A party for Eric

Blogging at an unusual time, 6.30am on a Monday morning. Harriette’s alarm woke me at 5.50am and I decided to stop wasting time and do something. Pitch dark outside so I looked to an indoor job. Blogging can be done while tucked up in a warm bed so sounded like a good option!!

We had a bit of a celebration of Eric’s achievements yesterday. I sent an invite out saying this:



For those of you have known us a long time you will know that reaching this point has been a long journey. One step forward and two steps back at times. It has occurred to me that we have never really celebrated Eric’s achievements. Eric recently passed his final exams to qualify, has been admitted to the Bar as a barrister/solicitor and, has now been offered a position with a local law firm. Time for a get together I think! So:

You are invited to our place
from 12 mid-day on Sunday 30th July.
It’s a bit impromptu so I’m making it a pot-luck affair.

Please bring yourself, the kids and a pot (something simple) and RSVP

(Apologies to the dairy farmers for the timing!)

It turned out to be a bit of a Taotaoroa Rd get together with Mom and Daddy. Being the start of the middle of calving dairy farmers go into hibernation so the likes of Richard and Robyn couldn’t make it, and others already had their Sunday planned so I wasn’t expecting too many people. Had about 35 here though, mainly neighbours and people from Eric’s office. We did roast’s of pork and lamb and a beef curry and rice, rice pudding and a gorgeous chocolate cheesecake that I had forgotten about until I, accidentally, came across the recipe in my fill in your own recipes, recipe book.

It was good to have a chat with the neighbours. We pass each other, wave and have brief chats, almost always ending saying we should get together, and never do. We all parted saying we should do this again soon. I hope we don’t take too long to do it. We joked with Ian and Shirley from next door about having a meeting to rearrange the boundaries between us, them and the neighbours the other side of them. I left Julie and Derek’s place when we borrowed their tractor telling Eric I wanted to buy their house when they moved, and Ian and Shirley want our back paddocks. I sure we could arrange something!!

Eric has had his formal letter of a position offer and accepted. He was trying to work at get giving less that 4 weeks notice but hadn’t had any luck so starts with McGill, Earl and Co on 28th August. I’m sure this will be a very long month for him.

Eric is having a flurry of activity to et all the little jobs done before he loses his free afternoons. He has also started on sheep pens down by the barn and put in a fence but needs to borrow a tractor again to shift some big rings of the gum tree that was felled a couple of years back before he can get on with that. I think he has arranged that with Basil for the weekend after next.

Had an interesting chat with Judith yesterday (the wife of one of Eric’s colleagues). She has a daughter 2 years older than Harriette who plays tenor sax with a band in Hamilton. The band is recovering from a bit of a run down and looking to get more members. She is going to give me the details of the organiser. I know Sarah is keen to do this so if we could get another parent interested then we can car pool and cut down on the trips. It sounds like Alice could do this as well. Alice is keen as she is very enthusiastic about clarinet playing at the moment. Harriette is a bit concerned about the point as she is planning to change instruments to oboe in January. I think it would be good for her to go along and suss it out.

I must get up. I hadn’t noticed that Alice had not! She has just emerged from her room 10 minutes before her bus is due so Eric will have to take her in. Until next time…

And The News Just Gets Better

Eric has been offered a job as a barrister/solicitor with a local Matamata firm McGill, Earl and Co. It is a small firm with a good reputation and seems to be dynamic and friendly. Sounds like they will be supportive initially but keen for Eric to stand on his own 2 feet as soon as he can. All that Eric wants really. I cannot express how thrilled and relieved we all are. It has been an incredibly long slog and this last few days have been soooo stressful, vasilating between being convinced he must have got the job to feeling as sure that he hadn't. I was worried that if he had not managed to convince a firm after 2 'chats' that he was what they wanted, when he obviously was, then how was he going to get a job elsewhere. He has had so many knock backs in this process that it was hard to believe that this could go right. Anyway I'm rambling. All I can say is that I am incredibly proud of Eric for sticking at this when at times it has been so hard for him to get motivated, and there has been so many other things going on in our lives. Well done Pooh. Semi-retirement - here I come!!!!!

Pictures of a rural barrister/solicitor

Not bad for a poor person, I’ve eaten out three times in four nights, that’s almost a year’s allocation of dining out!! I was in Auckland for training on Wednesday night and, as usual we went to the Thai Village in Remuera, a real gem of a place but we must start to expand our horizons a bit and eat elsewhere. Training was good, I usually leave those days stressed to the eyeballs and never quite sure why, but this week was good. Thursday was Alice’s birthday and she wanted a family dinner out. Mom and Daddy joined us and we went to Nick’olas, not sure that’s quite right, in Matamata. We hadn’t been there before and I thought it was a pizzahut type place but it was much better than that. Very nice pizzas and Harriette’s venison burger was divine, chunks of real venison and foccaccia bread. The colour scheme was very different and had us discussing the merits or otherwise. I was a bit reticent about the nautical corner, nice but didn’t feel right in Matamata, heart of dairy farming country and an hour from any coastline.

