No room on the knee

We have had an enforced week or so at home because of colds so decided today it was time for a foray into the outside world.

After lunch we went for a visit with eldest daughter and were  greeted at the gate by grand daughter's dog guarding the property.

This is Mack. He is staying with our daughter while

 his folk are away for a few days in Auckland.

Mack decided the best place to sit on a cool winter's day

 was my lap. Not to be left out Sooty also decided

 the best place to sit on a cool winter's day was my lap. 

Sooty has never sat on my lap in all the years

 I have known him, about seven!

There's a first time for everything I guess :)

Mack also usually sits on my GKB's knee, a privilege

 for my GKB as Mack has a bit of an aversion to men.

So don't ask me what was different today. 

I don't know. Jealousy perhaps?

It meant I couldn't move until it was time to go.

 Well I could have but I didn't.

And this was Mack as we left, all wrapped up in

 a blanket because his paws and ears were cold.

Have a good week,

Diana

It's snowing today

Earlier in the week other sorts of other excitement 
was happening outside our window. We are having new 
broadband cables laid and this was the scene outside.

But I want to show you some of the quick pics I took today,

so here we are, this is more or less the same scene today.

At the moment we are having a bit of a sleet storm.

It may turn to snow but it may just turn to slush.

We are too low lying to get good snow very often, 

but high enough for the schools to be closed 

occasionally due to teachers not being

 able to make it. Today the schools are closed 

as this weather bomb moves up the country. 

A snow day for the kids, they'll love it.

My poor polys are not looking too good.

 I need to get out and do some cleaning up 

and get rid of the dead leaves etc.That's frozen 

snow on the leaves. They are getting a bit 

of a hiding this year what with frost and now snow.

Just a little look at part of my yard when

 I got up this morning.We had had a little snow overnight

 and some flurries this morning but not a lot. 

Still it was enough for my GKB to want to go out 

and practice with his camera and while he was out

 he built a mini snowman on the picnic table :) 

I hope you've enjoyed my little bit of winter today 
and all you people sweltering in the blistering 
summer heat have cooled off a little.

Keep well 
whatever you are doing,
Diana

A Daybook post

I thought I might do a daybook post this week

 seeing as it's a long time since I have participated.



So without further ado, here we go.

Looking out my window is not much fun at the moment. It is dark and the street lights are reflecting off the wet tar seal. It is 8.2 C and I am happy to be sitting inside with my heatpump going and the temp. at a balmy 19.9 C.

earlier this week

I  am thinking I will be pleased when winter is over and we can get outside in the sun again. I am not a winter person, much prefer the warmth of the other seasons with the between ones being my favourites.

I am thankful for Sis who took me in hand when I was feeling overwhelmed with organising a family reunion. She helped me plan  the weekend and has left me with a timeline to get things done. I am so grateful. I am not an ideas person but I can get things done once I know what I am doing or aiming at.

I am reading 'Does this Church Make Me Look Fat?' by Rhoda Janzen. It is rather interesting, true story. The blurb on the cover reads - A Mennonite finds faith, meets Mr Right and solves her lady problems. Quite fun and very real. I've just finished reading 'A Journey to The Centre of The Earth.' by Jules Verne. Really fantastical and rather strange to my way of thinking. This was my July read for the book challenge I'm taking part in.

I am wearing really comfy grey pj's with pink trim, pink scuffs and a pink fluffy dressing gown. I like pink, can you tell?

I am hoping praying that my little mother's health will hold out for her to get to the reunion. She has been having the odd health problem lately so I would appreciate your prayers for her. She is the matriarch now with just one sister left out of six of them and the family are looking forward to seeing her again.

One of my favourite things is my daughters both calling in for a cuppa together, and they did today. We had a great old catchup. I drop whatever I'm doing and we put the kettle on and go for it until they have to go. Lots of fun.

In the kitchen I have a vase of what I thought were dead rosebuds. Today I was going to throw them out in the rubbish but guess what? There are new green shoots appearing so I think I'll keep them and see what happens.

