Some celebrations

Sitiveni turned 4 last weekend. It was a time to celebrate with his family and some of his little kindy friends. He had a Spiderman theme and mum made and decorated the cake for him. We just sent some cash up and mum took him shopping so he could pick out something himself. He bought himself a Spiderman glove that squirts water :) What else would a 4 year old boy buy :)

 

A week or so earlier Arlo turned 6 and he also had a party with his school friends. He likes to read so we gave him a fun book about a farmer who blew up the cowshed. And a card. A 5 year old card! I received a message from his grandmother "please message 

Great Granma and tell her I am 6, not 5." Oh dear. I knew he was turning 6, how did I make that mistake? But all is forgiven and we sent him another card with the correct age on it :) 

And I was celebrating getting my new specs, until I got them. Everything is beautiful and clear but nothing is sharp. So they need to go back but I need to see the optometrist again before they can be adjusted and can't get in until next week. Which also means I have to cancel an afternoon tea engagement as well as they're both at the same time. But I do need the specs adjusted so I'll grin and bear it. Otherwise wait another week. 

Tomorrow is a holiday for Matariki, the Maori New Year, so I thought I'd go and take a photo of our towns' matariki star cluster in the dark but it didn't turn out as I'd hoped as there are too many lights around it. A shame as I think it would be quite striking otherwise. 

A short explanation of Matariki taken from the internet.

 Matariki, also known as the Māori New Year, is a time of celebration, remembrance, and looking forward, marked by the rising of the Matariki star cluster (Pleiades) in the winter sky. It's a time for communities to gather, share stories, reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

Alice and Sitiveni are all dressed up in their Tongan national dress tonight to go to Alice's school celebration for Matariki. Sitiveni took part in his kindy kapa haka presentation earlier in the week. 

And just because I can - eldest daughter Jacqui sent me this photo of a feijoa she had sliced in half and captioned it

'It looks so happy. I don't want to eat it...😥'

And I'll leave you there.

Enjoy your week wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Until next time

Diana

Eating out and other stuff

 It's a beautiful blue sky day today and so we decided to go out for lunch at a tavern a couple of suburbs nearer the city. The place we used to go to has burned down and they're not rebuilding so we need to find another 'favourite' eatery. We enjoyed being out in the sun even if it was still a bit cold. When we arrived the carpark was full, we parked outside the takeaway shop and I hoped the owner wouldn't object.

 The tavern was crowded but we managed to get a table for two. There were renovations/extensions happening next to where we were sitting but all closed off so no danger to the customers. And nothing going on today. 

We had a delicious meal but unfortunately it was very noisy, the restaurant and the bar were both full, and we couldn't hear ourselves speak. But it rounded off nicely a week of grey, cold, miserable weather. 

We didn't bother to stop for a hot drink after but left pretty much once we'd finished our meal and headed over to youngest daughter's place to have one. And to check out how they were going with setting up their new home. They have just bought their own home and are still settling in.

Sassy and Purr exploring their new back yard.

 

Theo had been visiting for the night and was waiting for Mum to pick him up so not a lot was getting done but next weekend is a holiday weekend so they're hoping to get everything finished up then.

And feijoas! There are still a lot on the tree, and yes I am over them, but they are not as prolific as they were which is a blessing. I'm managing to keep up with them :) I found a recipe for a feijoa loaf so I've made that a couple of times as I don't have any more room to freeze any. It's a nice change and will only be seasonal so that's good. I've also used the leaf rake and deposited the smaller ones in the green bin!

I think I'll finish on that note.

Keep well, keep warm 

and I'll catch up again in a few days.

Diana

A blah day

  It's been a cold, wet and miserable day.  My GKB Bob had an early appointment so he was up earlier than normal. When he left home the temp was -2° C. That's 3° warmer than when he got out of bed. I think our high for the day has been 2°. So a good day for inside stuff. And today I had plenty to keep myself occupied. 

When Bob left the sun was shining and although it was cold I thought I might get a load of washing out and, maybe, even dry. Didn't happen. Just as the washing finished the clouds came over, not from the south which is normal, but from the east. Low, grey clouds. They looked like snow clouds to me and the breeze coming ahead of it was bitter. With the clouds came drizzly, sleety rain which has continued all day. So the washing is draped on the clothes horse, in line with the heat pump, and will hopefully be dry by morning.

