Saturday, March 14, 2009
Visitors Again
We have visitors again. Alex is the son of my long time friend Nicky whom I did my first degree with. Nicky has more than her fair share of boys aged from about 6 to about 24. Alex is travelling with his friend Ted and they are in NZ for 3 months. They are based here but planning to travel and do some work. I organised yesterday for them to do some fruit picking on our friends Steve and Liz's farm in Hawkes Bay so they'll be heading off there late next week.The most exciting news we have had for a long time is that Mark and Cheryl, again long time friends (you get a lot of these as you get older!!) whom we met in the early 80's through Mandy and David, are emigrating to NZ. Mark and Cheryl have 2 children and live in Derbyshire. They are most most generous people I know and we love them to bits. Cheryl works ridiculous long hours as a high flying PA constantly spreading herself across UK cities and often abroad. She works between Nottingham and London and is a mum in her spare time!! I think she is looking forward to eing able to focus more on the latter role. They are on a reccie visit in April, which they have managed to time to co-incide with Mandy's second marraige to Ken and Olivers 18th. Olivers is Mandy's middle child and Cheryls godson. All great timing. M+C are staying with us until the wedding then heading off to Whakatane to suss out schools/houses etc. Although M+C have had a few trips out here and we stayed with them when we visited the UK it will be great to have them closer and be able to see them a lot more often.I am sitting in bed with the house reeking of Ylang Ylang which I am burning to mask the smell of very burnt popcorn. We are planning to hire Quantum tonight so I needed to watch Casino Royale last night to remind myself of how it ended. In the break Harriette decided to make popcorn. Despite me saying don't let it burn she decided to go to the loo whilst it was cooking. Burnt is an understatement and despite putting the pot outside the house still reeks this morning.Last weekend I had to take Alice into Hamilton to meet up with friends for a girlie shopping trip. These 14 year olds all looked totally gorgeous and had a great time. Robyn had been the other chauffer so we had a long sushi lunch and did some shopping of our own. I pointed out that despite being very good friends for several years now we have never been shopping together! It was very pleasant. This weekend is Harriette’s turn. She wants to shop for a dress for the annual school ball and another one for the wedding. I have to man a stand for Victim support (I am on the local committee) at the local flea market this morning so will take Harriette to work then do that, come home and do an hour or 2 in the veg plot before collecting Harriette (she's on a short shift) then going into Hamilton. Tomorrow (Sunday) I am doing a 5km fun run for the girls college. Harriette and Alice were going to do the 5km walk but Alice has cried off. Mind you she did have a stinking cold this week when I put the forms in. I have never run 5km before but I will try and do the whole thing. I have done about 4km. I haven't done much cycling lately. I did 55km last weekend but did not eat enough and was feeling quite ill after 45. I was rescued by a museli bar provided by a fellow cyclist. Must cycle in the middle of this week as I am participating in the Sarah Ulmer challenge next weekend where I will be cycling 65km. I don't plan on doing lots of these events it's just that I obviously support the college and I wanted to encourage my friend Helen who is just starting to get fit and is doing the 25km challenge next weekend. Harriette was going to do the 35km cycle but decided cycling bores her!!We had a big storm 2 weekends ago and some major boughs fell from the liquid amber tree on the drive close to the house. It took some branches out from the walnut outside our bedroom and smashed some of the new fencing. Eric had to get the chainsaw out to clear the drive before taking Harriette to work in the morning. Alex, Ted and Eric are going to finish clearing it this morning.Must go and take H to work now.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Brief Catch Up
I'm off cycling in a few minutes. I haven't been able to get out so much since the girls went back to school. All the music activities start up again and occupy 3 evenings a week. I did cycle round Lake Rotorua a few weeks ago with the cycle club and a few weeks ago cycled to Mom and Daddy's which is about 70km
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Haitape Hill conquered
(Did you know, if you click on a photo in blog it comes up full sized in a separate window?)
