Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebrations

Well it’s been a long time since I last blogged. It’s Sunday morning but too early for Chris Laidlaw. I woke, really hot at 6.25 and went down to the veg plot to put the irrigator on. It’s been a dry November with only half the normal rainfall, but cold. It’s only in the last 10 days that the temperatures have started to rise and we still have the winter duvet on the bed (though that might change today!).
I know I always seem to write that life has been hectic but boy has it been so over the last few weeks. I need to drop some things as life is far too cluttered. Alice even said to me recently “Mummy we never see you” after a particularly long stretch of evenings out. I haven’t had a piano lesson for 4-5 weeks as I have been busy every Monday evening. And since I last blogged I have added another, more time consuming activity to my life – cycling. More on that later.

Where to start? I’ll try working backwards from yesterday. 22nd December 2008 was Mom and Daddy’s 50th wedding anniversary. I guess in these days of ever increasing divorce rates and later marriages, this will become a rarer event in society. I know I’ll have to make 83 if Eric and I are to reach ours, which I'm sure we will!! After some investigating of appropriate venues I booked lunch at a café at a water lily garden out in the bush off Karagahake gorge http://www.waterlily.co.nz/ . The setting was lovely and the weather nice so we had tables under shade on the terrace. As Mom and Daddy have only been here for a few years it was a small affair with about 23 of us. Sharron, my sister, came from the UK for her first trip here and my Auntie Joan and her husband, Tom were over from Australia (Joan was married to Daddy’s brother Charlie until his death. She re-married to the lovely Tom in her 70’s). I had also organised for Harriette, Alice, Bec’s and Jac’s to play, along with Sarah doing some flute solo’s.
Ann had made a cake before she returned to England (Ann and Mike live 6 months here and 6 months in the UK each year) and I had been brandy-ing it weekly. She had also done some beautiful decorations. I was left instructions to put a white icing on nearer the time but found that too onerous a responsibility so found a local lady to do it. I was so pleased with it. Here is the result.

I was pleased with the way the day went. I left early with Harriette and Alice so we could collect flowers, my skirt that I had altered etc on the way to Mom and Daddy’s. Eric left later with Liz and Steve and collected Jac’s and Bec’s, dropping them in Paeroa so as not to spoil the music surprise. Daddy’s best friend from years ago was a lovely man called Colin who sadly died shortly before we left the UK. Colin and Brenda’s youngest son, Steve, married a kiwi, Liz and they now fruit farm down in Hawkes Bay. They are staying with us for the weekend so they could come to the 50th. Anyway, after giving Mom and Daddy their present (a beautiful bird bath/sundial, sounds naff but was really very pretty). We then left, leaving them instructions not to get to the venue before 12.30, I picked up J and B and headed off to the café to set up. Harriette had decided at the last moment to bind their music so was sitting in the café with binding machine getting stressed (I can’t think where she gets it from!). Anyway, they managed to get tuned and set up and Harriette was playing Golden Wedding on the sax as they arrived. They launched into their repertoire, playing on and off over the course of the afternoon. I was very pleased with them.

Lunch was casual and, I think, everyone enjoyed it. With coffee we bought out the cake and had a few short speeches and toasts, one from Steve which I was pleased about. The girls went off to play chess (they had a large garden set) so did not get too bored. Finally we headed back to Mom and Daddy’s for tea and cake then I dropped Jac's and Bec's home and we picked up fish and chips for supper. All satisfied with a good days work. On our arrival back at Cedar Lodge Harriette had to stop quickly to avoid the geese, and 5 one day old goslings on the drive. We were very excited as we have never had more than one gosling before!!

As I said, Sharron was over so I have been on leave for 2 weeks, apart from a day each week when I had teaching commitments. Sharron’s arrival at Auckland, Monday last week, caused huge problems as, after a 5 hour arrival delay (flight late leaving London so she missed her Hong Kong connection) she arrived with prescription medication in an unlabelled container. Customs held her up for about 4 hours, threatening to deport her etc, finally letting her in with a telling off. She was meant to get in around 8am and Mom and Daddy were collecting her, with me collecting Tom and Joan when they arrived at 2pm. I met M+D at the airport and they still waiting when I left with T+J!! Tuesday I worked. Wednesday was Mom’s birthday so they all came to us for morning tea then we went to Rotorua for the day. We walked around a thermal area then after lunch by the lake, went to the Polyneasian spas. Various naturally (very) hot pools, on the edge of Lake Rotorua. It was then back to us for dinner. Sharron then stayed with us. Next day I took her for a walk round the Mount (the only person I have ever known to be underwhelmed by it),with Harriette and Alice, and a swim in the hot pools there. It was warm but a little over-cast that day. Friday, Sharron and I went into Tirau to shop for a present for Mom and Daddy.
Saturday was a day we had looked forward to for ages. I had booked matinee tickets to Phantom of the Opera which was in NZ for only 3-4 weeks. We treated Sharon and Mom also. Sharron was not impressed with the idea and was convinced that she would not enjoy it (“I don’t want to be bored for 2 hours”!!). I think she did in the end but it’s difficult to say with her. Anyway, I didn’t realise it but I had booked middle of the front row so we were immediately behind the conductor, and within a hair’s breath of the flying chandelier!!! The show was spectacular and we absolutely loved it. I bought the CD for the girls and Eric told me they played it constantly for days afterwards. We then went to the Sky Tower for Sharron’s benefit (we’d all done it before) but she didn’t stay up there long as she was convinced it was moving and didn’t like it (though she did appreciate the spectacular views). We went down to Mission Bay to find somewhere to have supper but couldn’t find any parking! It was a lovely evening, probably the first warm weekend evening this spring, and I think the whole of Auckland had gone there. We therefore headed back to Remuera to the Thai Village and had a nice meal there. Sharron, Mom and I stayed in Auckland overnight and Eric took H and A home. We 3 headed up to the Bay of Islands (BoI’s) the next day. It’s about a 4 hour drive from Auckland. There we stayed about 8km outside Pahia. The day we arrived we went and booked Swim with Dolphins which Sharron kindly paid for. This was the one big thing she had been looking forward to. We then went for a drive round, up to the lookout point

and to Hururu Falls before heading off to one of the beaches north of Kerikeri. We then had a meal at 35o on the wharf back in Pahia. Tuesday was our only full day in the Bay and unfortunately the weather was not good for our day on the water. We toured around some of the islands delivering mail and saw a pod of dolphins with young (which meant no swimming) then headed out of the bay for a very rough 20 min trip to the Hole in the Wall. I felt quite unwell but there were lots of people a lot more sick than I was!! Back in the Bay we located a pod that we could swim with so we togged up into our wet suits, fins, mask and snorkel’s. We were then instructed to jump 12’ into a net on the side of the boat. I initially baulked at this but as first in the row I just swallowed hard and went for it, conscious of holding others up! It wasn’t so bad. The water was cold but I was expecting that being ocean water at the end of winter, and it took me awhile to get used to the cold, the gasping breathing and the mask, at the same time as trying to catch up with swimming dolphins. I wondered how Sharron was getting on and saw her briefly in the net but was under so much pressure as everyone on the boat was yelling and shouting directions at us that it was all I could do to swim and look. I did have 2 brief sightings as 3 dolphins swam under me but in a split second they were gone. All too soon, though Mom said it was a good half hour later, we were called back to the boat. Sharron had not got out of the net more than briefly and I found out afterwards that she had never used a snorkel and mask! If she’d have said beforehand I could have shown her what to do, particularly as Mom had said her problem when she had previously done this, was not knowing how to use the snorkel. Sharron also said the water was colder than she expected which she didn’t like. It was a great thing to do but I found the whole thing very rushed and was left wanting to do this again, but from a private boat and in my own time!!!
That evening, back on shore I took Mom and Sharron back to the motel and then headed back into Pahia to do a bush walk to a lookout point. I tried to run up but resorted to a fast walk as it was seriously uphill. I ran down! I then went to a bar on the wharf and had a quiet beer reading my book for awhile before going back to the motel for supper.
The next morning I was up and packed before Sharron so decided to walk into Pahia saying they could pick me up on the way, and if they missed me I’d meet them at the Fullers office at 10am. I did the 8-9km walk first on the road then picked up a bush walk then along the beach and round the heads, in 1 hr 25mins, stopping to admire views on the way.

If you’d have asked me to do that walk 2 years ago I’d have looked for any excuse not to, a year ago I’d have done it but not happily. This year I not only did it, I ran some of it AND I enjoyed it! I am so loving being reasonably fit. This did however detract from the enjoyment of being out with Sharron. I was so frustrated by how slowly she walked and I am sure she was fed up with me tearing off and chomping at the bit to walk at any and every opportunity.
We drove back to Paeroa stopping at Orewa for lunch and the Thai Village to pick up the camera that Alice had left behind!! I put Paul Potts on at full blast after dropping Mom and Sharron off having wanted to play it since Saturday (he does a piece from Phantom) but knowing Sharron hated classical music.
Wednesday I worked the day and Thursday and Friday was running around sorting cake, cards, presents, girls for rehearsals etc etc. It is such a pleasure to know that today, apart from doing a BBQ lunch for Steve and Liz before they leave I have nothing I have to do until tomorrow morning when I have a very early opticians appointment.

