Cricket ODI in Auckland

We set off on the 30th of Jan to go to the cricket in Auckland against the Pakistani. But not without a little drama. Kylie, our replacement hen was looking very sick and she seemed to have a very infected bottom. She looked like she was in a lot of discomfort. I advised Duncan he should google 'Wringing a chook's neck' . DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON GOOGLE. So next it was back to the shed to get the axe. Fortunately Kylie was so sick that she was quite docile as the axe was very blunt and several blows were required. Soon she was buried and we got on our way.

This is Kath. When Duncan is mowing the lawns he lets the chooks out. Kath strides right up to the door and peccks. Oh boy, this really freaks me out!! 

 First stop was a catch up with Barry and Liz who are looking well. Then to Simon and Jackie's for the night.
The grandchildren were in fine form. Theo said "Do you know what the biggest number is?" No, I replied truthfully. "A Billion and one" he proudly proclaimed. "What about a billion and two?" His eyes were as wide as saucers as he contemplated this. (almost as wide as when Duncan related the story of the blunt axe in gory detail!) "A billion and 3!" he triumphantly added. I tried "A billion and a hundred!" but NO he would not believe this was sensible at all!

Claudia's new tricks are lots more babbling sounds and kicking those podgy little legs when she lies in her bouncinet.



We left very early next morning and dropped the car at the motel and got the train which takes you right to Eden Park, so we were there very early. It was great to see a live game. - to see them throw their bodies about, and watch the ball fly off the bat. (Although for Mc Cullum this wasn't quite so thrilling!)

Boult opens the bowling.

The fielders are keen.

Guptill takes guard.

Guptill and McCullum return to the crease after Guptill hits a four.

The food and drinks were very expensive (for retired folk)  and when the rain break of about an hour happened we were reluctant to buy stuff as we had planned to go to a favourite Tapas bar in Newmarket after it finished. In the end we decided to go early. Duncan thought it might be a long wait for the train - but it came in two minutes, and soon we were sitting in a window seat enjoying our tapas and a bottle of Rioja (we went to this district in Spain) wine.
The trip back next day was long but we called in for a few more minutes of fun with the grandchildren.

Those chubby legs kicking away

Grandad - I'm watching Pepa Pig on TV. Keep out of the way.

The Old and the New

Preserving season is upon us.
When I got married Mum informed me that her best peach halves for dessert were done in a 1 cup sugar 2 cups water.
Other fruit was done 1: 2.5 cups.
Later in my marriage I started to do 1:3.
This year I have done my preserving 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water.
Will I be brave enough to try 1:5 next??

Nectarines are nice and easy to do because you don't have to peel them. I did 8 jars in all. The jars with the gold bands are mums old jars. She gave me some when I got married as the new design had come in. So they must be 50 years old at least. I prefer them to the newer model as they have a lip which means they are easier to grip. I even have some of her jars fashioned out of recycled beer bottles which apparently they used at the end of WW2 when getting clear glass was expensive.

Two years ago we had John and Jill Thurston to stay and Jill bought us some bottled Black Doris Plums. Duncan really liked them for a change, so we went and bought a tree. Today I harvested them and boiled them up (1:4 syrup). We had them with gingernut icecream and a Wooing Tree sweet rose (wine). This was after a pizza done on the Weber, using the left over beef roast that we did on the Weber last night. Very yum and not at all greasy.

My Wonderful Granddaughters

Aren't granddaughters great? On holiday Millie got all her makeup out and took me through it all. Its hard as an old person to keep up will all the trends. I was particularly taken with the vibrating mascara as my eye-lashes have got even shorter since chemo made them all fall out.

Then I did makeup for Millie - soft and subtle  mainly because I found it hard to define her cheekbones. We only had one hairclip for the hair so had to go for that soft tousled look.

The glamorous looking coat is actually Millie's Sheep onesie , but still she looks like a movie star.

Claudia reminds me of Jill as a baby.

I'm sure you can see some likenesses!!!!

Here's our happy Claudia playing with Grandad.

Happy days with my grandchildren!