Anyway….. Yesterday was the big day, Eric’s Bar Admission. His moving counsel was Kit, a Hamilton lawyer who had taught Eric on his Professionals course during one of his ‘residential’ weeks. We appeared at his office for Eric to gown up. Gosh it did feel strange to see him in the full regalia. Actually it was the tiny bibs that made the biggest difference. He looked very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, at the start of the proceedings his wig slipped as he bowed and he sat through the ceremony with it squiff! (or, as Eric says ‘worn at a rakish angle’!!!) Straightened up for photos though. I was a bit disappointed with the whole thing, the ceremony was short but that was OK. I just think they would have put a tea or something on afterwards, after all some of these people could have had 2 hours travel to get there and I am sure parents may have come from much further a field if their children had moved away to uni. The outside of the building could do with a lick of paint so is not a brilliant backdrop for photo’s either, and it being white and the day being sunny was a further hindrance to good piccies. We plan to take some more formal looking ones today (too tired when we got back last night). There was a photographer in court for the signing piccies etc. I just hope that he had the sense to notice if the wig was squiff before he took Eric’s, unlike the photographer at Eric’s graduation. The collar on Eric’s gown was sitting incorrectly and the photographer did not point this out before snapping. Quite disappointing especially when it is someone like Eric who is such a perfectionist when it comes to formal attire (difficult to contemplate when you see him trekking around the paddocks in work clothes and gummies!!). Juliet and Kev joined us and afterwards we went to a bar for a drink then on to Gengy’s for supper. Brilliant news is that Kev has a job as head auditor for a hotel group so lots of travel for him, and the best bit is it’s working from home. Needless to say they were both far more relaxed that when we last saw them. Gengy’s is not quite what I would have planned for such an occasion but we didn’t really plan anything really as we were not sure who from Eric’s course would be there and what they would do afterwards. As it was there was only one other person from his group being admitted and so we did our own thing. We also had H and A with us and Kev picked up Hannah and Emma so we had 4 children in tow. So Gengy’s it was and we had a nice afternoon/evening. On the job front, Eric had a “chat” with a local solicitor last week and is going back for another “chat” Monday morning with both the partners this time. They tried to get him in this week but the only time they could come up with fell into the only 2 hours that Eric absolutely could not make as he was in a meeting. So we have fingers, toes and everything else crossed for next week. No worrying about what one wears for a ‘chat’ this time as he will be at work so will pitch up in work boots, shorts and a polo shirt!
Big piccies as they are very important!!!




What else has been news? Harriette’s birthday was on the 3rd (can’t remember if I’ve blogged this). We finally agreed to the mobile phone so gave her money for this. She also got queen-sized bed linen for her bed, which we are awaiting delivery of (we have decided to buy both the girls queen sized beds to give us more flexibility with visitors when we have more than one couple staying). Mind you we have a distinct lack of visitors of late, anyone fancy a trip down under? You’d be very welcome.

You may recall the sleepover ban I installed either last year or the year before, and obviously I relented as Harriette had one for her birthday (strict conditions applied regarding who could come - adhered to, and what time they could watch videos until - flouted flagrantly!!). Well having relented for H I had to for A. We said A could only have 2 guests and one of them is already at a birthday party so it is just Alice and Grace tonight. That can’t be too onerous – can it!!!

Well I must get up and do something, not sure what yet, I think I may pull up the hydrangea outside the cottage.

More Trakkers

When you've had a sleepover and you are sooo tired, Happiness is......


... being curled up on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon with Dog (permanent bedtime attachment since aged 0) and Feral.

This weekend Eric has this one:

Nice new shiny tractor from Lyn and Basil over the road. Actually it was borrowed for the wood splitter on the back. And I had my first trakker driving lesson:


I was not impressed! The damn thing was sliding all over the place - then I spotted the handbrake - it was still on!!!!! Now give a girl a break.. I was trying to cope with 3 gear sticks and 2 foot brakes! After I found (and released) the hand brake I managed to get the trakker out the paddock and up the drive. That was enough for one day. Carol when you come over you must go and look at Lyn and Basil's place, they are buidling amazing stables and have a horse walker and all sorts. We've already warned them you'll be over! They have invited Alice up to ride over the holidays (just starting 2 weeks off) and offered both girls mucking out work when the stables are up and running. Fabulous, we won't have to drive them to and from work. We suggested putting Alice in the walker for some exercise. It can go very fast!!! The can even electrify the divider coming up behind you if nesessary to hurry her on! (I must add before anyone complains that they said they almost never do this).

Harri's birthday tomorrow but I can't say what she's getting in case she reads this befre we are up. Meeting Mom and Daddy in Tauranga for lunch and bowling tomorrow.