Sharron and I have never got on but I was genuinely looking forward to her trip. I was looking forward to showing her where, and how we lived, and seeing her reaction to this beautiful country. Unfortunately, although she says she liked NZ, she never smiles and so it’s difficult to appreciate if she is enjoying anything, very off-putting when you have invested time and money into trying to make things nice for her. She also never said thank you for anything (with the exception of possibly Phantom, though I’m not sure) which really grated on me, never offered one compliment and never even washed up a coffee cup when she stayed with us. I am sure from her perspective she’d say I am a stuck up snob who gloated in her weight loss and fitness (I don’t think I did). I am also sure she felt intimidated by us and way we live. We have absolutely nothing in common. She lives for her 2 motorbikes and her biking friends and we cannot relate to anything in each others lives or outlooks. It is all very sad but I guess that’s life.

Oh, and the cycling. Well I have actually found a fitness activity I enjoy. As you may have worked out, I was 'persuaded' into the Taupo challenge and found I actually enjoyed cycling after my first trip out with the Matamata Peddlers http://www.matamatapeddlers.org.nz/ (or 'Piddlers' as Eric calls them, a mock on the kiwi pronunciation) and a 25-30km trip. I was using a borrowed road bike with peddles that had a slip in for your feet. Imperative that you remove both your feet from these slip-ins before you stop. On one occasion, whilst out on my own, I only took one foot out and the bike leaned the other way (the saddle is seriously high to ensure the right peddling position). With nothing between my shoulder an the road, and gravity conspiring against me, I fell, coming a huge cropper.

Anyway I had Phil's bike for the challenge but had to return it at some point, which left me with only a mountain bike. Hence my wonderful Christmas present. So, now I'm away. The only downside to cycling over running (I still try to run occasionally), is it is very time consuming, something I don't have a lot of these days. I'm managing during the holidays with few after work activities on but not sure how it will pan out when school goes back. We'll see.

Trees down, drive done

I've found time to write, Sunday morning of course. Trouble is I'm not sure I have much to write. I was very excited to see 5 comments on the last entry. Have had hardly any for ages which is a bit disheartening, even though my core reason for writing this is to keep a record of our life for???? the children/us to read in our old age/good source to resolve arguments (we had venison last Xmas, no the Xmas before etc).

Anyway... when Harriette and I get weighed it seems that one always looses and one gains. Last week we both lost, even though Harriette only just lost (100g's). At least it was a loss. She gave herself a bit of a kick up the backside a few days ago when she realised that at her current average rate it will take her 72 weeks to get to goal. The ball is 9 months away. We both decided to have a 'perfect' week just to see how much we could loose, and to give ourselves a bit of a kickstart. We are both doing well and my weight is dropping daily. I always knew that daily weighing was the right thing for me and now the research backs that. In America they have a study on people who have lost large amounts of weight, and have kept it off for at least 3 years. They then look at what it is about these people that mean they can keep the weight off. One thing they found was that a lot of them weighed daily. Not right for everyone but certainly works for me. I am also 100% confindent that I will keep my weight off. Only just over 4kg off my upper goal weight now :-)

Our drive is almost finished. Anyone who has driven on it in the last 3 years will know that a 4x4 is a distinct advantage (all 3 of our cars are!). Well, we finally got the money organised (close on $10,000!!) and arranged with a local contractor to get the job done. The speed one guy with a digger worked was quite amazing. In 1hr 30 mins he had dug a hole you could fit a house in, in the paddock, pushed the remains of the enormous fire (tree stumps etc) into it and filled and flattened the land. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, they scooped out around the roots and pushed over about 20 trees from the slope on the drive and behind the cottage and workshop, leveled and spread metal on the drive, and finally graded and rolled it. We have had piles of fencing materials delivered and are just waiting on Scott to come and erect the post and rail fencing along both sides of the drive. The final job will be to plant some trees in the paddock and daffodils along the fenceline and it will be finished. The transformation so far is amazing and the views opened up stunning. We plan to move the window in our bedroom so we see them when we are sitting in bed.

I have spent a lot of time working on the Young Musicians Workshop which is on next weekend. I really wish I had been given the task earlier so I could have advertised in a more logical and comprehensive fashion. I got an email mailing list from the Ministry of Education (470 addresses) but did not have time to check which schools were on it. I also would have liked to have sent fliers out earlier etc. Still it's the first time I, or either of the conductors, have done it and we have lernt lots. We'll have about 45 people this year. Next year I want 100! WYMA, the organisation I am deputy chair for, is in a state of transition at the moment and there are a few problems with it. I am really hoping we can get things sorted over the next few months ready for next year.

The girls have been on school holidays this week. I have set rules about computer use which means off by 9:30am and not back on until they have tidied up and mid-afternoon, whichever comes later. This means they only get about 6-8 hours a day in front of the screen which they feel is so tough!!!! Apart from the bare minimum of housework, they read. Harriette undertook a spring clean of her bedroom yesterday, only because the alternative was working outside. They did manage about 45 mins outdoors. Harriette drove the truck and they both loaded up tree branches that the truck and digger had knocked/pulled down. We have had a large bonfire in the front paddock most of the week. Some of the wood has been there for years, since Ian and Shirley pulled down trees on the boundary, so burnt really well. Added to that, heaps of branches of cedar and it was an impressive bonfire. Carol we couldn't wait any longer for you to come back - sorry!! Carol, we also wanted to tell you that we rescued some of the burnt fenceposts (care of your fire) and have incorporated them into a fence running from the stable to the back paddocks.

Our Rotary club was hit by a tragedy last week. The 44 yr old son of one of our members was murdered in Auckland. As he left work a bloodied woman approached him asking for help. As he helped her a man attacked him with a knife and he died instantly. In NZ the police leave bodies at a crime scene for 1-2 days and so this poor family were behind a police cordon for nearly 2 days waiting for access to the body. I am sure the police could do things differently. Being able to see/hold/touch a deseased loved one is an important part of the grieiving process that these families are denied for too long. Needless to say Austin was one of lifes good people, a devout Christian, hard worker, father of 3 teenagers and a generally nice person. He was born and raised in Matamata so lots of people here knew him. So very sad, and such a waste. The murderer is under arrest and was known to the woman.

This weekend is being spent working on the block. It is one of those great weekends where we don't have anything planned. Eric is looking at fencing. I say looking, he hasn't done any yet. Yesterday we borrowed a neighbours tractor to do odd jobs. I wanted to retrieve some topsoil from the paddock where the big hole was but that wasn't very successful. However, Eric had great fun pushing/pulling up tree stumps (not from the drive, they've all gone. These ones were dotted around the paddocks from trees felled long before we got here) and pulling out some fence posts. Today he should be fencing. I weeded. As I've said before these mild (compared to the UK) winters are fine but the weeds grow 12 months of the year. Last weekend Eric and I went out to look at trees after dropping Alice at a friends dairy farm for an 18th birthday celebration. There was a huge downpour of rain and we took refuge at The Olde Creamery, a cafe out in the sticks. As we parked we spied a dilapidated polytunnel exactly the size that I want. We discussed with the owner and I am now waiting for her to speak to her husband but she thinks I might be able to have it. I have room in my veg plot, in fact it is exactly the right size, so I am very hopeful. Fingers crossed.

A busy week (and that's news??)

Another Sunday morning but far too early for Mr Laidlaw. Woke early and went to the loo, only to find we had no water. Being on a bore the answer is always a disconnected pipe, which means that the water pump is running continuously as pressure is not reached, or the pump has broken. Eric, being Eric, had to get up and go and sort the problem now, rather than when it got light. Luckily, it was a disconnected pipe close to the house so he didn’t have to walk all the pipelines to suss where the problem was. By which time we were both awake so he went fishing. I tried to phone Sharron, my sister, for the second time this weekend. I sometimes wonder why she pays a mortgage on a house. She is never in it! I reckon I speak to her once for every 10 calls I make to her. Had a chat with my niece Devon though.

Fathers Day here so Mom and Daddy are coming over for lunch. I must check what time I said to come, it might have been for supper! The girls have bought Eric a dartboard. They were sick of buying him fishing stuff. We thought it might be a good thing to have in the workshop. It may even help with Harriette’s lack of hand eye co-ordination, a trait I must claim to have been too generous in passing down in the genes.

I have had one of those frantic weeks. Monday I was teaching in Te Kuiti in the evening, about 1hr 15 mins drive away. It could have been a huge disaster. I checked I had everything before I left. Even opened the boot to make sure I had the dataprojector, even though I knew it was in there. Got to the venue and was horrified to find I’d left my laptop on my desk! That was just the start of it. I arranged to borrow a laptop from a nearly medical centre and phoned Harriette to have her email them the powerpoint presentation I was doing only to find the medical centre have no key to the padlock holding the laptop to the wall. Eventually, only 4 turned up so I presented verbally and handed round my notes for them to look at any significant graphs etc. Got home around 10pm.