I did it. Not quite the ride I meant to do but I got up Haitape Hill. This probably means nothing to you, unless you are familiar with the Taupo Bike Challenge. The challenge is 160km round the beautiful Lake Taupo, and can be broken down into a relay. I did the 3rd leg. The 4th has the dreaded Haitape Hill, about 2km long and steep. Being on the final leg it is a killer if you have done the whole 160km. I did not do it on the challenge as I was scared I would not get up it and was nervous of 40km let alone 40km with hills. As it was I also had a huge one but not as unrelenting as Haitape. Anyway, our team mate was not able to get up it, without stopping, and I was curious to know if I could have. At the changeover point, at Motouapa, there was a small campsite, on the lake front and a spit from a cute marina. I resolved that we would camp there and I'd do the 40km into Taupo. That's what we've done this weekend. Sort of. I always struggle with Maori names. I checked the websites for camping grounds and duely booked us into Motutere Bay campsite. On Friday I was working and Eric, although officially on holiday, had a settlement so had to go into the office to do the paper work for that. We aimed to leave at 5pm but I was working until gone then so we left at 6.10pm and Harriette drove (that meant religious sticking to speed limits!!). When we got there, thinking we were at the changeover point I didn't recognise anything!! We drove on a bit then went back and went to check in. Yes, they were expecting us. Bugger!! The campsite was huge, we hate crowds, and right on SHW1 (NZ's M1 equivilent). More to the point our site was about 10m from the road. It was late. I dropped Eric, girls and tent off and rushed off to find a take away. The fish and chip shop 6km away had stopped frying so I had to go into Turangi. Just got in before they stopped cooking pizzas at the only decent place open. I got back an hour later to find tent up, and amazingly, everyone still talking to each other. Then the teasing started. I had promised a quiet spot and here we were, feeling like we were camping on a lay-by on the M1! It was also blowing a hooley off the lake but very warm. The pizzas were great and I'd bought pre-mixed GnT's as a peace offering! The first piccie was not to show my bike, rather our proximity to the waters edge, 2 shows same detail in relation to the road!!
So, the bike ride. So much for doing the 4th leg. We were camped 10 km closer to Taupo so the route was 30km, not 40. I had mentioned to a colleague, Fe, who is seriously fit (Iron Man level) and lives in Taupo, what I was doing and she said she'd join me for the ride. She then added 3 friends to the mix - intimidating or what!!! On Saturday morning, after a terrible night being shaken awake at irregular intervals, Eric and I had a drive down to Motouapa. Eric agreed. This site would have been lovely! Walked round the marina and lingered longingly by a Bayliner boat (a large launch) for sale for $125,000. Got back, thinking I'd maybe cycle 5km and back to add the 10km and pretend I'd done the 4th leg but Fe and co turned up earlier than expected. They'd cycled down from Taupo. Todays bike ride was to be a warm up for tomorrow when Carey and Fe were going to bike round the lake!!!!! So, bolted a bowl of cornflakes, got dressed and headed off. And, well I made it. I think Taotaoroa Rd has been good training. In fairness, the weather was much cooler than the day of the challenge, and I had 10km less under my belt when I hit the hill, but, although it was hard, I never doubted I could get up it, once I started. Fe was great and stayed with me, chatting most of the time and coaxing me gently on. Needless to say she was not even breathing heavily. The others were way ahead of me. One day I'll cycle up hills without drawing every breath as if it were my last!! We got to Fe's place in Taupo and everyone was very nice and encouraging over my efforts.
While I'd been cycling Eric had taken the girls into Taupo for a 1 hr horse trek. They had passed us on the way, after the hill. Eric had the bike rack ready to take me back but, in view of the 30 instead of the 40km ride in I decided to bike back. That meant getting up the other side of Haitape but that was a slower ride. Still hard though. So yesterday, I did a 60km ride, albeit with an hour long break in the middle. I am quite npleased with myself! Came home Sat pm so we could continue with the polytunnel today. Very windy here though this morning.
