All Blacks win Webb Ellis trophy

All the games and the hype is over and our little country is getting back to normal.

The Rugby World Cup is now part of our history and we are the

2011 World Champions.

Go the

All Blacks

I have to admit though that my GKB and I spent a great part of the start of the tournament in sunny Queensland where we relaxed and soaked up some sun with not much else to do but indulge ourselves.

We took advantage of the cheap air fares and had some great times with some of the Aussie branches of the family. Great catching up with them all.

BUT...We did watch the matches that were shown in Australia - I even watched some of them right through which is certainly saying something, I'm not really a footy fan.

When we got home it was quarter final time, so of course I couldn't help but get caught up in all the hype - the whole country was -  including the thousands of overseas visitors! It's amazing how parochial and patriotic you can become over sport when it looks like your team has a chance of getting to the top. 

It was all very good natured though and hardly a cross word said :D)

And unfortunately it is the nature of the beast for someone to go home disappointed :(

So, CONGRATULATIONS the AB's, well done, good games and a well fought, nail biting final.

France 7

New Zealand  8

We are the champions, we are the champions, of the world ...

Christmas is a-comin'

I hate to say it but Christmas is fast approaching. It is just around the corner now, I can't believe we are half way through October already.

My GKB and I were in town today, we decided we would go into the Warehouse for a coffee and something to eat and the Christmas decorations and Christmas goodies were all being put out on display.

So pretty. The tinsel and the lights and everything else always make me feel very nostalgic, like a big kid and I couldn't help but stop and admire and handle a lot of the pretty baubles.

Christmas cards, wrapping paper, nativity sets, silly Santa's, tree lights, tinsel trees, glass balls, reindeer, tinsel, curling ribbon, advent calendars.

Chocolate santa's, candy canes, and hampers along with silly seasonal mugs and that was just the beginning of it all.
I can't wait to go back in a week or two and have another poke around, there must be something I need want.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

After a while I  thought perhaps I should go and find my GKB who, for some strange reason, had wandered down to the outdoor living section of the store.

Oh, and I was very good, I didn't buy a thing.

Sensational sunset

My GKB and I have just spent most of September in Mackay, North Queensland. On our second night there we were lucky enough to look out on God's book just as the sun was setting. WOW!! It was glorious. The first four shots below are some of the pics my GKB took, it looked as if molten lava was rolling across the sky. We had some nice sunsets later during our stay and I have also included some shots of them  but although they were rather nice and there were some nice colours none compared with that first one. Enjoy.

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!

hunkering down again and a trip to the vet

 Well here we are hunkering down again for another snow dump. For some reason I'm a bit apprehensive about it this time, the forecast is for snow through to Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be bad enough here, but at least we are on the flat, so will be able to get to places if we need or want to - and of course the GKB will probably be snowed in and I will probably be called in to work again. Oh well, more cash in the holiday fund.

  Now the people in Christchurch I do feel sorry for, some of them are still living in cold, damaged houses after the earthquakes. In fact they are being told that if they think they may not be able to cope with the weather, especially as there are  likely to be power cuts, then they need to move in with friends or family now if they can.

  Hot soup and cheese rolls would have been nice for lunch tomorrow but seeing as we seem to have finished the cheese rolls, soup and hot toast will have to be the order of the day.

  Claude has been sitting looking through the back door for much of the evening. If he had any sense he would come in and make himself at home for the night, but no he is a real outside cat. The only time he tends to come in is in the middle of summer when both the doors are wide open and he can lie spreadeagled in the breeze created in the passage. But, a fortnight ago that changed. He had an altercation with either one of the other cats about the place or with the new powder puff style dog which has moved in next door, resulting in him not being able to weight bear on one of his front feet and a trip to the vet.

 After a slightly fraught trip in the car he tolerated having his ears cleaned, his eyes inspected, his mouth and teeth examined and his coat and skin checked for any unwanted passengers. He really objected to where the thermometer went but short of flattening himself and trying to become invisible he couldn't do much about it. Oh yes, his leg and paw were all inspected too, with a nice shoulder massage thrown in for good measure. Eventually we took him home but not before we were given meds for him and told to keep him inside for the weekend. "Okay" we said. "Oh, and this medication could give him diarrhoea." We climbed into the car, looked at each other and said "outside cat inside for two days with diarrhoea, I don't think so." And when said cat, on arriving home, took refuge under our bed that sealed it. Cars moved out of the garage, old armchair and a dirt box moved in and Claude was a happy camper. He came indoors with us for about an hour every evening and then the caterwauling would start and he was deposited back in his temporary holiday home. All is now back to normal, he is doing his own thing, which includes sitting on the back doorstep, looking plaintively in through the glass until the door is opened for him and then he takes off once more for places unknown.

a nice cosy day in

  Well we've had our first decent dump of snow for several years and it was really quite lovely. I know in other parts of the world snow is an every winter occurrence, but not here. We might get a light dusting that disappears as quickly as it comes, but to have snow that actually lies on the ground and disrupts the city only happens every few years. We see it on the top of Maungatua, and around the

Silverpeaks, and we feel the effects of it in the wind chill other winters. 

Anyway, on Sunday night the forecast wasn't good, snow down to 200 metres, which is us. As dusk fell there was a light dusting on the lawn and on the bushes, nothing settled on the road. The wind blew a gale and the snow kept falling, the temperature kept dropping as the evening went on and the heat pump was turned way up high, - we, the GKB and me,  don't like being cold!

On Monday morning the GKB got up at his usual time, which is 3 or 4 hours earlier than me, to get ready for work. Turned on the radio to find that the roads were closed and that everyone was being asked to stay at home unless it was essential to travel. So that was him home for the day. We live on a plain and are surrounded by hills and the roads were closed.  So we decided to settle in for a nice, cosy day in, keeping warm, watching the telly and drinking warm drinks. How silly can you be? How silly could I be? I knew it was my day off and the GKB was home and the roads were closed, what I forgot was that if we couldn't go out others couldn't come in! Therefore some of the people where I work were stuck at home. On the other side of the hill. Lunch time the phone goes. Diana can you come into work, K can't get here. Yes, I can come in I said, no, I don't want to I thought. But I went in, it's the sort of industry where you need a full team on every shift. That was the end of a relaxing day off.

A couple of teenage boys built a snowman in the gardens between the units and the residents thought he was a beauty. I came out of work that evening and the wind had stopped. It was lovely and still - the sky was clear and the stars were all twinkling and I found it surprisingly mild. I just loved it.

Unlike youngest grandson who just hated it. He is 5 and bawled his eyes out and told his mother he was going to get a blanket and lie on the couch and watch videos all day! And he did.

pretty good advice -

Recently I've been reading a book by Robert H. Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral called 'Tough times never last, but tough people do!'.  He is a possibility thinker/preacher.  About 2/3rds of the way through I came across the following poem by Edgar A. Guest:

 Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you are trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must - but don't you quit!

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -

You might succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out -

the silver tint of the clouds of doubt -

And you can never tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit -

It's when things get worse that you mustn't quit!

I think it's pretty good advice, don't you?