Foggy Saturday Morning

Saturday morning at this time of year means Hockey.  Both the Wee Girl and the Man Child play.  There's one thing you need to know about hockey, it's never cancelled.  Rain, hail or shine, hockey is always on and today was no different, in spite of the fog.

The WG had a game at 10:30 thankfully just down the road at the local high school the MC attends.

The MC had a game for his club at 2pm today, during the week he plays for the school in the first 11, he has practice twice a week for school, a game on Wednesday and then another practice Thursday evening for the club with a game on Saturday.

Some of the WG's games are played away, which generally means a trip to another school across town.  A couple of weeks ago we had to be in Mt Roskill for a game at 9:30am then back to West Auckland for a marimba recital at a local festival by 11am.  It was tight!

Today though, it was just the two hockey games, some hours apart.  Did I mention the fog? Those buildings are right across the road from the field but they were only just visible at 10am when we arrived.

The WG plays 8 a side and on half of the turf.

Here she is with her pink hockey stick on attack.  She played the first half on defense.

Unfortunately it was something of a whitewash, the opposition won by 4 goals to 1.

I remember when those shorts she's wearing hung down around her knees and there was barely any skin to be seen between the top of her socks and the bottom of her shorts.  4 years later and she looks a lot bigger.

And here is the MC, playing in the 3rd Division Men's team.  He's 15 and playing guys in their 20's, 30's and my age!  The guy who is tackling him in that shot, is a former Olympic player, he played for NZ.

The MC holds his own with the older players and he's bigger than some of them.  That astounds me.  Although he is taller than me, I still think of him as my child.  Seeing him taller than men with facial hair, well it's something of a shock.

As you can see he got around the former Olympic player.

We came home around 3.30 having been at the hockey turf for the better part of the day.

The WG is doing the 40 hour famine too, so she has been shoveling back Barley Sugars and Just Juice.  She's given up food, technology and talking!  It's been a quiet 20 hours so far.

Fire and stuff

I happened to be out an about with the hubs yesterday about 1pm when the pager went off.

The hubs covers a vast area of West and North Auckland when on call, the rural fire district can also be quite isolated.  Which is how we ended up at Matakana.  Luckily (well not really we plan it this way) the kids were at home and are old enough to look after themselves.

All I had to do was keep out of the way and not bother anyone, luckily I carry my camera around with me at all times and a couple of lenses.  We arrived at the scene of what was described as a scrub fire on a hill side around 2pm and got home after 8pm.

I had my telephoto lens and I am used to keeping out of the way and quiet.  Learned it going to work with my Dad as a nipper.

I just wished I'd had my crochet with me as well as my camera.  Anyway, that was my Easter Sunday!

Diversions

Happy Good Friday!

The fruits of yesterdays labours, an Easter bunny to go with my eggs.  The Wee Girl loves the egg cozy I made her and when she sees her new egg cup she's going to be in heaven.

I got the bunny from ravelry kind of.  When I say kind of, I adapted it.  The pattern does the bunny in two parts, but I was on a roll, so I carried on just like Kate does with the Easter eggs, I increased another row and then decreased to the bottom.

He's a cutie for sure and the WG is going to love him.  My first stuffed toy.

I'm dead chuffed with myself.

Hopefully the Wee Girl will be in a better mood in the morning.  She was fearfully grumpy with her father tonight, she's usually a total Daddy's Girl but tonight she and her Daddy were at odds and I became the somewhat unwilling recipient of her attentions.

She wouldn't talk to her Dad, she sat on the arm of my chair and gave all her attention to me.

Nice as it was to have all the cuddles and kisses, the foot massage was to die for and she was so into me that she actually considered learning to crochet for a nano second. Unfortunately it made me feel as if I was in the middle of her argument and I had to tell her it isn't nice to use people that way.  She denied it, but I saw the understanding and the flash of guilt so it's a lesson well learned for her.

So now I totally need to get my butt to bed so that I can get up and make hot cross buns and do all the family things.

