A train trip

My GKB has just had a birthday so the kids all dubbed in and shouted him a trip to Palmerston on the Seasider train and I went with him :) It was a pleasant way to spend a winter's day.

We had a little while to wait before we could board the train once we arrived in Dunedin so we had a poke around the farmers market and then  listened to some young people busking outside the station.

 

Eventually we were able to board the train and our journey began. 

We had a nice young couple from Auckland sitting opposite us, they were doing some sightseeing before they headed back north in a couple of months time. They took this photo of us.

 

My GKB's family are from the Palmerston area, none left there any more, but he still feels a real connection. He spent a lot of time there as a boy. When we arrived he only had one thing in mind - one of McGregor's (world famous in Otago) mutton pies for his lunch. 

 

I think he was a little bit disappointed as the pie as a bit dry. Mutton pies always used to be greasy, the fat would run out as you took a bite and run down your chin. People either hated them or loved them, I was in the first camp. So I had a large sausage roll :) 

 

 After lunch we took a stroll around the township before heading back to the train. On the way we stopped to chat with a couple of the local goldminers. A lovely day out and a thoughtful birthday present from the kids for their father.

That's it until next time,

enjoy your week.

Diana

A year on

It is just over a year since my little mother went home to her Lord.

That time has passed quickly and she has been on my mind

 at some part of every day since.

 

One of my sisters in Australia sent me a beautiful flower arrangement 'for looking after our mother' in their absence.

They really are rather lovely and lasting well. A lovely gesture.

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I've been a bit off colour for the past week with an inner ear thing going on so I haven't ventured far from the house until today. So I thought I'd share with you some of the books I've been reading over the last little while. I 'borrowed' the Ruth Rendell book, Going Wrong, when we were holidaying in Aussie last year and I must send it back. I'd never read anything of hers before and found her rather intriguing, with the twist in the plot that you don't see coming. I've read more since then and that same twist in the plot seems to happen, her style I guess.

I always enjoy Dan Brown, Inferno this time, but with a bit of space between books :) I like a good page turning action thriller occasionally.

Then there is Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris, who I'd never heard of until I borrowed this book as well. Also while we were in Aussie and also needing to go back but this one can wait until next time I'm going over. The story is set in the depression era in the 'American dust bowl', the tale of a little girl who is accidentally left on a train and her long journey to finding her family. Also a page turner.

The ones I have enjoyed most though are 'The Seven Sisters' series by Lucinda Riley. I was a bit iffy about the first book, before I started reading, but now I am hooked. The books all stand alone but having read one out of sequence I wouldn't do it again as it throws things out of kilter a bit. Each book is about one sister, all of whom have been adopted, and her search for her roots. I've read the first four books and so far have been to South America, Norway, Australia and England. Beautifully written novels with a lot of attention to historical detail. If you haven't read any of them I highly recommend them.

A couple of days ago eldest daughter rang to say she was coming over and 'don't buy pumpkin'. No wonder, she had three in the car and left two with me. The big orange one is a soup pumpkin so I may put that in the community pantry around by the grandkids school. I certainly won't be making it into soup. I'll cut the other one up and give some of that away as well. It came from her partner's farm, he likes to grow unusual veges on a plot near the house. These are not too bad but we have been given the occasional strange, to us anyway, vegetable. Or odd coloured ones :) And usually enormous!

Winter has arrived with a vengeance this week, perhaps I should make that pumpkin into soup ;(

Until next time

Diana

Queen's Birthday Weekend 2019

Well that was a weekend and a half...but we got through it :)

Queen's Birthday Weekend happens in June, and you guessed it, we commemorate the Queen's birthday. A long weekend, Friday through until Monday.

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It started off with our expectant mother going into labour late on Thursday and giving birth to a lusty son on Friday via emergency C section. He weighed in at 9lb 1oz and is named Arlo. We haven't been to see him yet as, although he is doing well, mother is a bit overwhelmed and isn't up to visitors. So we'll put it off for a few days and go when she's ready. Sorry no photo's, you'll have to take my word for it that he's a good lookin' dude!

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On Friday night I helped my daughter decorate the church hall for a baby shower. Yes, we have another little person joining the family in August :) A little girl this time. So it was a pink theme.

Very traditional.

Chloe lives in the North Island. She came down for the holiday weekend so her Mum decided a shower would be nice for her,

and for her old girlfriends.

She was given some beautiful gifts, the girls and the family did her proud :) Someone was even thoughtful enough to give her a big pink fluffy dressing gown for herself.

Her aunties and grandma's provided most of the afternoon

 tea and it was a lovely spread. It was also very cold with snow threatening which is why we are all dressed in our winter woolies.

We managed to get a photo of Chloe with all the grandma's.

Left to right we have two great grandma's, grandma, mum to be, grandma and great grandma.

As you can see we decorated with little baby outfits and dresses - from back when my girls were babies and toddlers.

I didn't know they had kept them.

 The only trouble with decorating is that it all needs undoing but the young girls all stayed behind and helped. I thought that was a really nice gesture.

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Now it's Tuesday evening and I've spent the day away at

the funeral of a friend. He was only in his late 60's

 and his death was unexpected. But it was a joyful funeral,

he had a deep faith and has gone home to be with his Lord.

