Tuesday 4 - On Holiday

 On Holiday

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...

Summertime means travel time for many people.

Let's talk about travel and holidays.

1. Will you be traveling this summer at all?

We rarely go away in summer now the kids are grown up and have their own families. Christmas happens in summer here and the grandkids tend to go to their parents homes and so that's where we go. And they mostly live in Dunedin just a few minutes away. In the past we did tenting and then caravan holidays at camping grounds with the kids. They were a lot of fun.

2. Will there be day trips in store for you? visits to the beach, evenings out:?

Maybe, who knows, it's still a wee way off. I'm hoping we might head north for a few days about the end of July or beginning of August though but that's still to be decided. And it will still be quite cool but lately their temperatures have been averaging 7 or 8 degrees warmer than us so we'd enjoy that.

3. Do you eat out more in summer... do you go for ice cream or treats more?

We go for day trips occasionally, often go out for an ice cream, Outram is a favourite place for that as it is only about 10 to 15 minute's drive away. We sit there and eat it and then take a leisurely trip home around the plain. We don't eat out a lot, we sometimes go to a cafe for lunch and probably yes, more so in summer.

4. What is your favorite place to visit and what is the most exotic place you've been to?

My favourite place to visit is wherever the kids are, big ones and little ones. Even my brothers and sisters are kids, they're all younger than me :) I love visiting family. We've been to Australia, which is like us but not the same :) I've been to Fiji when I was a teenager and loved it. Bob and I thought we might go over several years ago only to wake up the day after we'd decided to discover there had been a military coup! And we went to Japan for Aaron's wedding. That was probably the most exotic place we've been. The culture was so totally different to anything we were used to, the cities were so clean, no graffiti, the people were very friendly and we felt very welcome wherever we went.

But it's winter here so summer holidays are just a dream at the moment. Instead we're eating stodgy comfort food and hunkering down and keeping warm. 

And here's the link if you'd like to join in. Tuesday 4

Keep well until next time,

blessings,

Diana

Colour Me Crazy

I promised you a look inside Colour Me Crazy.

Well here it is :)

Once upon a time it was a house but now

all the rooms have been converted into

showrooms for all manner of goods.

In fact it was so bright and vibrant

that when I first walked in I was quite

overwhelmed. Sensory overload for my

poor, tired brain :) I immediately turned right

into a side room which was filled with plants

and stayed in there a couple of minutes

and eased myself into the experience.

Beautiful, vibrant colours everywhere, even the toilet!

Gorgeous stuff, clothing, jewellery, home goods,

cushions, throws, wall hangings.

You name it, they had it. I enjoyed it

but wouldn't want to do the dusting or the stocktake :)

No, we didn't buy anything but in hindsight

I wish I had. I think at the time I was just too

 tired to shop. We only stayed a short while

as we were heading for Airlie beach and still

 had a short drive ahead.

I hope you enjoyed the visit to this colourful little shop.

Diana

Joining Debbie for

Friday foto friends

Oh, their bags are packed...

...and they're well on the way. 

In fact they must almost be back in Christchurch 

to catch the flight back to Sydney tomorrow.

Then they will separate and head back to 

their homes in different parts of the country.

Yes, my youngest sister and her family have been and gone - 

doesn't time go quickly when you don't want it to?

We had a great visit, they stayed with my little mother 

so she was always invited to join them on their excursions.

Sometimes she went with them and sometimes not

coffee in the back yard

The day we all went into the Warehouse she decided

 to join us. We had a good day out and enjoyed lunch

 at Kelly's Cafe while we were there. On the way home

 I suggested we call in to my youngest daughter's home 

so the wee fellow could play with the kids for a while. 

I can do it...I think

He is only four and had been so good. 

So the boys played and we all relaxed

and had a catchup over coffee until it was

 time to head home for tea. It is so nice not to

 have deadlines or timetables to be adhering to.

sisters, cousins, aunties and grandmas

Sis and her daughter took turns at the cooking and I think 

little Mother cooked one day when she stayed home.

As on this day when we had a family gathering at the park.

As it's school holidays we decided to have lunch at the park - 

pizzas and playtime I called it. $5.00 pizzas didn't set us

 back too much and we all took some home afterwards. 

A nice easy day out for kids and adults alike.

climbing...

And of course there was lots of playing. 

The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, 

was a bee sting. And that happened as we 

were leaving. Maybe next time the child 

will keep his shoes on when he's told to :)

...and even more climbing

A couple of nights ago we went out for dinner

 with my brother and his partner and his two sons. 