I've also spent part of the day preparing a one pot meal for Friday Light, an outreach group which meets at one of the local churches once a week. It's so much easier to prepare these days, when they first started we prepared meat, potatoes and veges and it was quite labour intensive. I only cook once every couple of months now so it's no hardship. 

There's also a jigsaw on the go so I got some of that put together. Still a way to go but getting there. 

And I finished my book. I'm sure I've read this one before but I quite enjoy Donna Andrews' books, they're light, easy to read and humorous. Good for giving the brain a bit of a rest if you've been studying or just reading something a bit intense or challenging.

Did I say I was planning on stewing more feijoas today? Well that didn't happen. By the time I'd cooked the meal and done a few chores I just wanted to relax for a bit. But I'm sick of them covering my bench so I think I'll need to get into it tomorrow and as the forecast is for more of the same what else will I do?  I picked up about four dozen today so took some down to Friday Light, hopefully someone there will enjoy them.

And so I think I'll finish there.

Keep warm if you're in my part of the world

 and whatever else you do look after yourself.

Diana

I'm joining Tuesday 4 again

I thought I would join in with Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 once again. I have just copied and pasted the questions as before. I'm not sure who is running it so copy from Pam at Closed Doors, Open Windows. Feel free to redirect me. 

Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.
We ask 4 questions each week to get you blogging, thinking, discussing and visiting with other bloggers.

The commercial song said "the best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup".

1. What is in your cup in the morning? 

Oh, definitely tea. No milk, no sugar. Just plain black and not too strong but I do like to taste it :) My little mother liked hers weak, we used to laugh and say she just waved a tea bag in the general direction of her cup. And no, I don't leave the tea bag in, I took this pic while I was making a drink to have while I wrote and it was still brewing.

2. What brand of coffee or tea is the best in your opinion and why do you think so?

Call me a Philistine if you like but I had to look up Folger's. I am no longer a coffee drinker although my hubby is. For some reason about two years ago coffee started to trigger migraines so I stopped drinking it. That was hard for a start but I'm used to it now and it doesn't bother me. So what brand of tea? Dilmah. English Breakfast or Extra Strong. I prefer the English breakfast though. It's a little dearer than some of the other brands but I don't mind.

3. Where do you drink your cuppa in the morning? Do you have a nice view.

We always used to sit at the kitchen table for breakfast and our early cuppa but since hubby retired we sit in our easy chairs in the lounge, he likes to catch up on the news on tv and so I catch up with any messages I might have on my phone. And at times we even talk to each other :) 

The top half of this picture is what I can see when relaxing in my easy chair. Not very exciting, it is looking south though, which is where our bad weather comes from, so we can see the rain or wind in the trees as it heads towards us. 

4.Besides the morning, do you take little tea or coffee breaks during the day? If you are out and about where is your favorite place to get some tea or coffee?

I like a drink about mid morning and mid to late afternoon. Always one with lunch and if my sisters are here one after tea as well. Tea in that case being our evening meal followed by a cup of tea. When we're out and about in our little town we like to visit Aurora, it has the old fashioned sort of food we prefer and when in the city we go to a little out of the way mall off the main street and visit a little cafe there. It's always busy so not a secret, just out of the way :)

 I'll finish there, 

have a good week. 

Until next time,

Diana

 PS. The Rooibos tea in my picture is my go to for my evening drink as its decaf.

Its been windy.

 We were forecast for high winds today. It started blowing through the night but being deaf I never heard a thing. Sometimes being deaf is good but I would also sleep through a civil defense alert on my phone - not so good. Anyway, when I went out into the kitchen I checked the driveway for feijoas. The wind brings them down. There was a good smattering of them.

 The smattering continued throughout the day. The wind didn't let up and was quite strong at times, it almost blew me over at one point when I was gathering the feijoas this evening. There are so many of them I don't really know what to do with them. I've taken a large bag to one of the local rest homes this afternoon and stewed some to freeze. I think I'll bag some up to go into the community pantry at church tomorrow. And hopefully the girls will come over and take some off my hands. If its a nice day tomorrow any left over can go in a bucket outside the gate for people to help themselves.

