letting off some steam

Sorry folks, I just have to let off a little steam!

I sat down to write something quite different but

that will keep till later.

Last night I was working (I work in a rest home)

and went to answer one of our residents call bell.

She was in quite a frantic state, had just answered her phone

and couldn't make head or tail of what was going on.

I could hear someone talking to her in a really persistent manner,

in a foreign accent and alarm bells started ringing.

It was one of those ratbag computer hackers trying to

get her to turn on her computer.

Being 99 and in a rest home and not owning a computer

she couldn't work out what was going on and getting in a real tizz.

I'm afraid I saw red and took the phone and let rip.

I sent him packing with a flea in his ear!

(And I didn't swear).

Now the poor old soul is scared to answer her phone in the evening.

These people have got no idea of the damage they do,

not just to peoples computers or finances but emotionally

  - I guess they don't care either, unfortunately.

On a happier note, in February I planted a couple of

sunflower seeds,

far too late for them to do anything major,

I really thought it might already be too cool for them to

germinate but was hopeful.

Well they did germinate and they grew and reached toward the sun. Then we had a week or so of cold weather.

I thought that was the end of them, but no.

Autumn turned out to be beautiful and warm.

The sunflowers grew and grew,

one outdoing the efforts of the other.

The photo above is the one which opened and bloomed,

and even though we have now had a dusting

of snow on the hills it is still standing tall.

Its mate is about 8 inches shorter and the day before the snow it was just starting to open - I haven't been down the yard to have a look at it since, but I must soon.

They haven't reached their full height, but just to have made it to the height they are has really amazed me.

Isn't life grand on the whole.

fishing on the Taieri

Today has been a beautiful autumn day. The temperatures are still reasonably up there, afternoons where you can still get around in a tee shirt as long as you stay in the sun.

A couple of days ago, on a day very similar to this one, my GKB went fishing on the Taieri river and brought home some lovely fresh fish for tea.

While he was filleting it he had a rather frantic Claude helping

(or trying to help). Finally it was all done and Claude had his  reward. And so did we.

       Fresh fish fillets with lettuce salad and boiled potatoes
                                      and peas for tea.
                            (Just fish for Claude, of course).

In the meantime youngest daughter called in and said that on her way home she was calling into the supermarket to buy fish for tea.

So soft Dad decided he had better go out fishing again and get some fish for both the daughters and their families.

Not that he needs an excuse!

So after work today he packed his rod and gear into the boot of the car and away he went for the afternoon.

He put his line in and settled back to make a coffee and enjoy the day. But oh dear, where was the coffee? He had his thermos, hot water, cup, milk, sugar but the coffee 

was still on the bench at home!

So he took some photo's instead while he waited for the  fish to bite. He spotted a swan flying just feet above the water but he couldn't get his camera out in time so missed getting a photo.

 What a pity. Black swans breed down that way and are on the river and the nearby lake.

What a great place to spend a sunny afternoon. I might take a book and go with him next time.

Oh, and yes he did catch fish for the daughters - that's a photo of some of them at the top of the page.

Have a great week everyone.

Along the roadside

We, my GKB and I, have just had a very relaxing five day weekend away at our caravan. Wonderful, relaxing days in the autumn sun. Brisk mornings and evenings and warm sunny days.

Lazy afternoons down by the lake, fishing... well there wasn't a fish rising anywhere, let alone biting, but what a pleasant way to spend our time.

On the drive up and back we took some snaps along the way, some pretty and some just a little unusual.

A stand of toetoe (pronounced toytoy) next to flax when we were stopped at some road works.

Giant pumpkins at a roadside stall.

More giants, rabbit sculptures in a small town along the way. I don't know what they were made of but they were some sort of metal. A rather watchful looking trio. Cute.

 And finally, a pond in the Cromwell Gorge on the opposite side of the road to the Lake. Rugged territory.

I've been home long enough now to feel like I haven't been away, oh dear. Getting back to work does that.

Have a good week, you all.

