An olden Christmas

At last, Christmas morning

  

         At last it had come, Christmas morning. The Christmas cards had been displayed on the mantle piece for weeks, school was over and yesterday, Christmas Eve, the Christmas tree had arrived and been planted in its bucket of broken bricks inside the front door.

 

We had all gone away to bed far too early to sleep but in great anticipation of hearing reindeer on the roof and of what the morning would bring.

 

 

And here it was - daybreak!

Just light enough to see that the empty pillowcase left on the end of the bed was now bulging with goodies.

Toys, books and lollies, a bag of seasonal fruit and a striped peppermint stick.

We had been good enough for Santy to come, not that we kids ever doubted it.

 

What a happy racket, now everybody in the house was up to share in the excitement. Out we rushed to see the tree - no longer drab in an old bucket, but decorated with tinsel and baubles, shiny glass balls and pretty lights, topped with a shining star and standing in a red wrapped container. Hidden amongst its branches were more presents to be opened later.

 

 

Out to the kitchen for breakfast, oh what a glorious sight. The walls were hung with green garlands and balloons and crepe paper streamers criss crossed the ceiling. Chinese lanterns hung down along with paper balls and bells. Santys elves had been extra busy while we slept unawares.

 

A wonderful morning finished off with our traditional roast Christmas dinner and plum duff filled with sixpenny pieces. And a small bottle of fizzy each.

 

 

 

 

Wishing you all the blessings of this Advent season.

 

Diana



it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

 

Youth group have decorated the church Christmas tree.

 

 

Sunday school have been preparing for their Christmas breakup.



 

 

 Oops, a slight accident with Joseph :(

I've wrapped some Christmas presents.

 

Helped with a Christmas gift stall. 

And written out my Christmas cards. 

Yes it's definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

 

 

 

 

Have a good week, folks.

Diana



Bull Creek

We are still having typical spring weather - it's all over the place.

Today is blue skies, white fluffy clouds and a coolish breeze, but the temperatures are supposed to get to a high of 16 degs C.

Not like it was on Sunday afternoon when a small group of us went 70 kilometres down the road, half of which were gravel, to Bull Creek.

 

 

 

 It was a lot of fun even though the wind was cold and blowing a gale it stayed fine. We did some bush walking,

 

 

 

 

the kids played on an old tire swing in one of the clearings,

 

 

And then we headed for the beach.

 

 

The tide was out so there were a lot of rock pools

to go exploring in. And mussel beds to avoid.

 





 

It was far too cold for swimming but that didn't deter the little boys, or some of the bigger ones for that matter, from getting wet to the waist and having to go home wrapped in blankets or towels.

 Boys will be boys!

 

 

On the way home we passed this World War One memorial  in the middle of nowhere, so I couldn't resist taking a photo.

 

 

It's still being cared for, the grass is kept cut and scrub cleared, and I imagine there is still a small gathering there every

ANZAC Day.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

to all readers in the USA.

 

blessings,

Diana

 

 

 

 

Caravans and fish

We decided it was time for a break away last weekend so my GKB put in for annual leave and I took my normal days off and we packed up and went up to the caravan for a few days.

 

 

 

Once we got ourselves sorted out we just sat around enjoying the warm sun. So nice to sit and relax with not a worry in the world.

We didn't bother with the awning as we weren't going to be there long enough to warrant the trouble of putting it up.

Thank goodness we didn't.

That night the temperatures dropped and the rain poured down

non-stop (and I mean non-stop) and the snow snowed.

Oh dear.

When we got up in the morning we found a pond outside our door and snow not quite right down to town level. Just a tad chilly!

We had a good few days of enforced slothfulness which we both enjoyed. My GKB went down to the lake to try for a fish, nothing biting, and I went out walking a couple of times.

 

The sun came out again the day we left.

 Oh well, thems the breaks.

 

Talking about fishing -

 

 

- my GKB has done quite well the last couple of times he's been out with the angling club. The photo above is some of the trout he caught about three weeks ago, including the prizewinner for the largest and the heaviest fish. (2.3kg which I think is 4lb 9oz).

 He was really chuffed. 

Then yesterday he arrived home with more, which I promptly gave to our eldest daughter who was visiting. And he had also won the raffle which was a box of assorted goodies - drink bottles (for youngest grandsons), daughters new beau scored the cap and I now have a lovely ceramic tile adorning my kitchen wall.

 

 

There are still several items to be given homes but that won't be hard to do. Perfume, lawn sprinkler, coffee mug and gardening gloves to name a few. It was a bit like a lucky dip. It's lovely to win something or receive something unexpectedly, isn't it?

 

 

And this year I have my sunflower seeds in on time!!!

