What makes you happy?

If you click on the photos you get some really lovely detail. Nature - can't beat it

Fantastic Weekend

This weekend was like a breath of fresh air. Lovely Jasmine was in town for two short days and it was wonderful having her and her energy in the house. It was wonderful being a full family for a couple of days. the weather was on our side so we were able to do lots of things. Saturday's list

• Great food and old friends at the Lyttelton Market
• Family dinner and delicious food
• Playing on the computer and finding out all kinds of interesting stuff
• Rhubarb and ginger clafoutis

On Sunday we headed for the beach and lying on the warm sand was such a wonderful release. I thought I was coping with work stress really well with no pains in my chest but lying on the sand and listening to the sounds of people playing and waves gently turning, released something which I am assuming was pent up stress. Good timing for a sign. Other good things on Sunday

• Mother and dad came over to the beach too, so great for them to see Jasmine


• First swim of the season - Nic and Jonty, not me


• Fantastic Cumberland sausage sandwiches


• Visiting Vanessa at her gorgeous new business, The Complete Garden in Hornby. You must visit this store...stunning

On Monday we headed over to Taylors again knowing that we all needed the chill out time. The Southerly wind that was hammering the city barely touched the bach so we were baking in the sun - well under the brollies. So what was good about this day? Well, everything but here is a list of the highlights

• Spending time with Kim and the children on the beach


• Watching Jonty sprint to Black Rock to see the Southern Right Whale in the bay...it was really cool


• Watching that mad child of mine jumping waves for one hour straight...the water was freezing and he thought he could stay in until he turned blue...


• Stunning dinner with more delicious ingredients from the market

What a great weekend. The only down side was getting up for work this morning and the absolute state of the house. Small problems really

On the road again

After a very ordinary weekend I was thrilled to be on my bike again today. After a week of wetness I was absolutely gagging to haul my bike out. I am no hero so don't bike in the rain. For the first time in ages, the prevailing easterly was a whisper and I enjoyed roaring along keeping up with the lights on the one way system.

Had a fab day in the garden on Saturday and went over to Ruth's for dinner and had a lovely smoked chicken salad and a Villa Maria Chardonnay. Yum. Nic used his new gardening tools sent by Granny Phil which he loved and I must say I found useful as they are teeny and fit in the tricky bits that are hard to get at. Marie-Anne visited from Timaru after visiting her gorgeous new nephew. Sorry MA, I just can't run to a trip to Hawaii before Xmas. I really tried to get the numbers to work for me but it is not a goer. Bummer about that. Sunday was a dullish day at home hanging out and doing crafty things and cleaning out shelves and boxes. Popped out and visited Granny and Grandad and had a brief visit from Alex and the boys but overall a pretty low energy day. It was the rain. I am ready for summer now. Some days are just like that.

Blog therapy

I can't believe I wasted my 100th post on a boo hoo about the rugby. The reason I started this blog was to celebrate the really good things in my life so this entry is me deviating from the bloody rugby and chatting about some good things that have been happening lately.The family assembled at the bach a few weekends ago to farewell our faithful plum tree. Farewell is a romantic term meaning cutting it down, heaving it all down the hill on to trailers and getting very sweaty. I took a quick last minute photo of Nic and Olivia together under it. We have another photo of my mother standing next to the tree when she was a child and with her being 6 months off 70, I am guessing the tree was pretty old. We spent years in the shelter of that tree. Afternoon sun baking the concrete through the leaves. Rainy days sitting out under the tree smoking cigarettes or getting some air. Squishing the plums under foot as you scrambled to get to the outside loo in time. Getting hit on the head by plums when it was really windy. Every Autumn we swept up the hundreds of yellow leaves and early spring we skidded on the rotting ones fallen over winter. Now the bach is open to the elements, especially the afternoon sun, the gusting nor wester and the rare southerly rain storm. It will be interesting to see how we get on without the old plum tree.Today we had our first family bike ride where we all had our own bikes. Nic on his new red machine and us on our old red machines. We had a fab time biking round Hagley Park, both north and south. On the return journey we popped in the to the Arts Centre to get a muffin for lunch and headed back to the car in the gusty nor wester. Although not at all onerous, we did have fun and this bodes very well for future rides. Alas, there was grazing and tears but nothing too dire. We stopped in the Helipad in the park to play with our rocket balloons which was a hoot and then we watched some young girls practising softball. Nic also got sprayed by the Peacock Fountain.



