Easter Sunday

 Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Good Friday

The day started slowly with hot cross buns for breakfast and then it was out the door and off to the Good Friday service at church at 10am. It was a nice service with readings and songs and a shorter sermon than usual, followed by morning tea. More hot cross buns and biscuits. Yum :)

After lunch we delivered the Easter treats to our great grands grandparents as one was out of town and the other was staying the night. Eldest daughter Jacqui has injured her foot and is having treatment, if it hasn't improved when she goes back this week she'll be getting a moon boot. She's hoping so because she thinks she'll be able to get a bit more mobile. She's bored with mainly sitting and resting it. 

After visiting with Jacqui for a while and delivering Arlo's goodies we went over to youngest daughter Vanessa's and delivered Theo's treats. He arrived to stay the night with her just before we were leaving so it was lovely getting to see him, but he sure is a little whirlwind. And he looks cute with his new haircut just like his Dad's. A mullet!

So we had quite a relaxed day, a nice day, and we enjoyed it :)

Wishing you all a Blessed Easter - and don't forget, 

it may be Friday but Sunday is coming.

Diana

Touching base

Jacqui has a good crop of strawberries, I wonder if she has enough to share, though? Hmm..

Autumn has arrived and the weather has settled down to some extent. There's very little to no wind, mornings are cool and we sometimes need some heating on while we're having breakfast. Then at the other end of the day we can be sitting with the fan blowing the air around to cool us down. It's pleasant enough to sit out on the swing seat and read for a bit in the afternoons as well and that's always a big plus in my mind :) The picture below is taken from my granddaughter's office window, a city view, with the leaves just starting to turn.

The house next door has sold. Not the one with the new roof but on the other side. It has been empty for two years since the old couple both passed away. The family have been clearing it out and getting it cleaned up for sale. It took two years of family coming to get it done, about three months of intense daily clearing out of papers and personal items then weekends there was always someone there doing something. It taught me that I need to clear clutter out of our house before it gets too much for us and not leave such a big job for our kids. A young fellow has bought it, he looks to be in his 20's, and it'll be interesting to see what he does with it :) It needs a lot of work inside (and we wouldn't mind if he got rid of some of the trees on the fenceline). Just saying.

 

I'm looking forward to my sister coming over from Aussie next month. We're heading over to the West Coast for our primary school reunion and staying a week altogether. I wasn't going to go as both the girls I was really good friends with have passed away and I haven't really kept in touch with anyone else. And the old school building is gone so I can't even wander around there and reminisce - we'll just have to make do with photo's I guess. But sis was really keen and I didn't want to let her go by herself. I'm quite looking forward to it now and I'm sure I'll enjoy it once I'm there. One of our cousins is flying over from the Gold Coast to see us! He was thinking of coming over for a holiday anyway and thought he might as well come while we were at the reunion, he spent his early childhood there as well and wanted to do a nostalgia trip. So that's a bonus. 

This is the programme, or part of it, there is also a lunch 

on the Sunday. There's plenty of spare time to go gallivanting and looking up our old haunts, if they still exist :)

Not a lot has been happening, we're both in good health at the moment, have just had our six monthly checkups. And life goes on in it's own little rythm.

Keep well until next time,

Diana

Tuesday 4 - How?

How?

 

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...

Let's jump right in...

1. How did you end up in the place where you are living?

We've lived in three different towns and five houses since we were married. This was the fifth and last move obviously. Our previous house was a cold and damp and we almost immediately applied for a State House. There's usually quite a long waiting list for these houses but we were given one within a few months. I met one or two people who were quite put out that we had been given one so quickly, we were accused by them of jumping the queue and "how could you get one so quickly when you've only just moved here?" We didn't do anything except apply and our current home was inspected as everyone else's is. Anyway, we were put into a house that was only three years old and a few years later had the opportunity to buy it - and here we've been for nearly 50 years.

Our home prior to putting the front fence up. The cone? Who knows?