Tuesday I flew to Christchurch on the South Island to help the new regional advisor down there with some training. Linda is lovely and on Tuesday I had tea at her place with her husband and 2 young children whom I spent a chunk of the evening reading to. (The children not Noel!) (sidenote 6.30am and it’s light – spring is well on it’s way). Wednesday I woke at 5.15am, which meant I had time to go for a run. I got a bit lost so my 24 mins I usually do run to over 30mins. I found myself round by the cathedral on the way back. We taught from 8.30am to 9pm as we had an Update to do on the evening of the first day. An Update is a 4 hour course established vaccinators do as opposed to the 2 day VTC we were running for new vaccinators. Thursday it was back at 8.30am but I left at 1pm to fly home. My flight back was via Wellington but the CC-Wellington leg was cancelled. I departed 5 mins later than planned but on a direct flight through to Hamilton. I have no idea why I couldn’t get on that to start with. Back in Hamilton I went straight through into the city as there was a band practice that night. I had missed the previous week because of the symposium in Auckland and next Thursday I will be teaching in Tauranga so felt I had to put in an appearance. Got home at 9pm. Friday I was back I Hamilton early as I was teaching all morning and chairing the DHB Immunisation Stakeholders forum in the afternoon. I asked one paediatrician at the meeting how he was. He replied “Crawling to the weekend” I so know what he meant!

Friday evening Harriette needed taking to a friends out near Okororie Tavern for a birthday sleepover. We went together to drop her off and decided to call into the pub for supper. Alice has joined Youth Band (and is still with Schools band) and was in Hamilton. I have found someone to share the travelling with and this was Cathy’s week for the run.

Saturday it was back in to Hamilton for a meeting with the 2 conductors leading the Young Musicians Workshop planned for October. I have foolishly said I will organise this and on Monday, as I sent out 493 emails (which took me hours!), I was thinking I had bitten off far more than I could chew. I am determined we will have 100 participants (there were 70 last year) and today plan to send correspondence and fliers by snail mail to schools. It was 3pm by the time we got home yesterday and I managed to do a bit of gardening. More of that today I hope.

On the girls. Alice has been desperate to join Youth band and is so pleased to be finally there. The group is older, and being 14 going on 25, she fits in well with them. She now has a fringe, and with the glasses, she is so often not recognised. It is quite funny. In the library (a place she has visited almost weekly for 7 years) she was asked her name recently. Alison did a double take when Alice told her.

Harriette is not going to Youth Band yet. She does not like one of the conductors and I think finds it too competitive. Not to mention she hates moving outside her comfort zone. She is about to start NCEA level 1 exams (GCSE equivalents) so is in study mode at the moment. I am not sure how much of it is genuine study and how much is looking ‘far too busy studying to do housework etc’! Don’t get me wrong, she is studying but….. At the sleepover the other night it was most odd to see several of the girls arriving in their cars. ie they drove themselves! The parents went our to friends for dinner to give the girls, 15 and 16 year olds, a bit of space. Apparently the power went off for several hours, after dark, and the cat bought a mouse in. You can imagine the hysteria this created! Harriette joined WW’s several weeks ago and is finding it much harder than she thought. She absolutely refuses to exercise and I cannot see how you can succeed without it. She had a good loss last week though so it a bit more buoyed up at the moment. I have missed a week and the previous week I was weighed in Auckland. I haven’t been very good but am just about keeping on track I think. When I was in Christchurch Linda told me her sister, Jan, was the NZ WW of the year this year. Get this. She lost 63 kg in exactly 1 year. That’s 10 stone!!!!! It’s taken me 18 months to loose half that. Still, although I’m impressed by Jan’s loss, I’m still pleased with mine. I just hope I can keep Harriette on track. Please click ‘Comments’ if you want to post words of encouragement and I’ll see she gets them. (This could backfire. From the lack of comments this last year I am wondering if any one reads this and I’m talking to myself. No I know that’s not true as people tell me they’ve read it!! Still if Harriette reads it, no comments will make her feel no-one cares. But then I don’t need to worry, she doesn’t read it). I’m waffling which means time to go. Bye.

PS Just picked up BBC headlines. “England hit by flash floods”. Nice summer you’re having up there J

2008 Music Festival Sucess

It’s Sunday morning, wet and windy so the perfect time to blog. Eric has gone fishing off Arapuni dam but I can’t imagine he’ll stay long. He came home with a nice trout a few weeks ago and took a photo of it. At the same time he took this photo of me as several people were asking for photographic evidence of my weight loss. I reckon it must be pretty impossible to visualise me un-fat as my entire life I have sat between overweight/obese and even bordered on grossly obese early last year. So here is a ‘on-the-way-to-goal’ photo taken in work clothes and very unglamorous.

Such a contrast to Helens ‘princess-at-the-palace’ photo’s. She looked a million dollars, just look un-fat but you get the point.

The camera was actually out for this photo:

A few things of note in the Tanner household this last few weeks. As almost the whole world already knows but I have to record in these Tanner Family records, we had a very successful time in Wellington last weekend. As Harriette said recently to someone “As you’ve probably heard already, Mom’s been telling anyone who’ll listen” To put in context; Harriette and Alice belong to Waikato Schools Symphonic Band. I landed the job of managing it about 18 months ago. WSSB belongs to the NZ Concert Band Association and they hold a festival each year where bands perform for gold, silver or bronze awards. Last year we got them there in a haphazard fashion (regular readers will remember the drama of loosing our conductor at short noticeetc) and they got a silver award. We had some great stand-in conductors including the effervescent Simon Brew who I am sure will be evident on the global stage in years to come. Anyway, I digress. This year’s trip. We flew down on Thursday morning from Hamilton. We had 27 10-17year olds, 8 parents, 1 conductor and her 3 year old daughter, Ellie. Some parents came down Thursday evening, including Eric. Paul (treasurer) and I were at a mayoral reception when they arrived. There is a story attached to the dress I wore for that. On reviewing my, now rather extensive, wardrobe I decided that I needed, but did not have, a LBD (little black dress). No trips to Hamilton were planned between this decision and Wellington so I headed into Matamata with exactly what I wanted in my minds eye, but not very hopeful of finding it. I happened to park outside the Salle Army op shop (charity shop) and thought I’d have a quick look. Walked in and the 3rd item in on a rack labelled ‘newly arrived’ was the LBD I had in my head. I tried it on, emerged from the changing room to look in the mirror and the lady said “That looks like it was made for you” $10 (about GBP3)!!! What a bargin. I was thrilled. Clicky court shoes with a tiny heel (I never wear heels), sheer stockings (I don’t wear anything other than socks. She closest I ever get to glamour is Tesco’s 30 denier black tights in the winter) a few bits of jewellery and I felt great. And guess what. I got no photos!!!! And all to go out with a man I was not married to!!! Eric was there when we got back and it was only a short affair. The reception was small but very pleasant. We had intended popping in and making our exit as soon as possible but ended up almost being shown the door as the last to leave!! The food was excellent, very nouvelle cuisine, and the wine was plentiful. Back at the YHA we settled in to a evening of chat and relaxation, and plenty of wine as the headache I woke at 4am testified to. I was actually glad I did wake then. It gave me chance to rehydrate (3 glasses of water and 2 mugs of tea taken back to our room) and take some paracetamol. At least by 7am when I got up I was then able to function. I had absolutely no idea I had drunk so much but Eric assured me I did!!!

So, Friday. The problem we had in Wellington was, having flown down we were transportless down there. I had hired a bus for airport transfers and to get us to the festival venue but left the rest to walking. This was OK as the YHA hostel is very central and only 15 mins walk from the venues we needed to get to. OK unless you are carrying large instruments. Anyway. We got a shuttle to get us to a church where were doing a small public performance (as practice really). Youth Band were lending us their drums for this, or so we thought. They were also meant to be performing. Anyway, on our way there (another bus hire) I got a call to say they would not be coming. The message I got was that their conductor had decided they weren’t coming. We were then left with the problem of no percussion. Amanda (conductor) and the percussionists did a great job of improvising. Sam stamped his feet (reading music) to represent the tymps and Tim used a combination of his dinking practice drum plate and a chair to drum on, along with the tiny splash cymbal!!! Amanda asked the audience to imagine a full set of drums!! Added to this problem was another 30 mins to fill. Amanda then suggested to the audience that the ensemble and soloists might like to perform!

As well as our 30 min band performance we had entered 3 solos and an ensemble for the festival. The ensemble was a modified clarinet quartet consisting of Harriette, Alice and 2 Matamata College school friends, Bec’s and Jacqueline. Alice played bass clarinet and Harriette did something with the music to suit her tenor sax. They did an arrangement of ‘Puttin On The Ritz’. The solos were Brenda (only 10 years old) on flute, Ania (a friend of Alice’s and a very advanced flutist) and Alice on clarinet. I must admit that I thought Alice had a piece that was rather to advanced for her level of play Eine Kliene Musik by Hayden. Anyway they guys then played their pieces, which was the first time the rest of the band had heard them. Luckily Paul King, the girls itinerent teacher and technical advisor to the Youth Band was in the audience so was on hand to tune them.