After our ride we headed back to the airport for the second day in a row to watch the planes as it was really windy and we love watching them fly sideways and bump about. Funny aren't we? Saw heaps - AirNZ, JetStar, Pacific Blue, Emirates and a Chatham Is plane. Enought plane spotting.



Ahh that feels better; who cares about the bloody rugby?

This is the very last time...

I invest any emotional energy into the All Blacks World Cup ....I JUST CAN'T STAND the disappointment.

Wowed by WOW in Welly

At last, I have made it to the World of Wearable Arts awards and it was worth every cent of getting there. I still wish I had experienced the Nelson WOW but my inaugural show was amazing. Both Liz and I were a bit stunned with the whole thing as were most others I think. There wasn't a lot of clapping because there was so much to see that you had to really concentrate. It was intense and theatrical and REALLY loud and fun and lovely. I loved it.

The winner of three or four sections, and the ultimate winner, this was pretty wonderful. They way the costume moved when the model walked was brilliant.

Liz and I had a great weekend hanging out together shopping and wandering about. I didn't buy much ...only presents for Nicholas...but I loved watching Liz buy gorgeous clothes. Wellington was teeming with well healed middle aged women shopping. The money in that place was palpable.

Winner of the Shades of White section...made from 550 m plastic corded strapping, acrylic, beads and material. The white section was beyond stunning and there were 20 great entries

We fitted in a quick visit to Te Papa after a delicious, value breakfast at Caffe Astoria, a Wellington 'place to be' in the city for Sunday breakfast.

Marie from Sumner library, who has always been very creative and capable in the art department recieved a commended for her first entry in the Pacific section. This is made from cable ties and blue plastic binding. Yay Marie

This is made out of wood veneer by a chap in Alaska. Won an award. Very cool.

Unpredictable

Thanks for your comment Guy. Very exciting for me to get one on my blog. Interesting what you say about the AB's winning. Remember we (and I use that term loosely), have managed to be dreadful at most WC events so I have absolutely no expectations on that front. Interestingly, whether we win the thing or not, everyone still thinks we are the best. Not sure how that works. I hope you didn't think I was happy that England scored a zero, I was commenting on the undpredictability of things. Anyway...thanks again for reading and taking time to comment.



The media drives me mad a lot of the time for various misdemeanour offences and right now it is some of the stupid things they latch on to. I was thinking about this as I battled in to a head wind homeward bound on my bike. I guess they have to say stupid things and put theories out there to get people thinking and debating issues but bloody hell. Saying that low ranked countries shouldn't be at the tournament is just idiotic. What is wrong with having severely mismatched teams on the paddock getting a whipping, learning how to be humble, being sports men? If you carry that thinking over to the Olympics there would only be finals. No NZ representation in the 100m sprint, no big deal. Nothing like sending some expensive athlete over there to run for 11 seconds. I guess that would mean only have one team in the Tour de France; NZ shouldn't ever even try out for the soccer World Cup. We suck, we don't deserve to even have a go. You get my drift?! If you want to build a fee paying public and a massive worldwide audience you have to have real teams playing. Dumb arses.



Don't get me started on NZ Fashion week. Actually, got myself started. Both TV3 and TVNZ sent reporters to cover the event or hang out with a designer for the night. They were both looking for an angle ...the same one. Diva's and tantrums...and they couldn't find either...it is New Zealand after all...but did they shut up about it? No, wittered on and on trying to be funny but being really really stupid and boring. Bring on the grown ups, bring on the journalists. We miss them. Will leave the rest of that story for another day.



And here is a lovely photo of Nic in his crown dashing through the daffodils - just to end this rant on a happy note.

Mixing it up

I am loving the rugby. I am loving the fact that England scored a big fat zero and Georgia only finished 4 points behind Ireland. Georgia has 300 adult rugby players and eight grounds. Ireland is considered the sixth best team in the world.

You just can't tell what is going to happen next. I don't think the big teams are playing that well and I am thinking that must be about the need to have good competition to push you to play your best. Watching the All Blacks slaughter the Portuguese was not actually any fun. Being a nation that supports the underdog, I am sure we are all thrilled to see 13 points on the board for the best amateur team in the world. The Portuguese win the award for most enthusiastic anthem singing.