2. How did you end up with the job you have/had?

I was a nurse in a previous life, the one before I married. But the job I retired from was as a caregiver in a newly built Rest Home. They advertised for staff and I was interviewed but passed over. Then a couple of months later they called to see if I was interested in doing a few night shifts. After that I became a part of the furniture and worked in all the units and on all shifts as well as a short stint in the laundry. I worked there for over 20 years and retired when I was 70.

3. How did you end up with your life partner?

Well Bob is a dart player, he doesn't play any more but still follows the game. My cousin and I went down to the local pub to meet some friends and I walked through the door and straight on through a dart game. Literally. I walked between the dart board and the player who was about to throw his dart. Bob. He came over and introduced himself afterward and we've been together since.

No, I'm not floating, just perched on the very edge of Bob's chair.

4. How did your weekend go and how is the week ahead looking?

Busy, busy, busy. Saturday we went shopping for Theo's birthday present and Sunday was church followed by a shared brunch. On Monday we had a lovely busy morning with Arlo, morning tea, spending his pocket money and then the library. and I still have a couple of afternoons volunteering in the shop, a doctors appointment, bible study group and a visit to my friend in a rest home. So reasonably busy.

Spending some pocket money.

If you'd like to join in or read other's experiences here's the link:  Tuesday 4

Take care until next time,

Diana

A cluster of birthdays.

 We've had a little cluster of family birthdays.

On Tuesday I went out for brunch with some of my favourite people to celebrate my birthday. I rang the girls and invited them. Vanessa was working and couldn't make it but Bob, Jacqui and I went and enjoyed a relaxed couple of hours together.

Jacqui arrived with flowers from her garden.

Bob and I both ordered pancakes with berry compote and maple syrup, it was very yum. Jacqui is gluten sensitive so had to get something a bit more boring but she didn't complain.

When we'd finished the waitress brought a little carrot cake out with a candle on it which was a nice surprise. And a doggy bag just in case.

Wednesday was Amy's birthday, a great niece. She turned 17. She's in the North Island and we don't see the family much but her grandparents went up to celebrate with her.

Then came Thursday and wee Theo turned two. We'll take his present over sometime in the weekend.  We've seen photos and videos and it looked like he had a lot of fun. He had cake as well and of course two candles to blow out :)

Most of our birthdays seem to fall in the few months either side of Christmas with just a few scattered throughout the rest of the year. I don't think we have any for a month or so now.

And that is all my news for just now.

Keep well and safe until next time,

Diana

Market Day

Two or three Saturdays ago we caught the bus into town and visited the inaugural Market Day. It was beautiful day and the crowds turned up. The city had put on free buses for anyone who wanted to attend, so we took up the offer. The market was held in the main street and stretched for four or five city blocks. 

Market day is an annual event. Once known as Thieves Alley and held in a small side street it has now outgrown its space. A popular event, there were thousands of people there and numbers were swelled by passengers from the two cruise ships that were in Port.

There was street entertainment  

and stalls of all kinds.

Plants, crafts and food stalls amongst them. I'm afraid that hubby and I sloped off into the mall to eat though, to have a respite from the crowds and also to get out of the sun for a while. Remind me to take a sunhat next time. After several hours we headed back to the bus to join the others who were waiting for their lift home. An enjoyable day out.

Activity around us. We watched scaffolding go up on the house across the drive from us and the next day watched the chimney being demolished. It's a big old house, one of the original on the street and well over one hundred years old I would think. The following day a big storm blew through so there was no activity and the next day I got up and threw the drapes back and there were men up on the roof. Whoops, close the drapes, get dressed, then open them again. I'd forgotten all about the work going on on the roof next door giving anyone who cared to look a great view into our bedroom :)

They removed the old roof and replaced it again all in a day. Pretty quick I thought. A couple of days later there was a man up on another neighbour's roof doing an inspection. We're not about to follow suit though as our roof was fixed a couple of years back.