So, this performance completed we moved across the road to the NZ Air Force band rooms for the solo and ensembles festival performance. Alice and the ensemble was recorded and can be found on this website. The recordings are not good and Alice has had to be squashed to fit the page. She’s not fat really!! But you’ll get the idea.
www.youtube.com/user/schoolsband. I was very proud of them all. This all completed we then went back to the hostel for free time. The younger kids were organised to go to Te Papa/shopping etc with parental supervision and the older ones given rules for hitting the shops (taking cellphones/buddying etc). We organised a shuttle to collect instruments from the church and I ended up on Cuba Street shopping. Not sure where Eric was at this time! I ventured into a little secondhand bookshop and had a great find. Many years ago I went out with a guy called Peter for several years. He was a great fan of fantasy fiction and bought me the complete works of Tolkien at one point. It was totally lost on my and somewhere along the line these books and I parted ways (much to Harriettes chagrin!). Peter was a huge fan of Mervin Peake’s Gormanghast trilogy and I have been trying to find these books for Harriette for years now. My enquiries are usually greeted with blank faces. I have at some point found the 3rd book. At this shop the guy said, “You’re in luck. I normally have one or two of them in but at the moment I have the whole set” I was delighted.

The evening consisted of an early tea and an early night as our competition perfomance was at 9.30am, which meant being at the venue for 8.30am for practice and tuning. That meant breakfast from 6.30am. Eric and I had a terrible night. Got to be at a reasonable time but the rest of the hostel had other ideas. The noise went on til late then we were woken at 4am by drunk German girls. At 4.30am I hurtled out the room to yell at 3 Arab boys talking very y by the lifts. I must have looked such a sight with hair all over the place and hanging onto PJ’s that were far too large for me and I had pulled on in a temper/hurry and that I could not tie up properly as I was so angry. I don’t think I got back to sleep properly so started Saturday exhausted!

Breakfast and loading the group up went OK. About 5 of the Youth Band members also play with us but of course they were billeted with their band so just appeared intermittently. Setting up the stage was a bit of the challenge as the tymphs were the wrong side of the stage. The are pretty big and the stage manager did his best to persuade us we could manage with them where they were. I dug my heels in though. One big worry had been what to do with Ellie when Amanda was conducting. Her usual position is at Moms feet waving her own baton around with ear defenders on (she always complains the band play to loudly!). This obviously wasn’t going to be appropriate and Ellie hates me (I am usually the one dragging her away from her mom to her protestations) so who would be the best parent to manage her. Well Eric was handed this job. She seemed to have taken to him. He has this effect on 3-5 year girls. (Witness Sophie at my god-daughter’s christening and Steffie in SA). She was as good as gold with him and sat quietly on his lap though the performance of our group and the one before. The band performed fanstastically and were so much better than the one before!! Not that I am biased of course. We than had to wait until the evening to get the adjudicators report and results. We watched a few other bands and then Youth Band perform at mid-day. They are NZ’s leading symphonic band and are pretty big numbers-wise so sounded great. We then headed back, Eric and I, Paul, Karen and our children + Bec’s dwaddled on the way back going for a coffee in Cuba Street and then splitting up to do some shopping. Eric and I went back to the bookshop where I bought Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘When We Were Orphans’ which I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying.

In the evening we organised an early tea and a bus to get them to Wellington High School for the awards ceremony. The NZ Central Airforce Band were the guest performers for the evening. Sounds really boring I know but they were great fun. The ensembles and solos were awarded first in alphabetical order, which made us second to last. They got to us and said “Waikato Schools Symphonic Band” and looked at the award, then put it to one side. He then moved on the Youth Band!!!! He then said “That concludes the solos and ensembles awards” Panic hit our guys and I had to go around reassuring them that it would be sorted. I had been told earlier in the day that the adjudicator had “Been very pleased with the ensemble” so I knew they would be getting something. More music was played (with my heart in my mouth) and then they said there were a few more awards to make, our 4 and one other. To this day I don’t know why that happened.

(Alice is still sitting on the bed regaling the Batman movie to us (it’s going on and on and I’m not listening!!) She has just had Eric in stitches saying that Batman got ravaged by a dog. I think she meant savaged!!!)

Anyway, the ensemble got Gold (we sreamed!) Alice and Ania got silver and Brenda got bronze. When it came to the bands award I went and got Ellie from Amanda (she was sparko) so Amanda could go and collect our award. When they announced Gold I leapt up and screamed. Dear Ellie stayed fast asleep!! The scream that came from Youth Band dwarfed even ours. They were rapt for us. We were on cloud 9 for the rest of the weekend, week I would say. I deliberately did not arrange a bus back, firstly it was a downhill walk and secondly they needed the cool off period. Luckily it was a lovely warm evening, considering it is mid-winter!

Back at the hostel we bought ice cream from the supermarket over the road (open until midnight luckily) and the ensemble performed in the dining room, to the delight of the other residents. It was a great evening.

Sunday we had a very late breakfast and organised groups to go to Te Papa (the national museum) before packing everyone off to the airport. Back at Hamilton we entered the arrivals lounge to applause and flowers for Amanda and I! I was so touched.

I so wanted to get to bed early on Sunday but was determined to get emails off to all the 11 school principals so was up until 11.30pm doing that! I find that school kids here get lots of recognition for sporting achievements but not a lot for music. I wanted to be sure that the news got to the schools in a timely manner.

The following few days I contacted local papers etc to advertise the bands success so am hoping for some coverage this coming week and maybe some new recruits.

Phew!!!

The other thing I have to mention is Freckles new calf. He arrived under rather difficult circumstances. So difficult we had to get the vet out. Eric fed out on Wednesday morning and found Freckles had 2 feet sticking out. She did not seem to be making any progress so came up to get me to hold her while he examined her. He could not find the head at all and thought the calf might be dead. We called Vikki, the vet who, after a bit of a struggle delivered this little feller. We are calling him Victor after Vikki. Mom and baby are both fine.

A Frosty Sunday Morning in August

It’s freezing!!!! Literally. We have had an incredibly mild, but wet winter. In fact last week storms battered the place. Mom and Daddy’s area was particularly badly hit though not them personally (except a tree down). The papers are full of aerial photos of the flooding around parts of the Waikato river. However, the temperatures have rarely been in single figures and only a few days ago I said I thought we had seen the end of frosts for this year. We’d had 3. I was wrong!

The music of Einaudi fills the house this weekend. I recently discovered him and bought a 4 box CD from Amazon. It arrived on Friday. The girls love it and so I burnt them copies. I have several Classic FM compilations and on looking up particular tracks whose music I was enjoying without knowing who the composer was (one being the theme from ‘In My Father’s Den’ – a fabulous film – with great music) I discovered that several of them were Einaudi’s. Googled him and fell in love. No, not with him those he’s not bad looking (Italian though!), with his wonderfully relaxing music. Based around the piano it is sometimes very simple. So much so that I find myself trying to identify how the music is structured and what other instruments are involved. This does take away the relaxing component though. I listened to it trying to go to sleep one night and found I couldn’t as I was not just ‘listening’ I was really listening!

Schools band is taking up a lot of my time at the moment. We fly to Wellington next Thursday to participate in the NZ Concert Band Association National Festival. Not to be mixed up with brass bands or big bands (both of which I hate!) these guys are playing some great music, and really well. Music from; Pirates of the Caribbean, Chicago and the like. The band had about 14 members when Harriette joined and I took over as manager. We now have 37!! I’m really chuffed with that. I am also on a bit of a recruiting drive at the moment as the Festival is the end of our year and after that we start all over again working towards next year. A good time to get newbies, particularly as some members may move up to the Youth Band. I am really pleased that Eric is joining us in Wellington. We three do so much ‘band’ stuff without Eric that it is nice to have him with us for this. We fly down on Thursday morning and get them settled into the Youth Hostel. Thursday evening Paul (treasurer) and I attend a mayoral reception. Amanda, our conductor fly’s in later with Eric and 4 others. Friday is a lunchtime concert then Harriette and Alice’s ensemble (with friends Jac’s and Bec’s). Saturday the band performs for the competition proper at 9.30am, which is good in that they don’t have too long to be nervous but the audience I would imagine will be smaller than it will be later in the day. Later they have our 3 solo’s (including Alice) interspersed with Youth band’s solo participants. Youth Band are very supportive of us with some of their members helping out weekly at our practices. Some of them also perform with us. Saturday evening is the awards ceremony and Sunday is a chill out day, some shopping and probably a trip to Te Papa (the national museum 2 mins from the hostel) then an afternoon flight home. I think I should have booked Monday as a day off to recover!! Wish us luck.

We have added to our arsenal of instruments. Harriette bought herself a guitar/case/teach yourself CD and book package with birthday money and we bought Alice a wooden, professional clarinet. I’m now wondering if we can fit a baby grand into the house! (Only joking Eric. Well maybe…….)

With a heavy frost you know it’s going to be a sunny day. I am sitting here in bed looking out onto a gorgeous frosty morning (Eric even put a beanie on to go and feed out) knowing I should get up and go and do something productive. Later.

Our drive is in a desperate state of disrepair. The potholes are huge, particularly on the steep sloped bit. We have a contractor booked. He said he’d start in July time, weather permitting. It didn’t. Then it was going to be when the schools went back but the storms have meant they are busy with the repairs that bought in. It is going to be a huge job with all the trees coming out. We have been splitting wood at the rate of knots from the huge Mexican pine that was at the top of the drive and a few other trees Eric has dropped. We will have enough wood to see us through the next decade when these guys have finished. I can see a lot of weekends spent with a log splitter over the coming months. I am sooooo looking forward to getting it done though. I am quite depressed at the state of the garden at the moment. We are having a retaining wall put in opposite the north aspect (our sunny side don’t forget) of the house and until it is done there is no point working on anything in the garden. Consequently it’s the pits. Muddy and messy. Roll on spring.