I think the TV3 team are starting to get better at their commentary and it is a hoot watching Merts trying to be serious while Ali Williams is giving him heaps. I think Merts should just be funny.

Mixing it up..made my first batch of cupcakes today. Wondering what the big deal is, I went to my many and varied food websites and checked out my cookbooks and found a delicious sounding recipe of which all the ingredients were lounging in the fridge and pantry.

Here it is - Donna Hay's Patty Cakes (as the call them in Aussie) - I finished mine with zesty lemon and butter icing. They are like sweet cakey muffins and they last for days. I shared mine with Joan when Nic and I went to see her lovely new home.

Patty Cakes

1 1/2 Cups self raising flour

2/3 cup caster sugar

155g butter

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 milk

1tsp vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat until they are well mixed (I softened the butter). Continue to beat until mixture is light and creamy. Spoon the mixture in to patty cases in tins to about 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cakes are golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool. There are lots of ways to serve these but you will work that out.

Rubbing your head on the carpet

Italy V Romania...It hasn't even finsihed yet but I feel compelled to get this off my chest. What I have been watching barely resembles a game of rugby as we are used to. Obviously Romania were out classed and just being fuckn annoying. And I am sure there are more injury breaks or little lie downs than there was actually footy. Dull Dull Dull. The commentators, who were very difficult to hear over the 25 piece band that was playing through the entire match, decided the referee was the 'man of the match'. And those yellow jersey's...showed the layers of blubber on the Romanians...a little less cake and a bit more training might be in order.

Nic asked Jonty yesterday if 'when you were a little boy, did you rub your head on the carpet? Because I can see where you wore off some of your hair'

NZ V ITALY

Not being able to stay up past 9.30, I took to the sofa at 8am on Sunday to watch the men in black destroy the Italians. Not a hugely exciting game really as a walk over is not so much fun. Having watched a couple live, I find them totally cringe making and I always feel sorry for the destroyed. Nevertheless, nice to see our team in fine form practising their moves and clever passes etc. I thought the performance they put in would not really be that great if they were playing Australia but realised that their game plan for the Italians would differ from that of the Aussies or another team.

I am also starting to worry about the fact that after one game against 'the fourth ranked team in Europe', that they are going to win. Hello!! Has no one been watching the world cup over the last 20 years??? Also the 4th ranked team in Europe is not really competition is it?

So, Dan Carter is amazing and so so so watchable, ball skills are fantastic, Doug Howlett is fun to watch. Forwards were working beautifully as a team.

Finally, TV3 can't really do the whole commentary, post match chat etc very well. They don't have the skills in their team. I am sure they are very knowledgable but they just don't have it. Andrew Merts tried but he has got a lot of work to do. It will be interesting to see how he improves over the tournament. Also, the quality of the picture is not great.

Webb Ellis Goofy

I have to admit that I am a closet rugby head and was up this morning watching the opening ceremony and the first game...Argentina (17) v France (12). I can see that I am going to get right in to this tournament and I REALLY want the All Blacks to win. Get annoyed with all the hype and blah blah but it is all good fun really.

My take on the game, for what it is worth. France played crap and Argentina deserved to win. They played strong defensive rugby and were relentless in their drive. Big buggers, great tacklers and passion. Loved the tears during the anthems. One exciting try from a turnover. Some good kicking but overall it was a grunt game. Heaps of blood, a visible lack of ball skills and fitness not that great. Watching this game, my first for a long time, you can see the difference in styles of rugby and I would have to say the Polynesian game is far more exciting and interesting to watch. I am probably biased though.

Also, what is with all the hair? The French guy with the beard and long hair, not tied up??? He could have been scalped or his hair could have flicked across someones eye and cut it...happens you know. I bet the chicks would never be able to play with their hair flailing all over the place.

Oh yes, the title of this entry. Teaching Nicholas from scratch about a) rugby and b) the world cup, has meant many many clarifying questions. One being the name of the trophy...The Webb Ellis Goofy. Kids are so cute.

...it's here!

Nic came running in yesterday yelling, 'It's here, we are soooo lucky!'

'What's here? Why are we so lucky?'

'Blossom!'

The butterfly was just a fortuitous flutter in the frame.

