About time ...

For a quick catch up on the past few months ...
A trip to Auckland end of March to visit with a brand new grandson

Then a quick visit to New Plymouth to visit the aged, sick and otherwise ..

Isaac met me at the airport coming home and tried out the exercycle with sunhat :)

Then a trip via the internet to Kate's capping.  At least it was lovely and warm by the fire which helped the leaky eye syndrome :)

A quick game of 10 pin bowling after work Friday night.  Stace was displaying her gorilla pose? and Isaac was inspired by where the balls popped up from!

 Later that night a freak wind came along and the largish tree that was at our gate had ended up across the road, and this was all that was left!

Just to show we are still supporting Sri Lanka when we had our organically grown fair trade Ginger Beer..

We along with Isaac have been interested to watch the monarch caterpillars turning into bwutterflies!

The two white camellias were in full bloom signifying another wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe 34 years.  Thanks Dianne & Kevin for the trees - given on our 25th.  They've been a picture of blooms, but the rain this past weekend have spoiled a lot.

Some gorgeous flowers for my birthday - thanks Mabel !

 And a nan sized cupcake from Isaac to have with my cup of tea at work :)  Thanks Isaac it was delicious !

The gingko tree has been spectacular again this year.. liquid gold.

Had a wonderful visit from Sheena & Eldon.  Tasting platters looking out over the water on a fantastic sunny saturday.

Two little boys with one farming toy..

Rex fed the calf while Dave & Stacey were up north.

A good morning tea visit with Les & Iris.

Next weekend we're in Christchurch. Just as we arrived a few police decided to park outside Marks gate to stop all the traffic to breath test and check vehicles... We slipped up the road the other way after discovering the road mileage was well over on the way down!  Of course Mark's pantry was bare so we had to go find food :)

A hired trailer and a vehicle with a tow bar meant Mark could have his long awaited for clean up around the property.  Lots of old broken concrete and bricks and rubbish.

 Buddy's new kennel and a brazier stoked made short work of lots of timber rubbish and shutters.

Mark's fantastic winter garden was in pristine condition with the help of Buddy!!

 Marks new chandelier was perfect for hanging laundry on a drizzly winters day making secondary use of the heat pump - after trying to keep me warm that is!  The neat little cottage turned into a chinese laundry.  Mark huffed and puffed about how warm it was (and how much power the heat pumps were using). It's a wonderful feeling on the other foot :)

Mark and Jody with Buddy after special meetings.

And this past weekend a visit from Matt, Amy & James for special meetings in Nelson.  They found our fireplace pretty hot !!

It was good to see how much James has grown and all the little talking gooey noises he makes.  We had breakfast together the day they left.  Managed a selfie of us keeping warm by the fire! James had been busy with his fingernails to forehead :)

One wasn't very happy about leaving... I wonder if the grin meant somebody was ?!  It was very quiet without them afterwards!

 Well that's a very long update... and now I've got to finish the pumpkin soup to keep me going for work lunches on these cold wintry days.

I'll update on the house renovations when I catch a breath and the electrician has been later this week!