Quick blog, tired, got a headache and want to get into my book.

Cooked Fragrant Lamb curry this evening (with No 47, no lamb in the freezer - I must send Eric out to do some slotting). I thought it was bland and the girls left theirs so a recipe not to be repeated I feel. Bridget was not around for supper so didn't miss much. She has today found accomodation so will be moving out next week. We were promised storms today so of course the sun has shone throughout. Bet they come over the weekend!

Brian (an old boy from Dukes who lives in Auckland) sent us a BBC webpage today talking of the bed weather you are having/have had in the UK. I have no sympathy. Teach you to have disgustingly nice summers while we shivered our way through our last one. Do I sound an incy wincy bit jealous?! Hope you all managed to baton down the hatches. We have to on a regular basis here.

Had respite from the hormonal one today as Ellice along the road wanted her company - can't think why! (Does that sound terribly wicked, I do love my daughters desperately I promise, just don't like them much sometimes!!) So it was just Alice and I. Alice is into Bratz dolls in such a big way. As I sat working at my desk she was on the floor in a complete fantasy land with these things. Facinating to listen to. The 'dolls' were off for month long holidays in exotic places and obviously came from very rich families!!

Chilli is in disgrace. I found him laying down sunning himself in the middle of my veg plot this afternoon! Chasing him out was hard work as he needed to run through the electric tape which had obviously pinged him coming in, and he wasn't keen to do that. All the other cows had gathered to watch the sport so letting the fencing down to get Chilli out would result in them coming in!! Anyway that is what I had to do in the end and, Thank you God, the traffic flowed one way, the right way.

Harriette recently had the sewing box out and of course never put it away again. Dusty found herself a cotton reel to play with. Unfortunately it was the one with clear thin thread. I must have rolled up 100' of the stuff which she had chased round all the kitchen chairs and tables and through the living and dining rooms. Being clear you would never know that it is there until you get tangled in it, which is how I found it this morning, and it was almost impossible to see where it had gone.

Dogs have spent most of the day binned up after I spotted Inca 3 paddocks away in Claire and Ians paddock next to their drive. They have a few lambs around so I was glad that Ian and Claire were away. I only took my eyes of him for 5 minutes - if that. I have warned Bridget to keep them that way for the weekend, especially as C and I are back now!

Went shopping for goodies today for the weekend. Made the Xmas pud and a truffle torte. Yummy. In the chemist I was reminded of those aging processes that I seem to be reminded of more and more these days. I was looking through the vitamins for something for the girls, Alice is now sniffing and sneezing. I really had to stretch my arm fully to read the labels. I know I didn't have to do that last time I bought them!! I guess they make the print smaller these days! Actually I always had the girls on vitamins in the winter in the UK and I genuinely believe it helped ward off the bugs. Here I have not found any that Harriette will take sine the large Tesco's supply ran out and here she is full of sores and cold. Yuk. Anyway I found some with Echinacea (checked the spelling on the bottle!!) and told Harri she was taking them regardless of the taste!

I've mentioned the Meningococcal B vaccine campaign that is about to start here, before. Well the vaccine had finally got licensure and has been big news today. At the same time there is a 7 month old little girl, Charlotte laying in Intensive care in Starship, Auckland. Her father was interviewed on the radio by Linda Clarke this morning. The girls and I sat rivetted to this and I cried. Reflect on this if you are having a bad day. 2 weeks ago Charlotte got sick. A red mark appeared on her neck and within half an hour she was black and blue and her fingers looked gangrenous. She has had both legs amputated through the knees and both hands removed. Today the doctors told the parents that a leg is infected in the bone and further amputation is likely. Her parents have told her not to hang on if she doesn't want to. Can anyone imagine what they must be going through? And then the anti-immunisation people come on the radio and tell us all that the government are making a big mistake introducing the vaccine and that they should sort out poor housing etc to stop the disease. Good housing and health didn't stop it attacking Charlotte, or Alice's school friend Casey who died of the disease 2 years ago. Such a wicked disease, how can anyone deny protection for their children against it?

So much for a short blog!! Not sure whether I'll blog over the weekend. Have a good one.
Love Michelle