I did it. Not quite the ride I meant to do but I got up Haitape Hill. This probably means nothing to you, unless you are familiar with the Taupo Bike Challenge. The challenge is 160km round the beautiful Lake Taupo, and can be broken down into a relay. I did the 3rd leg. The 4th has the dreaded Haitape Hill, about 2km long and steep. Being on the final leg it is a killer if you have done the whole 160km. I did not do it on the challenge as I was scared I would not get up it and was nervous of 40km let alone 40km with hills. As it was I also had a huge one but not as unrelenting as Haitape. Anyway, our team mate was not able to get up it, without stopping, and I was curious to know if I could have. At the changeover point, at Motouapa, there was a small campsite, on the lake front and a spit from a cute marina. I resolved that we would camp there and I'd do the 40km into Taupo. That's what we've done this weekend. Sort of. I always struggle with Maori names. I checked the websites for camping grounds and duely booked us into Motutere Bay campsite. On Friday I was working and Eric, although officially on holiday, had a settlement so had to go into the office to do the paper work for that. We aimed to leave at 5pm but I was working until gone then so we left at 6.10pm and Harriette drove (that meant religious sticking to speed limits!!). When we got there, thinking we were at the changeover point I didn't recognise anything!! We drove on a bit then went back and went to check in. Yes, they were expecting us. Bugger!! The campsite was huge, we hate crowds, and right on SHW1 (NZ's M1 equivilent). More to the point our site was about 10m from the road. It was late. I dropped Eric, girls and tent off and rushed off to find a take away. The fish and chip shop 6km away had stopped frying so I had to go into Turangi. Just got in before they stopped cooking pizzas at the only decent place open. I got back an hour later to find tent up, and amazingly, everyone still talking to each other. Then the teasing started. I had promised a quiet spot and here we were, feeling like we were camping on a lay-by on the M1! It was also blowing a hooley off the lake but very warm. The pizzas were great and I'd bought pre-mixed GnT's as a peace offering! The first piccie was not to show my bike, rather our proximity to the waters edge, 2 shows same detail in relation to the road!!
So, the bike ride. So much for doing the 4th leg. We were camped 10 km closer to Taupo so the route was 30km, not 40. I had mentioned to a colleague, Fe, who is seriously fit (Iron Man level) and lives in Taupo, what I was doing and she said she'd join me for the ride. She then added 3 friends to the mix - intimidating or what!!! On Saturday morning, after a terrible night being shaken awake at irregular intervals, Eric and I had a drive down to Motouapa. Eric agreed. This site would have been lovely! Walked round the marina and lingered longingly by a Bayliner boat (a large launch) for sale for $125,000. Got back, thinking I'd maybe cycle 5km and back to add the 10km and pretend I'd done the 4th leg but Fe and co turned up earlier than expected. They'd cycled down from Taupo. Todays bike ride was to be a warm up for tomorrow when Carey and Fe were going to bike round the lake!!!!! So, bolted a bowl of cornflakes, got dressed and headed off. And, well I made it. I think Taotaoroa Rd has been good training. In fairness, the weather was much cooler than the day of the challenge, and I had 10km less under my belt when I hit the hill, but, although it was hard, I never doubted I could get up it, once I started. Fe was great and stayed with me, chatting most of the time and coaxing me gently on. Needless to say she was not even breathing heavily. The others were way ahead of me. One day I'll cycle up hills without drawing every breath as if it were my last!! We got to Fe's place in Taupo and everyone was very nice and encouraging over my efforts.
While I'd been cycling Eric had taken the girls into Taupo for a 1 hr horse trek. They had passed us on the way, after the hill. Eric had the bike rack ready to take me back but, in view of the 30 instead of the 40km ride in I decided to bike back. That meant getting up the other side of Haitape but that was a slower ride. Still hard though. So yesterday, I did a 60km ride, albeit with an hour long break in the middle. I am quite npleased with myself! Came home Sat pm so we could continue with the polytunnel today. Very windy here though this morning.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year for 2009
Happy New Year. May 2009 be very good to you all. Maybe I’m getting older but I find myself, ever more frequently, being so thankful for the life I have. The expression ‘living the dream’ so applies to us. That does not mean that our life is perfect, by any means. My biggest stresses are; the girls, that usual lazy, teenage selfishness that probably just means they are like any other teenager. Alice just completely ignoring me when I tell her to do something, or not following the very specific instructions I give (“Alice. Please empty the compost bin {onto the compost heap} then rinse and dry the bucket, put a sheet of newspaper in the bottom and put it back” 2 hours later {when I want to use the compost bin}, I find it dirty and on the drive haven fallen off the deck where it was dumped after being emptied), and Harriette arguing in a ‘why should I have to do that’ manner, every time she is asked to do something. The second thing is lack of time. So Hey, that's me and almost all of the rest of the female population!! The cash flow could also be better (which is true of lots of people also, but not many in Matamata I think) and I really do not want to be working full -time, but, other than that, life is pretty damned good. All these issues will be addressed though. I am determined to work on cutting my hours, hopefully this year. Eric’s salary should continue to increase, though the current economic climate will probably slow that somewhat, and he is due to be made an associate solicitor in April, and finally, the girls will grow up soon. Unfortunately, just when I expect them to grow out of these attitudes, and become the delightful adults I know they will be, they’ll leave home, and I cannot tell you how I am dreading that!!!!
