sun sun sun

So, if you were heading across the ditch tomorrow for 12 days of work you might expect to see the sun in the great southern land. Well, after weeks and weeks of rain here the forecast is for 4 days of sun. And, you guessed it, rain in Melbourne where I am headed at 7am tomorrow. Bloody bloody typical. I am really pleased for Jonty though. Being the single parent for 12 days with that Nicholas, sunshine is a life saver. At least he can get outside and bike, run, scooter and climb trees.

I think I will find time to blog while I am away but wont promise anything. I am thinking I wont be out tripping the light fantastic every night but I do like to socialise so you never know. I just can't say no. Anyway, here is a quick version of my itinerary.

Melbourne for the weekend...couple of libraries, a few shops and an art gallery or two plus lunch with my cuzzy Pete and Lisa...yay.Alice Springs - 5.5 days...ALIA conference and tours, red dirt, blue skies and no rain, surely. It is 30 degrees there right at this moment so I am very pleased I have packed my togs.

Sydney - half a weekend and three days...more shops, lots and lots of libraries, dinner with the whanau and friend Innes maybe more sun.I might be able to find some down time but I am not holding out much hope. Going to miss my darlings a lot and am at the very anxious phase of pre-departure preparation. I am packed and lugging about 5kg of library related stuff plus 4 pieces of technology with assorted cables, batteries, chargers and adapters. Thanks God for taxis.

Hope to catch you all soon

Olympics

I found this on the New York Times website and thought it was really interesting. Map and medal standings. Plus another interesting article that sums up how I have seen the games too.

Another wet day in Christchurch after a passable late winter day yesterday. I wonder what the day holds for us.

Firsts

Yay another 'golden' medal. Nic always says golden and I think it is really cool and makes the medal sound even better than it is. Very cute. Another first. My first completed upholstery project tonight. I am really pleased with it and am getting stuck in to my next project.

Before

After

I did all the woodwork on the top of the seat as well as the fabric and binding. It was such fun and looks great in the lounge.

Sport, Culture and Love

I had the pleasure of attending the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Romeo and Juliet on Saturday. I just loved it. I haven't been to the ballet for a few years so this was a treat and my expectations were easily fulfilled. The staging and costumes were terrific and the dancing on the whole was lovely. Being the matinee, the lead dancers were having a cup of tea and a lie down while the understudies flexed their incredible muscles. I thought the choreography was gorgeous and really creative in the telling of a very old and well known tale. I checked out the choreographer Christopher Hampson and found this really interesting article about him and ballet in a UK ballet mag. You might like to read it if you are interested in such things.I went with Marie-Anne who used this opportunity to introduce us to her new man. He is lovely and endured the subtle scrutiny of the family as well as the full on verbal assault from Nicholas. Great to see you friends happy. That is all that matters when push comes to shove.

Added to this cultural and social activity Vanessa's 40th birthday cocktail party and catching the kids animation collection at the film festival. We had a truly lovely weekend topped off with NZ collecting a small raft of medals at the Olympics. Yay

handstands and roly polys

I am enjoying the Olympics this year. The main reason is that I have no expectations and a clear understanding that the host nation is using this opportunity as a very expensive propaganda exercise. After having my heart broken at the last Rugby World Cup and the Sydney Olympics I have learnt to enjoy the sport and achievements of New Zealanders on a different level.

I feel sorry for Moss Burmester because he just missed out on a medal but really, he swum his best time ever, broke a couple of NZ and Commonwealth records and is a total star. Well done mate, not many people can say that. So what if he didn't get a medal? He did his absolute best and it is so not about us. That Michael Phelps is a freak and he is amazing but one in a million so not really comparable.

Nic is loving the games and fascinated by the heats, semi finals and finals and can't for one moment understand why 'handstands and roly poly's are in the Olympics'. Yay Nic, that it very funny.

Mamma Mia

Today I had the privilege of seeing 'Mamma Mia' with about 100 women as a fundraiser for a friend who is working very hard to beat cancer. The film was hilarious but in the circumstances filled with some bittersweet moments. Nothing like a movie theatre filled with women laughing their heads off for a friend whose shoes we all wish never to be in. I really hope laughter is the best medicine because there was a ton of love and laughter there today. Good luck Julie....and the sun was shining, a welcome relief for everyone after weeks of wet weather.

I can see this film being one of those that is on at Christmas time every year and everyone watches it and remembers the lines.

