Life is rosier

Ahhhhhhh! (That's a content sigh, not a shriek). I feel like we have been on a very, very long journey, and have finally arrived. Eric is now a 40% partner in the law firm and I have dropped my hours to 4 days/week. Life is sooo good. I have always said that our life is blessed but now I feel there is the biggest cherry on the cake. I am so very grateful/thankful for all that we have.

So what has been happening? Well me first. Last year changes occurred with our contract at work which meant IMAC had more flexibility with how we worked. Changes were made in some teams and a new role was created in education. I have been saying for years that this position was need and I guess it was obvious that I would get it. I have also been editing IMAC's immunisation newletter, ImmNuZ, for a year now and was formally given a day/week to do this (as opposed to doing this during my DIF role). When expressions of interest were requested I made it very clear I wanted 4 days/week and the education role and to work 4 days/week. (Did I mention I wanted to work just 4 days /week? :-))I got what I wanted except... the new roles kicked in on 1st February but I was asked to stay full-time a bit longer to help orientate the new DIF. It suited me to wait until 1 April so I have only been enjoying my new hours for a few weeks and, work has been unbelieveably busy. In fact the first week instead of 32 hours I worked closer to 60!! I am clawing back hours owed now but have another very busy 2 weeks coming up. I am really enjoying my new role as I am doing some of the aspects of my old role that I enjoyed and have dropped the stuff I did not like. The only problem is I am doing a full-time job on 3 days/week.

Harriette has settled into university/city life. The first few weeks were very traumatic, for her and me. She was hugely culture shocked. The change in life-styles was massive and she struggled initially with the environment (concrete vs paddocks, people vs peace and space etc), the food (intituional vs Tanner fayre, we eat very well in this house!) and having to talk to strangers and socialise. This is Alice's strength not Harriette's. She is so her fathers daughter!!! For me the maternal concerns at Harriette's sufferings were painful. I also was very aware that if anything happened to her (not for one moment I thought it would) no-one would notice for days (because she had not made friends). I therefore insisted on a daily 'I'm alive' text :-) She met up with a friend who had moved away from Matamata years earlier and Fe is a very socialible animal. Harriette fitted in with that crowd and of course once she started making friends everything got easier (for her and me!). After the first fortnight in halls we 3 went up to Auckland and took Harriette to the zoo and out for a meal, which I think she appreciated. It soon became clear that although in halls for a year, accomodation was going to be an ongoing problem after that. The rental market in Auckland is dire and a guy from the year above Harriette is still sleeping on someone's floor as he cannot find anywhere to rent. We decided to buy an apartment for her to rent and are in the process of doing this now. The place is perfect; Just off Queen Street, a few minutes walk from the hospital and uni, top (12th) floor, on a corner so views on 2 aspects. Her balcony looks out to the iconic Sky Tower and Auckland CBD. Very chic!!

There is a lovely Irish couple living there at the moment who say they are happy to stay on until Harriette needs the place in February. We will probably move them out a week beforehand and just give it a paint job before she moves in. She is very excited about it. Also means, if we put a sofabed in the lounge, we can take over her bedroom when we want to go up to Auckland for an evening and drive home next day.

Talking of driving....

We bought this last week!! It is a dream to drive and we both love it. We traded in the Mistral so at the moment need to buy another car as the girls are NOT driving the Audi!!!! Alice was just posing. She put this photo on her Facebook and convinced her friends that we had bought this for her!!!!

Last Thursday we went to see The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Civic Theatre, Auckland (just down the road from where Harriette lives). We met Harriette at an lovely Italian restaurant right next to her to-be City Rd apartment As we then walked to the theatre she did not get to ride in the Audi so, after the show, we took her for a drive. We dropped the top down and drove over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and up Queen Street. Posers or what!! The girls thought it incredibly cool. It was a fun evening. I sat in the restaurant thinking, yet again, how great life was as we ate and chatted. And I must say Da Vinci's was superb. Shame Harriette will be so broke she won't be able to enjoy living next dooor to it :-)

"New Zealand's Darkest Day"

On Tuesday 25th February Christchurch had an earthquake/aftershock that has caused 113 (known at this point) deaths with 200 missing. The news has rocked the nation. Only today, day 5,has anything other than EQ news been on the radio. The stories of bravery and heroism will continue for weeks I am sure. The most touching is that of a female doctor who had to amputate a mans legs with a hacksaw and pen knife, to enable him to be removed from a building. She was in a group of 3 doctors and was chosen because she was the smallest and could fit into the space where the guy was trapped. She is absolutely devastated. The patient survived and is here in Waikato Hospital.