If it's not Good Friday quite yet for you, have a wonderful day when it arrives.

Big Weekend up North!

We left Auckland around 4:30-5ish on Friday night.  6 adults, 4 children, 1 dog and 3 cars traveling in convoy.  Considering the sheer logistics and that we left in the middle of Auckland's notorious rush hour, we made good time and arrived in Kaitaia at 10pm having stopped for dinner in Kawakawa.

Because Little Brother didn't really remember how to get there, he insisted that he maintain middle position.  To facilitate communication we had walkie talkie radios.  The communications between cars was nothing short of hilarious!  We rolled out of Auckland blasting that old song "convoy" on the stereo and arrived at the parents home blasting it as we rolled through the gate.

Party day was Saturday, we were up at sparrow fart, bacon and eggs for 18 people cooked by the hubs on the bbq.  Oldest brother (that's him on the far right with the grey hair) lives up there across the road from the 'rents, he'd sacrificed a hogget (older than a lamb, smaller than full grown cutting it's 2nd set of teeth) for the spit.  First the fire was built on a couple of sheets of corrugated iron, while it burned down to coals, he and his other half C went into Pukepoto to retrieve the hogget from the chiller where it had been hanging.  

The Hubs (2nd from right), middle brother (on the far left) little brother (not shown) and the boys (the man child and my nephews) stoked the fire and rebuilt it until they got back.  We ladies watched and critiqued their technique.  That's the man child in bright blue, hanging with the men.

Just before lunch, the coals were deemed coaly enough, the beast was spitted and the spit moved over the hot coals.  It was laced with huge branches of rosemary, basted and seasoned.  The spit motor was plugged in and the turning began.

We had lunch, cold meats, salads and fresh bread.  Then we made preparations for ladies punch, oh what a punch we made! Lots of ice, fruit juices and a judicious amount of spirit.  The men had their beer, the stereo was on and we sat chatting while the menfolk kept an eye on the main course.  We ladies noted that had we roasted a leg of lamb in the oven, we wouldn't have sat around the oven window watching it cook, but the menfolk pooh poohed us.

Bored with watching the round and round action of our dinner, we decided it was time to give the Patriarch his gift.  Toasts made, speeches spoken and gift unwrapped, we made preparations to serve the dinner which had cooked to a turn!

Having primed ourselves with 3 very good meals, we settled in for a convivial evening of song, conversation and mirth.  A wonderful evening followed with lots of fun and we all went to bed at 1am having set our clocks back for daylight saving ending Sunday 3am, making it midnight again.

Brothers...

Yesterday morning was hectic, my brother's ship berthed at 0915.  We had to get the kids to school and get ourselves into town during rush hour.

Out the door at 8am, drive the Man Child and his enormous hockey bag full of sticks, shin pads and prized uniform far enough away from school that nobody sees him being dropped off, but close enough that he doesn't have to hump the whole kit and caboodle too far.  It's a fine balance being the mother of a teenaged boy!

Back up the hill to the WG's friends house to pick her up, oh and her Mother wants a ride to the local pony club so she can do her volunteer work with the disabled, ugh, in a hurry but how can I refuse some poor little disabled kids their weekly ride?  Drop the girls at their school (by now it's 8.30) back up the road, around the corner and drop friends Mum to Pony Club.  Finally we are on our way!

On the Motorway I amuse myself by taking pictures out the window while the hubs makes dire predictions about our ability to get to the wharf in time...

Traffic is moving, stop/start but moving.  I am serene...

Look how calm the water is!  There is a fine mist over the harbor and that's Pt Chevalier, so we are closer and still moving.  I remain indifferent to the hubs predictions of disaster.

Just as we are getting off the motorway, I get a text from Little Brother, they're off and at Shed 23.  I text back that we are mere minutes away.  And we were, 5 minutes later my LB is hugging the stuffing out of me and I am fighting back tears of joy that he's here hugging me.