A house being transported past our place this week. It was in two parts. We'd had notification that this was happening but the route showed that they were using a road further down than us and we wouldn't have access. I don't think we were the ones who were mixed up either as there were cars parked on both sides of the street further down which they had to manoeuvre around. I'm sure they would have been moved if they had thought a house was being transported past them.

That's all I have for today. 

Autumn officially starts tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. Perhaps the weather will settle for a while. I certainly hope so.

keep well until next time,

Diana

Love Those Sports! ~ Tuesday 4

If you'd like to join in or see what others have to share in this weeks topic just click on the link: Tuesday 4: Love Those Sports!

Love Those Sports! ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome to Tuesday 4 friends!  I am always so happy to have people come and take part.  The Olympics are taking place and  we just had the Super Bowl for American football so perhaps we can talk about sports a bit.  Thank you to Diana of  Doodles and Daydreams for suggesting sports as a subject for this week! So, let's think about sports this week...........

 1. Do you enjoy any of the sports from the Olympics either Summer or Winter? Would you tell us about it?  

I love watching the summer and winter Olympics but probably more so the summer ones. I always wanted to take part in the Olympics, swimming, but never made the grade. When my sister was picked to go in the regional coaching team as a teenager and only stuck at it for about a month I was so disappointed. I couldn't understand why she didn't make the most of the opportunity. I gave up going to Swimming Club not long after. I guess my siblings and I were quite sporty when we were young. I'm thoroughly enjoying the winter Olympics just now, especially the ski and snow boarding events.

2. What sports have you taken part in and what good did you get out of participating? If not, was there one you wish you had taken part in? Did sports help you in life?

My summer sport was swimming, I was passionate about it, Our public pool wasn't covered and so we had to wait for the warm weather before it opened and that waiting was a terrible time for me :) I played cricket one year during High School and softball one year at Primary. Marching was another summer sport I really enjoyed. I loved the discipline of the marching and taking part in competitions, and I loved our gold and royal blue uniform. Athletics was once a week but I wasn't very good at them.

During winter there were two sports for girls to choose from, as far as I knew, basketball (not to be confused with today's basketball game) or hockey. I opted for basketball. Teams were nine a side and I was a wing defence, couldn't shoot a goal if my life depended on it :) I loved that as well and it is the only winter sport I played until I left school. 

in my netball (basketball) uniform aged about 16

Once I left school I didn't play sports until I came south to live when I played basketball (today's game) for a season but I didn't enjoy it and wasn't very good. Then when I met my hubby I played darts, because he did. I was picked for our local rep team once but played so badly it wasn't funny. We were in a large warehouse in the middle of winter with no heating and I was frozen. That's my excuse anyway :)

 I loved the team sports as they gave me a sense of belonging, when you're shy you need that. But I also loved the competitiveness of the swimming, me against the rest :)

3.  Is there a sport you still engage in or one you enjoy watching a lot?

No, I don't play any sports now, although my girls keep wanting me to join a leisure marching group. I consider it :) Hubby watches sport all the time and I think you can have too much of a good thing. I've tended to stop watching a lot any more, after you've watched the darts every day for almost a year you go off it a bit :) 

4. Have you any favorite teams you cheer on? Or perhaps a favorite sports figure? How about both??

I don't really follow the local teams unless they are playing a rep game, then I'll watch if I'm home. And any of the national teams, after all we're only a small country so we've got to cheer them on. We're a very sporty little nation with some of the top teams in the world for some sports.

What's the most memorable comeback or turnaround you've ever seen in a sports game, and what made it so special?

None that I can think of off the top of my head.

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

Well It's a rotten summer's day today. I have soup simmering on the stove for tea, the rain has been bucketing down and the Silverstream at the bottom of the street is in flood. Some schools have been closed and there is some surface flooding. But I won't complain - the North Island has taken a hammering in the past fortnight, first the top half and now the bottom half and top of the South Island. We're only getting the tail end of the weather bomb.

photo courtesy Taieri Community Board

So keep well until next time,

 blessings,

Diana