Harriette's leaving day!


Having delivered Harriette to university (in Auckland) 2 days earlier, I was particularly sensitive to those mothers who had sent their offspring to CC. I spoke to some friends of ours asking if their son Lance was OK. (He is). I then asked when he arrived. "An hour before" said Ivan!!! Everyone we know of there is safe, just dealing with damaged homes.

Urban rescue teams have been arriving from around the world. One member from the UK team commented on how different this was for them to arrive in an area of disaster with professionalism and organisation in place. Their last operation was Haiti, which was at the opposite end of the spectrum.

On a far more mundane front...this week has been quite difficult for me. As I said, we delivered Harriette to university last Sunday, well her halls anyway. It has been O Week this week and lectures start next Monday. She had been ratty for the few days before she left, more ratty than usual I mean, and I put it down to anxiety and let it go. We were under instruction to deliver her and her belongings, take her for lunch and bugger off :-). I was fine with that but, after lunch she wanted to buy a fan. It was a stinking hot day. Well. You try finding a Warehouse, or Briscoes in central Auckland!! We drove out of the CBD a bit but no luck. We finally found a Warehouse in the CBD but no fans. It was about 4pm when we got her back to the halls. Just before we were going to leave I said "Oh, where's your kitchen?". She huffed and puffed and showed me but was really snappy. When then left and when I hugged her she just let go and said it was too hot. Eric and Alice got a decent hug.I was so upset. I could not even look at her when we left and sobbed my heart out until we were south of the Bombays (hills south of Auckland - the geographical barrier that separates Auckland from the rest of NZ). I spoke to Alice when we got back who said Harriette probably thought I was fussing and just wanted us to go so she could get settled. They were probably right (but I still think it was no excuse for her being so horrible. She knew this whole thing was hard on me). I sent her a text saying sorry if I fussed and she texted back apologising. She then texted the next morning and has been fine since, asking when I'll be back to Auckland (I go up for work occasionally). I get the impression she is struggling a bit, but I may be wrong. This is a huge change for her. She has a room smaller than a prison cell in the middle of Auckland CBD and is eating institutional food. She is used to a rural lifestye, large living spaces and the highest quality of fresh food, great cooking and access ti free unlimited fresh fruit and veg. In addition, she did not get a job in the summer and is now regretting it. She is realising how little 'discretionary' spending money she has. We have always made it clear that we will ensure all her residency (full-board) costs are met (her student loan only covers half those costs) and her books etc are paid for but the rest is up to her. I think she is motivate to get a job but I would imagine that will be difficult in a student saturated area. We'll see.

Work-wise I have had an incredibly busy couple of week. i feel like I've worked 80 hours this week. In addition we've had 2 full-on weekends so I feel quite exhausted. We have nothing we 'need' to do this weekend - which is a huge pleasure! Kent is here and I think we are all going to Tauranga today. Alice needs driving practice as she is hoping to sit her restricted next week.

Do we? Don't we?

Sitting in bed (on a Sunday) morning contemplating wether or not to head for the beach! It was definitely beach weather yesterday but today is wall-to-wall cloud. It does look like it might break up though so I think we'll head off. Temps in Whiritoa are meant to be 27 degrees C.

The beach trip is in aide of Harriette and her last weekend living at home. On Sunday next week she heads off to the big scary city of Auckland to study Health Sciences aiming to eneter mediciane in year 2 (that's how they do it here. A generic 1st year for multiple health releated courses then a big 'cull' at the end of year one for those wanting to do medicine). Those wanting to do medicine have to average an A- on their core subjects to get through.