We are also planning (still!) the extension and up-grading the bathrooms. Eric is still drawing up plans. I am getting a bit fed up with all the talk and little action. I can see me moaning at some time in the future when it all seems to be happening at once and I can’t get cars up the drive for contractors, or do anything in the house for dirt from the work on bedroom extensions or bathroom renovations! It will be sooo good when it is all done though.

Another big thing in my life at the moment is my weight loss. All my life I have been fat. The only thing that has varied is the degree, greater over recent years. The only brief respite from this was when I was very sick in the mid-90’s. I now confess that I was sitting in a large 18/20 dress size 18 months ago. 2 weeks ago I went into a department store when they were having their end of season sale. I reckoned I must be a 14 now (a life’s dream had been to fit comfortably into a 14) and gathered up an armful of skirts and trousers and headed to the changing room. They were all too big (bar one pencil skirt). I ended up in 12’s and a size 10 pair of trousers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never have I ever even dreamed of getting into size 10. I was on cloud 9 for a week. I still have 8kg’s to go but have lost about 30. I am so proud of myself and relishing in the fantastic comments I am getting from people, particularly those who haven’t seen me for awhile. It’s also nice to see how pleased Eric, Harriette and Alice are with me. Harriette hugs me and says things like ”You’re so skinny now”. Skinny being a relative term, I’m not skinny, I’m just not fat! How have I done it? Weight Watchers. I have tried, and failed with WW’s before. This time I kept 2 thought in my head. 1) I can’t beat the system (I used to tell myself that I could cheat and still loose weight – I couldn’t) and 2) If I don’t go to WW’s how much will I weigh this time next year? If I do, how much will I weigh this time next year? I am not the perfect WW’s client. My weight fluctuates hugely and I have big weight gains interspersed with gains and plateaus. But… here I am, nearing my goal, feeling great and buying size 12 clothes! I can run almost all, of my 3.5km route now. I do still walk for 2 mins twice during it but I’m working on that.

As I’m typing there is a programme on the radio about Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). It takes me back to those miserable days when I suffered so badly with ulcerative colitis. I spent over a decade uncontrolled and on huge doses of steroids with the disease totally dominating my life. It culminated in me being acutely ill and requiring a total colectomy (removal of the large bowel) as an emergency when both the girls were babies. It was a miserable time for us all and I cannot be more grateful for being able to put all that behind me, and coming through it without a permanent ileostomy. I still have occasional problems (those bouts of severe abdo pain I was suffering last year until I got to grips of what causes them) and going anywhere were there is no access to a loo (eg into the bush/ on a long car journey etc) still takes a bit of forethought, but, I am well, do not live in the loo now or suffer almost continuous gripping pains. Thank God for modern medicine.

It’s no good. The sunshine and outdoor chores are calling. I must go.

Rainbow

Today (Saturday) I spent the last few hours of daylight in the garden. It was rather chilly and started raining but I was buried under a huge, hooded, triple layered fleece overshirt so was warm as toast. I was harvesting pumpkins and weeding when I became aware that the fading light was rather strange. I looked up to see the fabulous rainbow above. It was the whole bow and actually had a faint second one next to it. Quite beautiful. It also stayed long enough for me to get up to the house and grab my camera.

Duck Shooting Season Begins

Sunday morning and the first weekend of the duck shooting season. As I type, Eric is bemoaning the change from lead to steel shot, as has been required by law (which meant he had to purchase a new shotgun). The change happened 2 years ago, and the shotgun was a birthday present from me. But this is the first year he has gone duck shooting for awhile. He has the shooting rights on the ponds on Richard and Robyn’s farm and so was out there at 6am yesterday morning. It followed a late night and so he has opted for a lie in this morning and plans to go out again this evening (hopefully while I catch up with Robyn). He came home with a pair of ducks yesterday. A married pair I hope. I am not delighted with the idea of duck shooting but if Eric is going to kill them then I may as well eat them (I do love duck)!! I believe that ducks pair for life, which is why I try and encourage Eric to shoot pairs. Harriette is interested in shooting and is going out with Eric this evening. (He’s reading Hunting and Fishing and still moaning about shot – the price this time!!)

Friday evening’s late night was because we went out for a meal and to the movies. We were looking for a suitable family movie. The girls had already seen the St Trinians one, separately with girl friends during the school holidays. We opted for ‘3.10 to Yuma’. When the girls asked what it was about and I said a western it then occurred to me that they had never seen a western!!! I grew up on them and we were rather incredulous at the idea. I guess not having a TV does deprive them of some aspects of their education, although how many young people watch westerns these days? Anyway, we decided to go the Redoubt for an early supper then The Regent (the olde worlde cinema I have described previously) both at Te Awamutu. When we arrived at the Redoubt it was smaller than the one in Matamata and very crowded so we decided to give it a miss. It was hosing down with rain and we drove around TA looking for another eatery, feeling that the evening was turning out badly. Well we found Elevations was open. It was a nice place, and I had a $30 discount Entertainment voucher for it, which was a bonus. The meal was very pleasant and we planned to come back after the movie for cheesecake. (We didn’t as it was closed, after all this is rural NZ and it was later than 9.30pm!!) At the Regent we bought tickets and I headed for the loo, only to be stopped by Alice pointing out a sign on the door and saying “No Mom, it’s for Cinema Patrons Only” Duh!!! Alice has come out with some beauts lately asking Harriette why having 5 aces in poker does not beat 4 kings (when they were discussing how to play poker) and during a conversation about needing maths when shopping to calculate how much you get off clothes with certain % discounts, Alice said 20% of $100 was $5. And Harriette is the blonde one!!!!

Anyway, Alice spent her time watching the movie with her fingers in her ears (it was very loud) “too much shooting Mom” or her hands (almost) covering her eyes. Knowing Alice she was probably more worried about the horses than the people. It was a good movie, which both girls really enjoyed. Having said it was good I think it was OK most of the way through with a great ending. Certainly a good one for initiating the girls to westerns.

The temperatures have dropped this week. Our morning temps have gone down into single figures. I ran in 21 degrees C one day late last week (at 7am). I was so hot when I got back that I contemplated a swim but was put off when the thermometer said 15 degrees C. My absolute bottom limit is 16. We have had some good downpours and the paddocks are certainly looking better. I hope this cold spell does not set in as we need the daytime warmth to keep the soil temperatures up and keep the grass growing.

In the veg plot I have picked the last of the courgettes, sweetpeas and kentucky beans. I still get the odd few strawberry’s. I eat them straight off the plant – not enough to bring up and share!! The pumpkins are ready to be bought up. I planted 2 varieties and seem to have 3. One is a pale yellow gourd I have never seen before! I have extended one of the beds a bit and that is planted up now with seedlings. I now have to tackle the large strawberry plot, which has been taken over by a particular weed that I am yet to identify.

It was Daddy’s birthday yesterday. We had them over for a meal and bought Daddy tickets to a local production of Foxtrot Flats for later in the month and a book of the cartoon character. I got the tickets for the night before they head off to Tahiti (with Ann and Mike) but will have to change them as their flight is early and they are staying in Auckland the night before!

Apparently my cousin Bruce is coming over to see his family in Australia in Dec/Jan and so we might take the opportunity to go over there. It falls in with Eric’s long stretch of annual leave and our air miles will need using up.

Work is really busy at the moment. The national immunisation schedule has changed and we have the contract for all the training, I am doing a load of teaching in pharmacies at the moment and the government announced this week the funding of the HPV vaccine from September this year. On Monday I am doing a session which will be digitally recorded and put on to PHO websites!

I may have previously mentioned that Paul Offit, a leading paediatrician in the area of immunisation, is coming to NZ in June. Paul is my hero and I am very excited at hosting him for a lunchtime presentation in Hamilton. I was asked this week if I would be available to drive him to Rotorua afterwards and am looking forward to the prospect of having Paul’s company all to my self for an hour!

Our week at work has been tinged with sadness as an Auckland colleague died suddenly on Wednesday afternoon. Virginia apparently fell at home. She as not particularly healthy and I am wondering if it was a stroke or something that cased the fall. Virginia was one of the few remaining founding members of IMAC and we only saw her 2 weeks ago at a DIF meeting. I was planning to go up to the North Shore (Auckland) for her funeral but I gather it is on Tuesday and I am chairing a meeting that morning that Pat Tuouy, the MoH’s Well Child champion, is coming to Waikato to explain the immunisation targets the Ministry have set for us. I just would not be able to get out of that.

Well I have lit the fire and so it should be a bit warmer now. My hands are freezing sticking out the bed typing so I am going to get dressed, move around and try and get warm!

The End of the Drought - HURRAY!