In the garden most things are dormant apart from the jonquils which are pushing their way through the earth and some already showing us beautiful bursts of yellow. And my potted polys have needed watering because they grew so well the rain was running off the leaves and onto the outside of the pots. And they got quite badly frosted as well but have come away again now that I have shifted them back under the eaves.

And to finish, on a sign in an op shop today:

Our volunteers are not paid. 

Not because they are worthless

 but because they are priceless.

joining: The Simple Woman's Daybook

I hope you'll go over for a look as well.

Diana

Quite a racket...

...from two tiny critters.

Yesterday I had a fairly full afternoon and evening. I had a meeting in the afternoon and this particular one usually ends with enough time for me to head home, organise tea and go out again for an evening meeting. But that's okay, it only happens once a month.

Anyway I was first to arrive for the meeting and knocked on the door and went in when I thought I heard our hostess call out. I definitely heard something :) but not our hostess. I walked in and there was this loud bleat then a loud raucous squeal. I'd forgotten that there was a lorikeet just inside the door and boy did he make me jump.

Next there was a shrill bleat, followed by the lorikeet again and another loud bleat and I thought, "that can't be 'K' unless she's

 got an awfully sore throat." No, she came through the door and was quite okay. Another loud, shrill bleat. "Come and see," she said, "isn't she beautiful?"

And she was. Just a little four day old lamb and she

 was demanding her dinner. 

She came tip tapping over the kitchen floor looking for her surrogate mother, she didn't care who it was as long as she got fed. Don't you love her nappy, it kept her and the house clean.

She was one of a set of triplets and wasn't doing too well 

so was brought into the kitchen and warmed up in the oven

 and was being hand reared. The hawks were hanging around the lambs and we could see one or two of them swooping overhead from where we were sitting. They attack the lambs when the mothers have wandered away to feed.

Between her and our lorikeet mate it was getting rather rowdy inside so our green friend was relegated to the outside to

 enjoy the sun. Then wee Flossy was given her meal. 

We enjoyed watching her run around but she found it a bit 

difficult to keep on her feet on the tiles and was occasionally

 seen spreadeagled on the floor. Needless to say the meeting

 was rather late in starting and by the time we finished off 

with a hot cup of tea it was rather later than usual.

Sorry about the photo quality, they were taken on my old 

cell phone as I didn't have my camera with me

 (and I don't own a smart phone).

joining Amy and friends for 

Five on Friday

although I have used seven photos. 

I hope you don't mind Amy.

An ordinary week

Hoping to join Amy and her friends for 

Five on Friday, if I can come up with five.

So let's have a look at my week.

On Monday youngest daughter sent us a picture of a house 

being demolished and said, "guess where this is". 

We both looked and decided it was house in Port Chalmers 

so just ignored it really. But no, it was a house on our main

 road so we went down to have a look.

It was built in the 1880's and then in the 1950's was converted to a rest home which was run by a christian trust. Unfortunately the trust came to the point in the last year or so where it couldn't 

afford to keep it going and so the home closed and the house

 and site was sold to a developer :(  There were quite a few little boys watching, school holiday time, and quite a few

 bigger boys as well. A sad sight really.

We woke to a nice windy day on Tuesday. Generally Monday is my main wash day but I hadn't done a full wash because the day had started out really cold and bleak. Minus 5C  with a good frost.

But look what I found when I walked out to the letterbox, a tiny daisy trying to open, and another one just in the bottom right

 of the picture that hadn't opened quite as much. Talk about hardy.

Anyway Tuesday, I decided to get the towels and sheets 

out on the line and they got a good fluff up in the wind.

I don't think we saw the sun at all on Tuesday but it was slightly warmer because of the wind. We woke to snow on 

Mt. Maungatua this morning and a cold, biting wind.

