A day 'up Central'

It's been a dreary, grey summer so far, we've had the heat pump going for a couple of days now and last night I even turned the electric blanket on for a while. But on the day we decided to go 'up Central' for a day trip and to get some stone fruit fresh from the orchards it was a lovely warm blue sky day.

We decided to do the buying first as it wasn't quite lunch time when we arrived in Ettrick, the start of orchard country as far as we're concerned. We bought most of our fruit from the orchard below. It is ripening up beautifully and it's so much nicer when it's come straight from the trees, missing that cold storage stage.

We stopped at another couple of places and bought what we wanted - apricots, peaches, plums and cherries. The cherries are beautiful, juicy, sweet and full of flavour. Yum :) Once upon a time we bought enough to share with the family but for various reasons they are now able to get their own. Several families were grabbing buckets to go and pick their own cherries, we didn't. 

And then it was back to Roxborough for lunch. We managed to get a table, luckily. We had arrived just as the lunchtime rush started. It's still summer school holidays so quite a few holiday makers around. We had a 'discussion' as to where to eat as there was a new place next door but the tried and true won out and I'm pleased it did as there was a friend I hadn't seen for about a year sitting at the adjacent table. We had a short catchup as she was leaving :)

On the way home I thought the river looked lovely, on a good day it's a lovely teal colour but we were on the main highway so I didn't want to stop to take a photo. We thought we could pull in at Millers Flat across the river and take one, so that's what we did. The colour is not so deep as the clouds were staring to come over but this is a photo taken, very quickly, from the car window when we stopped on the bridge.

The bridge is a very narrow one way and as we stopped for a photoshoot a big truck pulled up at the other end. Hence the quick shot. But I like it. And we didn't want an argument with an irate truck driver :)

And this is one of a small inlet I walked to. The river was running very high and swiftly and I know they had opened the gates at the dam to release some of the water a few days earlier.

As we headed home the clouds were building up again. We've had a lot of thunderstorms this summer but these were not thunder clouds. This is about quarter an hour from home, Lake Waihola, the longest stretch in my opinion, those last few miles. 

And no trip to Central is complete without a stop for an ice cream at Milton. Very quickly eaten as they are so large they melt before you can get them finished, I got a smaller one this time - child size and it was plenty big enough.

And that's it for this week. 

Keep well and comfortable,

blessings, 

Diana

Tuesday 4 Reading

 Good day folks. I thought I'd join in with The Tuesday 4 fun today as reading is something I love. If you'd like to join in as well, or read what others have to say here is the link  https://tuesdaysplace.blogspot.com/ 

Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we try and challenge you to think , discover and make new friends through blogging.

1. Would you tell us about a book you particularly enjoyed? 

I tend to enjoy most of the books I read, but not all. I get involved in the storylines and at the moment I am reading a light and trite novel and it won't matter whether I remember any of it or not - but I can't wait to get back to it to see what happens next :) 

As a child I loved JM Barrie's Peter Pan and found a new copy of it that was close to the one I had way back when...but it turned out to be a Walt Disney version. A bit disappointing.

2. Do you have a favorite book series? How about a favorite series when you were a kid?

I really enjoyed The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. The series follows the lives of seven adopted sisters with one book dedicated to each sister. Each book also has a historical backstory introducing us to the people and events that led to each adoption. You could almost say there are two books in each one as the stories are told separately, not as a mish mash. Interesting. 

This series is followed up with the story of Pa Salt, the man who adopted them and why the adoptions came about. It ties everything together and was a good way to finish off the series. Lucinda Riley died during the writing of this book but her son finished it - I couldn't tell where one author finished and the other started.

Childhood favourites, Enid Blyton's Noddy books, which were later banned but we enjoyed them as little kids. Also her Secret Seven series and when I was a bit older her Famous Five books. Great adventure stories for preteens :)

3. Is there a book that you just did not like or one in which you just could get interested?

Crime and Punishment. The most boring book I have ever attempted to read!

4. Is there an author whose books you don't want to miss or one whose books you avoid?

Not really. Oh, wait. I don't enjoy Catherine Cookson - her books are all the same with just names and places changed and very depressing. There are genres I prefer not to read, psychological thrillers, horror or supernatural are all off the shelf for me. Not my taste at all. I like a murder mystery, espionage, occasional chick lit but nothing that makes me anxious.

And that's about it for me this week. 

I hope you're all doing well after the Christmas/New Year break. Take care.

Diana

PS Alice has recovered from her fall with all the resilience six year olds have. Apart from a few grazes and bruises she is carrying on as normal.

Christmas, New Year, a baptism and a tumble

It's been a bit busy and I apologise I haven't got around and read or commented on as many posts as I would like. I've tried. I'll keep trying and hope to do better as we get further into 2026.

Christmas Day dawned a grey cool day but it didn't dampen the Christmas spirit. After breakfast I made the salad, whipped cream and finished off doing the things I needed to do before we packed up the car and headed over to Vanessa's place for dinner with the family. We had been to the Carol Service on Christmas Eve because I knew we wouldn't get to the Christmas Day one - we seldom do.