A walk in the April sun

I have been so busy lately it hasn't been funny, so have been feeling just a little bit tired. Well maybe a big bit tired. But that's okay as I'll be away for a few days next weekend with my GKB to the caravan. She needs a bit of tlc but not sure it will happen this trip.

We had a lovely midday with nephew and his wife and family today and my GKB's sister and her husband. I rang and got the grandboys to come for a visit so the kids would have some playmates, they're all of an age.

They don't see each other much, living in different islands so it's good they're now old enough to remember each other.

When they were all gone again and the house was back to normal (whatever that is) I made myself go out for a walk, it was such a beautiful day. I didn't really have the energy but it's surprising how a walk in the sun gives you a boost. I took the camera as well, just in case, and have some photo's to share of my walk in the April sun.

I walked to the playing fields where I

discovered the soccer nets were up and the first game of the season was under way for the "big" boys. Grandboy Jack will be pleased  as he is a soccer player and was wondering when the season was going to start - after the school holidays are over I'm thinking.

Then through the park where the leaves are starting to

turn beautiful autumn colours...

(one wee fellow and his mother were having lots of fun kicking heaps of leaves around)

...past the (usually) beautiful rose gardens. They're looking a little shabby now and in need of  a good pruning but still quite attractive. I would have liked to have gone in and taken a photo from the other end but there was a loving couple on one of the benches, quite engrossed in each other and I didn't want to disturb them.

Then I was at the children's park, which has just been redeveloped in the last two or three years. It's a really lovely place with a fenced area for the preschoolers as well as a large spider web climbing net and skateboard area for the older kids amongst other things.

Being such a lovely day the place was teeming with kids and their parents.

I walked home along the banks of the Silverstream. There weren't many people on it today, just one or two, and no dogs whatever. But...

...I did see a family of ducks under the bank, several in the water as well as up on the bank snoozing.

A lovely walk, I'm pleased I took myself out.

Have a lovely week, everyone.

I'm off to watch 'Weekend Murders' on the telly.

behind the hedge and over the fence...

A few weeks ago my GKB and I went up to the caravan for a few days of R&R. My GKB likes to get out and do a bit of fishing on the lakeside and I like to just sloth around, although I do sometimes join him, as long as I can continue to sloth around once we get there. (I do go for walks around the town and on the lakeside as well, so it's not as bad as it sounds). I like to take magazines or books with me and enjoy the peace and quiet of Central Otago. Mountain air, hawks circling, and blue skies.

While we're there we usually buy fruit from the orchards, either pick our own or from the roadside stalls. Cherry picking is interesting.

Every couple of days we like to go to a big orchard up the road a bit that has a great barn sized stall that the tourist buses all stop at where they sell fruit, fresh and dried, and also 'Manuka Honey' to  tourists at inflated prices.  **TIP: If you are ever over here touring, buy your 'Manuka Honey' from the supermarket, it's the same stuff and a lot cheaper.**

But they do have delicious real fruit ice creams, oh yummy. And we have to have at least a couple a week, we don't get them at home, and anyway you have to save something for a treat!

There are one or two tables to sit at under the trees and there is a lovely garden hidden by a large hedge. We were sitting at a table enjoying our ice creams one day when a man came rushing out from behind the hedge, 'I've got to get my camera," he said "what a hidden gem."

Now my GKB and I had been behind the hedge several times. What's changed we wondered so went for a walk ourselves. What's changed? The plants had matured, some statues had been erected and it was nearing the end of the summer, so roses were still in bloom as were some of the other summer border flowers.

Very pretty. So the photo's above are from 'behind the hedge'.

Back home again I have been out, ahem, walking occassionally, and had forgotten about this lavender garden in the photo's above. I haven't been over that way for a while. It is still being developed, has only been going for about six or seven years, but you can see how it will look when  it has matured. They hire the gardens out as a weddng venue and it is one of the places we looked at for eldest daughters wedding.  

I enjoyed looking 'over the fence' and seeing what has been done to the public area since we went and looked.

