Church and cake.

 It's been quite a special day. 

This morning was the first service of our new church plant here on the Taieri. Our new pastor has been here for several months and there has been a lot of background work and prayers going on to get us up and running. But today we did it with a small group of just 25 plus four children. We're meeting in a school hall and it was freezing with snow on the local mountain. Some mentioned bringing cushions and a blanket next week :) But the morning tea and conversation afterwards in the staffroom was lovely and warm and I met new people which is always good.

And then of course it is Father's Day and so both the girls arrived over to see their Dad and bearing cake. 

It was great to see them and catch up with the news over tea, coffee and cake. Vanessa and her hubby have just arrived home from their holiday in Perth, Australia and so we had a fun time comparing notes on our respective holidays and travel experiences. Only the second time travelling to Aussie for Vanessa and her hubby's first time. He's a real homebody and I don't see him going again any time soon :)

We're anticipating a phone call from Aaron and Sofi this evening, it would be unusual for them to miss calling on a special occasion.

And with that I will finish.

Keep well until next time,

Diana

A couple of birthdays, a cyclone and orcas

A couple of birthdays seventy six years apart. 

Well that's our age difference. Young Theo turned one on Wednesday and I had my 77th birthday a couple of days before. 

Theo had a wonderful day, he woke to a room full of balloons and birthday presents from his Mum.

And after his Dad picked him up from daycare he came to his Granma's house for smash cake and more birthday presents. He's so loved by his rellies, inlaws and outlaws. There's an awful lot of us.

Smash cake, in case you're not familiar with it, is a sponge cake covered in cream or ganache which is just for baby to smash and play in. In this case leftovers went to Sassy, the dog, who thoroughly enjoyed it. There's generally other cake for other people:) He, Theo,  had lots of fun :)

 

Mum picked him up about 6pm and he went home for a party with Mum's family where he had a Micky Mouse cake - and of course more presents. I think he would have been a tired wee boy by the time bedtime came and I'll bet he slept well.

Diana had a much quieter day but still enjoyable. My friend Carol rang the evening before to see if anyone was taking me out to lunch and if not could she? So I said yes and we went up to Blend for a very pleasant lunch and chat before she had to head off to her exercise class. We had hoped to sit out in the garden area but the weather didnt cooperate.

In the afternoon Vanessa came over and fed my sweet tooth. She brought coconut ice and chocolate. The coconut ice is gone but the chocolate is still there. I try to limit my sugar intake these days or I may have to join Carol's class :) Maybe I should anyway, hmm.

In the evening we went over to Aaron and Sofi's home for a lovely roast dinner and they sent us home with all the leftovers which was enough for another meal each! They also gave me a voucher for one of the clothing shops here in town and a lovely card. 

My GKB and I are going out for lunch tomorrow which I'm quite looking forward to. At the Grange. My GKB hasn't been there before so a new experience for him.

image courtesy Bureau of Meteorology Australia

We've been watching Cyclone Alfred with interest. It's off the east coast of southern Queensland today and due to make landfall in the next 24 hours. It's fifty years since they've had a cyclone in the area. I have a friend and a cousin in the Brisbane/Gold Coast area so praying they're not too badly affected. When we first started watching it was off the coast of Mackay in north Queensland and we have quite a number of family members there so were quite relieved when it changed track and started heading south. Now it's just a matter of watching and waiting.

And something totally different - we have had orcas in the harbour! An adult male and a calf apparently. How exciting is that? I wish I'd seen them but have only seen photo's and video on facebook :(

And on that note I will finish.

Have a good week and keep well until next time.

Diana

Cowboy boots, lace and pearls...

The weather had been dreadful leading up to the wedding. Even on the day we were all nervously watching the skies. The aunties and Granma joked about buying bright pink, sparkly gumboots and wearing them, instead of our nice high heeled wedding shoes. But it stayed fine and was quite a nice mild day and we were able to hold the service outside under the trees in the garden at the venue.

Me and sis ready to leave.

We had thrown umbrellas in the boot of the car.

The cake made by the bride's big brother.

There was a bit of drama with the cake as it was so

 hot where he was making the decorations that they

wouldn't set so he ended up bringing it down

uniced and icing it on the morning of the wedding.

We ended up with fresh flowers on it as a substitute

to the artificial ones he had hoped to make.

It looked beautiful.

Siblings, Monica, Andrew and Caitlin.

Caitlin was one of the bridesmaids.

Monica made her bouquet along with those

of the bridesmaids and the rustic table centerpieces,

which I never got a photo of.

The radiant bride and handsome groom

with their groomsman.

She wore cowboy boots under her dress :)

That was one of the borrowed things.

The other was a string of pearls.

With her proud grandad :)

The dress was beautiful as you can see.

Dancing with her proud Dad.

Mum with her partner.

On the dance floor.

A great day was had by all. and all too soon it was over.

Sooner for us older ones than for the younger ones,

oh well we still enjoyed ourselves, but I was glad

to get those heels off when I got home :)

Maybe I should've worn pink, sparkly gumboots!

There was a photo of my little mother and Monica's other grandmother on display. Both had died in the past twelve months and this was a nice way to include them in the celebrations.