At one point I think we had 14 family members there. Some ate with other branches of the family and then came over and some ate with us. We had a buffet set up and helped ourselves to what we wanted. I was sitting with my back to the door and suddenly this little boy rushed up to me all excited - the family from Palmerston North had arrived! We weren't expecting them and my GKB and I had been planning when we would go up and meet the new baby. Vanessa and Tony knew they were coming but hadn't told anyone :) Well done on their part.

They had been up since 5am travelling and arrived at Momona airport at 10:30am. It meant that Arlo had cousins to play with which was nice as he had been the only kid there until they arrived. That's the bigger kids above in their Christmas tee shirts, I don't know who gave those to them but they looked good, even baby Lucia had one :)

 

And this is Aaron and Sofi enjoying their Christmas dinner with a couple of their parishioners in Auckland. They were in the middle of shifting house and so appreciated having somewhere to go for dinner. All in all a good Christmas Day.

Bob getting popcorn and coke to snack on at the movies.

I don't know about most of you but we didn't see the new year in. We were in bed about 10;30am and had the answer phone on as my brother has been notorious for ringing and waking us to wish us a happy New Year in the past. We didn't want to risk him waking us at midnight this year. Yes, we still have a landline as well as our cell phones. On New Years Day we decided to go to the movies as we had been gifted a voucher and had no other plans. It was an enjoyable day out but when we came out we had six minutes to get to the bus stop and we made it just as the bus pulled up. Phew. We have free buses as long as we travel during off peak hours.

And this is wee Lucia Carolitta. She was baptised today. She looks so happy in this photo but she wasn't happy in the church. She started crying as soon as the service started, cried all the way through. Mum couldn't calm her, Dad couldn't calm her and having water poured on her head didn't help. Eventually she went to sleep - when it was all over. I haven't heard a word of the service. I stood when others did and sat when they sat. I've since been told that most of us never heard a word of what was said, the poor priest, though he didn't seem fazed at all and as you can see was laughing with the family - as Lucia kept bawling her eyes out for the photo.

We didn't stay for a cup of tea and as we were leaving Alice was running down a slight slope and fell over. Landed on her knees and face. She took a real hard tumble and it looks like she'll have a good bruise on her face when it comes out. And let me tell you, she has a good set of lungs as well :)

And just because I can - some Christmas crocs.

That's all for now,

Keep well until next time,

Diana

Happy New Year

 

I've lost a day, I thought tomorrow was New Year's Eve but no.

 So, to everyone reading, whether or not you stay up to see the New Year in, I wish you all a fabulous 2026 filled with all God's richest blessings.

Diana

Merry Christmas.

 From our home to yours.

We wish you all the blessings of Christmas  

and all you could hope for in the coming year.

Diana & Bob

Sweet treats and Christmas trees.

My Christmas tree is up and decorated.

The family's presents are all wrapped and under the tree.

We'll take them over to Vanessa's place on Christmas Day and give them out after we've eaten dinner. She has the table set up so it will be a sit down meal. I think all the family from down this way will be there which will be nice. There's been one or two missing the last couple of years.

The first Sunday of the month we have a shared, pot luck, finger food lunch at church. We don't coordinate in any way so it really is pot luck and usually ends up being a good mix of savoury and sweet. This month we were gifted with some beautiful gingerbread Christmas cookies made by one of the ladies from our 'mother' church. There were enough left over that I could bring some home for my GKB, Bob. They were a nice, unexpected sweet treat :)

One evening I was checking the list of decorated houses for our little town and noticed that one of the houses was in a cul de sac just across the road from us. So instead of getting ready for bed that night I waited up until about 11pm, donned a jacket, it was horribly cold out, and walked over. The house was rather pretty and my photo doesn't really do it justice, but I think it looks a bit like a gingerbread house. And I love the way the background turned out. And yes that is the last of the sun setting further south.

And just for fun, I have been trying to put a photo of a different Christmas tree on my Story on facebook daily. It started out just for me and because I hadn't put up my tree yet I used family ones to start. I seem to have gathered a following though with people commenting and looking out for my tree so I'll have to do a big reveal on Christmas Eve I think. Just a bit of Christmas fun :)

Some of the trees I've put up, Some are big family sized and others are kids creations :) I need to find three more for this week but as the shops all have them it shouldn't be too hard :)

************

Love came down ...

and stayed.

John 3:16   For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

 that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

LOVE and Advent blessings to all.

Diana

Christmassing

One of my nativity sets. Can you see what's wrong here? Joseph has gone AWOL. My youngest brother, when he first knew Joseph was missing, said he'd probably adjourned to the local inn to get away from all the busyness in the stable what with all the visitors that keep turning up :)

A look at my eldest daughter Jacqui's living room where she is decorating for Christmas as well as entertaining her grandson, Arlo.  School is finishing this week for the summer holidays but Mum and Dad are still working.

I was a bit early with my third candle last week - so -

have another JOY filled week :)

Blessings,

Diana