Christmas has been quite relaxing. Almost minimal entertaining on our part, and hardly going anywhere, has really kept the pressure off. We had neighbours, Mom and Daddy, and friends for early evening drinks on Christmas Eve. As I had agreed to drive to Midnight Mass I had to keep off the wine. Mom and Daddy stayed on for supper (or tea as the evening meal is called here) and then we went to Mass. Well Harriette and I did, Alice was too tired and so Eric stayed at home with her. I actually think the real reason was he was just knackered! I am making my NY’s resolution to ease up on some things and not crawl through to Christmas 2009 on my knees yet again. Trouble is, I am not sure what to drop. My current thinking is to get a secretary for Schools Band to take some of the pressure off me there. Waikato Youth Music Association, needs some serious attention and I feel I should focus on that this year. We’ll see.
Back to Christmas. It was 2am before I got the bed on Christmas morning but the girls don’t wake us too early. I think it was about 7am when we woke, later than the usual 5.45 – 6.15am. We moved away from our traditional kedgeree for breakfast and had pancakes, fresh fruit and cream. Alice was in charge of breakfast, Harriette was doing veg and Eric the beef Wellington so, in theory, I was not required in the kitchen all day! Breakfast did not go to plan. In fairness Alice followed a pancake recipe. Since when have you seen a recipe that says ‘makes 8 pancakes’ make any more than 3, unless of course you have a midget frying pan. She was making tiny, thick pancakes that would not fold nicely into 4 and insisted that as long as they tasted OK presentation didn’t matter at all. Any other day maybe but not on Christmas Day, not in my books!!! She did her usual teenage rant and stormed off to the bedroom. I made a (bigger and thinner) batch of batter then retrieved her from the bedroom to help. By the time we ate she had calmed down!
The girls then unwrapped a pressie. After coffee and stollen (there was a bit of a gap between breakfast and coffee) and we headed off to Matamata. I make stollen every Christmas and always, something goes wrong!! This year I made 2. I use the Delia recipe from her Christmas book that I have adapted for breadmaker. I misread the flour amount and used too little. I decided to make another version by hand and it didn’t rise very well so I had 2 stodgy versions. I then realised that the yeast expired in 2007 (shows how much bread I’ve made in the last few years!!). This is a downside of having cupboards stocked ready for an earthquake or pandemic. Thins expire. I bought fresh yeast and yesterday made another stolen, this time for Richard and Robyn coming that evening (more on that later). Back to Christmas Day. The churches do a Christmas meal for those who are spending Christmas alone and we had volunteered to help serve. They did not need volunteers but asked if the girls would play some carols. They only had 2 days warning but, with Alice on clarinet and Harriette playing flute, they put a programme together. We then returned home and cooked our own lunch. As I said beef Wellington, from one of our own animals. Of course, It is actually still hanging in the chiller. Eric had to strip the fillet out on Christmas Eve. He was convinced that it had not hung for long enough but it was fantastic. Definately a 10 out of 10. The beef was accompanied by new potatoes (rocket variety, the nicest new potatoes I’ve had in years) and parsnips both from the garden. We also had a few roasted potatoes (for Eric’s benefit) as we were roasting the parsnips and asparagus and sweetcorn cobs. The asparagus season has just ended and sweetcorn are just appearing in the shops. I have a few plants in the garden but they are weeks away. The broad beans (that I planted very late), courgettes and peas, were all just a few days away from cropping. We’ve since had feeds off all of them. Dessert was chocolate cheesecake with blueberries and raspberries, made by Alice, her own choice. It was very nice and beautifully presented!
