A Slice of Heaven

Here we are back at Ohiwa Same gorgeous view. Weather a mixed bag but usually fine during the day. I have only been for one swim and am happy to announce that the "Lose 10lb in 10 secs" bathing suit performed very creditably in lumpy surf. The same cannot be said for one of my knees so I had to flounder around abit. OOOH, another excitement was the fish. Duncan rang me so I could see it in situ and capture the moment. We wouldn't have kept it had it not been the first of the season, but Duncan filleted it beautifully and we had it with the oils from the dried tomatoes, a little toast and feta. Just entree you understand.

Here's an idea of where Simon and Jackie will be staying for their 3 nights. Not the ideal site as it is close to the ablution Block - just within those three trees. You can see the corner of our caravan, so not too far to come for dinner.

Her's another shot of the tree on S&J site, Jill and Rua are behind the van and our caravan is just behind the solar panels on the Ablution Block.

The Pohutukawa are just fabulous, the tui are singing, but there dont seem to be quite as many migratory birds there yet. Can't wait to get back!!

Backward steps and other Activities

This is Duncan up the coast doing a retinal screening up the coast.

A few steps back in the last few days. Firstly when we went to deliver the wine for the wedding we caught up with the Marinos. Even though we haven't seen them for years, it is like it is just a continuing conversation and we had a great night out.

Then we went to an open home at our first home 480 Palmerston Rd. They had basically reorganised all the rooms, and there was just a little square of lino in the kitchen that I recognised. We had to pretend that we were looking for a rental property

Heather came and stayed for 4 days. We managed a concert, shopping, a beachside walk, a hill walk, morning tea, dinner, strawberry picking, gardening plus some relaxing moments as well.

School is drawing to a close this week with the prizegiving next Wednesday which again I will be the MC for. Christmas shopping nearly done, soon to start on the Ohiwa packing

Beware of the Double Bogey man

Just a little bit of excitement in our lives on Sunday as Duncan was in the 19 man shoot out at golf. It begins with 19 players and one person gets dropped off at each hole. Naturally it takes nearly all day. Duncan had promised to ring when he good knocked out. By 1.00 I thought "the B*****d's forgotten to ring me. By 2.00 I thought maybe ......, and just as I was heading off to the movies at 3, he rang to say he had won the whole lot. And the amazing thing was, he had 6 double bogeys. (Bad news, for you non-golfers) BUT when he had a bad hole, someone else had a worse one, and he hung on until the end, finally having to have a "chip off" with Gray Clapham to clinch the match. The next excitement was opening up the winner's envelope - over $600! I didn't find this out until after returning from the movies - Samson and Delilah, about some aborigine kids (very bleak and sad and hopeless)
I have been in Auckland for 2 days on a course for taking classes on video conference next year. Stayed in the Holiday Inn which was nice. Very stimulating course - but as you can imagine with a pack of teachers pretty full on talking and listening.
On Thursday we head up to Auckland with a cargo of wedding wine. Not long to go now!!

A Topp Weekend

Race Day Theme this year was "The Rich and the Famous" Duncan and I went as the Topp twins. I'm Camp mother and Duncan is Camp Leader.

The Blacks were Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. Here they are with their son Andrew who is back to get married - on the 8th of January. The Kemps came as the Papa-Rat-C and Paris Hilton 30 years on - she has just had another nose job, and her dog has grown up. I'm afraid Shirley couldn't stand the bandages for too long, but quite a lot of the costumes got abandoned as the day went on. All except Camp leader (Duncan) who galloped around in his dress all day.

Everyone contributed a dish of the rich and famous and we had a great meal - so that no-one needed dinner that night. The wind was quite cool so we were very glad of the conservatory.

Here is the formal lineup - I don't know what Duncan was doing with his hand!

Roger was Lord Ascot,the instigator of race meetings and Sue was Julie Andrews. We were also very fortunate to have Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip join us (alias Dawn and Paul)

Karen Crosby came as Imelda Marcos and bought a collection of wonderful shoes, which she proceeded to change before each race. The boots were the luckiest.

But in the end Camp Leader was so tired he even went to sllep through the Golf Show. A good day was had by all.

We're on the road again.