Diana

joining Debby for

Friday foto friends

Two birthday girls

We've had two birthdays in the last couple of weeks.

We celebrated eldest daughter's 50th birthday on Saturday 

with a Mad Hatters tea party. Lots of fun.

Today it is my little mother' 88th birthday, a couple of her 

younger grandsons are taking a fish n' chips tea around for her. 

She loves getting fish n chips as a treat so they'll have a good evening together.

The birthday girls.

Jacqui with her offspring, Caitlin, Monica and Andrew.

The cake, made and decorated by Andrew.

The roses are fresh from the garden.

Roses and owls are two of his mother's favourite things.

Scavenging again

For photos that is. Most of them are from the archives, some are new. We haven't been out and about much in the last few weeks what with my GKB being a bit under the weather and then the snow followed by floods. I hope you enjoy them anyway even if you have seen some of them before. 

1:  Crane

We had been to Nunobiki Herb Garden at the top of the Ropeway (cable car, gondola) overlooking the beautiful city of Kobe in Japan. Travelling back down and naturally taking photos of the view we spotted this building being constructed. The crane was in the centre of the building on a gantry and as the building pushed skyward the crane was also heading skyward. Three photos I'm afraid.

2:  Ring

A cinnamon roll (ring?) I had for lunch one day whilst out with my GKB. Technically not a ring but with a smidgen of imagination it could be - it's circular, sort of :)

3:  Set

My DIL was baking and when I went out to the kitchen this is what I saw. I have never seen a cake cooling like this before but apparently it stops the weight of the cake from flattening itself. Who would have thought? Not me. Anyway I thought this cake was well enough 'set' to put in this post. I hope you all agree :)

4:  Light

Light reflecting off the top of the display case containing antique pocket watches. We took this photo in the jewellers/watchmakers shop in Shantytown earlier in the year.

5:  Bow

The bow used to be the pointy bit of the boat and landlubbers like myself could tell one end from the other. But looking at these two ships I'm not sure which end is the bow and which is the stern but I believe the ship on the left is bow toward us. If not we can see both ends of the ship on the right so one end must be the bow. Mission accomplished! Phew.

6:  Spring

Out visiting the local vet one 'spring' day and this was 

what I saw over the fence. 'Spring' lambs and one

 of them is 'springing'. 

7:  Open

Only 'twasn't. In fact it had been shut for a couple of weeks and was due to reopen the following day. We took this while strolling around one of the city suburbs one lunchtime and thought number  one son and DIL might be interested in visiting Kamome for a meal sometime. 

8:  Grand

We certainly felt grand sitting in these throne like chairs when out for dinner one evening with friends while on holiday. If we had realised how grand the setting was going to be we might have taken some grander (cringe) gear to wear. Still everyone enjoyed the dinner and the company and that's what it was really all about.

9:  Park

A sign pointing to a car park in a national park. Jacksons is a small place in Arthur's Pass National Park in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. If you blink  passing through you could well miss it, literally. There's a pub and not much more. That is the car park on the left, the sign on the right and it is surrounded by beautiful national park. 

10:  My own choice

A Thrush singing his lungs out one grey day.

 Just enjoying being alive

Joining Hawthorn and friends over at 

  I live, I love, I craft, I am me  

Reunion - part two

Saturday night found us all gathered at the Recreation Hotel for a celebration dinner. We had been able to go in earlier in the day and put Easter eggs at each place setting and although it doesn't seem so in the picture, it looked quite pretty. One sis had wrapped several eggs in cellophane bags and tied them with pretty curling ribbon, enough for a bag each for each person there. With wine and soft drinks on the table it added to the effect.

We started with an entree served at the tables followed by a buffet main course. This meant that those with special dietary requirements could have what they needed. Once again when 

it came to desserts we were served at the table. The food was delicious but it was a shame that the noise from the open kitchen made it difficult for people to hear our eldest cousin when he gave a tribute to our grandparents and then made the toasts. Luckily he had written it out and we were able to get a copy posted on our facebook page.

Immediately after dinner was over we cut the reunion cake. We would have left it a bit later as some people were still eating dessert but our Aunty was ready for home and we really wanted her to do the honours. The cake was made by my eldest grandson, very decadent, layered mud cake filled with chocolate ganache and iced with chocolate. Once again the theme was flags and daffodils, all made with chocolate - well the ones on the cake were anyway :)

Just after it was cut there was an accident with a wine glass and one end of the cake was covered with wine and broken glass. Luckily it was a big cake and we were able to salvage most of it but the waitress who caused it was very upset as she was new at the job.

A good time was had by all and not a cross word was heard. The little kids were all marvellous, and cousins of all ages caught up with each other. The four in the picture above all live in the same city but had to travel to the Coast to visit with each other :)

On Sunday lunch time we had a farewell at one of the local cafes, "The Gap". Sharon, the owner, was so obliging. When I rang her to confirm our booking it was the first she had heard about us wanting to use her cafe to say our farewells. She had bought the business since we booked and I rang her less than a week out from the event. But she reserved space and set up seating for 30 which worked really well as we arrived in groups of 10 to 20 and there was plenty of room for everyone at any one time :) The staff were very friendly and obliging as we were there on a very busy holiday weekend.