After dinner we unwrapped presents. Now there were 2 huge boxes which had no labels on. When asked by the girls I lied and said they were for Mom and Daddy but refused to say what they were. The girls weren’t convinced. On Christmas Eve as Mom and Daddy were leaving I had to go to the loo. On coming out I cried out to Alice that she hadn’t given Mom and Daddy all their presents. The 2 big ones were still under the tree. “oh well, never mind they can have them afterwards.” Now the girls did believe they were not for them. We let them unwrap all their pressies and then said they could unwrap the big parcels. We had bought them midi music systems for their bedrooms. They were rapt. And after unpacking them disappeared off to their bedrooms for the rest of the day! Not a major problem as it was 7pm-ish by now!
I made a proposition in early December that we only spend $20 on each other and try to buy as much as we can for that. I implied that that was all we would spend, except of course the $2-3,000 for my bike!!!! I must confess that Eric and I did not get organised to do this for the girls but the girls managed it. One of my presents was a nicely bound piece of music that Harriette composed for me called ‘Merry Christmas Mummy’. I was very touched! Eric got a collection of op shop ties and a gross shirt. The shirt was given to him as an example of what he was not to wear. And to make sure he didn’t wear it they bought it too small for him!!!!
I did not have much to unwrap as we had picked my pressie up several days before. I am now the proud owner of a Specialized road bike. It’s priddy, white, red and black! For the uninitiated Specialized is a make. I was cycling a few days later towards Arapuni Dam (28km from the house where Eric was fishing), and a guy called Jim caught me up. We had a chat and it turns out he leases land to our neighbours, Ian and Shirley, for grazing. I remembered that Ian had, months ago, suggested I speak to Jim if I was buying a bike as he is in the business. Jim said he was expecting my call (I had to admit I had totally forgotten!). Anyway, he said that Specialised is one of the 2 brands he would have advised I go for. I have the shirt (from my round Taupo ride), cycle shoes (with clip-on cleats), gloves, hat, repair kit, bright light, cycle computer – the whole kiboodle. I’m a very happy cyclist!
Boxing Day. Like Christmas Day the weather was not good. In fact, and to Eric’s horror, I lit the fire for a few hours in the afternoon. The day was a lazy one. Breakfast was smoked salmon and scrambled eggs cooked by Harriette assisted, or rather supervised, by me. She hasn’t got timings right yet, wanting to put toast on before starting anything else. Dinner was a seafood platter but the seafood was pretty tasteless which was disappointing. A few days later Eric did an Asian seafood meal a prawns satay, which was divine, a gingered seafood stir-fry with prawns, squid and baby octopi. A much better meal.
The rest of the weekend was lazily spent. We went to Waihi Beach for a 40th birthday party on the Sunday but that was rather boring. We didn’t really know anyone and most people were on the beach. Trouble is when we went over there we didn’t know who were the party goers so just had a walk and sat on the beach on our own for a couple of hours. We were able to leave early as we had arranged to have tea with Mom and Daddy.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was officially working. I managed the first day OK. The Tuesday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Les from Rotary delivered flowers, in Rotary tradition, so he was here for an hour or so. Then we went into Matamata to go out for lunch. The girls didn’t join us. They were more focused on hitting the sales with their Christmas money and said they thought we’d appreciate a romantic lunch on our own! We had decided to buy ourselves some feijoa trees as an anniversary present. The girls also bought us one so we had a trip to the garden centre for those.
Wednesday was sooooo hot. Eric phoned his sister Ava and so I stopped work to have a chat with her. Shortly afterwards Henry (another Rotarian) and his wife Ann called in for morning coffee. Henry recently broke his arm and spent several weeks in hospital, where I visited him a few times. He is the clubs sergeant and so as his corporal I have been standing in. By the time they left it had got very hot. I really did try to work but ended up giving up! Instead Eric and I spent the day on the deck reading, sunbathing and swimming.
Thursday, NY’s Eve Harriette invited some friends over for a sleepover. They planned to swim, BBQ, take over the cottage and watch videos for the night. It was really hot and apparently Rebecca was swimming at 3am! They are all still asleep. I am now going for a bike ride. A circuit, SHW29 towards Matamata, up Puketutu Rd, left onto Buckland Rd, down Todd and back down Taotaoroa Rd. Going that was means the last 10km is mainly, and seriously, downhill. Buckland is very up and down. Should be about 30km (PS it was 38.4km took me 1hr 40mins, got up to 70km an hour on one of the hills. Alright as long as you don’t think about coming off!!!).