Enough of the feijoas 😄

My GKB Bob came through for breakfast and said 'it must have been a good wind overnight, the swing seat's been blown over'. So it had. The wind must have caught it under the awning, it was definitely not in the position we'd last seen it, up against the fence. Instead it was looking a bit skewiff in the middle of the lawn. I'm just pleased it was a swing and not a trampoline or goodness knows where it may have ended up.

Once the wind dropped a bit GKB Bob went out and put things to rights, removed the awning and put it in the shed and the swing is once again in its rightful place by the fence.

The wind's still blowing this evening, hopefully it'll blow itself out by morning.

And that's as exciting as it's got this week. 

Take care, keep well and enjoy your week.

Diana

Oranges and lemons

 Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and lemons,

Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,

Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?

Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,

Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?

Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,

Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,

And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

I've just been reading a book with 'oranges and lemons' in the title and it got me to thinking about some of the games I played as a kid. 'Oranges and lemons' was one of them. 

We played on the street, ours was a short street and everyone knew each other. We were in and out of each other's homes and only went back to our own for meals and bed. 

The street I grew up in taken from the hill end. This must have been taken at least 40 years ago as our house is still standing in this photo but it has actually been knocked down along with a few others and pensioner flats have been built there. My aunt at the top right of the page and some of the boys I grew up with at the bottom right and on the bottom left.

Other games we played were cowboys and Indians and the boys were actually allowed to play with toy guns and bows and arrows. None of them grew up to be murderers. Skipping with a rope someone's father had brought home from the wharf, one girl at either end and 2 or 3 jumping in the middle. Hide and seek in the dark and ring a ring o' rosies.  The boys played cricket with old apple boxes for wickets. Our neighbour had a bay window at the front and the ball frequently went through it. Strangely by the time she made it to the street to see who the culprits were there was not a kid or an apple box in sight. These are just some I can think of off the top my head. Did anyone else play these games. I'm thinking some in my age group would have.

At the top end of the street was a farm on a hill. As long as there were no sheep in the paddock we were able to climb over the stile and play there. There was a large piece of exposed rock at one side and generations of kids used it as slide, I'm sure our knickers and shorts all wore out more quickly than they should have. Poor mothers. Mind you some of the parents had grown up in the same street so had inflicted the same thing on their mothers :) 

It was a great place to grow up, even if everyone knew everything about everyone else :) It was a real community.

******

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post. I really wasn't fishing for compliments but appreciate what you all said. My mother was a writer in that she wrote stories for her grandchildren as well as short stories and was great at writing poems but never had anything published. I suppose I take more after her although I don't write poetry :)

Until next time. 

Look after yourselves and keep well.

Diana

Where's mine?

I'm not sure what happened or why but I seem to have missed out on the creative gene that other female members of the family have.

 These are a couple of flowerpot people youngest sis made. She's done a few. She also paints stones and leaves them around the place for kids to find.

This is a quilt middle sis is in the throes of making - her daughter also makes them. In fact I think she got her mother started on it although her Mum has always had a creative bent.

And this is a blouse my eldest daughter has just finished. The black and white to the right is a dress she made herself. She's a lovely seamstress and made a wedding dress for one of her friends when she was barely out of her teens.

Both daughters had lovely gardens last summer, I haven't even inherited my grandmother's green thumb!

So what I want to know is who's got my share of those creative juices? Cos I haven't 😉

Until next time,

 Diana 

Tuesday 4

 I thought I would join in with Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 this week as not a lot has been happening in my life - and I'm quite happy with that state of affairs after the last few weeks :) So I've just copied and pasted the questions but if there is a better way let me know.

Staying Put/Moving On

Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Sometimes we live in the same place where we were born and remain there all of our lives.

Sometimes we move away and never come back because of jobs, marriage, circumstances of all kinds.

Sometimes we choose where we will live and we have definite reasons for staying there even though we might be far from family.