Albert Cuyp Market

I love markets and this one in Amsterdam was brilliant. There was a great mixture of local food and flowers as well as fashion and designer gear and knock of cheap stuff. It is on every day except Sunday and is really big. Every night it is pulled down at 4ish and then resurrected the next morning. Crazy but very cool. We had a great time here and bought all kinds of little bits and pieces. My favourite thing was my new work bag for 5E which is a total bargain. I loved the fact there were practically no tourists. and the locals are so multi-cultural it was like being with the whole world in one place.



The market was in our neighbourhood so was an easy walk there and back. Later in the day we took the Canal Bus which added to an alreadly great day and if I remember correctly one of the five rainless days on our adventure. I think the pictures give a good feel for the place.

Eye on London

When asked about his highlights, Nic always says the London Eye but I am not sure if that is because he loved it or he can remember it. We booked on line which helped with queueing but when it came to it the whole thing was pretty random. However, superior queue management meant only a 15 minute wait. 15 minutes before we arrived at the queue there was a torrential downpour of biblical proportions. With tickets pre-booked we had to use them on the day so took a chance and were rewarded with a great ride. I was terrified for most of the journey and only just managed to hang in for the whole 30 minutes. I didn't want Nic to get wind of that so sat quietly on the bench in the middle of the pod and looked far out in to the view. Overall it was a really worthwhile experience. Gorgeous boys

Great views

Who wouldn't be terrified?

What do you do on a cold grey winter day in Christchurch?

Meet your friends at the park and get talking and walking.

We met up with Karen, Justy, Anna, Ruth and her family, Jane, Ella and baby Lewis for a kids get together on Karen and Justy's last day and what fun we had. The children had a great time and there were plenty of tears and a few tantrums evenly spread among them all.

Ella, Olivia, Nicholas, Anna and Ben

After coffee and warm things for adults and ice blocks for the children we headed to the museum through the gardens. It was bitingly cold but with the talk and walk, we all fell in to our cars rosey cheeked and relaxed. What a fun afternoon. Jonty chose to stay at home and then came in to find us and couldn't...shame, as I think he would have enjoyed himself. Check out the museum on a cold day, it is really interesting. Funny how much more you are interested in your own city you are after visiting others.

Trains

Nicholas absolutely loved the trains in all the shapes and sizes they came in. He liked to push the buttons on the doors and in this photo is guarding the door to ensure he is the one in charge.

And he loved watching the trains leave the station once we had stepped off so it was time consuming getting places. This the underground train at our station in Berlin. Surprisingly graffiti free!

tee hee

Here are a few fun pics from Leicester. Nic with his cousins whom he loved and they were fantatic with him. Jonty was a really good sport going on ALL of the rides at Twin Lakes fun park. Nic was too young/short to go on without a parent...good fun for everyone. The National Space Centre

Teeny tiny post to say we are still alive

So, we made it home in one piece. Thanks to everyone who spent time with us on our wonderful adventure and helped make it so memorable. Must thank the fans at home too for taking care of business. Nice to be home to lovely sunny, positive and terror free NZ. Anyway, next few weeks I am going to get some pics and stories up but in the meantime here are some tasters....

frog rock

A few weeks ago we went to Hanmer for the day. We spent a fantastic afternoon at the pools. Being autunm there was a nip in the air which made the hot pools even more delicious than usual. We played in the kids pool for hours and Jonty and I even used the hydro slide. I can tell you the heavier you get the faster you go! We came flying out of those tubes like a rocket. All bloody good fun. Nic absolutely loved the kids slides and the giant bucket that empties from a great height every few minutes. The best part was the sun and there being a lot less people than in the summer - room for everyone. It was a perfect tonic after a couple of super busy weeks.

On the way back we stopped and climbed up 'frog rock'. We have been past it hundred's of times but never climbed it. I thought it was very high and little bit scarey but the view of the autunm landscape was stunning.

You can see the road going North in the background as well as the Weka Pass railway line.

As you can see it was a stunning day.

Easter - in a nut shell or a chocolate egg shell

stunning cheese and ice cream
beautiful architecture

trains and steam

seafood delights

beach treasures

great weather

white stones

Marie-Anne

trampoline

discovery

chocolate

penguins

egg hunt

Jasmine

chooks

quiet