Christmas has been quite relaxing. Almost minimal entertaining on our part, and hardly going anywhere, has really kept the pressure off. We had neighbours, Mom and Daddy, and friends for early evening drinks on Christmas Eve. As I had agreed to drive to Midnight Mass I had to keep off the wine. Mom and Daddy stayed on for supper (or tea as the evening meal is called here) and then we went to Mass. Well Harriette and I did, Alice was too tired and so Eric stayed at home with her. I actually think the real reason was he was just knackered! I am making my NY’s resolution to ease up on some things and not crawl through to Christmas 2009 on my knees yet again. Trouble is, I am not sure what to drop. My current thinking is to get a secretary for Schools Band to take some of the pressure off me there. Waikato Youth Music Association, needs some serious attention and I feel I should focus on that this year. We’ll see.
Back to Christmas. It was 2am before I got the bed on Christmas morning but the girls don’t wake us too early. I think it was about 7am when we woke, later than the usual 5.45 – 6.15am. We moved away from our traditional kedgeree for breakfast and had pancakes, fresh fruit and cream. Alice was in charge of breakfast, Harriette was doing veg and Eric the beef Wellington so, in theory, I was not required in the kitchen all day! Breakfast did not go to plan. In fairness Alice followed a pancake recipe. Since when have you seen a recipe that says ‘makes 8 pancakes’ make any more than 3, unless of course you have a midget frying pan. She was making tiny, thick pancakes that would not fold nicely into 4 and insisted that as long as they tasted OK presentation didn’t matter at all. Any other day maybe but not on Christmas Day, not in my books!!! She did her usual teenage rant and stormed off to the bedroom. I made a (bigger and thinner) batch of batter then retrieved her from the bedroom to help. By the time we ate she had calmed down!
The girls then unwrapped a pressie. After coffee and stollen (there was a bit of a gap between breakfast and coffee) and we headed off to Matamata. I make stollen every Christmas and always, something goes wrong!! This year I made 2. I use the Delia recipe from her Christmas book that I have adapted for breadmaker. I misread the flour amount and used too little. I decided to make another version by hand and it didn’t rise very well so I had 2 stodgy versions. I then realised that the yeast expired in 2007 (shows how much bread I’ve made in the last few years!!). This is a downside of having cupboards stocked ready for an earthquake or pandemic. Thins expire. I bought fresh yeast and yesterday made another stolen, this time for Richard and Robyn coming that evening (more on that later). Back to Christmas Day. The churches do a Christmas meal for those who are spending Christmas alone and we had volunteered to help serve. They did not need volunteers but asked if the girls would play some carols. They only had 2 days warning but, with Alice on clarinet and Harriette playing flute, they put a programme together. We then returned home and cooked our own lunch. As I said beef Wellington, from one of our own animals. Of course, It is actually still hanging in the chiller. Eric had to strip the fillet out on Christmas Eve. He was convinced that it had not hung for long enough but it was fantastic. Definately a 10 out of 10. The beef was accompanied by new potatoes (rocket variety, the nicest new potatoes I’ve had in years) and parsnips both from the garden. We also had a few roasted potatoes (for Eric’s benefit) as we were roasting the parsnips and asparagus and sweetcorn cobs. The asparagus season has just ended and sweetcorn are just appearing in the shops. I have a few plants in the garden but they are weeks away. The broad beans (that I planted very late), courgettes and peas, were all just a few days away from cropping. We’ve since had feeds off all of them. Dessert was chocolate cheesecake with blueberries and raspberries, made by Alice, her own choice. It was very nice and beautifully presented!
After dinner we unwrapped presents. Now there were 2 huge boxes which had no labels on. When asked by the girls I lied and said they were for Mom and Daddy but refused to say what they were. The girls weren’t convinced. On Christmas Eve as Mom and Daddy were leaving I had to go to the loo. On coming out I cried out to Alice that she hadn’t given Mom and Daddy all their presents. The 2 big ones were still under the tree. “oh well, never mind they can have them afterwards.” Now the girls did believe they were not for them. We let them unwrap all their pressies and then said they could unwrap the big parcels. We had bought them midi music systems for their bedrooms. They were rapt. And after unpacking them disappeared off to their bedrooms for the rest of the day! Not a major problem as it was 7pm-ish by now!