Then when I went around the corner what should I come across but some alpacas lazing about in a paddock enjoying the warm autumn sun.

These were also over the fence, the reason for so much grass in the foreground, which is a good place for them I reckon, they tend to look down their haughty noses at you and are very good spitters!!

Wishing you all a great weekend.

A 'cluster' of scooters

What do you call half a dozen scooters waiting for their boys to come and ride them? A clutch? A group? A pile? A flock? A herd? I don't know but I think a 'cluster' sounds good.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, rather cool and threatening to rain, I went with a couple of other adults and took our Sunday School boys to the 'dinosaur' park for a couple of hours of 'scootering'. Dinosaur refers to the fact that the slide is in the form of a large dinosaur and boy, do the kids love it. Once upon a time there was also a tearooms decked out like Noah's Ark but that is gone now unfortunately, but there are snake swings and a large whale for climbing over as well as other imaginative climbing stuff and of course the skateboard/scooter/bike course.

We started with a bite of lunch, we bought chips to supplement the lunches the boys had brought with them and we were soon joined by the inevitable gulls on the scavenge. I think they probably got as much of the lunch as the boys ate. Then it was off to the scooter track - oh boy. What fun. Round and round, up hill and down hill, jumps and other stuff that only little boys know how to do.  Challenging each other and doing 'sets' and generally showing off. Real male bonding stuff. It was great seeing them all interacting together.

The youngest two got tired before the others and eventually had us pushing  swings and helping them onto climbing equipment. All in all it was a good afternoon though.

Did I say the girls didn't come? They were going to, they arrived at church with their scooters but in the end opted to go to the 'Party in the park' with their parents and do more girly stuff like face painting and balloon animals and other much more genteel activities. No doubt we'll hear all about it next Sunday.                               

 Wishing you all a wonderful week.                                 

Aaachoo! - bless you :(

I woke up yesterday morning to what I thought was just another Summers (?) day. But no. The sky was a little cloudy and the wind was blowing gustily. It was reasonably warm, but not really summer temperatures.

And then I started to sneeze. And the nose ran. And the eyes got itchy. And I sneezed some more. Not pleasant at all. Now this is not uncommon for me for the first week or two of summer, but near the end?  No thank-you, sir. I thought I was going to have to make a trip to the pharmacy for anti-histamines but put it off. Thank goodness. No sneezing or runny nose or itchy eyes today. It had to be something windborne.

 But then, to add insult to injury, a little later in the day Claude decided to climb up on me for a bit of a cuddle and a smoodge.  

Now this is not something he normally does with me, he usually prefers my GKB to sit on.

That wasn't a problem but shortly after he departed I discovered I had come out in big welts on my neck and chin and was hot and itchy where he had been smoodging! Not a pretty sight :(

Allergic reaction! After 10 years I suddenly become allergic to the cat? Poor me, poor Claude! The welts and the burning redness are gone now - thank goodness, again :D) In future he can confine his smoodging to the GKB.

I thought I'd post the recipe for the pavlova we had at Christmas on our dessert table. It's very sugary and sweet and was created and named in honour of the ballerina Pavlova who performed here last century.

(It is a dessert also made in Australia where they say that we stole the recipe from them but we kiwi's know it was originally ours of course - ha ha.)

Anyway, whatever, if you have a sweet tooth, or are male, you will enjoy it.

Pavlova

3 large egg whites

Beat until stiff then add 3 tbsp cold water.

Beat until stiff again.

Add one cup of sugar slowly.

When dissolved add one tsp cornflour, one tsp vinegar,

 one tsp vanilla essence and a pinch of salt.

Beat until peaks form and mixture doesn't tip out of bowl when held upside down.

Spread baking paper on a flat oven tray .

Tip mixture onto tray and mold.

Put into previously heated oven and bake

between 300 - 325 degs. F. for 20 minutes.

 Turn oven off and leave overnight.

Decorate with whipped cream and strawberries

or other fruit or choc chips etc. 

We usually serve it with ice cream and fruit salad but I guess it really just depends on personal taste.

Enjoy!!