People are sunshine

Everyone in New Zealand is probably feeling like me this week. Soggy and missing the sun. In fact almost depressingly so. It has only been 5 days since the sun shone on my skin but it feels like months. However, yesterday I had a 'sunny' day amidst the drizzle. I know I need people to keep me energised and happy and I work with heaps of people everyday but yesterday I had two opportunities to spend time with new people and I felt fantastic by the time I went to bed.
Firstly, Alex asked me to join her at her BNI (Business Networking International) breakfast meeting at The George. I was a guest and just loved sitting around the big table listening to a group of motivated hardworking people talk about their businesses and enjoy each others company. Thanks to Alex I was injected with a dash of sunshine that made my work day.

In the evening I went to my first upholstery class. I had booked it to give me something to do in the evenings other than sitting on the sofa watching tv. And it was really fun. I took the piano stool along and along with eight other women, I spent the night chatting and removing tacks from my project. Being in the woodwork room where I spent three happy night class years was a bonus.

I am planning to head out in the weekend to find some fabric and buy a few tools. Silly to be excited about that but nothing like learning some new skills and meeting some new people.
In between my injections of new people I managed to clean 500 emails out of my burstingly full in box and had some great emails from friends when I got home. So in all a really good day.
People really are sunshine in the winter so make sure you see lots of them.

Long time no blog

Hi there, sorry for having not been in touch for a while. Been a bit busy and if you make the effort to check in regularly, I apologise.

Hopefully these pictures of our recent mini break to the West Coast will make up for nothing new for a while.

We had such the best time on our holiday. While the weather was murky and snowy on the east coast, we experienced the best winter weather you could ever imagine. Reminded me of some of the best days I have ever had on the ski field. It was obvious that although Jonty has whooping cough and is in a low state, he was energised and a peace in the mountains. I know he didn't want to come home.We loved the adventure of traversing the Southern Alps in the snow and ice as intrepid travellers. Once on the other side we sped off to Fox Glacier where we stayed for a couple of nights. We made the most of the sun and got going early in the morning and headed up to the Fox Glacier and then headed north again to the Franz Joseph Glacier. You can't fathom the size of these ice rivers until you are right there. And the colour, if it could be put on a palate, would be a best seller. We also headed to Gillespies Beach to experience the wonders of building sand castles with the Southern Alps as your back drop. Lovely beyond words. Along the way the next morning we came across lovely lakes

Mapourika and Ianthe and took a detour to Okarito Lagoon. So still and gorgeous.
We wandered up to Greymouth were it was frigidly cold but sunny as anything. Nice to have a playground for Nic to play in/on. We had a fabulous jolly night with friends John and Angela drinking to much red wine and eating meatballs.

The following morning we went in search of the Pike River Coal mine and came very close until we hit the barrier gate...not literally. We then headed to Jackson's via Lake Brunner and the Arnold River power station. We had a great mystery scenic walk which proved to be the first time we recognised Nic being excited about walking and not one complaint about tired legs. What a difference 6 months can make on capacity. Yay Nic. We stopped atop the Otira Pass for a bit of snow throw and headed home.

We can highly recommend a sunny winter holiday to blow the cobwebs away. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Breath

I haven't done a post recently as I haven't really had anything of interest to talk about. It is really cold but the sun is shining. Good to have some rain in the region every now and then as well. Not so great for the biking but no biggy. Nic goes to school, Jonty and I go to work. See, nothing of great interest. But we did have a lovely lunch out with old friends on Saturday at Rossendale Winery which was nice and really long. No booze for me though so not as sleepy as you might think.

We did get a cool piano off Trademe for Nic. He loves it. He and Olivia were funny giving recitals every few minutes. O loves to dance and N loves to 'play' the piano so it is a great combo.

And I finished Tim Winton's latest 'Breath'. Loved it. A lot!Oh yes, and I made some lime and passionfruit cupcakes with orange icing for the lunch boxes...all gone already. Happy to share the recipe.

Cupcake Cutie

That's me, according to my new pink cupcake pyjamas that my lovely Jonty gave me for my birthday. I laughed my head off when I saw them. Interestingly I had made cupcakes the night before for my small birthday celebration with my family. I also got some new earphones for my MP3 player which are gorgeous and large enough to act as ear warmers at the same time. No more little bud speakers popping out of my ears under layers of scarf and jacket. Tested them on the way to work this morning and they are brilliant. Thanks Jonty. I had a fabulous day doing my stuff. Breakfast in bed while reading my new U2 book-another treasured present, receiving a few phone calls, lovely cards and texts. We went for a sunny and pretty fast bike ride around Hagley Park with a break at the Arts Centre for coffee and brioche. It was unseasonably hot for June and we were able to sit outside for lunch with Marie-Anne of homemade pizza and rocket salad. M-A contributed a very stunning chocolate cherry cheesecake... the diet quickly disintegrated from this point, it was like open flood gates. Let's not dwell on that!! I know this is a crap photo but I was on my bike at the time, biking. Nice sunny shot though

Anyway, the family arrived and we spent a very relaxed afternoon eating and drinking and catching up. No dinner last night-too full. Topping off the day was a phone call from my lovely sister-in-law Louisa in England. Overall the weekend was fabulous - full of my favourite things. I am thrilled to be 45!! Yay me, I made it this far and I feel blessed because as we all know, there are friends and family who haven't. Had a few laughs during the day with Nic who was particularly loving all day. My favourite was his affirmation that he was 'liking your moves there Mum' while we were dancing to Meatloaf. What made it funny for me was that I was dressed in my pink cupcake pyjamas with no bra on, so there were a few more moves than might have been desirable. tee hee.