Yesterday we went into Hamilton, had a short walk along the river and then went bowling before going out for a meal. Alice even forfeiting a weekend with the boyfriend for the purpose!

Roasted Nuts - a whole new meaning!

Happy New Year!!! Eric is on leave until 17th January - a nice long break which he really needed. So, he is painting the house. We had commercial cleaners in immediately after Xmas and ideally Eric would have done the roof first but we could not get the paint we wanted so he started on the house, well the cottage anyway. Roof paint arrived and that's where he has been for the last few days (he has been let down to sleep, eat etc). Well it's jolly hot at the moment and the roof is corrugated iron. Eric was in shorts (only) and squatted down. His tackle came loose and ...well I don't think I need to go any further. We laughed (Carol will appreciate that - the squatting and the laughing!). Harriette was all for running up there with an ice pack for him. I told her not to bother, it would melt. I was working but the howls came through on the radio. Eric bought me a set of walkie talkies for Xmas as he is so fed up with one sided conversations. I yell across paddocks, or up from the veggie plot, Eric answers (which of course I don't hear, I'm deaf as a door post) and then, thinking he hasn't heard me, I yell the same thing again. The radios are great.

We had a nice Xmas. Xmas Day itself was incredibly lazy. Our Xmas dinner is usually a very lavish affair planned with military precision. This year we were having, for the first time ever, home grown goose (more on that later). As usual there is no telling what the weather will do on the day. It may be so hot that having the oven on for a full roast is out of the question so salad and the BBQ would be the order of the day. Well Xmas morning we still couldn't decide what we wanted. In the end it was a bit of both. I was hoping that we could have our first feed of runner beans from the veggie plot but they were a few days off being ready. I made mango tiramasu as we had last year but it just didn't match the one we had in the bush at Lindani. Maybe it was the mangoes, I really don't know.

Xmas pressie wise we pushed the boat out and bought both the girls a netbook (mini laptops in case you don't know what they are). It was an extravagance but they really appreciated them. Harriette is off to uni in Feb and lugging her laptop around was really not going to be practical. We thought that we'd get her one and give Alice her laptop but that would not work as she would still need her laptop (the netbook does a lot less than a laptop), and, Alice uses Eric's laptop at home, which drives him mad. So, we pushed the boat out and bought them one each.

I bought Eric a remote controlled chopper. We had been to Paul (his business partner) and Jo's for dinner a few weeks before Xmas. Paul has one and it was great fun. Eric's is not working properly so I need to get it changed though. A job for the weekend.

I got a 16G iPod Nano from Eric. Now we had bought Alice one and when she had unwrapped it I looked at it and commented on how diddy it was and I much preferred my 5th generation (8G) one, though I had been saying that I should have got a 16G one when I bought it. Poor Eric, he listened to all this knowing he had bought me one. I felt like a heel when I unwrapped mine!!! However, I now love it! My only concern is it is so small I worry I'll loose it. Eric now has my old iPod so he's happy also. We tend to use them for listening to audiobooks. I am a great fan of audible.com and audible.co.uk.

I mentioned geese. Well, you may remember that we bought 4, many years ago, because I had been unable to get any goose for Xmas here. Well, they are not very good reproducers (I have blogged on the goslings in the past) but were up to 11 in numbers. Trouble is they were pretty feral, and had started grazing on the neighbours paddocks so we had to take action. I noticed that they had drifted towards the (long time empty) pig pens so I ushered them in and we had a couple of culling sessions (skip the rest of this paragraph if you're squeamish!). Rounding them up and catching them was easier than I thought. Armed with a goose we took them round the corner (I insisted they be out of sight of the others)and put their necks on a chopping block and chopped their heads off with an axe. I held and Eric chopped so I could looked away!! Trouble is, because I wasn't looking I did not take into account carotid arteries and direction of blood spurts! In fact, I had totally not even thought about spurting blood, so got a shock when it came at me!! I was better prepared for the next one. The next task was plucking. I had watch various Youtube videos on how to do this and we decided to wet pluck first time round. We had killed 2 first time and Harriette helped. I found goose feathers around the house for days afterwards. A few days later we did 5 and dry plucked outdoors!