I am sooo good :D)

 

Have a good week everyone

 

Diana

 

 

 

Labour weekend 'Steam Festival'

Yesterday was quite a nice day for Labour Weekend, historically it's wet and grey and just generally horrible. So my GKB and I decided to go into town for lunch. On the way we thought we might make a detour via the railway station and see what was happening seeing as the 'Steam Festival' is on this weekend.

 

 

 

The farmers market at the northern end of the platform was just upping sticks in readiness to depart. No-one told them we were on our way, ha ha. It's a great place to buy fresh produce,
 jams, pickles etc. Lunch in the cafe on the platform and people watching for a while sounded like a good plan.

 

  

 Steampunk is also part of the festival and some of their members were strolling about - and having lunch at the table next to ours!

 

There is something strangely attractive about these people, costumes and paraphernalia, I'm not quite sure what it is.
 I just love the look of them.
 

 After lunch we met a friend who works on the railway and were given complimentary tickets on the train to go for a trip down the harbourside, leaving in about half an hour.

 

Everyone climbed aboard and we chugged away down the line. Just getting settled in to the journey and the p.a. system tells us there is a problem with the engine and we'll have to go back to the station. So back we chugged much to the disappointment of all the kids on board. It was going to take half an hour to fix whatever was wrong so we disembarked and went up onto the overhead

footbridge for a looksee.

 

 

 

Lots of people, mostly kids, were having rides on the hand powered jigger... 

 

 

...but we decided it was getting too cold and we'd just wait for the engine to come back from whence it had gone and hopefully get a good photo from the bridge. You won't believe it but we waited for over an hour - with the weather closing in and the wind blowing in from the harbour - to get this shot...

 

 

...a great billow of smoke, you can just see the engine. Ha ha, you have to laugh. But we weren't the only ones, there were a lot of trainspotters on the bridge with us as well

 as mums and dads and kids.

 

We didn't get back on the train again, we decided to go and have a hot coffee instead and head back to our nice warm home. The traditional Labour Weekend weather had arrived!

 

Blessings to you and yours,

Diana

Camp Waihola

On a nice mild Friday afternoon recently I packed my overnight bag and drove down to Camp Waihola, well my GKB drove me. We picked up a 12 year old on the way and rendezvoused with the rest of the youth group at the camp, along with
the kids from Balclutha.

 

kitchen and lodge

 

My GKB left me there, he is not quite sure what the attraction is in wanting to spend any great length of time with thirty or so young teenagers. He picked me up the next day when I swapped over with one of our other leaders. It is only 20 minutes drive from home so not too far to do the trip twice.

 

 

early sunrise

 

The camp is set in farmland and there is a lake is on the other side of the state highway, which we didn't go to. In the photo above you might be able to see the fog rising from the lake in the distance. (The lake and the highway are hidden behind the hills).

 

early morning fog

 

This photo is taken to the right of the one above, more early morning fog, it burnt off very quickly and by the time we'd had breakfast it was a lovely sunny morning

 

 

informal game of touch rugby

 

Some of the kids played a game of touch while they waited for the first organised session to start, while others cleaned up the dining room and did the chores - there's always those chores to do.

I went for a bit of a walk, touch rugby is definitely not my 'thing'.

 

 

 

Past the playground for the little ones - we had some young families with us as well, their parents helped in one way or another.

 

 

 

Past some ponies in the top paddock...

 

...and in a paddock further down the hill, a very pregnant ewe and another one with triplets,

you can just see the leg of the third one on the other side of her if you look hard...

 

 

They all seemed to have more than one baby to look after.

 

pie fight

 

We had thirty plus very energetic bigger kids to care for...and one of them, a 2 year old, picked a daisy and gave it to me. No stem , just the flower. Cute.

 

very blurry daisy.

All in all it was a good weekend and the kids enjoyed themselves. A lot of fun had by all.

 

I felt great while I was there but as soon as I got home and sat down in my own nice comfortable easy chair I felt extremely tired - I wonder why?

 

 

Diana

 

...in like a lion...

 

 

Spring has arrived and and contrary to the saying - 'in like a lion and out like a lamb', September arrived with beautiful, balmy weather. But that was just a tease - tonight the elements are roaring against us and snow is forecast to sea level. The lion has arrived!

The wind has battered some of my spring flowers so I picked them and brought them inside, I like them all clumped outside but like them inside as well.

 

 

 

 

The blossom is out on the trees and the streets around town are looking lovely.

 

 

 

I went out with my camera a couple of times and took photo's. Some on a lovely sunny day...

 

 

 

 

...and some today as the weather began to change.

 

 

 

 

You can see the clouds beginning to build up.

 

 

 

I love the blossom trees and don't have a one of my own so I really enjoy this season, short though it is.

 

 

 

 

And below is a shot of the front coming across the plain from the south. The hill was just disappearing from sight and I reached my gate just as the hail began, it was a race though. Phew.

 

 

 

Goodnight all, enjoy your week :D

 

Diana