We’ve had a wonderful, long, hot summer. In a farming community no-one says that. They talk about the drought. The Waikato has been hardest hit. Here, we had 2 dry months before Xmas, 2 days of rain over Xmas and then only one small downpour until this week. We cannot manage to feed stock on only 2 and a half days rain in 6 months and everyone has de-stocked and been feeding out. Feed prices have more than tripled. We just paid $1400 for 100 bales or straw and pea straw. Most feed suppliers have no feed at all. Dairy farmers dried off weeks early but have been cushioned by the high payout for milk solids this year (it’s always baffled me why you sell milk by the litre but get paid by the solids). It all changed this week. ON Monday we had 20mm of wonderful gentle rain. I texted Richard and Robyn to ask if they were dancing in the paddocks? Richard texted back and said ‘Yes, and Rob’s naked’! Robyn? I don’t think so!!! Thank heavens for the gently rain on Monday because on Tuesday it was torrential. We had 105mm in about 12 hours. Our lake appeared in the front paddock (but only for a few hours) and driving along Taotaoroa road the river (that most of the time you don’t see) was overflowing with muddy water. Small land slips were evident everywhere. Everyone was smiling and it was the only topic of conversation. This joy was tinged with sadness that evening when the news told us about 7 people (6 teenagers and a teacher) who were killed in a flash flood whist canyoning at the Sir Edmund Hillary adventure centre at National Park (National Park is a place name, which I found confusing for years until I asked someone what the name was of the national park!). It looks like they conducted activities on the 6.15am weather report and the weather warning came through at 8.25am. These teenagers, from a Christian school, were on a leaders course and obviously the students who were destined for great things. A national tragedy and the country is devastated.

I am sitting in bed. I really should go and run but I might not. It is unusual for me to drop a day, maybe once every 2-3 months, and we are planning to do fencing all weekend so I will be working pretty hard. I might still run! Eric has just taken Berance to Te Poi to catch a bus off to the Bay of Islands. Berance is a 17yr French girl who is on NZ for a year as a Rotary exchange student. She stayed with us last night as her host family are away. She is lovely and the girls both get on well with her. They know her from school and the occasional Rotary things they attend. She is very pretty and speaks English well but with a very heavy accent. On the radio (Country Life) they are talking about a caviar farm. I have just shrieked loudly at the news when we heard that the Chiefs beat, the unbeaten, Crusaders in the Super 14. Hamilton will be humming as that took part almost in the middle of the V8’s circuit. The V8’s are in Hamilton this weekend and this, being a nation with an excess of petrol heads, is causing great excitement.

Gosh I’m flicking all over the place! What has been going on around here? Last weekend the girls and I were at the schools band music camp in Raglan. The weather was gorgeous and it was a great weekend. The dynamics were very different this time. Last year the band members were all very new and it was a real ‘getting to know you’ affair. This year there were lots of people who already knew each other, and a batch of newies. Made for a different weekend.

Harriette has borrowed a flute from our friend Angela and playing it regularly. She’s coming on well. Robyn is going to give her lessons but we haven’t got round to organising them yet. I ended up renting an alto sax for Alice and she was playing it heaps to start with. I then sent her bass clarinet off for repair and she is now enjoying playing that now it plays properly. Alice and Harriette have formed an ensemble with 2 friends and are planning to perform at the music festival in August. And me, I’m still loving my piano lessons and play every day. If for some reason I can’t, I get very itchy and I don’t like going anywhere to stay where there is no piano. They did have one at camp but it was so badly tuned to be unplayable! I am really busy with managing the band. We are applying for funding for festival at the moment and I am on a steep learning curve!

I spoke to Elly recently. She just did the London marathon (as did Mark and Cheryl). Now Elly and I used to be such couch potatoes and if you had told me 20 years ago that she would run a marathon in her 50’s I would have said she’d have a better chance of landing on the moon!!! Well she did it and I am immensely proud of her. I wrote and told her that she must now listen to her knees and stop running. I will NEVER run a marathon, half marathon or any such thing. I hate running and the only thing that keeps me doing the little bit I do is the need to loose weight (which I am doing very little of at the moment) and the desire to live beyond 60 which I think was becoming less likely at the weight I was this time last year. The weight loss, as I said, has plateau-ed. I think I might be able to put it down to avo’s and plan to cut them out and see what happens. I was eating them almost daily in my lunchtime sandwich!!!!! That, combined with getting generally slack all round. I am really trying to get back on track now.

I have extended the veg plot a bit more but need to get to Waharoa to get a trailer load of well rotted horse manure. I am still picking the odd strawberry and sweet peas as well as Kentucky beans. This as the pumpkin patch is drying off and it is beginning to feel very autumnal! I must overhaul the strawberry patch as it is over run with one particular type of weed. In fact I might take the runners and move the patch all together.

Well, time to get up I think. I will run!!

A Typical Sunday Morning

Once again it’s Sunday morning and I’m listening to Chris Laidlaw (talking about the huge price of gold and our gold mines here). The skies are blue, not a cloud to be seen and we have a morning planned planting a row flax (given to us by Mom and Daddy’s new neighbours) and fencing it to stop the cows getting to it. They love flax. It’s going along the edge of the paddock above the bank behind the pool. Eric’s still reading a book he started in Tonga and I think the girls are still in bed. Harriette got sent to her room last night because she through a paddy when Alice ‘pinched’ her place in a game of Scrabble!!! She was planning to put a 7 letter word down but nontheless her response was horrible. Alice shortly afterwards bowed out saying she was too tired. So much for my attempts to do something social and family orientated!!

I have had an unbelievably busy week, on top of a busy few weeks. I was ill last weekend but was feeling better by Sunday evening when we went to Mom and Daddy’s for supper. (Stop for a quick dash to the phone to remind them to bring my flashdrive and sunglasses that I left there. They are popping in soon for coffee on their was to Rhuapahu for a few days.

Monday was just trying to catch up on emails and general admin, and fitting in a few visits. I still have over 60 in my Inbox that, over recent weeks, have low priority but need clearing. I hate seeing a double figured number in brackets by Inbox (indicating number of unread messages). Tuesday and Wednesday were long days teaching a Vaccinator Training Course, Thursday I was at a Well Child Day in Tokoroa (40 minutes away) and Friday meetings in Hamilton all day. I thought that next week was going to be quieter. Well it is, but I have soooo much to catch up on.

Yesterday we took the girls to see Golden Compass. Harriette was quite offended that Eric and I found it boring. When I explained that it was a movie made for children her age I think she didn’t like the inference that she wasn’t an adult!! We then went looking for a tenor sax for Harriette. We have decided to buy one for her and send her one back to the rental company and swap it for an alto sax for Alice. Juggling renting, buying and borrowing a total of 6 instruments in a cost effective fashion between them is no mean feat!!

Not a lot else to report. We are off to one of Eric’s firms partner’s places today for a social. Lunch on their farm, off to a 9 hole golf course for a game and then supper at the tavern opposite. Should be a good day.

Back From Fafa

Sunday 2nd March 9.30am. Lying in bed listening to Chris Laidlaw on the radio. Have just typed up notes from Fafa.

Well the almost perfect holiday went to pot in the last 24 hours. We were unable to stay 5 nights at Fafa and were booked at the Lagoon Lodge in Nukuo’lofa for the last night. It was horrible. Lukily the bed was OK and had a huge fan but the rest was yuk. A 2 storey self-catering apartment, but all the cupboards smelt musty and there was no resturant or shops nearby to get anything to eat or drink so we were dependant on tea and coffee. We looked around outside and found a small bit of man made beach with a few battered picnic tables with shredded shades. We got a cab into the town, about 10 minutes away and had a coffee at the one decent café and then went for a wander round the town and to the markets. That did not take long! The infastructure just does not exist there. The poverty was evident everywhere but everyone still had cellphones and drove big cars, lots of people movers and 4x4’s. Back at the hotel in the afternoon I started to get abdo pain and think I had a tummy bug. By the evening I was feeling really Yuk. I was sure it wasn’t the usual adhesions as the pain was not increasing creshendo-like. I was not drinking and vomited during the night. I looked aweful!! In the morning I went to make tea but nearly passed out. I think my dehydration had dropped my blood pressure. I got to the airport and bought a litre of water, which I managed to keep down and the cabin crew plied me with plenty of fluids on the flight. I actually felt much better by the time we got to Auckland. I am still not right several days later. We got home about 6pm on the Wednesday evening and went back to work on Thursday. I was busy that day and then had the AGM for the schools band that I manage in the evening. That has generated so much work for me! It was 1.30am by the time I got to bed and then had to get up at 5am on Friday to go to a Hepatitis Conference in Whakatane (near where we went camping in January). The conference was good, well run etc but was really aimed at doctors, very bioscience based and far too much of it went way over my head. With hindsight I think IMAC should not have sent so many people. I stayed overnight at my colleague Liz’s place. She and her husband are Scottish and have 3 gorgeous boys. They live on a raised section overlooking the harbour, so beautiful!! I was jealous as she has huge trees of, among other things; peaches, fig, feijoas, avo’s, various plums and citrus fruit. I am really struggling to get my orchard going. Mainly because of the brown beetles that hatch from grass grubs and the stock. Back to the conference. The dinner on Friday evening was excellent and I ate something for the first time since Tuesday really. I suffered during the night. Liz, Kenny and I chatted until nearly midnight then I was up 8 times during the night!! I was feeling really yuk in the morning, felt faint after I showered and decided to go home. I have a horrendously busy week this week and need to try and get over this. Slept much of yesterday and have just been taking it easy since. I have a vaccinator training course to run on Tuesday and Wednesday and have not looked at the education materials that we got in Auckland the day before I went to Tonga. I must spend some of today doing that. Don’t have to worry about cooking supper though as we are going to Mom and Daddy’s this evening.