On Sunday afternoon those of us who weren't travelling did some exploring, my GKB and I went to Punakaiki to the blow holes but I'll write about that another time as it really warrants it's own post.

One thing we of the older generation find interesting is that our families enjoyed themselves so much that they all want to go back for holidays and do some more exploring. A real positive spin off as most of them have shown no interest up until now :)

Joining in Five on Friday

over at FAST

Diana

A day full of blessings

Well this has been a real day of blessings.

I turned my phone on as I was having my breakfast

 and a text came in immediately. 

Would you like some apples and pears, 

I can bring some down shortly.

So of course I said yes. I shared some with my daughter 

and took some around to a friend who lives

 in a retirement village. What she can't use she puts

 in the hall for other residents to help themselves.

She also gave me a beautiful red rose with a wonderful scent. 

They were heading away later in the day and thought it was

a shame for the rose not to be enjoyed by someone.

Lucky me :) The colour in the photo is pretty true.

Morning tea came around and my GKB came in with this offering. 

We both had a laugh...and he didn't sing happy birthday.

Raspberry slice, yummy. He knows I like it.

We had just made scones for lunch and my youngest

 daughter waltzed in. 'How's your day going?' she said,

 and then in came my little mother and my other daughter. 

Bearing gifts.

I'd already received a parcel in the post today, from Japan.

How great was the timing in that? 

The botanicals and exfoliater were from one daughter, 

and the coral necklace came from Japan. They also had a

 birthday cake with them, so lunch was scones and birthday cake 

with tea and coffee. And good company of course. We did

 have a healthy(ish) tea - filled baked potato. 

Yummy again :)

When I delivered the apples and pears to my friend in the village she had just been given a box of bread and asked whether I wanted any, so of course I said yes, again. I took three loaves so I could give some to my daughters as well as keep some for myself. As you can tell, the barter system is alive and well among my friends. 

That's six photo's not five, oh dear I can't count :(

Maybe the two cakes can count as one?

And that's it for this week.

Have a good one,

Diana

joining Amy for: 
Five on Friday

Enjoying the ordinary

The last few days have been gorgeous, 

lovely and sunny with a bit of a breeze.

Well quite a breeze at times if I am being perfectly honest.

I thoroughly enjoy these mornings, 

this is when I get motivated

 to get things done around the house.

Every winter I promise myself that

 I will do all sorts of indoor chores 

so that I don't need to spend my time 

indoors when the warmer weather arrives.

We have a long, usually wet and cold winter.

With a correspondingly short, sometimes hot summer.

The winter chore thing doesn't happen very often 

although I did get my kitchen cupboards

 cleaned and cleared out this year.

So on Monday when the morning was so warm 

and sunny I was primed and ready to go.

Monday is wash day and bed change day, and silly

 as it may sound, I love pegging washing on the line. 

It was all out on the line and back in before lunch.

(folded and put away, as well, if I may skite).

I did my usual big weekly house clean,

 singing away to myself, and finished icing a

 Christmas cake I had made for a function for yesterday.

I drank coffee and chatted with my GKB 

out in the morning sun before the day got too hot

and finished washing down my kitchen walls and cupboard doors.

Then later in the afternoon I spent a little time in the garden. 

I had to find shady places to work though 

as it was really hot by then. So I really enjoyed 

my Monday at home and I hope you can find

 enjoyment in the ordinary, everyday things as well.

joining Stephanie over at:

Roses of Inspiration

Wishing you all a great week 
and a wonderful Thanksgiving 
Weekend to those of you in the U.S.A.
Diana

A birthday celebration

Last Saturday our middle grand daughter turned 18.

Lovely Caitlin

She decided to go out for an evening meal 

and invited all the family - children excluded.

When she turned 16 she didn't want any 'old' people there

and all the kids got to go. :)

I laughed and told her mother that she would 

either have a very big 21st (which is the coming of age party) 

or a very small one.

Anyway we all duly arrived at the restaurant

 to discover tables being moved and rearranged. 

They had set us up at four different tables if you please.

entrance to restaurant

Eventually we were all seated at two tables, 

'old' poeple at one and younger people at the other.

That was a lot better than 4 tables and we were

 all close enough to interact with each other.

Her older brother and his partner travelled down from Christchurch 

 - and brought the cake with them, arriving after everyone had eaten. 

He had been up until four in the morning making and decorating it,

with an emergency trip to A&E to get his thumb stitched up.

sweet 18

The cake looked even better in person, so to speak, than it does in the photo.

It was beautiful and delicious to boot. Vanilla cake filled with mock cream.

This is what he is training to do, and his other sister is inclined this way as well. 

I'm trying to encourage her to do a course in cake decorating.

Eventually we all headed home after a lovely night out. 

Grand daughter had not been really well and 

whereas she had been hoping to go out for the rest of the evening

 with her fiends she just headed home and went to bed.

She said she had a good night out though, so that's the main thing.

joining in with;

roses of inspiration

And that's it this week. 

Keep well until next time,

Diana