The final result was rather skinny goosers. In future I think we will confine them and fatten before we kill. And we won;t be plucking on the 23rd December!!!

Another farming incident over Xmas was the arrival, and passing, of Freckles calf Merry. She arrived, (unassisted for the first time in 3 years) on 23rd December and was fine.


Saying Hello to my brother. (That's our house in the background.)
On 26th December we had Mom and Daddy over for the day. At lunchtime I noticed that Merry was still in the same position as she had been for several hours. I also hadn't seen her feed recently. I went down to investigate and found her listless and dehydrated. I came up to the house to defrost some colostrum to feed her and when Eric used the binoculars to look at her he saw an umbilical hernia (which was not there 5 mins earlier). I rang Richard and asked if I should reduce it and went down and spent about 40 mins doing the reduction. It stayed in place. I nursed this calf and got a feed into it. The next day I was sure it would be dead but it wasn't. However, it would not suck so I got a tube feed contraption from Richard and fed it. However, I decided later in the morning that I was not winning and got Eric to shot it and dispose of it down the offal hole (our deadstock home). All very sad. Funny thing was, Freckles, who is usually such a good Mom, just did not seem bothered! Almost like she knew she would not survive. Richard is convinced that Freckles udder will not cope with future calves so has recommended we dispatch her to market :-( I'm afraid he is right. It will be sad to see her go. Freckles was our first calf and Harriette's calf club calf.

On a happier note, and finally, (I must get up and go for a run before it gets too hot), Eric went fishing off Kawhia just before Xmas. Kawhia is the west coast whereas normally he fishes of Tauranga (east coast). Well, what a difference. They got their maximum catch in 2.5 hours. We have been enjoying kawai, snapper and gurnard since.

2010 Prize Giving

For the first time since primary school we only needed to attend 1 prize giving this year. At College they do sports (not a Tanner thing!), junior and senior prize givings on 3 separate nights. Parents get a letter to say that their child is getting an award so you know you really do need to go. This year Harriette again walked off with first in chemistry and Alice got 1st in music. They also got various merit awards and Harriette picked up a $1,000 scholarship, awarded to 7 high performing students. Izzy, a good friend of Harriette's gave an emotional and touching, head girls speech and the principal Glenn Rowsell can always be relied of for a humorous speech. Brits was awarded dux. She and Harriette shared the top academic award at Hinuera Primary school and Brits studys really hard (Harriette doesn't), so it was given that it would go to Brits. It has been the biggest ever 7th form at the College due to the recession and they have all had a great year.

Heading off shortly to Roturua to meet The Scotts for brunch at the Fat Dog cafe. Well we have one of them here at the moment, Kat. Alice and Kat went to a surprise 16th birthday for their friend Pip (well another Alice really. It seems to be a thing that so many girls in Harriette's year have a younger sister called Alice)out at Putaruru so I we had to wait up until midnight to go and collect them!

The 2010 Taupo Cycle Challenge was last weekend and I was on the Matamata Rotary relay team. I wanted, and got, the last leg as I have done the other 3. It has the dreaded Haitape Hill but this I think is only bad when you have already cycled all the way round. It was a seriously hot day and of course there was lots of hanging around. I enjoyed it though my training as been rather remiss this year!

For Marion!

I Skyped with Marion and Simon for the first time this week. (Marion and I worked together for 9 years when I ran the HDU at Buckland Hospital in the 80's. They have retired to Spain.) Marion commented that I had not posted since 'Miss Saigon' so I have added some blogs that were in my Drafts folder and am adding one for good measure. I am working until about 11pm tonight teaching in Rotorua and then have to take Helen home so I am starting late today. I plan to blog and then attempt to cycle to the end of Taotaoroa Rd and back. Only 28km but seriously hilly so some stretches are very slow going. Stunningly beautiful though!!