1. Are you far from family and if so why? Would you like to have them closer and have you discussed that with them? 

I live within a 10 minute drive from one daughter and 15 minutes from the other. Our son was 5 minutes away but he has moved north and is now a 2 or 3 hour flight away. But still in the same country so not too far really - close enough not to have to worry about getting there if we need to. But in a city I enjoy and my husband doesn't :) Oh, and we're in New Zealand, so it's provinces not states :)

2. How did you come to live in the state you are in? How about the city/town?

I moved down to Otago to work and was living with my cousin for a while and then an Aunty. Met my husband and we were married and stayed here. We've had a few moves, one down to Southland where two of our kids were born then back to Otago, mostly because of Bob's work. He is Otago born and bred :)

3. What good things keep you living where you are?

What's good about your state and town?

Well It's not the climate although I enjoy the spring and the autumn. The winters are wet, cold and long and these days I find the summers a bit hot. I enjoy being close to the family, we do quite a lot together and always enjoy celebrating milestones of all sorts. Bob's only sister lives about an hour away, on the other side of the city but for us older folk buses are free during off peak hours so if we don't want to drive anywhere we take the bus and meet in the middle. The city is only 10 minutes drive if we want a change of shops but we can get pretty much all we need here. Of course there are art galleries, theatres, museums, parks and some wonderful Victorian architecture. We were a satellite town but are now an outer suburb. The area is flat so good for walking and we have beaches, lakes, mountains and rivers all within easy driving distance.

4. What things might convince you to move to another state or just another town? 

Nothing will convince my hubby to move and really the only thing that would convince me would be if all the kids moved away. Then again I might feel like I'm too old to be moving and making new friends and all the other adjustments that go with a move. I'm a bit of an introvert and am not good at meeting new people or going new places :)

And that's about  it for now. 

Have a good week.

Diana

Mother's Day

 Just wanting to wish all the mothers in blogland a very Happy Mother's Day.

I hope you've all had a lovely relaxed day doing things you enjoy doing with the people closest to you :)

I've had a very lazy day myself and might send my GKB Bob up the street to get curry rice rolls and chips for tea.

I've been feeling tired lately so had a long lie in and then watched our church service on line today. And after lunch both the girls visited at different times, bearing gifts :) I'm so glad they keep them simple. One gave me a nice scented bath bomb and the other a tub of slightly more expensive ice cream than I would normally buy, in a flavour I've never tried. I'm looking forward to trying it. Supper tonight probably, if I can wait that long.

Leaving you there. 

Have a wonderful week.

Keep well.

Diana

Here and there

Well the kids have been here ... and now they're there. 

 It's been quite an emotional few weeks.

And I'm feeling a little blue.

My GKB came home from hospital and the next day was Aaron's ordination. He wasn't able to attend but I went with Jacqui our eldest daughter, our youngest daughter was away visiting her grandchildren for Easter or she'd have been there too. 

Aaron and Sofi after a relaxed but suitably formal service. 

Very proud Mum and sister.

There was a nice celebratory supper put on afterwards.

Aaron called in on his way home and donned his robes so his father could have his photo taken as well which was really thoughtful of him. We appreciated that :)

A couple of days later it was time for our house group to farewell them so we had raspberry chocolate cake before we started our study that evening. Yum. Very rich though.

Then at the weekend the family wanted to have a farewell get together and as Vanessa was home from her visit we gathered at her place. Nothing formal, we had takeaways - fish n chips, Chinese and pizza so there was something for everyone. Including the wee fellow.  Followed by GF cream puffs :)

Not long after Aaron and Sofi left on their trip north to their new home and appointments in Auckland.

They crossed on the ferry on a beautiful day, after the crossings had been cancelled for three days due to stormy weather. 

Out for a meal with Chloe, Atu and the kids in Palmerston North.

They drove up and stayed with friends and family or called in for coffee and a catchup on the way.

Catching up for coffee with Andrew in Cambridge,

and spending money in his shop before they left.

Then arriving in Auckland to discover their furniture hadn't arrived and was still on the wharf in Picton. I was quite pleased to hear that's where it was as we'd seen containers toppled on the wharf in Wellington due to the winds and hoped theirs wasn't among them.

So they're camping in their new home at the moment. Luckily they'd packed their camping gear in the car in anticipation of their first night being without furniture so are coping okay for now.

So they've been here, and now they're there. Not a five minute drive away but a two hour flight. Sigh.

