Welcome to a new decade

 

Well New Year celebrations are over and we have a new year to look forward to. 365 empty days to fill with life and adventures.

 I wonder what the year will bring?

 

We ended the last year looking after Sass for a few days so the family could go away over the New Year break. She and I went walking and played fetch until she tired of it and dropped the ball and then dropped herself to the floor. I thought I would get sick of it first, but no.

 She watched through the window while my GKB mowed the lawns. She also 'guarded' the house while we went out on New Year's eve for dinner with extended family. Out of town family on my GKB's side were visiting with their new baby, so it was a bit of a meet and greet time as well. An early evening though and we were in bed before midnight :)

9am

 On January 1st we awoke to orange skies - smoke from the Australian bush fires. Very surreal. We could smell the smoke in the air the evening before. The photo above was taken at nine in the morning and not long after we had to turn the lights on in the house. And they remained on all day.

11:30am

  By 11:30 am it was really quite dark. Sass wasn't happy and declined her walk and wasn't keen on being outside at all. We live on the East Coast of New Zealand, at the bottom of the South Island, and although we were expecting a bit of a haze from the fires we didn't expect it to be so bad. Runny, itchy eyes and nose are the order of the day at the moment for most of us.

The Met Service photo above shows the smoke plume in the lower left corner spilling across the Tasman Sea and reaching New Zealand. I know what we are experiencing is nothing compared to what is happening in Australia, it is really quite devastating and distressing to watch. What makes it worse is that some of the fires were deliberately lit.

On the 2nd we had a visit from Alice and her mother who are here for a couple of weeks staying with her daddy's family. Alice is to be baptised on Sunday so that will be another big family gathering - as long as we all get there. Some of us don't know where the church is but we have all been given directions, address and a map! 

So watch this space.

And last but not least, I thought I would show you the cover of the little booklets I made up for the grandchildren and their kids. These are some of the stories my little mother wrote for her grandchildren and I managed to get them ready to give out at Christmas. Number one son designed the cover and I think it looks great. I think Mum would have been pleased with how they turned out.

Looking forward to a year filled with promise.

Best wishes as you go forth into 2020 

Diana

January 1st, 2020

from our house to yours

Family time

We filled the car boot with Christmas bags filled with presents for the family. The back seat was already filled with salads and desserts, cutlery and dishes. And we set off for youngest daughter's house.

We had already touched base with our granddaughters with their babies and received lovely photos of them on their first Christmas morning. And because I don't know which ones I like best I am going to show you two of each of them :)

Arlo, our gorgeous blue eyed boy.

Arlo dressed up as Santa...

...and opening a present with help from one of the dogs.

Alice dressed up and ready...

to go to church with her Nana and Grandpa.

I love these photos of Alice, to me she looks like

 a Christmas parcel tied up with a gold bow.

Barbecuing was the order of the day and we all anxiously watched the weather forecasts as Christmas drew nearer. Wet. Wet. Windy and wet. Clearing. Wet. So the tent was put up in the backyard and that's where the food was cooked and salads served. Desserts were on the table inside.

 

As it turned out it was cool, rain threatened but didn't happen.

Teenage boys appeared, gathered food and disappeared again :)

Youngest granddaughter arrived with her new beau.

We all gathered around the tree and gave out our Christmas presents, teenage boys appeared again and disappeared again.

DIL snoozed, she'd just come off her morning shift 

and was in need of some zzz"s.

All in all we had a wonderful relaxed day.

I'll leave you with this montage of photos of our adult children 

with their partners, and my GKB and me.

We hope your Christmas was as relaxed and happy as ours was. 

Blessings and best wishes for 2020.

Diana

Merry Christmas

Waxeye feeding 

photograph courtesy Brian J Hunter

Christmastime

Despite the sadness in the air, Christmas preparations still go ahead.

I wondered whether I should have taken my last post down but it was real and happening and just a tiny reflection of how I was feeling . The country is slowly coming to terms with the tragedy that occurred at Whakaari White Island and grieving alongside families of those lost. Such a sad, sad time.

**********

 I have been slowly buying and wrapping Christmas presents and posting those to family who won't be here for the day. I've still a couple more to get - but nearly there.

I have been to a 'production' of the gospel story put on by/for the littlies of Mainly Music and some of the older kiddies from church.
It was a fun time and followed by hot drinks, soft drink and Christmas fare to eat.

I've had a wander around some of the houses decorated with Christmas lights. Unfortunately my camera didn't do this yard justice. It looks so festive in reality and I wrote a Christmas card to thank them for the display and the added joy it brought to people at Christmas.

My GKB and I went down to the family fun evening in an alley behind the main shopping area. Merry-go-rounds and bouncy castles for the kids along with the candy floss, ice cream and chips. There were a lot of stalls selling a variety of crafts alongside the usual food stalls and the scouts fundraiser sausage sizzle. After some carol singing we had a sausage each but at $7 for a coffee we passed and had ours at home. It was a nice evening out despite the winter like temperatures :(

 I don't know whether I'll be posting again between now and Christmas so I'd like to wish you all a 

wonderful and blessed

Christmas 

however you are spending it.

Diana

What a week...

It's not a lot of fun for a lot of people at the moment. While a lot of us are enjoying the build up to the Christmas celebrations others are dealing with very real disasters. In my part of the world Australia is dealing with extremely large bush fires in NSW and Queensland and have been for several weeks. And it is only the start of their fire season. Fire fighters from New Zealand and Canada have been called in to assist with the fighting the fires. Smoke from the fires is actually evident on this side of the Tasman, particularly in the North Island. I have family in both states so keep an eye on what is happening.

 Then just 3 hours flight over the Tasman Sea here in New Zealand we are having a totally different sort of disaster with big storms and flooding. The lower half of the South Island has been cut off for several days with road and rail links taken out by flood water and major slips. Communities have been flooded and people evacuated from their homes, not to mention the tourists trapped between slips on the West Coast of the South Island. The only way out for them at the moment is by helicopter, if they are prepared to pay. They are in a remote part of the country and many are having to sleep in their cars due to a lack of accommodation.

Photo with permission of Tanya Salter Photography

And just now breaking news that there has been a volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island just off the East Coast of the Bay of Plenty in the North Island. Just under fifty people were on the island at the time and several have been critically injured with some unaccounted for. This is ongoing as I write and snippets keep coming in on the news. Personally I'm having a problem with why they were there if the island was threatening to erupt. It's a monitored site, for goodness sake, that's been blowing it's stack on and off for years. I'm feeling a bit angry about it so should finish with that subject I think.

 I hope all is well with you all. Please give an occasional 

thought to those less well off over the holiday period. 

I'm sorry if this has been a depressing post, 

I didn't intend that when I started.

Until next time

Diana

Food, food and then some

That's what we had last night at our local Aglow end of year breakup. The local Lion's Club came in and cooked us a wonderful barbecue and supplied salads galore. Sadly, I was so busy eating I forgot to take a photo :(

I did get one of some of the desserts I made before I took them down. There were many more on offer as well as orange juice and punch for the thirsty. A scrumptious spread.

 We followed this with cups of tea and coffee and lots of chatter.

And then it was time for the music team to get up and lead us in almost an hour of singing Christmas carols and worship.

We let them take a break about halfway through 

though so we could give out little thank you gifts 

and  Christmas tokens to those who were there :)

A very enjoyable evening in the lead 

up to the Christmas season. 

Pace yourself folks, or it can get exhausting.

Have a lovely week,

Diana