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

Wal's for lunch

 Out of the blue today Bob said 'lets go to Wal's for lunch'. So we did. Although it's only a five minute walk from home we take the car as half that time is walking up a dirt path and Bob's legs are not the best. I'm not sure whether he finds the dirt path or the asphalt footpath worse but he won't walk it.

Wal's Plant & Fun Land also has a cafe attached. On the left of the picture below is the mini golf course and the Miniature railway runs around the periphery. Another great attraction for kids and adults when it's running. I remember having a ride on it myself many moons ago :)

When you come out of the cafe its straight into the tunnel house with all its young seedlings and bushes that are waiting to be planted out.

It's always nice to take stroll through and browse the plants. Sometimes we even buy something, which I suppose is the reason for this being the way to the exit. Clever marketing.

To the right of the tunnel house is a large open area with all the more mature trees, bushes and roses. It's lovely in the summer just to stroll through, though we didn't today as I was feeling the cold. There's also this old rusty tractor.

Indoor plants and accessories are in a big open barn like space at the end of the tunnel house and no choice here either but to go through it if you want to leave :)

Turn 180 degrees and you are in the gift shop. There are some lovely items and we have been known to buy the girls Xmas presents from here. The exit is halfway down the gift shop :)

As well as plants, gift shop and cafe Wal's also has mini golf, a driving range, a maze and an ice cream stall and is a popular place with families. I haven't found the maze yet, let alone found my way around it :) I wouldn't mind having a go one day though but I don't really think it's Bob's cup of tea. Maybe when sis comes over in a few weeks we'll go and do it. 

That's it for today. 

Take care until next time, 

Diana

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

Baby has a name

My GKB was up and out of the house before I was out of bed today. I was wide awake at 5am and sound asleep when it was time to rise. He saw where the greengrocer had very cheap fruit today and didn't want to miss out, especially on the strawberries. It was all sitting on the bench when I went out for breakfast. I think we'll be enjoying strawberries and ice cream some time during the evening :)

It was a beautiful blue sky day last Saturday when five of us drove down to Gore for an Aglow leaders retreat. I'm no longer a leader but was invited to go, which was really nice. We had a lovely day enjoying each others company and eating lunch out on the deck. It was a bit breezy but warm and with a garden like this who cared? Not me:) During the course of the day I had some personal insights which were then affirmed on Tuesday evening by a lady who hadn't been there and knew nothing about me. Very encouraging.

This is a beautiful garden with several 'rooms', the one at the very end of the section with seats and a swing :) Good fellowship, good teaching and good food! What more could you ask for.

And as per the post title, baby has a name. 

Lucia (with a soft c) Carolitta. Very pretty I think.

This is Lucia after her first bath - which didn't happen until after the cord had fallen off! Things have certainly changed since I had my babies :)

It's been very warm and wet in the past week or so and so the growth around about has been lush. This is down the side of our driveway. The foxgloves are looking a bit shabby because of the wind, which hasn't really let up though it isn't so strong as it was. We're hoping eldest daughter's partner is going to come and cut bushes and hedges back before too long.

 I'm slowly getting what I call my garden into shape for the holidays. With the wind has come the pollen and I can only be out in it for about twenty minutes at a time then need to come in. Hayfever is a real bummer. I blame my lovely wee maternal grandmother :) she used to get it too and spent most of spring and summer indoors due to not having the access to antihistamines that we have today.

On the domestic front I have finally got cracking on my Christmas cakes. We bought the ingredients a few weeks ago but I've only just got started today. This is the GF one for Jacqui. I think I'll need to buy a new cake pan though as this is not quite as big as the normal cake so is not so deep. I think it would be a nicer cake if it was deeper.

And that is about it for now. 

Keep smiling until next time and enjoy this Advent season.

Diana

A day out in Devonport

We're home again and adjusting to the cooler southern weather.

We stopped over again in Auckland for a few days with Sofi and Aaron and attended church with them on Sunday. I wanted to show you the altar table, dressed by one of the Pacific Island congregations. I thought it was so pretty I had to photograph it.

On Monday we spent the day over in Devonport - drove 40 minutes to get there and didn't leave the city. We small town people aren't used to those sort of distances in the urban area :)

Devonport is a nice little village with a lot of well kept colonial style houses and I suspect, a lot of money. I tried to take some pics of the houses with their delicate iron latticework and white picket fences but the car was travelling just a little too fast.

 

After some op shopping, where some of us found stuff to buy and others decided they couldn't fit anything else in their bags we found a nice wee cafe for lunch... 

...and then decided to go and explore the Naval Museum.

Below is a model of HMNZS Otago which my brother served on and went to Mururoa Atoll with when the New Zealand and Australian governments sent ships to protest the testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific in the mid 1970s. The man in the photo is our then Prime Minister Norman Kirk who died in office a few years later.

And this is the medal awarded to all personnel taking part. The New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing). My brother didn't apply for his medal but his twin sister decided it belonged in the family and applied on his behalf - and received it!

Then it was time for coffee, or tea in my case, and a chat then we went outside to play :)

Captain and crew, Bob and Aaron.

Admiring the Auckland CBD across the harbour and rainbow spotting. We guessed it had been raining where we'd come from so a good day to get away for a while.

Aaron and I 'played' chess. Well Aaron did and I pretended to. I've only ever played on the computer and that was years ago so he finished me off in about three moves, mainly because the only moves I could remember were the pawns and then I went blank 😂

Then it was time to head home and pack our bags for the trip home the next day.

And guess who was waiting to board with us? Mary Poppins! was my initial thought but then - no, it's one of the Marx brothers!

I'll do my best to catch up with some blog reading over the next few days. Have a good week. 

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

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

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

Trimmed

My GKB was getting worried about how he was going to get the hedges trimmed as they were getting rather overgrown and shaggy. Just recently we changed from our old rubbish bin collector, which we paid a fee for, to the city council one which was covered in our rates. This meant swapping some of our old bins for the council ones. 

The council green waste bin was quite a bit smaller than the old one and meant we were only able to mow half the lawn at a time and get the clippings in the bin. The other half was done the following week. No way were we getting garden weeds in let alone hedge clippings. 

But the kids must have been discussing it as this weekend eldest daughter, Jacqui, and her partner arrived with all the right gear on the back of the ute and got stuck in.  Well the men got stuck in, Jacqui and I drank tea, gossiped and kept out of their way.

The growth was quite prolific as it has been a warmish (🙄) 

summer (??) as well as a wet one. So everything is very lush.

Even after being trimmed back it's still looking nice, thick and green, and all the cuttings have been taken away on the back of the ute.

We ordered a new bin, but they won't swap them over, just deliver the larger one so that we now have two green bins and an extra fee to pay once a year. Never mind though, we now have more than enough green bins for our needs, 😄

And that's it from me today.

Have a nice weekend, keep well, keep safe, especially those of you in the fire or snow affected states in the US.

Prayers are being said for all.

Diana