn which Murray insisted on calling the 'L' hole. Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated (no wind, no rain, not too cold) . Murray catered the entire meal - an upmarket barbeque menu of six courses - and did a fantastic job for which I would like to thank him publicly. He has no plans to repeat the performance in a hurry, but he was told on numerous occasions that he 'should have been in catering'. Yeah, right...

The menu was printed out and consisted of a Bloody 'L' (or Bloody Rosemary, take your pick) with a slice of Bruschetta; Butterflied prawns and bacon-wrapped scallops with wild rice; a pause (while the mains were cooking) which was filled with a frozen limoncello; a choice of steak with green peppercorn sauce, chicken breast with apricot and brie or pork and chargrilled pineapple, all served with green beans, barbecued whole tomato, potato and onion puffs, and a large mushroom with pesto and blue cheese. The dessert consisted of a choice of 3 different flavoured icecream balls, a baby pavlova with cream and raspberry coulis, or tiramisu. Then there was coffee with chocolates and liqueurs to finish off. We decided to have a disposable policy so that dishes weren't going to be an issue, so everything except the cutlery for the main course and the wine glasses were thrown out. We've blown NZ's carbon footprint for the foreseeable future!!!

Richard arrived just as dinner was starting (he'd had a conflict of interest - a 'stag do' to go to (the only one of us with a life?) and had had to rush to get here. He came as L Ron Hubbard (who knows what he looks like in real life???).

As the night went on, some people mixed and matched characters, some people just looked more like who they'd tried to be in the first place, some went to sleep, and some just had a good time... but everybody wanted to be blond - what does that tell you???

Wisely, Robyn waited till next morning to turn blond!






And I almost forgot - there was a surprise cake too! Very appropriately, it was a very big 'L'.

And that was it - all over bar breakfast the following morning. A-Once-In-50-Year-Event successfully concluded, with many thanks to all concerned.

Easter - (3) Picnic

On Easter Monday Murray and I took the kayaks to Whareroa, round the western side of the lake, put them in and went paddling. The day was beautiful, the lake calm and we found the perfect spot for a picnic. It actually only exists because the lake is so low at the moment, but it was

glorious.

The countryside out the western side of the lake looks very brown and dry and the farmers (like almost everywhere else in the country) must be gasping for rain.

I knew there was a power station on the Kuratau River, but I'd never seen it. There's quite a substantial lake.

And to finish the day off, we went out fishing in the boat again that evening. No fish, but again, a glorious sunset and a beautifully calm evening:

Easter - (2) Evening Fish on the Lake

On Saturday evening Murray, Brendan and I put the boat in. There was not a trace of a breeze and the tailrace was like glass. It was stunning.

The sun set beautifully: And right on cue, the moon came up, equally spectacularly:Perhaps it was the combination of sun and moon, but the fish were unusually cooperative. Murray caught two. During the next week we went out fishing in the boat on 2 or 3 more occasions; same place, same time, but there were no more fish unfortunately.

We bought some stones and finished off one of our gardens. We're really pleased with it, and if the new plants survive and grow up, it will be even better:

This is the garden box under the window. It was last started but first finished and we're really happy with it. We've tried not to put too many plants in.

The last garden box is still some way off being finished but we can now start planning what plants we'll put in. We spent some time chopping back and grooming the plants at both ends of the deck and now the place looks tidy again.

Easter - (1) Kayaking

Brendan and I kayaked the Tokaanu Stream, but this time we were brave enough to set out from the other side of the bridge. Here we are about to enter the culvert. There was just enough headroom, but even so, it was a little daunting to head into the blackness...

And this is what it was like under the bridge. It was perfectly light, bright and airy, plenty of headroom , but my hands were shaking so badly it was hard to take photos.


And then we popped out the other end to find Murray waiting for us on the other side.

As you can see, it was a glorious day. Here's Brendan doing a good imitation of a kiwi kid in paradise.

We paddled all the way to the old wharf but not without a stop at the mouth of the stream where we had to get out and walk because it was too shallow to negotiate. The lake is exceptionally low, and is apparently dropping at a rate of 1cm per day.