Back to School

Starting retirement is like starting going to "Retirement School" I am in Year 1, and really don't know what its all about. Still I am trying lots of new things - Throwing out Junk is going reasonably well. I'm finding Gardening quite hard and quite boring, but Working on the Computers is fun. PE has been very varied - swimming on Monday, partial climb of Kaiti Hill on Tuesday, Aerobics with Fifties Forward - where Olwyn and I appeared to be the only ones able to keep up - on Wednesday. Swimming again on Thursday plus a couple of km walk with Olwyn, golf on Friday amd the long walk on Saturday.
Cooking was great fun this week as I got to make pasta for the first time.

The positioning of the hands and the machine took quite a bit of working out and as you can see I started off doing some tangled stuff.

And there were some small bits that fell off and a gentle haze of flour.

My report card said "Room for improvement"

But the taste of the finished product wasn't too bad.

OK now for week two.

Family Ties at a family wedding

Late November and we were off to Carla's wedding and one of our great pleasures was to see Claudia again. She seemed much brighter and happier than the previous week which was very reassuring. On the Saturday night we had a BBQ at the Motel and a picnic Omokoroa  Lunch before the wedding at Mill's Reef.

Mother and daughter - Jill and Millie - who is tallest????

Millie and Alex

Cousins at the wedding

Dave walks Carla up the Aisle - What a beautiful day it turned out after the forecast was so threatening!

The Bush Family

Carla and Craig say their vows.

The Haszard family

Simon taking fatherhood very seriously.

Uncie Jill takes a turn at holding the baby

What are those two plotting now??? Brother/sister you never lose it.

Carla and Craig cut the specially made Wedding cake.

Simon and Jackie discuss the day - and how much sleep they will get that night with Claudia

Lyn is thoughtful as Dave makes a speech on behalf of Carla's parents

 Uncie Jill gets more smiles.

Theo and Claudia snuggle down - yes another mischief brother and sister relationship is forged.

Fleetwood Mac

Many, many months ago Duncan booked us in to see Fleetwood Mac. I thought he had got a special deal through American express, but I thought it was cheap seats, but in fact it turned out to be very pricey seats, but the best seats in the house. We stayed Saturday night at Jackie and Simon's and then drove up to Auckland, staying at the Ibis which is walking distance  from the train station which gave us a quick trip to Mount Smart stadium.

The opening act was Angus and Julia Stone and you can see from the two pictures below the view we had of the stage, and the view of the big screen, so we had the best of both worlds

 The audience filled up as we moved onto the main act - lots of amazing graphics displayed behind the band but they were tricky to photograph.

Stevie Nicks with John Mc Vie behind

Christine Mc Vie

 Occasionally this was the only view we got - but they were a very nice family infront of us. The jeans belong to the mum - an aging rock chick with an enviable figure. The two 20 something daughters were altogether broader and taller.

 The centrepiece was Mick Fleetwood's drums

John Mc Vie

Mick Fleetwood

Stevie Nicks and John Mc Vie

Lindsey Buckingham did a lot of the vocals

What amazed us was that their were no hassles getting food, getting wine, going to the toilet or geetting the train home. A lady security person gave us a running comedy commentary as we filed quite quickly into the train which dropped us back in the station.

A throroughly enjoyable night! - and when I found out that John McVie and Mick Fleetwood  had started their music careers which John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers it all started to make sense!

We had a good run back to Gisborne  - the Te Puke Bypass makes a great difference.

By the sweat of his brow

One thing that Duncan likes to do is to work hard in his garden, and the results are often spectacular! This cauli for example fed seven families and we still have some lurking in the crisper.

The cabbage looks small by comparison, but it is still supplying us with many days of coleslaw along with the grated raw beetroot.

Another endeavour that Duncan enjoys is running, but it has not been so easy for him of late. However with two longish runs along the beach at Ohiwa as training he entered the Quarter Marathon, hoping to get inside his age in muinutes (ie 65mins for the 10.5 km run)

Once we had watched the World Cup win I was again thrust into the role of runner's supporter, carrying towels and jerseys.

The course is different to what it was in the old days - around the beaches and the bridges.

And right on cue he appeared - looking quite fresh - but apparently had struggled for a bit of the run. And the time? 65mins and 2 seconds. Thank goodness he is 65 1/2 years old.