I am so looking forward to next weekend. Nothing planned and I can spend the following week catching up on myself.

While we were away Harriette and Alice stayed with R+R for the weekend then Mom and Daddy came here so the girls could go to college from home and stick to their normal routine. Harriette didn’t see much of Mom and Daddy as she had rowing Monday and Tuesday evenings. The should have finished this week but are doing another week as they had to cancel some sessions. She and Sarah will miss the last night as they have band on Thursdays. Missing 2 weeks (as they have) is not good but 3 is taking it too far. They also have their auditions booked for this Thursday.

Alice and Harriette absolutely love being at the same school! The evening meals seem to have us seated for longer as they have so much to discuss and notes to compare on teachers etc. Harriette has started her German course through the Correspondence School and Alice has started French with their young Sicilian, and eccentric, French teacher whom they both love. Harriette has been really good helping Alice with her French and Maths homework. It is a pleasure to see the relationship they have. They have always got on, and always had fights but their closeness is even more evident now. I am still struggling to source an alto sax for Alice and a flute for Harriette for this year. I have several irons in the fire before I resort to formal hiring.

Well I think that brings us up to date. Eric is plodding on. He just had another (small) pay rise but it is all going in the right direction. He did get a good bomus at Xmas and an additional payrise in November so is doing well. MagillEarl are undergoing a re-branding exercise at the moment so there are a few changes afoot there. We have a firm social next week. BBQ at one of the partners and 9 holes of golf afterwards. I have NEVER played golf in my life!!!

Fafa Island Resort, Tonga

No time to blog at the moment, or for the next 10 days looking at my diary! Thought I'd post a few photos in the meantime. Eric and I have just spent 4 days in paradise!!

Fafa Island Holiday

7am Apa Fale, Fafa Island Resort, Kingdom of Tonga (that's just above the Tropic on Capricorn in the Pacific Ocean).

I'm lounging on a swing seat on the large covered deck of our fale. A small lawn, well tufts of greenery poking up through sand that is our garden, our hammock (swung between 2 coconut trees of course), green shrubbery sheltering us from the othe 12 fales on the island. Beyond the shrubbery, and immediately in front of me, blue sea and blue skies. There are pretty flax like grasses bordering the deck in deep pinks, almost wine red, and pale greens and yellows. Sun loungers and displays of shells around the base of tree trunks, one string of shells even hanging, can you believe it, with baler twine, from the hammock. Idyllic, yes until I tell you that among the chirping of various words there is the constant roar, no too strong a word, rush, of the wind. It has been blowing for 2 nights and 1 day now and has bought some huge but short nighttime downpours. The skies look less threatening this morning and I am hopeful that we shall see some more sun today. (OK so when I said blue skies I meant grey/blue). Eric and I are here as a belated treat to ourselves to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Our first holiday in 15 years without children. I don't think H and A quite believed us when we told them what we were doing!!

Fafa is Tonga's only luxury resort. A 5 hecare island a 30 minute boat ride north of the capital Nukuo'lofa. Close your eyes picture paradise, that's Fafa. Except that my minds eye of paradise has huge beaches and Fafa doesn't as at high tide the water comes right up to the shrubbery, 10' from our deck. On our second night Eric was woken by a huge jolt, a 5.6 earthquake. In the event of a subsequent tsunami we would have nowhere to go. On discussing this with an Aussie later we concluded that the best thing would be to head out to sea on a kayak as that would probably be the safest place!

On Fafa there are no phones, computers, cars, clocks, TV, radio, concrete or bricks. Our Fale (house) is constructed in true polynesian style with the pillars fashioned from cocnut tree trunks and the walls are basically weaved matting from, I am guessing, coconut tree palms. The decking and joists are imported radiata pine. Much of the 'walls' are bi-fold doors which we keep open day and night. The huge beds, one up on a mezzanine floor, have enormous canopies which drop down to act as mossie nets at night. The bathroom is a sight to behold. There is a covered deck that runs along the back of the fala that is open to the back garden (the back being inland from the sea which I would normally consider the front). The back garden is surrounded by a wooden fence about 5' high but the deck is raised so when you are standing on it you can see over the fence. This is the bathroom!! A shower at one end, with drop down matting on 2 sides for privacy from passers by, in the middle 2 sinks and an enormous mirror and to the other end a toilet. I love it! No worry about smells, especially in this wind!

So what do we do all day? Well we've been busy. The big decisions we have to make each day; beef or fish for dinner, play cards or read, which book to read next and where to read; the beach, the hammock or sun loungers in the garden, the swing seat or the table on the deck, the island's library or one of the beds, one downstairs or one up in the loft (I won't tell you what Eric calls that). Yesterday Eric spent about 4 hours getting into a coconut with his penknife. The result was well worth it. Cocktails containing coconut milk are served straight from the coconut here. They hack the top off, slice a bit of the base to make the cocnut stand up then add the other ingredients and ice to the coconut milk. Our favourite is the Fafa Island Special; vodka, grand marnier, pinapple juice and coconut milk. We plan to work on the ratios when we get home!! Drinks here are very expensive. We were forwarned and bought our own GnT. As I said, we have minimal technology here. Eric's cellphone is supposed to have roaming so should work but doesn't. (We took the boat to Nukuo'lofa yesterday afternoon to see if reception would be better there but no. I was hoping to send the girls a text. It feels very odd being completely cut off from them. (Eric is reading my notes out so I can type quicker and said "It is odd being completely cut off from them, but very pleasant" I looked at him startled saying "I didn't say that"!!). We have been discussing if they would like it here and initially I thought yes but since have decided probably not. I think they's be OK for a few hours but then the novelty would wear off.

I have just done one of these so thought I'd post it.


What time is it?
20:51
What's your full name?
Michelle Elizabeth Tanner (nee Smith)
What are you most afraid of?
Dying young (I may have already passed "young" but I want to see my children reach adulthood and become self-sufficient. Then I'll want to watch my grandchildren reach aduhood and become self-sufficient.... )
What's the most recent movie you’ve seen?
Death at a Funeral (last night at Sky City movies Chartwell, Hamilton). Hilarious. And I love Matthew MacFadden
Where were you born?
Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Kent, UK. As were my children. Not because I never moved away but, by chance, I ended up back near Canterbury at that stage of my life.
Favorite food?
I'm assuming that chocolate goes without saying and therefore I can choose something else as well. Ice cream, but only particular ones and chocolate Hobnobs
What's your natural hair color?
Look at my head! (Brunette with the odd grey hair. But only if you look really close!)
Ever been a Neat Freak?
No. (My daughters will be choking and spluttering if they read this.). OK maybe a bit...sometimes.
Ever been skinny dipping?
Of course. Hasn't everyone? We live rural, no neighbours within sight and have a pool......!!! Oh if you've never done it you must.
Love someone so much it made you cry?
My husband, my children. However I cry at EVERYTHING!!
Been in a car accident?
Yes. When I was 7 months pregnant a car pulled out from a junction and I hit him in the side. My seatbelt failed and I hit the steering wheel fracturing my sternum.
Croutons or bacon bits?
Bacon bits
Favorite day of the week?
Friday. With the whole weekend ahead of me.
Favorite restaurant
A Thai reasturant in Sandton City, Johannesberg. Can't remember the name of it!
Favorite Flower?
Don't have one but gerbas rate right up there. I hate the smell of lillies.
Favorite sport to watch?
Rugby, rugby, rugby and Wimbledon. Not having TV means I see almost none of them! The big matches we get to watch at friends though, plus the odd one at Waikato stadium.
Favorite drink?
Tea (PG tips), G'nT and good quality iced coffee (in that order)
Favorite ice cream?
Tesco's cookies and cream (Now reduced to a once in 5 yearly treat)
Warner Brothers/Disney?
Disney
Ever been on a ship?
The tall ship the R Tucker Thompson in the Bay of Islands, for a day in appalling weather with the Hyamses when they came to NZ.
What color is your bedroom carpet?
Cream
How many times did you fail your driver's test?
1 (I think). It was so long ago.
Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail?
Bridget
What do you do when you are bored?
What's 'bored'?
Bedtime?
Every day I aim for a 9pm bed, like today. It's now 9.15pm!! I probably get to bed between 10 and 10.30pm
Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest ?
I've no idea!
Who will least likely respond?
Elly
Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses?
Everyone's will be interesting. Louise please send yours to me as well as Helen.
Favorite TV shows?
See above. On the rare periods of my adult life when I have had a TV I have loved MASH, Cracker, Castaway (the first series)Heartbeat, Hamish Macbeth and Prime Suspect. I have never seen an episode of Coronation Street which is beyond the comprehension of most kiwis who seem obsessed with the show!
Last person you went to dinner with?
Lunch with Eric and the girls yesterday. Dinner with the committee from the local RSA (sorry, Retired Services Association) of which Eric is the legal advisor, a few weeks ago. A mysterty tour. We ended up at 'Out in the Styx'.
Park or Zoo?
Neither. African bush
What are your favorite colors?
Anything bright
How many tattoos do you have?
Are you mad??? They are the grossest thing ever. Not new but what do they look like when you're 60 - YUK! Henna tattoos, now that's different, especially when you have an artistic husband.
How many pets do you have?
If you don't count the calves, cows, geese, chooks and sheep 3.... Inca (black lab), Rust (brown lab) and Freckles (our friendly cow), oh and Feral the cat - that's 4.
Something you would like to do before you die?
A hot air balloon ride at dawn - in Africa, and go to Jellystone National park. I'd also like to do some voluntary work in rural Africa.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Do I care?
Have you ever been to Hawaii?
No, and don't have any huge desire to. I'd prefer South America or the Antartic. I'll never go to the antartic though as I don't believe tourists should go there.
Anything in life you regret doing or not doing?
Lots but as long as we learn from our mistakes then they could be seen to have been worth it. I wish I had intervened in events one afternoon in 1973 that would have meant my brother did not die. I don't blame myself. I just wish I had been a bossier big sister and made him come back.
How many people are you sending this e-mail?
Don't know yet.
Time this survey ended?
21.38