Hoping everyone is well and enjoying the season, whatever it is. There is always beauty to be found in our surroundings if we only look.

Until next time,

Diana

ANZAC DAY 2025

LEST WE FORGET

Resurrection Sunday

 Death could not hold You! The veil tore before You! You silence the boast of sin & grave! The heavens are roaring the praise of Your glory, for You are raised to life again! You have no rival! You have no equal! Now & forever God You reign! Yours is the Kingdom! Yours is the glory! Yours is the Name above all names! What a powerful name it is! What a powerful name it is! The name of Jesus Christ our King! What a powerful name it is! NOTHING CAN STAND AGAINST! What a powerful name it is! The name of JESUS! 

(From “What A Beautiful Name It Is” by Hillsong)

Good Friday

 

 Greatest man in history, had no servants, yet they called him Master. Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. His name is Jesus.

Taken from Faith Believe fb page

A bit of a fraught week

 Good morning folks. I'm sorry, I've been MIA the past couple of weeks. I was about to sit down and write a post on our visit to a couple of places in The Catlins when my GKB became ill and needed a doctors visit. While there he collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance and was quite ill for a few days. He was given several units of blood and had some investigative procedures. After a couple of days, when all seemed well and he was stable he was sent home. Three days at home and we had another ambulance ride. More blood transfusions, more procedures and some medication changes which should help but finally he is home. 

Tonight he is going to watch our son Aaron become fully ordained as a Presbyter before he heads to Auckland. Unfortunately he won't be going to the church to watch, will see it on livestream, but wants me to go in. He said one of us need to be there in person. It's such a shame as Bob is very proud of Aaron but I think he's making the right decision for himself.

Waiting with Jacqui for discharge paperwork. The kind nurse brought us all a hot drink while we waited as Bob had missed the afternoon tea trolley when it arrived. Both the girls were very good with taking me to the hospital and back, it saved the stress of finding car parks, there's never one when you need one and the hospital car park is always full. I'm very grateful to them :)

I'll leave you there. 

Have a good week.

Diana

Catching up with the Aussie branch

We've had two nice days this week and one of them was Friday when the family sailed in on the Ovation of the Seas. A blessing :) We caught the bus into town and they caught the shuttle from the ship and we all met in the city. They were in Starbucks when we arrived so we joined them for a hot drink then bro and his partner went in search of the Scottish Shop, which had moved since he lived here. 

We sisters went in search of replacements for things one of us had left in the hotel in Sydney! I won't name names :) My GKB knew just where to take her he said and he proved to be right. Then we headed back to the mall and same sis bought MORE stuff for me to distribute amongst the little people, five and under. So we had to find somewhere to sit and sort it all out as I had one or two things for them to take back with them as well.

This is another little break we took while I was trying to contact another one of our brothers to tell him when they were heading back to the ship - he works on the pilot boat and they thought they might all be able to catch up at the Port somewhere. I still don't know whether they did or not as he was working. I hope so.

I'd booked a table at a nice wee cafe that was tucked away in a little shopping court off the main street. A couple of the family members work just a couple of blocks away and were able to get extended lunch breaks to join us. I think everyone had a good time, I hope so. We spent a good hour and a half or more just chatting and eating, several conversations going on at the same time and maybe a lot of talking and not a lot of listening :) But a lot of laughter.

And then it was time for a stroll back to The Octagon to catch the shuttle back to the ship, say our farewells and wave them goodbye. The shuttles were supposed be running every half hour on the hour and half hour but they were more like a production line. As one filled up it pulled away and another one came into line at the back of the queue. Maybe it was the time of the day, people not wanting to be late for gangplank up (is that what it's called these days?) and it was starting to cool down.

The line of shuttles through the centre of The Octagon. We watched as we waited for Vanessa to come round with the car to pick us up, she became an unofficial shuttle for the rest of the family heading back to our homes :)

While we were sitting I spotted this carved gateway and went to have a look. Apparently it has been there for about five years but I've never seen it before. We don't normally go to The Octagon when we're in town, we usually stay a couple of blocks further north, so it was new to me. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to discover it is an aluminium replica of the gateway at the Otakou Marae and not a carved wooden one.

And I think I'll finish there.

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.

Diana