Chloe and Jack

Just touching base with everyone to let you

 know I am still alive and kicking. 

Last night my youngest grand daughter Chloe got in touch to see if we wanted to  join her in a girls only afternoon tea: coffee and brownies. So my little mother and I went out with her to a nice cafe/bar and  had a very relaxing afternoon out. Two of the 'girls' couldn't come, my daughter and her youngest daughter but we were still a nice little party. This is the first time Mum has been out socially for a long time, months in fact. She has been back in hospital since last time I posted and they have put one of the stents in. What a big difference it has made to her but we are still awaiting the main op. and so she is still staying with us. It was nice to go out and not be visiting the hospital for a change :)

My little mother is tired tonight though.

Vanessa (daughter), Chloe, Monica (eldest grand daughter), mum and me.

On Wednesday night my middle grandson, Jack, had his year 8 formal. Girls a dress and boys trousers, shirts and tie. That would be a novelty for the boys in particular I think and possibly for some of the girls as well :) They have been practicing some ballroom dancing for several weeks now as well as some more fun stuff.

The photo below is Jack all scrubbed up and ready to dance (reluctantly in his case). This is his final year at primary school and next year he will travel into the city to attend high school, growing up and starting a new phase in his life. They are all growing up so quickly, I don't know where the time is going to, sigh.

Sorry about the quality of the photo, it has been through many incarnations before I managed to get this pic on the page. 

Keep well,
Diana

Creatures great and small...

...well, mostly small :)

Both my little mother and my GKB are napping at the moment, it's that sort of day, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to put up a few photos I took during the week. 

My eldest granddaughter came over to visit her great grandmother and brought her little dog, Mack, with her. Mack sulked throughout the visit because my GKB didn't pay him due attention when he first arrived. When my GKB was ready for him Mack turned his back and refused to have anything to do with him. Doesn't he look just a little sulky to you?

Then a day or so later youngest granddaughter arrived with her new puppy, which she was not supposed to get and is now in the throes of winning her father over and showing him she is a responsible owner. Meet Sass, isn't she a cutie, 8 weeks old and exhausted from playing with the big dog at another friend's house so she slept the visit away.

Today I went to a friends home or a flying visit and one of the local duck families came to the back door to visit. Mum and five ducklings. It had been raining so they were poking around in the grass looking for worms I guess.

That's Mum standing to attention and watching me closely.

Mum and some of her babies, they're about half grown and stay with the mother for about 20 weeks.

This wee one is the runt and considerably smaller than his brothers and sisters. More scruffy looking too.

And guess who this is? This is dad, heading in the opposite direction to his brood at a very fast pace :)

This is one of two families of ducklings in this little village, there were 11 babies in the other family but I believe some of them went missing in various ways. I haven't seen that family for a while.

Have a great week

Diana

Odds and sods

Things have changed a little bit in our household over the past week.My little mother has moved in with us while she waits 

to go into hospital for heart surgery. Last week we twice ended up in ED in the middle of the night and on the second occasion she was admitted for several days. We all feel much better now she is home with us and we can keep an eye on her. Hopefully the surgery will take place before the end of the month.

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Anyway I haven't done a lot lately but here are some assorted photo's from the last week or so. 

Some of the flowers Mum has received from family in Australia.

Little mother organising her Christmas

 presents for her little great grandchildren.

Brown trout caught by my GKB, none of which

 won the competition he was taking part in.

Christmas cake ingredients and below finished product. I have a Christmas function I am supposed to be helping with so said I'd make the Christmas cake and then if anything happens with little mother I feel as if I have upheld my obligations.

A very enjoyable night out at a makeup evening with my girls, two grand daughters in front, two daughters and then me. And I was fortunate enough to win the door prize :) 

Diana

More randomness :)

As you will see, the weather has been random if nothing else.