On Wednesday our youngest grand daughter turned 18 and 

so we took off for the city to look for some hand luggage

 for her. We found something in our price range in about

 the third shop we went into. I do like these sales :)

 And I don't know what was going on but every shop we went into had done a re-lay so nothing was where it had been and we spent a lot of time wandering around looking for departments. Now tomorrow we need to go back in, but to different shops this time, as her young brother turns 10 tomorrow. We thought we'd find something out here, but not what we are wanting. 

On Thursday I had a meeting to go to and I was also on 'soup duty'. This meant I made a big crock pot full of vegetable soup and took it down to our venue. After the meeting was over those of us who could, stayed for a soup and bun lunch. Luckily for me I had wrapped a big old towel around the crock as somewhere along the way as I was transporting it, it slopped over the top and made a bit of a mess of the towel, but not the car thankfully. I have to admit I went to bed for granny nap in the afternoon, :) No photo's for Thursday.

No photo's for Friday either and it was quite a mundane day. We had 'not quite gale force' winds in the morning and bitterly cold as there was snow about. A bonus with the wind was that we got a few more feijoas from the tree when we thought they were finished. Youngest daughter came in for a visit and a coffee in the morning and during the afternoon we went out to do a bit of shopping and hopefully find youngest grandson his birthday present. My GKB found a light meter for his camera so I suppose that was something and I came home with a pair of tights but that's not what we were looking for.  And that's my five on Friday.

Bird dance

My GKB was out practising with his new 

camera about a week ago and took this photo.

The bottom one is cropped to see the dancing bird more easily.

I'm pretty sure it is a starling.

As you can see too, the buds were quite fat on the tree, 

it's been very mild up until this last week 

but now I have had enough of winter :)

Winter activities at home

Yes, I do in fact, spend time at home and in the winter

 it is a matter of finding things to do on long dark evenings.

So, no. 1: I like to read. This is the latest book I have finished for the reading challenge. A Fistful of Summer by Peggy Dunstan. 

It is a collection of short stories written by a New Zealand author and based on her childhood in Christchurch and Wellington. Although set a decade or two before my childhood days,

 probably in my mother's, I could relate to it and so 

thoroughly enjoyed it. I may have to read it again.

No. 2:  Now I don't neccessarily like to knit but have found myself enjoying it more now that I am not trying to keep my family warm with nice woollen jerseys. It was such a challenge to make sure they all had nice new jerseys for the winter, then as they got older there were those  jackets worn by Starsky (or was it Hutch), and everyone had to have one or they would be the only kid in school looking uncool. I find it more relaxing these days and as well as the snoods for my daughters I have knitted this beanie hat. I will probably put it on a bring and buy table later in the month.

No 3: I quite enjoy doing and completing a jigsaw. This is the latest one and let me tell you it took me as long, or longer, to do the sky as to do the rest of it. The one before this was shades of white and grey with a little bit of blue, this one is shades of pink and peach with some darker shading. I pulled out the next one in the pile and it was shades of white and grey with touches of gold! No! I wanted a change so have opted for a more busy one, I've done it before quite a while ago but am finding it more challenging this time.

No.4: I have had a few cards to send out this month, bereavements, birthday and invitations. But finally they are all done. Well no they are not really, next week youngest grand daughter is turning 18.   So I will be on the lookout for a nice card for her over the next few days, and a gift to go with it. I can't believe how quickly these kids have grown up.

And so to no.5: Once a month I am rostered on to help in our church hall in the kitchen, I generally enjoy this particular evening out. An alternative church service is held each Friday night and I usually make a dish and take it down. The service is attended by some of the more marginalised people in the community some of whom travel out from the city to attend. They start off with a cuppa and a sing along followed by a bible teaching, then they have a hot meal followed by another cup of tea or coffee. It's my night tonight and I have made a big fish pie. It looks a bit pale in the picture but is set to go into the oven to brown up before I take it down. Maybe I'll grate some cheese onto it as well.

And that's my five for this week.
I'm joining Amy and friends for: 
Five on Friday

Diana