Taking five

Five totally unconnected paragraphs but I hope you'll enjoy them.
Joining Amy at Five on Friday

1). Daylight saving finished at the weekend and with it the good weather. Almost overnight. I can't believe it. Even so the temps are still in double figures but 24 C. one day and then talk of snow the next - not my idea of fun. But I am not going to complain as we have been having unseasonably warm weather for this time of the year. It couldn't go on for ever :) It has been a very dry summer and not good for the gardens, even the weeds didn't grow much - but my little mother's sunflowers alongside her garage did. I love this photo of her looking at them looking back at her. It almost looks like they're having a conversation.

2). We've been taking ourselves out for coffee about once a week, my GKB and me. We are not very adventurous when it comes to what we eat and it is usually a case of cheese rolls or scones. I decided to try hot pancakes and maple syrup a few weeks ago, I have wanted to for a while, but I was very disappointed. I won't be ordering them again. These date scones below were very nice though, heated and butter spread on them. I always drink tea or hot chocolate (in winter) and my GKB has discovered that he quite enjoys a flat white, even though they are never hot enough. It was still warm enough to sit outside when this was taken.

 

3). Just over a year ago we were at a family funeral and someone mentioned that it was a shame that we only got together these days at funerals. There are five sets of cousins and some of us haven't seen each other for over forty years. And so because I was retired and on the spot I was elected(?) to organise a reunion of some sort.  So this year I am starting to get into it. We have decided to have a dinner in the town where our grandparents and parents lived and where most of us grew up as well. Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand. It will all take place at Easter 2017  and we are having it in a hotel just around the corner from where I grew up and not far from where some of our cousins lived as well. So far quite a few have shown interest (from Japan, Indonesia and Australia) which is good, as it's a bit daunting in a way to be given the task of bringing it together.

Greymouth CBD

4). My GKB enjoys taking photos and quite often the ones I put up here are his. I love the one below that he took one day while sis and I were walking and he was wandering and waiting. It is very moody I think and the clouds look like the beginning of the Taieri Pet, a cloud formation that appears over the Middlemarch area when certain conditions occur. We never saw the 'Pet' though as it didn't form fully. Anyway I like the starkness of the tree against the cloud and sky.

5). I've been feeling a bit tired lately, I think it's the start of year activity beginning to catch up with me. We have been really busy since Christmas with visits from two of my sisters and two of my nieces and their little ones. We have walked quite a bit on the rail trail and there have been one or two other functions happening as well. And I have thoroughly enjoyed it all. But...I think I need a bit of a rest because my brain doesn't seem to be functioning as it should. Blow it. So if I don't post quite so often in the next little while you'll know why. 



Maybe I'll just be away a few days or a week or two but I will check in occasionally to see what everyone is up to. 
Life is very busy at the moment :)

joining Martha at:

Martha's Favorites

and Amy at:

Five on Friday

with love, 

Diana

It's still busy :)

The day after we went to the futsal at the beginning of the week...

...we met my niece and her husband for

 coffee at Wal's Plant and Fun Land.

They were in town for two nights, visiting from Australia.

And we  all (apart from Sis) met Ahyla for the first time. 

Little Mother's second youngest great-grandchild. 

She's 18 months or thereabouts, a wee cutie.

Afterwards some of us played mini golf 

and some of us kept Little Mother company 

guarding the bags, phones, cardies etc.

It had started out cool and cloudy but by

 the time we finished early afternoon it was really hot

 and so everyone came round to my place for refreshments.

I live just around the corner - handy. A very pleasant day.

A couple of days later and we are awaiting Sis

 and Little Mother's arrival for lunch.

My GKB has made a batch of scones 

so we'll have them with a good hot cup of tea or coffee.

And that's a bag of windfall pears next to them waiting 

for me to peel and stew along with a bag of apples.

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

Some of you have asked about Futsal. Futsal is a modified version of football (soccer). The kids play it indoors, five a side and 12 minutes each way. It's a good way for them to keep up their footy skills in the off season.

sharing today with Amy at:

Five on Friday

and also with Stephanie over at:

roses of inspiration

That's it for today.
Have a good week,
Diana

Once upon a lunch time...

I had spent much of the morning busy typing up the minutes

 for the Aglow group I am in when my GKB came in and said

 "How do you fancy going up to the Blackstone for lunch?"

"Wonderful" I said, "I won't be a minute".

So we both got tided up and headed to The Blackstone

which is a nice wee cafe and bar in the middle of town.

It was quite busy but still had a couple of tables empty, 

but unfortunately none by a window when we went in.

One came vacant before our order arrived so we shifted to it :)

My GKB had decided before he left home that 

he only wanted a savoury scone so that's what we both ordered.

Hot scones with butter and a pot of lemongrass and ginger tea 

for me and cappuccino for him. Delicious. 

Why is it so much nicer when you don't have to prepare it yourself?

I saw this clock on the wall and rather coveted it, I'm afraid.

 I thought it might be French style 

but it has an American flag so I think not.

If you look closely you will see it is also a 24 hour clock.

After lunch we took a stroll through town 

and wandered into the Sallies op shop.