A couple of weeks ago I walked to help raise money for Hart Walkers.  These walkers or 'child orthotic trainers' cost $NZ9,850. I thought the response to this appeal for people to walk was really disappointing. Below is a picture of everyone who turned up at the event where I took part. We walked around one of the local race courses, several times in fact. I did 10 ks.  I'm not sure how much was raised. It started out cool and overcast and became 

warm and overcast :)

One lovely sunny morning last week both my girls arrived over and decided to take me shopping for flowers for the garden. We headed out towards the airport where there is a roadside stall with an honesty box and picked through the plants for sale. I came home with some lovely pansies that I've planted out into boxes. There was one pottle of sweet little black ones but my daughter got to them before me. Bummer :) That evening we had thunder and lightning and a hailstorm.

I spent long time one evening wrapping small gifts for a ladies afternoon tea I was going to. Isn't it  amazing how long it takes to wrap these small parcels, you look at them and think this won't take long, but in fact when you have a reasonable number of them it can take hours. Still they were appreciated by the people who received them. I took them outside to photograph mid morning after a soft rain had been falling most of the night.

I went to the Christmas ( I know, it's still a while off, well only 8 weeks actually) afternoon tea yesterday and had a nice relaxing time. My little mother came with me but was ready for home after an hour or so. She enjoyed watching the 'passing traffic' as she called everyone, and she had a catchup with one or two people she hadn't seen for a while. There was a nice spread and I was able to bring home a couple of goodies for my GKB. It was a lovely warm day and we had the doors opened out to the lawn so people could stroll about if they wanted to. The lawn has a haha wall before it drops to a lower level and has a lovely view out over the plain. 

looking north towards the hills

 I've finished reading one of the Narnia books as part of the reading challenge I'm taking part in and have started on my next one. I know The Magician's nephew by C.S. Lewis is aimed at children but I enjoyed reading some of this series to my kids. I can't remember reading this particular one to them though and enjoyed it anyway. Easy reading. Some days have been warm and sunny and I have been able to sit outside for a while to read. Actually I rolled my trouser legs up one morning and noticed later in the day that my legs were a bit burnt!

joining Amy and her friends for:
Five on Friday

In the garden...

...flowers,

pretty weeds,

more flowers,

apple blossom

and rhubarb.

I realise my posts are a bit light weight at the moment.

I have stuff going on with my little Mother just now and I need to concentrate on her. A lot of hospital visits and other health related appointments. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, they are appreciated very much.

Diana

Daffodils and blossom

Did you see the Tui in the bottom photo?

Tuis are beautiful native birds.

There were dozens of them feeding 

on the nectar, so lovely to see and listen to.

If you would like to see a better picture of,

 or read a little about, the tui, click here.

joining Amy and friends for:
Five on Friday 
and
Friday foto friends
with

Lunch in Outram

It was a beautiful spring day and as life has been a tad busy lately we decided to head over to Outram for a bite of lunch. It seems everyone else had the same idea but we managed to get a little table outside and dined al fresco.

That's my GKB sitting under the hanging basket on the left.

I had a cinnamon roll and cup of tea which was served in a lovely Queen Anne rose patterned china teacup. Lovely. It's nice to get your tea served in one of these dainty cups when you're out.

One of the reasons we decided on Outram was that we wanted to get some photos of the blossoms and daffodils. And although it is country it's only 10 minutes drive from home.

The pink and white blossom is really beautiful and we could hear the tuis calling to each other as they fed. I have more photos and will put some up next week if I get the chance. 

We had parked in the gateway to a farm road and it is absolutely beautiful. Either side of the driveway is absolutely smothered in daffodils. More photos of those as well for next week, so I guess this post is a bit of a tease.

And finally on the other side of the road were the paddocks with the ewes and lambs. Sure signs that spring is here.

I hope you have enjoyed my springtime photos.

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Thank you for your concern for my little mother.

She has had a bad year and for someone who is not used to being ill and is very independent she has not coped well. On Monday she had her annual checkup with the heart specialist and on Friday she goes in for tests to ascertain what to do next. She is much happier now she knows something is being done. 

joining:
Five on Friday
Friday foto friends
Teacup Tuesday