Monday Walk in the Gardens

Still beautiful weather - Doug and I had a walk through the Botanical gardens before it got too hot.

Christmas Celebrations

Nana Loma, David and I had an enjoyable Christmas lunch at Terry and Sue's house in Grey Lynn. It was very low key and relaxing - we ate yummy food, chatted and played darts. A perfect N.Z. beautiful day. David has photos here:

Boxing day lunch was at our place. Ali, Steve and the children were there; also Robert, Stacey and Caleb, and Nana. Doug had a break from coach driving today. We enjoyed opening our presents, sitting outside, under the fejoa tree.See David's blogspot for photos.

Christmas Drive Thru

Well, I've heard of Drive Through Movies, Drive Through Banking, Drive Through McDonalds but this was a new one on me - a Drive Through Nativity Scene. This is an annual event at the Greenlane Christian Centre.



What a neat atmosphere - lots of excited children - the odd little Santa wandering around and real sheep! We queued up and waited to board a truck that would take us around the scenes in 'hay bale
comfort'. One truck driver had two cute puppies with him, complete with reindeer antlers tied on with a bow beneath their chins.

You could remain in your own car. They were lined up 'Cook Strait Ferry' style. A large contingent of helpers were directing traffic; taking orders for coffee, or sausages; helping people to board the trucks, and chatting.

We watched a scene at a time, then were directed through high gates when it was time to move on. The sound system worked well so we were able to enjoy the jokes. The angel Gabriel was most impressive- he descended from a very high tree - let down by rope - then disappeared again into the darkness.





The final scene looked really beautiful.

It's their last night tonight.

Charlotte's Ballet Recital

My niece Charlotte, had her end-of-year ballet recital this morning. Alex was granted special permission to take part as well - he had a lovely time 'dancing' around the Christmas tree. What a natural!



Frances wore her pretty dancing skirt and enjoyed watching all the fun. Her turn next time?

Senior Thankgiving Service

I enjoyed being in the audience this year! The two senior classes put on a great performance of 'The Pied Piper'.


In this version, after the children had disappeared, the parents saw the error of their ways. They learned to put aside their worries, and interact with their children a little more.

The miserly mayor paid over the $1000 as promised, and the children returned unharmed to relaxed, music-making parents.

I do love a happy ending!

I was only away a couple of hours ......

When I left for work about 2:30 pm, work was underway on replacing two sections of the flue of the wood fire. Doug was actually away trying to buy a larger plate to go up on the ceiling. He had been up the ladder a few times - it seemed steady enough. I wasn't really happy about the whole situation - ladder against the wall etc, but it worked perfectly well last time didn't it? (We have forgotten about the chimney bouncing off the roof and hitting the ute......that's another story.)



Two and a half hours later: As I drove up the driveway I looked up, through the living room window and noticed that the ladder was at a funny angle. It worried me a bit that Doug's car wasn't in the garage.

Worse was to come.... oh dear, the house was deserted, Dave had gone too....windows were still open... there was a hole in the wall, and tracks down where the ladder had slid.The ladder was poking through the wall one end; the other was firmly jammed against the piano.

Perhaps Doug and Dave gone to buy some wall board, I thought hopefully, before I saw the blood trail leading out to the tub in the kitchen!

Apparently the ladder slid down the wall - it was stopped by the piano. When Doug grabbed the ceiling plate he cut all the fingers on his left hand. David took him to the Dr. but didn't have time to text me first. I was rather shocked when I registered the ladder, the blood, and the empty house!



Being a reporter at heart Dave couldn't resist a photo while the fingers were being bound up, and anti tetanus administered. A few witty texts were exchanged and peace restored.

I was only away a couple of hours!

Warbird's Open Day

We enjoyed the very 'low key' open day at Ardmore this afternoon. Here are the planes that I enjoyed seeing:



I remember flying in a DC3 when I was about 14. DC3's were still flown by our national airway. It was my first experience of flying, and I was scared stiff.



It amused me to see everyone looking up! This next one is a 'kit mustang'. (Thunder Mustang) It was very impressive to watch.




The good old Tiger Moth is always a favourite. They used to use these to tow up the gliders when I was a student at Ardmore Teachers'College.

Doug's pictures will be a whole lot better I'm sure!

Junior Thanksgiving Service

It's nice to be in the audience this year! Lovely to see my last year's class taking part. There are some good little singers coming on!

Their production this year was It's a Cracker.