I have recently go back on my bike after doing almost nothing since Taupo last November when I did half of the 160km course. My fitness has dropped back hugely and my bum needs to toughen up again! The time in the saddle is as big a challenge as the energy and power to actually ride! I did 55km 2 weeks ago so am getting there. I am doing Taupo again this month but only 40km. I have opted to do leg 4 which includes Haitapi Hill. I blogged about that 2 years ago.Last weekend we had a pot-luck evening with the cycle club - Matamata Peddlers. The club is big for such a small town and very vibrant. It was started by our friends Dale and Sheryl Ertel. Sheryl is a fellow Rotarian (which is how we met). At the pot-luck I had enough wine to feel it but not enough to be drunk. A perfect balance that is a pleasure and does not leave one suffering the next day.

Running is getting easier after the winter lull. With the clocks changing it is easier to get up in the summer, and we have had some beautiful mornings lately. I am just waiting for the pool to be cleaned up. It should be swim-able by the end of the weekend.

We need to work on tidying the place up a bit. I have started working on the garden and drive and we plan to paint the outside of the house this summer. I have also go sowing in the veg plot and with no plans to holiday away this summer I should be able to grow plenty this year. Alice and I spent much of the recent school holidays repainting her room. It has a very high ceiling and we painted it black, and bought the paint down the walls about 50cm. the difference is amazing. I knew what we had done but really had to look hard to see where the ceiling started and the wall finished. We just need to do the curtains now. I have not been able to find any the right colour and was going to make some but have decided to dye some IKEA ones we bought with us that are still in their packets. Problem now is finding the time to do the dye-ing!

I joined Matamata's Women's Club earlier this year. The club meets once a month. It is an excuse to dress up, have dinner and socialise. It is a good size with about 90 attending last night. No committee's or fund raising and they have a speaker. I really enjoy it. Yesterday I presented a 'pen sketch' on my life. One person does one each month. I got lots of nice comments afterwards with 2 people saying I should be a professional speaker :-). How nice is that!

We are coming up to that really busy time of year. Harriette's leavers dinner is next week. She only has a few days left at school then exams and that's it until late Feb! She MUST get a job over the summer. I can't have her hanging around the house for 3 months - much as I'm sure she'd love to!

Rotary has kept us busy lately. There is big fund raiser on for Polio Plus which I am involved in. I spent last Sunday up in the Kaimais at a RYPEN camp. RYPEN is a youth enrichment programme aimed at middle of the road youth who demonstrate positive characteristics. The kids absolutely loved it and developed real camaraderie over the weekend. This weekend we are providing security at a home for the Matamata Home and Garden's Show on Saturday morning. We are also hosting 6 people for Guess Who's coming to Dinner on Friday evening. This is a social event our Rotary club runs a few times a year. We know we are cooking for 6 guests but do not know who they are until they arrive. We do the main course and others bring desert, starter, wine etc. It's usually a very pleasant evening.

Matamata-Piako has a business awards evening in October and this year Eric's firm, Magill Earl, was in the finals for the customer satisfaction category. They did not win but it was still a great achievement, and good publicity. The dinner was very enjoyable and the guest speaker, Marcus Akuhata-Brownm was amazing. Marcus is a Maori guy who went from growing up on the East Coast in a house with no electricity to the world stage meeting Mandela, Tutu, Prince Charles and President Obama in his capacity as a youth leader. His speech was one of the best I have ever heard. A great communicator and motivator for youth.


Well it's 9am now and rush hour will be over so I am going to head out on the bike. I will probably be passed by about 6 cars in 2 hours now. If I went earlier it would have been nearer 20!!! I LOVE New Zealand!

A busy winter

Sitting in bed on a Sunday morning, half listening to Chris Laidlaw (I always seem to half listen to him). I think we had 12 teenagers sleepover last night. Something like that. They took the cottage over. It was not nearly as bad as it sounds. They kept the music and noise down and all seem to get up OK this morning, before us and with no major headaches. It was nice for Alice to get her Matamata College and band/Hamilton friends together. And that she gets to spend the night with Kent is obviously a bonus!!!