As I said, it's been quite a weekend, but we got there.

So, have a good week folks,

until next time,

Diana

A lazy tea

It's been a busy day today. Housework in the morning

and down to the shops this afternoon followed by a visit

from eldest daughter and still pregnant granddaughter.

She was due six days ago but I think

he is nice and warm and cosy where he is

 and knows it's winter out here :)

ready to go under the grill

So it was a lazy tea tonight.

We had cheese rolls - a southern specialty.

People have their own secret recipes

and they are a popular school fundraiser.

ready to turn

A cheese mixture rolled in bread, brown or white.

We prefer white. We often pair them up with a cup of soup.

Cold day comfort food.

ready to eat

Youngest sister ordered two large cheese roll whilst

out for lunch one day, not realizing large ones

 were made from a caterers loaf. She hadn't

had one since she moved to Australia nearly

thirty years ago.

hamming it up on holiday.

Have a good weekend

Diana

The end of an era

On Monday morning we got an early morning phone call to say my aunty had died. It was a shock as although she was in her 80's there was nothing to indicate she was ready go and her daughter who rang was quite distressed.

 

Aunty Colleen was Mum's youngest sister,  just 13 months

younger than her. They were very close and our two families

spent a lot of time together as we were growing up.

 On Tuesday we loaded the car and left for the West Coast.
Greymouth to be specific. My GKB decided we would do
 the trip in two days, he's over driving long trips if he
 doesn't need to.

 

The funeral was just what Aunty Colleen would have liked, a good send off for her. Not too much fuss and a good family gathering.

All of the families were represented apart from the Aussie branch who couldn't make it so it was a great time of cousins catching up.

Our lovely aunty was the last of her family of six siblings,

so she ended an era which started before the first World War.

We all loved her dearly and she will be sadly missed.

Congratulations and busy in the kitchen

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

on the birth of their little boy.

How wonderful.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

And now I am used to the name I think it is really cool.

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A couple of weeks ago middle daughter came to me and said,

"Steve has given me this giant marrow and my lot won't eat it, do you want it?" So I said yes, it would be great for the Friday Light meal in a couple of weeks.

Once a month I am on KP (more commonly known as kitchen duty) for Friday Light, at my church. Friday Light is a  community outreach which, among other things, provides a hot meal free of charge for those who come along. We get about 25 regulars with others dropping in at times so I usually prep for about 30.

Once upon a time I cooked a meat dish but I've been relieved

 of that duty and now all I need to do is provide a vege or some

 sort of side dish to go with the meat.

Well the marrow turned into a more substantial type of squash whilst in transit. It is half a metre long and half a metre in circumference! I've used about a third of it.

I really wasn't sure what to do with it so it has been cut and layered in a roasting dish and covered with onion and tomatoes and I'm hoping it will taste okay tomorrow night. Now all I have to do is prepare a large pot of potatoes.

Bon Appetit.

***********

Diana

Tunnel Beach

A couple of weeks ago my GKB and I went in to town to pay a bill or two and then go for a bite of lunch. It was such a lovely day we decided to take a detour on the way home and visit Tunnel Beach. Click on Tunnel Beach if you'd like to read a little about
the history behind it

Beach one hour return. That sounded okay but what I didn't realize that it was actually half an hour there and half an hour back. NOT Half an hour along the beach if you decided to do it. I'd never been here before you see. Now, do you see where the people are in the photo and the path just seems to disappear? Well that's where the downhill section begins...and keeps going for 1200metres or 1.2 ks.

The views out to sea and along the cliff top were spectacular.

The sea itself was beautifully calm, not a surfers sea today.

That outcrop in the centre right of the picture above is

where we were heading...along with dozens of other people. 

My GKB decided not to go all the way down so stopped

and took photos instead. There were seats at different

places along the way and I took advantage of them on the homeward trip, along with several other people.

Eventually, read twenty minutes later, I reached the bottom.

I was going to say beach but I hadn't got there yet. I decided to walk out onto the outcrop but found it a bit nerve wracking to say the least. Most of the track is fenced for safety reasons and I had to climb the fence to go here. At some places there was only a few yards on either side where it would be easy to fall if you lost your footing.

And I have to say I think the girls in the picture above were rather foolhardy. That's a sheer drop into the sea. GKB photographed them from his vantage point up the track. Anyway now to find the beach. Find the tunnel first. Aah, there it is - onward into the rabbit hole.

The photo below is a bit deceiving as the flash kicked in and lit it up. It is actually extremely dark and as I was about to go down

I realized there was someone on the way up, I couldn't see

 them until they were almost upon me. Once upon a time there were no steps and on the steepest part there was a ladder with a rope handrail. Since it has been opened to the public the steps have been hewn out of the rock and probably makes it a lot safer.

 The tide was coming in so I didn't really see much of the beach - there were a lot of big boulders to clamber over so I just took this one pic.

Tunnel Beach was a private beach originally owned by a local politician, John Cargill. The tunnel was hand picked out of the rock to make for easier access for his daughters.

Let me tell you, it was a long slog/haul back to the top.

If I ever go again I'll make sure I have water with me,
I wasn't prepared but I still really enjoyed my afternoon :)


Have a good week,
Diana