It was a great sense of deja vu as I headed off to support Duncan on a run. Here he is, just starting offbehind one of the people in a red shirt.


The course is now a two lap course around the centre of town. Here he is on the first lap. As you can see from his number 1691 he could have done it on his head and still be recorded as 1691!

The second lap and the sweat and dribble off the chin is starting to grow. The man in full fire gear was only doing 5 km. He did the 10.4 km in 55minutes and was 4th in his age group. I had heaps of people asking me why I wasn't doing it, but my muscle tone after my op has been very slow to return. For every day you spend in bed it is a week to fully recover. (Advice from nursing friend) That is why they try and get people up as quickly as they can.

The garden is producing heaps at present, but no flowering on the grapes yet. More meetings with lawyers, but not much headway on the land sale.

40 Days and 40 nights

Some of you will have heard of my exciting plan to loose 4kg in 40 days. To this end I have devised these little diet cards which insist on 2 forms of exercise, restrict my protein, carbohydrate and wine intake. As you can see most cards have a star on them, but days 3 doesn't - and another day 3 had to be done. Hopefully this will enable me to be svelte in my wedding dress! Simon informs me yesterday that there is 63days to the wedding, so I hope to get my 40 days done reasonably soon, or I'll be on dieter's rations on Christmas day! I am on day 6 today, but sadly it is a redo.

And finally, I have finished the jigsaw puzzle that Warren (vineyard manager) lent me from his Mum (who is addicted). I did it while I was in recovery mode, but the sky was last to be done, and took ages. She has lent me one to do at Xmas - only 750 not 1000 pieces this time.

Jo's husband (see last blog) has been flown to Waikato as Gisborne only has one ventilator and they dont want him to be kept on it over the weekend incase there is a car accident. Dawn's motherinlaw has had a heart attack. so many medical updates this week!! What a bugger it is getting old. (Oh, have I already said that?)

See this in cyberspace

I'm afraid that you will have to imagine these scenes as they unfold as I have sent the pictures off into cyberspace never to return. Picture the scene at Ohiwa - the girls are in their short shorts and spaghetti strap tops, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, small boys are busy saying "whats your name? - you want to play cricket?" , a mother tries to join in the game of touch rugby, but is soon sent back to do the unpacking. The nights were colder, but we didn't have to have our Electric blanket on. Duncan, Roger and Paul were playing in a golf competition in Ohope, so Sue, Dawn and I enjoyed the craft market at Ohope, shopping and lunch in Whakatane, and a swim at Awakeri Hot pools on Saturday, and a visit to Opotiki and the Hukutaia Domain on Sunday. I had some splendid photos from this walk, so will have to go back again at Christmas. Each wife had prepared one evening meal, so we ate really well. We played Trivial Pursuit on two nights - not without a few arguements - but what are friends for!!
Jo Kendall, who was one of the ladies I went tramping with until she had a stroke, has her husband in hospital in ICU with lung problems, so we had afternoon tea today and tried to sort out how we can support her. Its a bit frightening for her as it looks like Colin will not make a full recovery, so who will look after who?? It's a bugger getting old.

Social Whirl

The need to sleep has been that some things have gone by the board - like writing a blog. We have a few social events on, and these, plus being back at school have been quite tiring - however I am getting back to full health in steps.

Had a memorial service for Bob Carter - one of Duncan's running mates- last Saturday followed by a Bollywood 50th birthday. Didn't find a sari, but we both put on head wear that we thought was appropriate.

This week of to Duncan's Opto class reunion in Chch. As there is a conference he left yesterday with most of my clothes in his bag. The top of the bag ended up absolutely drenched, and my clothes were on top. Not sure how some of the more silky fabrics will react to this so ended up taking a bag anyway.

Room redo and ducks

Jill has been showing off her painting skills - well they must be inherited as I have been repainting the furniture in the spare room and everyone says it looks very good. New duvet cover, chair and curtains have really jazzed up the spare room. Its still a bit of a mishmash because we didn't start from scratch but fine for a spare room. If you look closely at the first picture there are my wedding shoes and hand bag (not the odd sandal on the top). Today I bought my wedding underwear too!! I'm ready. Just over 3 months to go.