We don't see a lot of them so it was good to have

 a catchup with them as well. The meals were very big, 

well worth what we paid, and I ate far too much.

 I should have stopped at the main but I didn't.

 I had dessert! It was big, decadent and too much,

 but I ate it anyway. All in all a lovely night out.

That's me on the right with my GKB beside me, then my brother and his partner,
his sons at the end and coming back up the table, little Mother,
 my great nephew, his mother and my sister across from me.

I went for a long walk the next day, with the odd bit

 of gentle jogging thrown in for good measure.

Looking back I see we gathered a lot over food, I think 

that is a good way to socialise, over the common meal.

I shall miss them for a while but look forward

 to seeing my other sister in a few weeks time - when we

 shall have a very different sort of holiday with her.

joining Martha at:

Martha's Favorites

and Stephanie at:

roses of inspiration

That's it for this week

or for a few days anyway.

Keep well until next time,

Diana

The bird has flown

Yes the big silver bird has flown...and taken number one son with it. But he is reunited with his lovely wife who didn't come over with him. The flight was delayed in leaving by an hour and a half because of a medical emergency in the Pacific but they got away eventually. He had to start work the day after getting home so I hope he was able to sleep on the fight. I know I don't sleep when I am travelling so I try to travel during the day and sleep in a (stationary) bed at night.

 

It was a liesurely holiday, real kiwi style. He arrived, sat down and got up again when it was time to leave.

Well not really but we didn't do much.

 

Soccer with middle grandson

 

Watched the grands play sports. Ours is the blondie.

 

Netball with youngest grand-daughter (WD)

Youngest grand-daughter is growing fast, I keep telling her to stop, she is now taller than me, but she just laughs.  I'm not used to the girls in the family being taller than me, only the blokes.

 

coffee after the soccer

We took my little mother out for lunch one day and and another day just went out as a family, i.e. just me, my GKB and our 3 kids and ate lunch at a pub. Great. We followed that by going up to eldest daughters home for coffee.

 

Dad, Mum and the kids

 

The weather behaved, and has just packed up today, so that was a bonus seeing as it was the end of winter while he was here. As you can see, my GKB was in shirt sleeves so the temps were pretty good, we were able to sit outside in the sun a few times and chat and drink even more coffee - oh dear  :)

 

And of course he caught up with friends and other family members as well.

 

 

Well that's it for another few days.

Have a wonderful week .

 

Diana

hunkering down again and a trip to the vet

 Well here we are hunkering down again for another snow dump. For some reason I'm a bit apprehensive about it this time, the forecast is for snow through to Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be bad enough here, but at least we are on the flat, so will be able to get to places if we need or want to - and of course the GKB will probably be snowed in and I will probably be called in to work again. Oh well, more cash in the holiday fund.

  Now the people in Christchurch I do feel sorry for, some of them are still living in cold, damaged houses after the earthquakes. In fact they are being told that if they think they may not be able to cope with the weather, especially as there are  likely to be power cuts, then they need to move in with friends or family now if they can.

  Hot soup and cheese rolls would have been nice for lunch tomorrow but seeing as we seem to have finished the cheese rolls, soup and hot toast will have to be the order of the day.

  Claude has been sitting looking through the back door for much of the evening. If he had any sense he would come in and make himself at home for the night, but no he is a real outside cat. The only time he tends to come in is in the middle of summer when both the doors are wide open and he can lie spreadeagled in the breeze created in the passage. But, a fortnight ago that changed. He had an altercation with either one of the other cats about the place or with the new powder puff style dog which has moved in next door, resulting in him not being able to weight bear on one of his front feet and a trip to the vet.

 After a slightly fraught trip in the car he tolerated having his ears cleaned, his eyes inspected, his mouth and teeth examined and his coat and skin checked for any unwanted passengers. He really objected to where the thermometer went but short of flattening himself and trying to become invisible he couldn't do much about it. Oh yes, his leg and paw were all inspected too, with a nice shoulder massage thrown in for good measure. Eventually we took him home but not before we were given meds for him and told to keep him inside for the weekend. "Okay" we said. "Oh, and this medication could give him diarrhoea." We climbed into the car, looked at each other and said "outside cat inside for two days with diarrhoea, I don't think so." And when said cat, on arriving home, took refuge under our bed that sealed it. Cars moved out of the garage, old armchair and a dirt box moved in and Claude was a happy camper. He came indoors with us for about an hour every evening and then the caterwauling would start and he was deposited back in his temporary holiday home. All is now back to normal, he is doing his own thing, which includes sitting on the back doorstep, looking plaintively in through the glass until the door is opened for him and then he takes off once more for places unknown.