Happy 2008

Happy New Year. We hope that 2008 is a good year for you all. 2007 was a very good year for us. Eric’s first full year as a solicitor, me settled in my job and the girls both had good years at school, with Alice shining particularly.

It is Sunday morning, 10am and I am still in bed. Well I have been up briefly. I adjusted the irrigator (we have been a way for a few days and it had stopped rotating), fed the chooks and dogs and have returned to bed with tea. I did set the alarm for 7.30am. We are on almost 4 weeks leave and have been very lazy, sleeping in late and spending large chunks of the days reading on the pool deck I decided that we should try and be more productive this week and get up a bit earlier so that the 6.15am starts next week won’t be such a shock. I explained this to Eric this morning when the alarm went off and he said “But it’s Sunday!” Ooooppps. I had forgotten that!!!!!

Last Sunday was out 15th Wedding Anniversary. Which means Eric and I have been together for 21 years now. Those of you who knew us back in the early days will know that Eric was my whole life then. I knew within 2 days of meeting him that this was the man I would marry. I think Eric knew this pretty early too but he was very young then (only 21 when we met!!) and by the time we were set on this course Eric had been shot and we knew he would come into a significant amount of compensation. Our plan was to get married at Victoria Falls when that came through. The earlier than planned appearance of Harriette bought matters forward a little and when we finally got to Vic Falls Harriette was 10 months old and I was 7 months pregnant with Alice. Not quite the romantic trip we planned but fabulous anyway. “Eric was my whole life” That sounds like he isn’t now. Well I guess that is the case. I still love him dearly, and he is the best thing that ever happened to me, but when you have children the centre of your world encompasses more than one person. We are both lucky to not secretly have favourite children as I know some people do have. I go through phases of ‘liking’ one child more than the other but that is more to do with the time of the month and varies regularly! As our anniversary comes right at the end of the year it is inevitably a time of reflection. Every year I conclude with a summing up (‘Thank God that’s over and roll on 200..’, or as in 2007, ‘That was a great year, may next year be as good please’), that varies a lot but reflecting on another year of marriage I always count my lucky stars, God, or whoever is responsible. We always have good years, some are just better than others. To celebrate 15 years we decided to have a romantic get away on a Pacific Island but going over New Year was a) expensive, and b) meant someone would have their holiday time put upon with having H and A in their care. So we decided to go when the girls are back at school, the prices are more sensible and the holiday season peak has passed. We have booked 5 nights at a superior fare at Fafa Island Resort in Tonga. Google it and drool! We go in Feb and I can’t wait. For our actual anniversary we decided on a day at the beach rather than dinner out and went to Whiritoa on the bottom of the Coromandel’s east coast. It is just over an hours drive and as we pass through Paeroa we called in to Mom and Daddy for tea on the way home. It was the first time we had been to Whiritoa and we will certainly go back.

(Photo's as above. I can't get them to go in here!)

We have christened the tent we bought at the end of last summer. The girls groaned at the thought of going away in a tent to the beach. (Which makes me really cross). They seem to think that it would be so boring just having our company so we managed to persuade Sarah and Katherine to join us. We went to Opotaki about 50km east of Whakatane (pronounced Fukatane) and camped for 2 nights at a site right on the beach. The golden beaches go on forever along that stretch of coast and there is the right amount of surf for the girls to have fun in the sea. Harriette had got badly burnt at Whiritoa having spent nearly 5 hours in the sea without regular reapplications on SPF and in fact refused to leave the house for 2 days as she looked like a beacon! She was very diligent about applying SPF when we were away this time! We roasted marshmallows on a driftwood fire, drew pictures and played 0’s and X’s in the sand, went for long walks in the sunset and generally had a good time. Camping with teenagers is hard work though. They take stuff out the wash kit without returning it, leave litter all over the place and seem to finding washing up in the kitchen a complex affair needed specific and meticulous instruction. Alice also has difficulty following any instructions, which drives we insane! Before breakfast, “please bring the yoghurt and milk back with you when you have finished showering” (the showers being next to the kitchen). She forgets. We have breakfast and Alice and Katherine wash up. I then say, “could you bring back the 2 ice blocks that are in the freezer back with you” (I wanted them for the cool bag which contained our lunch for the day). They come back with ice blocks, AND the milk and yoghurt!!! Why would I want milk and yoghurt after we have finished breakfast???? And so it goes on. Their groaning and rolling of eyes every time I asked them to do anything made me really cross. Mind you I should be used to it, it’s been going on for about 4 years now!!

Our 4x4 is a 7 seater so I had no concerns about inviting S and K with us to camp. It was only afterwards that I realised that this would reduce our in-car storage area to just about nothing! Ah! So everyone was under instruction to take minimal luggage. We squeezed everything in to the small area behind the seats, the middle area of the middle seats and the roof box. Harriette put in a damp cossie, which I removed and hung on the pool railings, along with my damp cossie and some other bits. Needless to say I forgot them! When we got to the campsite luckily Sarah had packed a spare swinsuit so the girls mixed and matched various bits of bikini until they could all swim. Meanwhile, Eric had packed the camp gas light but not the mantle etc etc. The upshot was on our first morning we had to go to Whakatane to find a Warehouse (like Woolies in the UK) to buy various forgotten items. There we bumped into Sarah’s boyfriend Heath and his family who were staying in Edgecombe the other side of Whakatane from us! After shopping we went to Ohope, on the way back to Opotaki for lunch on the beach. Ohope used to be beautiful beach with old baches (kiwi beach houses) but now is going up market with fabulously expensive properties. Back to Opotiki where we left the girls reading in the tent while Eric and I went to get food for supper and call in at the DOC, sorry Dept of Conservation, office. We wanted to get some info on the DOC campsites in the Oreweras (mountains south of Whakatane/Opotaki). We found out that Boulders was only 20 minutes away so decided to drive down and have a look. We had considered camping at a DOC site on this trip but thought, as you can’t book and being peak season we might not get in. Well the drive was, tar sealed road then metal (gravel), single track road into the bush with the final 200m being serious, 4x4 necessary, steep drop down to a river bed. The site was deserted! It is a basic site, which means there is a long drop toilet, picnic table and nothing else. You draw water from the river and self register and pay by filling in an envelop, putting your money in and dropping it in a box). Cost? $7/night (as opposed to the $60/night we were paying at the Island View campsite we were staying). There were some fabulous water holes and we decided to bring the girls down the next day to swim and have lunch before we headed home. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures on either occasion – sorry.

So, yesterday, our final day. We went down to Boulders with the girls, Sarah having kittens on the way, convinced we would fall down one of the washouts and disappear into the bush below never to be found, and spent the morning tanning and swimming. By the time we finished lunch it was cloudy and cool so we tootled back to the campsite, decamped and headed for home. We left at 4.30pm and got back about 7pm. Richard and Robyn arrived later with the requested fish and chips and we ate with them, and Mom and Daddy who had been house sitting. Poor Mom. Her hearing is so bad at the moment she can almost hear nothing. Being the summer break she has not been able to contact the specialist to get some help. Daddy is going to chase it up on Monday. She was meant to see an ENT bod in December but has not got an appointment through. What is so worrying is that my hearing is worse than Moms was at my age. Her sister Alice, who recently passed away, was also virtually totally deaf. Quite a scary thing to know you have coming your way.

Daddy is not a farmer! When we were unpacking the car Eric noticed that the silage in the trailer in the paddock was all unpacked. Silage (damp hay) come in bales weighing a tonne. It is kept sealed in plastic where it ferments. If it dries out it is no good, The cows love it damp and won’t touch it dry. Daddy, who had previously only handled hay when he has fed out here before, decided that it was going off as it was all damp and opened up the whole bale (10 days worth of feed!) so it could dry out!!!! Bless him! We really shouldn’t be feeding out now but we are very over stocked and our grass is not getting chance to grow. We also have not, until recently, put anything on the paddocks in the way of fertiliser so are suffering a serious lack of feed. Luckily Ian, next door has heaps of silage in and we are using his supply and paying him. He is a wonderful neighbour!