You might remember that we are having trouble with the wildlife now that Bella has left us. It has been fascinating to watch as these ducklings have grown into flappers (I knew I'd get to use that term sometime, Dawn), but the crap on the concrete is huge and very disgusting.

Feeling much better now but only for an hour or two at a stretch, and then it is time for rest.

Baboon's Bum

Back now from my op at Wakefield Hospital - thanks to those who sent cards and flowers.



The op appears to have been a complete success, but the allergy to the surgical tapes a complete disaster. My nether regions look like those baboons with the bright red bum. Although mine is really on the front side, down my leg where they put the catheter, and two dots on the bum. I have not included photos of this although it was of great interest to the nursing staff.The rooms were very spacious, with an area for sitting with your guests and looking out the window, and the bed and machines area, which also had a mechanical lazyboy and TV suspended on an arm. The food was of an extremely high quality, although sometimes not quite what I'd ordered. It was served by waiters in waistcoats and waiter aprons - no wine though!

The flight home was very tiring and I have done a lot of sleeping, but now feeling much better.

Really enjoyed my pre-op time in Wellington, very good shopping sessions. Wonderful concert with the NZ trio and dinner at Logan Brown was most enjoyable. Took in Young Victoria at the movies as well.

Better go and check my credit card balance now.

Bigger and Bedder

No sooner had we had budburst then the hail came, waking us at 5.32am, then again about 9.30 and another light dusting at lunchtime. Our little leaves have lots of rips in them which will encourage leaf botrytis,which will get into the buds as they form which means the battle will be long and hard this year to get a good crop in. Not to mention expensive - especially since prices for our grapes have dropped 20%.

I have been spending the winter months doing the odd bit of refurbishment and was looking for a small chair to put in the spare room, when I saw that Big Save had a special of trundleway beds. We had been discussing the fact that Alex has just turned 6 and soon wouldn't be able to be put up on the campstretcher, which had a tendency to collapse anyway. Further investigation showed that the bed probably would react in much the same way as the campstretcher, but they had another trundle bed that looked very robust - more expensive, but definitely better quality.

Anyway, when the men delivered it, I said - just put it in there. However, the driver of the van said - you know these require some construction to put them up, and you know we're just a trucking firm, not Big Save. AAAhh.
Duncan had just left for a conference in Auckland, and so I could move from the lounge to the bedroom it seemed imperative that I clear the hall. So it has been a bit of a mission, But look I've got the first story built.
They are King single and make into a king bed with a crack if necessary. I'm not sure if my old linen will fit very well, but we are ready now for our grandchildren to grow into big strapping teenagers!!

Market Day

Ready to start selling our wraps for market day lunch. Ryan Displays the Rocket Oil which was oil flavoured by herbs and chillies.

Leah is our managing director and opened the show.

Well the curfuffle of market day is over. We made 218 wraps for lunch, and it is always a bit of a mission. This time we didn't have such good co-operation from the other staff and with 2 people away at religious meetings we ran really short of time to get the lunches made. Still, lots of good learning went on.

The spring gales have started - making everybody tetchy. Bud burst is just starting to happen on the vineyard.

Dont fence me in

We've finally got around to organising a new fence. We had the first of the spring gales the other day and the corrigated iron fence was looking fairly frail. It looks quite different now that Neil has taken this one down. His uncle was a champoin daffodil grower so it was a great time of year to do it. The new fence will be colour steel - not terribly glamorous, but function for keeping the hens and dogs out. He had just been out possum shooting and they always get paid in cash so he bought me his share in cash!!! We were just recovering from all these $notes when David Meban (buyer of vineyard) turned up with the roading engineers, so that is looking a lot more positive too.

Market day at school was not without its problems and we still have a few jars of Rocket oil to sell. However the hankies went well. We had quite a few of the egg wraps left over, but for some reason we made an extra 16 of these.

Out for a duck

What do you get when your dog dies? All manner of livestock, but mainly this pair of ducks, come to live in your back yard. Such big poohs!! Tomorrow we are going for a walk out at Anna's followed by breakfast together. She has had the opportunity to make duck sausages, so I hope these two don't think they should get too comfortable.

A lovely week weatherwise, but we have hardly noticed with our wonderful new heat pumps. The daffodils are out very early - I doubt if they will last to the official Daffodil day so bought this wonderful pot as part of their annual fundraiser.

