Birthday Week!

This is surely our busiest birthday week of the year:

Nathan – 3oth March

KJ – 2nd April

Thea – 3rd April

Jo – 3rd April (who turns 30!!!!)

Bill – 3rd April

(am I missing anyone?)

You five people are so special to us! Have great spectacular, smashing birthdays!! If only we lived near you all we could have FIVE birthday cakes this week! Unfortunately we don’t live near any of you and so we have no birthday cakes but if any of you have any cake left over you could send it to us!!

a trip away

J and I decided to take off this weekend – he was off work, the weather forecast was great and we had a new (to us!) tent to try out. I’d spotted a place not far from here that I wanted to stay at (Okuti Gardens) – they have a few random interesting types of accommodation including two yurts (mum I know that will excite you!) Unfortunately (or fortunately because we got to use our tent!) all the yurts were booked. I really cannot rave highly enough about this place, though, and we will for sure be back (to stay in a yurt!)

this was the view on the drive out – I was worried the good forecast was wrong! But although we had a little rain the first night our tent WAS waterproof and the weather for the rest of the time was glorious and in fact too hot for me – seemingly we reached 29 oC today (if not more!)

this was the spot we chose to set up our tent – beside the pond which was lovely. And we had the added bonus of hearing the ducks all wake up and then splash into the pond around 7am.

We took our bikes too – Paul and Meg, the bike carrier worked a treat – thanks!!

the view from the tent first thing in the morning

this is the semi-outdoor kitchen where we had breakfast (I’m wearing a jumper to keep the sandflies away – there weren’t too many of them but honestly if there is one it’ll find me and bite me!)

the view of the kitchen from up near the solar shower and beside the donkeys. They also had a composting toilet which totally didn’t smell and is used to make fertiliser to compost the plants and trees (but not the veggies they claimed!)

our car and tent

So after a very uncomfortable night in the tent (my 30 year old body protested at the lack of adequate padding – we had a thin foam mat each which was not nearly enough!) we set off for a cycle along an old rail trail. It was pretty hot for me and so we only cycled just under 10kms to a big pebble beach and back (it is advertised as being a gem stone beach but we didn’t see any!) It was good to be out cycling and the scenery was stunning.

after our exertions we made cups of tea and played mancala on an improvised board which J had to keep wetting down. Great game!

And then in the evening we had a vegetable feast which the people who own the retreat provide for us and the other guests. The food was ABSOLUTELY delicious and 95% of it came from their garden. Such a lot of variety and so tasty. It was lovely too to meet others who were staying there and chat with them.

Today we drove to Akaroa which is such a pretty (though hilly!) drive

And on the way we stopped off at Duvauchelle where we’ve stayed in the past with the Jowseys. J was going to jump off the wharf but the tide was too low.

No one can say this country isn’t gorgeous!!

We saw this on the way home. Made me smile!

Oh and we also bought two pieces of art (not fancy expensive stuff!) but we went into a gallery and saw two pieces that we both really liked. Interestingly one of them has umbrellas on it! We’re going back next weekend to pick them up (Little River where we stayed is only about a 45 minute drive away from where we live).

And so that was our weekend away. We drove back this afternoon and went to evening church but not before Jonathan unpacked his WHOLE bag and put it all away as soon as we got in the door. I honestly don’t think he’s ever done that before (and he certainly didn’t do it last time we went away because when he came to pack for this time he found a pair of trousers and a jumpers still in his bag from last time!) I LOVE it!!!

different days

Well J and I both headed off this morning in different directions. and for possibly the first day since getting married (? I can’t think of another) I was out for the whole day and arrived back at the same time as J did from work. Poor wee Miriam has been sick and isn’t allowed back to nursery yet but her parents had to go back to work so I had the pleasure of spending the day in her company. She was cuddly and cute all day and very content to be the focus of my attention! We played and read and went to the park and fed the ducks and went for a walk and she practised standing and is definitely heading towards walking. All good (and while she napped I listened to my Gaelic tapes and got learning). Meanwhile, J was working hard in the ED (as usual!)

Tonight we watched the next epsidoe in Race to Dakar. I’m quite nervous for them a I watch so I had to google how it all worked out – isn’t the internet smashing?! I’m not one to skip to the end of a book but somehow I think I’ll enjoy the rest of it more now.

NB I learned that the word ’smashing’ might be from gaelic!! ‘is math sin’

a day in the sun

We had a lovely weather day here in Christchurch and so what better way to spend it than to hang out with my two favourite wee Kiwi girls? I looked after them this morning (both their parents were at work and J was also at work doing a talk on trauma) and then this afternoon J and I met them and their mum at the beach for a run around and paddle. It was great to be outside and at the beach again – J reckons he has a soul connection with the ocean! There was also a cool cave to explore.

And tonight (after J had run 12km up a hill with the marathon clinic) we had a meat feast for dinner – sometimes I just need meat!! Tasty tasty.

Happy Mother’s Day!