I have had the week from hell this week and have been very stressed. Monday was a long day and dealing with some major crap. Not within our organisation but with another one who we cannot avoid dealing with. There is obviously something going on internally with them but they are not telling us and that does not make for a good working arrangement. Tuesday I had 4 meetings booked, one with that included people from this organisation. As it was none of them attended and it made for a free and frank meeting with those that did attend and I left feeling very positive about the whole situation. This is a bit vague I know but this is a public site!! From here i went straight from Hamilton to Te Awamutu to speak at the Rotary club.I then did office work until 11.30pm to prepare for the rest of the week. Wednesday and Thursday I was teaching a Vaccinator Training Course (VTC)which are very early starts for me but then had attend a Victim Support AGM on Wednesday (home at 10.45pm) and teach at an ante-natal class on Thursday evening (hone at 9.15pm!). Friday I had to go out to do 2 clinical assessments in Cambridge and planned to take the afternoon off but was still doing emails and general admin at 5.30pm!!!! There were some nice bits to the week also; I got a card and box of chocolates in the post with thanks for presenting at the national hospital pharmacists conference the previous weekend. My talk had lots of positive feedback which is always nice to hear. My boss gave me a gift voucher with a note saying 'a little appreciation of all you do, and have to go through at times'. How nice is that? And, the individual evaluations from the VTC were fantastic with great comments on every single one which always gives me a buzz.

Since July we have not had a weekend to ourselves until now. We went to Hastings where the girls were performing in the National Concert Band Association's annual festival in early August. I travelled down on the bus on the Thursday with the schools band (and Harriette) and Eric came down on Saturday morning. I spent the first 2 nights with Steve and Liz. Steve and I have known each other forever as our fathers were good friends. Liz is a kiwi midwife. They have a pip fruit orchard on the edge of Hastings and 2 young boys. It was sooo nice to spend some time with them and they were delightful hosts and really took care of me. As they are in the midst of decorating bedrooms I was sleeping in a single bed in the office so when Eric came down we spent the night in a motel. Another pleasure of the weekend was catching up with Susie Ironside. Susie and I lived together in Golden Oaks in Hillbrow, Johanesburg in the 1980's I love Susie! She is was always such good fun, and so sensitive and caring. She is a great mom. When we stayed with them in Hastings when we first came to NZ I was amazed at how much fun a family could have together. We just seem to yell at each other in this house!!! I haven't seen Susie for years Anyway, Eric and I met her for lunch which was all too short. We had so much news to catch up on.

The following weekend I flew to Adelaide and 2 weeks after that we were in Auckland for the Uni open day at UoA. Alice also came and we sat in on the session on law (as well as health sciences for Harriette who is planning to do medicine). Alice was actually very motivated and came away with the desicion that she was going to study law. Still planning to go to Victoria in Wellington but she'd be happy with Auckland also. I know it's a long way off but I think Eric would be very proud to admit her to the bar and pas on the law firm to her in the future :-)

At the Victim Support AGM this week I resigned my position on the local management group. On the way over I was telling the chair that I planned to resign the following year as I was so pushed for time. I did not want to resign this year as they had recently lost a lot of staff and I felt I could not add to their woes. Sandra was fantastic though and said I must look after myself and that I should not stand this time round. I must say it was a huge weight removed from my shoulders. I felt guilty that I was not commiting myself to the role in the way I felt I should. I am still very busy with Rotary and WYMA.

Off to Adelaide

Woke up several times last night to heavy rain. It makes us think of Richard and Robyn (and all our other dairy farming friends) who will be calving in the mud. Mind you they started the season with glorious weather which is an improvement on other years.

I have an early start tomorrow, I have to leave at 4am to drive to Auckland airport for an 8am flight to Adelaide. I have been asking IMAC to send me to the Australian Public Health Associations biennial conference for years now and finally I'm going. Fly out tomorrow (Sunday) and return late Friday night. I have never been to Australia! The conference finishes Thursday lunchtime so I am hoping to get to IKEA that afternoon. We have dinner presentations most evenings (and breakfast presentations most mornings!) but have managed to book a theatre production for tomorrow evening. Pen (my manager) and I are going to see an Ibsen play An Enemy of the People. I am really looking forward to the whole week. (Posted in November!!)