Next week is Market Day for my year 9 and 10 commerce class. We have made spiced oil which they have named Rocket Oil, hankies - Swanky Hankies and this week we will be up to our armpits in mascarpone which we are making, selling with a recipe book and also making wraps with fillings of

1. Mascarpone +salmon+carrots+chives

2. Mascarpone +egg +parsley+lettuce

3. Mascarpone + ham+cheese+pineapple

4 Mascarpone +apricots+dates+ chocolate chips.

Yes, putting the smmooooth in sweet and savoury.

We have the following Monday off as a midterm break, I hope to get an extra game of golf in that week.

Cough Cough and splutter

I remember as a child driving up Fenton Street past Gough, Gough and Hammer and calling it Cough, cough and Splutter. Well that has been me this week. A gut wrenching cough - my muscles - I was going to say pentecostal muscles but I think its the intercostal muscles between your ribs - are aching. I was sent to the spare room to sleep. No fever, no body aches or other symptoms that might suggest swine flu. Today has been gorgeous weather, and I cant believe that I am starting to shake this cough off. Lets hope I sleep well tonight.
We had heat pumps put in today - a large one in the living room and a wee one in the bedroom. Unfortunately they haven't been checked by an electrician and certified so we are not allowed to use them until tomorrow. I had the Brethren firm come and do them.
Just 4 months now until the sale of our property. The bad news is: it looks like our real estate agent has died - he had already been paid, so the deal better be completed. The good news is : The caretakers house at the racecourse has been shifted off, preparatory to putting the road in up the racecourse entrance to the back of our place. Who knows eh?
Off for my dose of cough mixture.

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Feeling a bit blue this week with no Bella to greet me when I come home. Everybody who knew her has been sorry to hear that she has gone. Here she is enjoying raceday from our Scotsman's grandstand. I've taken her tins of dogfood out to the SPCA and as we didn't have her cremated was able to give them a good donation. We had thought of having her cremated at $150 and sprinking her over the vineyard, but then I would have been unsettled when they start digging it up next year.
One thing that hasn't left us has been the rain, although it has lifted today so I hope I can get my roses pruned. That was a favourite spot for Bella to stash her bones and she loved going back to them weeks later and having a good old gnaw.

Went to the school play "A tale of Two Cities" this week. It was brilliant. The only problem is that because there is no back stage area to the hall, all the props must be carted in from a nearby classroom which makes the scene changes very long. We were asked to be there at 7.15pm and I didn't get home until 1/4 to 12.

Fortunately this was just the length of time that the English cricketers needed to beat the Aussies, so Duncan had a late night too.

Having people from The school's head office this week so I had better do some lesson plans. Duncan is having his annual frame sale, so they are very busy.

Oops, here comes the rain again.

Girls on the go

Millies new clothes courtesy of grandma.

While Duncan and Alex met at the goal mouth at the Oval, us girls went shopping. Millie is very obliging, and while I am trying on things she will strike poses infront of the mirror and check out fabrics on the rack. Jill left us while she went to a meeting and after lunch we waited outside the bank at the Gardens in North East Valley. Jill rang to say she was on her way to pick us up at 1.35pm and at 1.45pm the bank was robbed!!! We weren't so lucky when it came to the earthquake the following night. It went on and on, and so finally we got the kids out of bed and took them under the solid kitchen table. Alex barely woke up, but Millie was quite concerned, but at least she knew the drill - Act Like a Turtle. We had a fantastic night at Plato, one of Dunedin's acclaimed restaurants. Jill phoned ahead to see if we could get half portions, but when we arrived they offered fish (in tempura batter) and chips. Even though I am not very fond of fish this was gorgeous. OK OK so I was sitting next to Millie and just had to try this out.

Jill and Millie do "cats craddle"

We had a lovely card from the Vet in sympathy for Bella dying and this has settled me down. Even though I am in theory in favour of euthanasia I still had nagging doubts about putting Bella down. Of course, all futile as the vet was very sure that she couldn't be saved, only we could find out what had killed her, although the vet was very sure it was old age and catatrophic failure of organs. Will see if the vineyard sells, if not we will get another dog.