(Confession: This photo is from last year but we were at church this morning and then J went to work so we didn’t get a chance to take a new one and recycling is good!)

To all you mothers reading – we really are ever so thankful for you and all you do!

PS I was listening to an old Redeemer sermon the other day and Tim said something which reassured me – he said that ‘the fruit of the Spirit is organic’ – isn’t that a relief!?

difference between men and women?

J and I went for a l o v e l y walk in Riccarton Bush this morning. It’s a great piece of native bush that has been protected for hundreds of years (initially by some Scottish settlers!) It’s truly a great place to walk round and so close to our house. Anyway, we came upon this tree

which is surrounded by other wee trees. J and I both responded at the same time with one word but they were different words – I said ‘protected’, J said ‘imprisoned’. Does this indicate a fundamental difference between the genders? Maybe we should do a wee poll!

PS 24 DID NOT disappoint last night! So much so that I completely lost track of time and when J phoned at 12:10am to say that he was finished work and on his way home I thought he was on a break and just calling to say hello! More of the same tonight I reckon…

autumn or spring?

There are a whole lot of these growing in our garden right now…

and yet the leaves are changing colour and there are conkers on the ground. I’m very confused!

So, the conker competition happened yesterday.

this is the before shot – two healthy looking specimen.

I managed to get one hit on J’s conker… before he destroyed mine!

We had a rather pleasant day today. Our car was booked in at the garage in town to get the rear brake problem sorted and so J decided to come with me to drop it off. We thought it’d take one hour to do but it took three so we went to a sweet cafe and sat on their sofa reading the papers before moving on the the library. J worked on a talk he’s to give next week to his colleagues and I browsed the books before checking a few out – including one on learning Gaelic!! It even has tapes to go with it (we don’t actually have a tape player and surely no one else does anymore? Actually, our car has one so I’ll be spending some time in the garage I reckon – hopefully not causing the battery to go flat again!) I almost felt like we were on holiday strolling in the sun together through Cathedral Square… that was until 3pm when J went to work! Just after he left I began my now standard cleaning ritual. Things always just slide when he’s off work – I don’t want to be cleaning when he’s here and inevitably when he’s here we create more mess and more dishes! I did look around just before he left and said ‘no one would believe I lived here because of this mess!’ Anyway, I’m R E L I E V E D to say it’s all back in order!!

And now I’m in bed with a brand new season of 24 to watch and four hours before J returns – how many epsiodes can I fit in?! I also treated myself and bought a can of diet coke today which is sitting beside me ready to be opened – it suggests that I “listen closely and hear the happiness being unleashed when you open this can”… are you listening?

busy days

Mum sent me a new box set of 24 to watch over a week ago and I haven’t watched a single episode – not because of any kind of self control I have but because life has gotten busy! It’s all good!

Rach was here at the weekend (as I’ve blogged) and then friends of J’s from Edinburgh Uni who are living in Auckland came to visit with their 15 month old daughter on Monday and stayed over before flying back on Tuesday.

(obviously we had to teach them Settlers!!)

Then we spent Tuesday with those sweet girls…

(J improvised with a wooden ’steering’ stick so he didn’t have to bend down so much!)

(J and our god-daughter just chilling out on the grass)

Then we had home group last night which was really good and today I had to take our car for a WOF (MOT equivalent) which we failed!! Oooops something to do with the rear brake balance – should be easy to fix! And I got my hair cut (first time since August – I was going to stick it out and not get it cut until I get back to Scotland but I caved in today and just walked into a salon to see if they had anything and got it done there and then – not anything drastic though!) and then tonight J and I have just been for a sweet walk in the park – the light was lovely, the air was still and warm and we had good talks. We also picked up some conkers and J has just threaded them so I’m off for a conker battle…

how to make grape juice in five easy steps

step one – pick a bunch of grapes

step two – put plastic bags on your feet – this may not be authentic but is essential (as far as one’s wife is concerned!)

step three – stamp dem grapes

step four – strain out all the skins, seeds etc

step five – pour into a tall glass and enjoy

pretty impressive, eh?!

grapes and rats

We have some delicious looking (and tasting!) grapes on the grape vine in our garden…

The thing is though that we aren’t the only ones to think so. Quite frequently recently I’ve seen a rat (or two!) scurrying along the fence before pausing at the grapes and having a spot of lunch. I’ve not seen them anywhere except on the beam half way up the fence and as long as I don’t see them anywhere else then that’ll be okay (we’ve got a wee stream not too far from our house and I reckon they live there). J hasn’t ever seen the rat and Rach didn’t see it when she was here too and I was getting doubtful looks from them both when I mentioned it so when I saw the rodent yesterday I whipped out the camera but alas I was too late. This photo is surely the next best thing as proof…

This it the view from our dining room – now why would a cat be stting patiently staring up at a grape vine unless there was a tasty looking rat lurching?!?! (Surely cats do’t eat grapes?!?)

Seriously, the cat sat there for ages and now is lying in wait…

Good luck to it I say!!