Miss Saigon

The weather last weekend was gorgeous. Thick fog in the morning that lifted to reveal bright winter sun for the rest of the day. A contrast to the wet this weekend. Last Saturday Eric spent the day putting the second coat of paint up in the kitchen - it's very bright now :-) I battled with the rest of the family to get my way but I was totally right. The orange looks great - well I think so and it's my kitchen! In the evening we went to Gary and Maxines to watch the Springboks play the AB's at Eden Park. Gary knows mom and dad from playing golf at the same club in the UK and they have recently emigrated to NZ and live in Cambridge (about 15 min drive from us) bringing very much needed IKEA supplies, and radiators, in their container. Great rugby match which we won. Off to the Scott's to watch the re-match tonight. Should be a scorcher as the Boks should come back with a passion!

Sunday we had a great day. The FPS team and their families came for a post trip lunch. Although Kylie is back in Japan her parents came which made the group almost complete. It was a really lovely relaxing day. Everyone was here from about 12md - 4pm then Eric and I sat and read, for the rest of the day. What a perfect Sunday!

On Monday I had a night in. The first weekday evening in for aeons! Tuesday we missed Rotary to go to see Miss Saigon at Founders Theatre in Hamilton. "But I thought they were broke" I hear you say! Well yes we are. I had a call the previous weekend from Squeaks mom, Jackie, asking if we were going. I said no, that I would love to but we could not afford the tickets. "Ah" she said. Did we want free ones. Did we??? Squeak was working as a sound engineer on the show and had freebies which his parents didn't want. It was a fantastic show with great local performers. The lead who played Kim had an amazing voice, comparable to anything I've heard in London. I am hoping that Eric and I can get to see Love Never Dies when it opens in Australia next year. Less than a month before I fly to Adelaide for the PHAA conference. Really looking forward to it.

Last night I had to take Alice and Kent into Hamilton for band practice. Kent had been staying here for a few days. I persuaded Eric to finish work early and we went to the movies to see My One and Only. A pleasant chill out movie to start the weekend.

As I may have said before I am now editing the IMAC quarterly newsletter ImmNuZ. Well I have put my first edition in this week and have had some fantastic feedback on it from proof readers and the person who put's it into In-Design. And I am loving the challenge. Just have to wait until mid-August to see it in print now.

It's all about Alice

Well to start with anyway. Alice has been living in Harriette's shadow this last few months what with FPS, mooting and her success at her first uni paper, but Alice shone recently, well in my eyes anyway (and probably Kent's) at the Hamilton Boys High School ball.



She might look all grown up to you but she's still my baby!! Kent (pronounced Kint - this is New Zealand)has been in Fiji on a music tour with the school. Got back Thursday night so I took Alice into Hamilton Friday am. Not sure when we'll get her back as schools are on holiday for another week.

I got up this morning to make tea and come back to bed but looked out and saw a heavy frost. At least I could see something, this last 2 weeks many mornings have seen us shrouded in a thick fog. At long last the sun has appeared and it promises to be a lovely winters day. However, I remembered Eric saying he feeds some hay to the cows when it's very frosty. I did not want to get dressed as I was planning a lazy morning in bed with Kim Hill (on the radio) and tea. So I donned Barbour and gummies over my dressing gown and fed Inca, chooks and cows and smashed the ice on the water troughs. I just hoped the neighbour would not be out and about to see me!! And where is Eric this morning? He left at 6am to go to Richard and Robyn's to help Richard shift out their old kitchen units as a guy was driving up from Levin for them. R+R are having massive alterations done to their house and it is going to be fabulous when it's done. The builders reckon Robyn could turn the new walk-in pantry into another bedroom it's so big!! Not sure why Eric was needed so early but he's just got home so will find out.

I have been flat out at work on my new role (additional to my current role) editing IMAC's newsletter ImmNuZ. It's only a small 3 monthly publication but it goes out across New Zealand and I am loving the job. I have had some really nice, positive feedback from people at work and can't wait to see my first effort in print.

Eric has found Facebook!!! He is really in to it. He has not sussed out how to download photos though so I have uploaded my favourite pic of him when I got into his site. Poor guy would like soemthing more macho but doesn't know how to put another one on :-)