I like to poke around the china and glass to see what's there,

they have it so nicely displayed now,

 and my GKB just likes to poke around 

and see what he comes up with.

 Today he found a dvd of the Four Tops for $1.00

 and we've had that playing since we came home.

I was so pleased to find this Colclough trio and had to have it. 

I have another one very similar but with an

 English  pastoral scene. I'm wondering if they are 

part of a series so will have to investigate.

They had a few more nice sets as well and I think I will be making a trip back in the not too distant future :)

And that's it for today.

joining in with Martha at:

Tea Cup Tuesday

and Stephanie at:

roses of inspiration

Keep well 'til next week,

Diana

Blob in a bottle

It's a bit nippy outside at the moment. 

Just on freezing point so good soup weather.

Usually I make homemade vegetable soup

from whatever veges I have on hand and a bought base.

But sometimes we have it out of a packet

especially if it is at lunch time.

And depending on what's at hand

 we have toast or cheese rolls or scones to go with it.

These scones were made by my GKB and they were delicious.

This was my lunch today, yum.

As I was cooking tea tonight I had a text from youngest daughter. 

"The boards are on display between 5:30 and 6:30 tonight".

The 'boards' referred to the science fair competition at our grandsons school

and I had a grandson with a board on show. 

So of course I had to go to have a look.

Tea was quickly cooked, eaten and cleared up 

and I was on the road just after 5:30pm

leaving my GKB to get ready for his night out at darts.
I can't believe how dark it was, so early,
 but of course we have just passed the shortest day and
so it was to be expected really. It's a long time since I've driven at night,
not since I finished work when I drove home in the dark regularly. 

I pulled up outside the school at the same time as daughter and the kids.

We were quite early but one or two people were there ahead of us. 

More arrived as the hour passed.

It was all set up in the hall  and there were

 some quite impressive experiments on display.

Some of the kids had interactive displays but most were 

boards like Jack's with photo's and explanations of what they had done.

Very impressive for years 7 & 8 I thought.

Jack's experiment didn't go through for the big inter-school 

competition but I thought he did very well and am a proud Granma.

Keep well until next week,

Diana

a good GRAND weekend

Well spring is sprung and the spring flowers are beginning to put on a display, but only beginning to. The temperatures are still down there in winter mode - it is almost midday and only 7.5 at the moment. The jonquils have been out for several weeks and continue to put on a show, the trees are bursting into blossom and look lovely, I have a feeling I will miss the best of them while I am on holiday - we have a lot of blossom trees on the grass verges around town and they are beautiful when they come into flower together. I need to get out for a walk and have a look at peoples gardens in the next few days. If only the wind would drop, it's coming off the snow...

Last weekend was a weekend for catching up with all of my gorgeous grandchildren - all those who live in the vicinity anyway. A bit hard to catch up with the two based in Wellington and Japan but it was still a good GRAND weekend. Friday afternoon brought a text, C. wants to go to youth group tonight, can you pick her up please and can she stay the night. So of course I said yes and went in to town to pick her up about 4 in the afternoon. In the car we had a good old chat about what she is doing  and how she is enjoying her first year at secondary school.

  The next morning youngest grandgirl was playing netball and had her prize giving a couple of hours after her game so she arrived with her mother to have lunch with us before they went back up to the hall. I have to confess I haven't been to the games so much this year, what with everything else I've had going on. Sometimes Saturday is the only time to have a lie in.

On Sunday morning it was time to go up the hill and pick up the two youngest grandboys and bring them over to Sunday School. Then to Granma and Grandads for lunch where we are always joined by Great Granma as well. Grandad (the GKB) always makes hot scones for Sunday lunch in the winter and always checks on who is likely to arrive at lunchtime before I leave for church, so that he makes enough There could be up to 10 or 11 if everyone decides to come. Hot scones and 'red' jam, yuuummy. The grandboys get very disappointed if by chance Grandad decides to do something different. Then after lunch we settle down for some family news (?gossip or sharing?), watch some telly and play some games with the two wee boys. Since Granma and Grandad do NOT have any electronic games they have to amuse themselves, either by watching telly, or playing outside when it is warmer, or not so warmer as the case may be. Lately though they have discovered the joys of board games and are really quite enjoying things like snakes and ladders, pick up sticks', old maid and draughts just to name a few. It has been fun teaching them, although old maid is not much fun when you have just turned 5 and somehow you keep ending up with THE card at the end of the game. 

On Sunday afternoon another text, can I give C. a lift home because blah, blah. I have to say I didn't receive this text with a lot of grace but as it turned out it gave me an opportunity to catch up with beautiful eldest grandgirl and her boyfriend. Of course I had to then be introduced to the newest additions to her menagerie - she now has a couple of rats and several mice, having sold her rabbits and guinea pigs. Oh, there are also a couple of cats in the household and previously there has been a young dog who bounced around all over the place and who now lives on a farm!  All of the grandkids have had a variety of pets over the years and eldest grandgirl has also helped with riding for the disabled. So a really good grand weekend it turned out to be.

I see a daffodil from my kitchen window!