Nic was the art director for the photos, hence my 'school girl on the mat' pose on the floor of the Arts Centre entrance.

Sex and the City

I laughed, I cried. The shoes. The frocks. I cannot say anything more until I know everyone who may read this will have seen it. But I have to say I loved the film more than I thought I would. Things do improve with age.

Have you ever...

bought a pair of shoes that come with a one year warranty? Well I have and I just can't believe I would do that. A sudden rush of blood to the head in a place far far away. Well not that far away but under the influence of Auckland and my dear friend Karen. I believe I did gasp when I spotted the Camper store on Broadway. Meet Lucia. I will leave you to get acquainted while I continue shopping trip. Shopping and talking and eating and drinking were on the agenda but really the shopping and talking took over. We didn't really have time to do lots of eating and drinking. I did come home with three pairs of shoes and one skirt and assorted presents for my lovely family at home though. Plus some tasty treats from Zarbo. Spent over my budget but the credit card bill is a few weeks away so will worry about that later.
Saturday night was spent in the camp Civic theatre watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the musical. Heaps of fun, great costumes. Loved the building and the crowd really got in to it. Lovely to meet Karen's friends too. After a very pleasant nights sleep in the hotel we hopped on the ferry and headed for a very Auckland wander around Devonport. Lovely. Then a saunter up Queen Street after a peek at Britomart and off to the airport loaded down with shoe boxes and a heavy bag. Great weekend of chilling out. Forgot to mention we had lunch with my lovely friend Reg at the Cock and Bull so there was food but the chat far outshone the kai.Oh yes, and I missed the snow fall at home on Saturday but I did get a spectacular view of Canterbury in all its whiteness. Lovely

Extremely loud & incredibly close

...would be a very accurate description of Nicholas getting in to bed in the morning. Alternatively it could be the title of a fantastic book. I have just finished reading it. I loved it so much and as you can see in the photo I just had to finish it upright and in the presence of everyone and a loud talking book. Jonathan Safran Foer is a genius writer and I am in love with Oskar Schell. If you gave this book to a friend for a present, it would be a treasured gift. Beautiful!

24 hour pass

We travelled 6 kms from home and booked in the the Hotel SO and so our 24 hours of timeout began. It might seem a bit odd to travel a mere 10 minutes from home but being a tourist in your own town is really fun. We met some friends for lunch at The Globe and managed to get ourselves a sunny spot on the footpath. Very nice. On the pretext of popping to the loo, I actually popped to 'One Big Sugar Bowl' and fondled the stuff. The upshot of that being the acquisition of a gorgeous red necklace, a mere trinket with love from my lovely husband.

After farewells we wandered through the central city stopping and inspecting the wares. No other purchases were made but a little list of birthday presents was made.
After reclining in our tiny and technology laden room we headed out for our night on the town. Starting at Cartel in SOL Square, we discovered everyone was off at the rugby. Yay, we had the lovely outdoor sofa, complete with hot water bottle to ourselves. After a very moreish Shiraz we wandered down to Pedro's restaurant. A long standing Spanish iconic restaurant. I indulged in a plate of perfectly grilled seafood and another Shiraz.
The city was eerily quiet as everyone was either at AMI stadium watching the match or watching at the pub or at home. As we ended our evening watching the last minutes of the game in our hotel, I knew the whole town was about to explode with celebrating rugby heads. Having had my fill of wine and food, I chose to snuckle in to the lovely soft bed with lovely linen and get some sleep. Shame that the pub next door to the hotel...5cm from our wall...has a late liquor licence that also included thumping base music until 5.30am. Shitty way to end the 24 hours of fun. The freezing cold air con in our room was another bummer but I wont dwell on those little annoyances. If you are going to Hotel SO, ensure you have a room very high up or on the west side of the building or you wont get any sleep.

Bean Scene

After a yummy breakfast of eggs and mushrooms at Bean Scene we headed home to our lovely pusscat Georgie and really noisy Nicholas. What fun we had laughing and re connecting after a couple of really hard months. Thanks to Ruth and Simon for looking after the boy, we owe you.