I made a proposition in early December that we only spend $20 on each other and try to buy as much as we can for that. I implied that that was all we would spend, except of course the $2-3,000 for my bike!!!! I must confess that Eric and I did not get organised to do this for the girls but the girls managed it. One of my presents was a nicely bound piece of music that Harriette composed for me called ‘Merry Christmas Mummy’. I was very touched! Eric got a collection of op shop ties and a gross shirt. The shirt was given to him as an example of what he was not to wear. And to make sure he didn’t wear it they bought it too small for him!!!!
I did not have much to unwrap as we had picked my pressie up several days before. I am now the proud owner of a Specialized road bike. It’s priddy, white, red and black! For the uninitiated Specialized is a make. I was cycling a few days later towards Arapuni Dam (28km from the house where Eric was fishing), and a guy called Jim caught me up. We had a chat and it turns out he leases land to our neighbours, Ian and Shirley, for grazing. I remembered that Ian had, months ago, suggested I speak to Jim if I was buying a bike as he is in the business. Jim said he was expecting my call (I had to admit I had totally forgotten!). Anyway, he said that Specialised is one of the 2 brands he would have advised I go for. I have the shirt (from my round Taupo ride), cycle shoes (with clip-on cleats), gloves, hat, repair kit, bright light, cycle computer – the whole kiboodle. I’m a very happy cyclist!
Boxing Day. Like Christmas Day the weather was not good. In fact, and to Eric’s horror, I lit the fire for a few hours in the afternoon. The day was a lazy one. Breakfast was smoked salmon and scrambled eggs cooked by Harriette assisted, or rather supervised, by me. She hasn’t got timings right yet, wanting to put toast on before starting anything else. Dinner was a seafood platter but the seafood was pretty tasteless which was disappointing. A few days later Eric did an Asian seafood meal a prawns satay, which was divine, a gingered seafood stir-fry with prawns, squid and baby octopi. A much better meal.
The rest of the weekend was lazily spent. We went to Waihi Beach for a 40th birthday party on the Sunday but that was rather boring. We didn’t really know anyone and most people were on the beach. Trouble is when we went over there we didn’t know who were the party goers so just had a walk and sat on the beach on our own for a couple of hours. We were able to leave early as we had arranged to have tea with Mom and Daddy.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was officially working. I managed the first day OK. The Tuesday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Les from Rotary delivered flowers, in Rotary tradition, so he was here for an hour or so. Then we went into Matamata to go out for lunch. The girls didn’t join us. They were more focused on hitting the sales with their Christmas money and said they thought we’d appreciate a romantic lunch on our own! We had decided to buy ourselves some feijoa trees as an anniversary present. The girls also bought us one so we had a trip to the garden centre for those.
Wednesday was sooooo hot. Eric phoned his sister Ava and so I stopped work to have a chat with her. Shortly afterwards Henry (another Rotarian) and his wife Ann called in for morning coffee. Henry recently broke his arm and spent several weeks in hospital, where I visited him a few times. He is the clubs sergeant and so as his corporal I have been standing in. By the time they left it had got very hot. I really did try to work but ended up giving up! Instead Eric and I spent the day on the deck reading, sunbathing and swimming.
Thursday, NY’s Eve Harriette invited some friends over for a sleepover. They planned to swim, BBQ, take over the cottage and watch videos for the night. It was really hot and apparently Rebecca was swimming at 3am! They are all still asleep. I am now going for a bike ride. A circuit, SHW29 towards Matamata, up Puketutu Rd, left onto Buckland Rd, down Todd and back down Taotaoroa Rd. Going that was means the last 10km is mainly, and seriously, downhill. Buckland is very up and down. Should be about 30km (PS it was 38.4km took me 1hr 40mins, got up to 70km an hour on one of the hills. Alright as long as you don’t think about coming off!!!).
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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. 
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
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
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
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
Sunday, August 24, 2008
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.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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.
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