We stop at the Wynyard Quarter for coffee and a catch up.  Last year when he was here bringing his fiancé and their respective children to see us (2nd marriage they have 1 boy and 3 girls between them, the eldest is 11 soon) the Wynyard Quarter was still being constructed.

On a walk about the hubs and bro found this incredibly exciting:

I don't know if it's a boat car or a car boat?

We headed out to Middle Brother's house and once we were together we called our Father to wish him a happy 70th birthday.  Then we set about planning the execution of our trip to Kaitaia.  We plan to travel in convoy, there is food to buy and the discussion about exactly what food to buy were extensive!  LB is a butcher so meat was paramount to him, it's got to be quality and he couldn't see the issue with having a spit roast lamb dinner following a roast beef sandwich lunch.  To him it's a completely different beast, to us it's two lots of roasted meat in a row...

The beer was flowing, the conversation wide and varied and we sat chatting until I realized it was 9pm, half an hour past the WG's bedtime.

Autumn Storms

That's the shade cloth over the deck.  Not a lot of use for it the past two days with the crazy wet weather we've had.  At least it's not cold, but that isn't stopping Cassie Cat from fighting for space on my lap as I try to crochet.  She's determined that she must come inside all wet, with nasty cold paws and dry off on me.

My African Flower scarf is all but completed, but I'm taking a break from it briefly to make a basket to take up to Kaitaia next week when the family gathers to celebrate my father's 70th birthday.  I first saw it on Pintrest, the Ombre Basket by Crochet in Colour.  Mine is monochromatic, inspired by Aunty Mum's blanket.  Black, grey and white.  It's coming together quickly with a size 7mm hook and two strands of 8 ply crocheted together.

Here's hoping these weather systems will pass before we head North.  We're lucky in that the last major flooding where my parents live on the Hokianga happened during Cyclone Bola in 87, the rest of Northland hasn't fared so well this week with everything North of Whangarei being isolated by slips, downed trees and flooding.  There's always a chance of getting stuck up there when weather like this happens.

The past 3 Months

Looking back over the past 3 months (give or take) since I began this little blog, I've had some adventures!


Over 800 views: Which surprises me.  I don't count, but blogger does.  It's amazing, incredible to me that people have looked my little project over 800 times.  I'm currently searching for some free software for my macbook that will help me to  position photographs in a more aesthetically pleasing way.

I've travelled: Twice by air, once by boat and many times by car.  I've driven to Whangarei twice, took a boat trip to Waiheke.  Flown to Christchurch and Wellington.  Not bad really for such a short time period. I've seen the devastation of earthquakes, the seat of Government and basked in the Northland sun.

I've made: Bags, Blankets, headbands, bracelets, flowers, wallets, pencil cases and stepped well outside my comfort zone to make a work of art for the Wee Girl.

I organized: my kitchen cabinets and drawers!  In a fit of domesticity, I lined my cabinets with pretty blue and white spotty wallpaper, sorted, cleaned and put away in a coherent order.  So exhausted was I by this task that I have failed to do the same with my plastics cupboard yet.  I actually dread opening that cupboard full of containers and lids but I vow to complete this before I commence the annual Autumnal clutter bust.

I've photographed, devastation: beautiful scenery, animals, children and so much more.

And I thought I lived a fairly mundane existence!  Speaking of which, it's time to get the Wee Girl from School!

An afternoon in Wellington

My trip to Wellington was something of a whirlwind.  I had an 8am flight, the shuttle picked me up at 6:30am, despite the notorious traffic of Auckland city, it took about 25 minutes to get to the airport.  The weather in Auckland was damp, grey and humid.  It was a good flight, 40 minutes in total and the Wellington weather was a balmy 20 degrees, and for once, no wind!

We got a cab to the building we were working in and jumped straight into testing the new software, stopped for lunch and carried on till 5pm.  Then we walked to our hotel and checked in.  With me was one of the Auckland staff I manage and one from Christchurch.

I had promised the Wee Girl I would take a pic of Parliament for her.  So I changed into my comfy clothes and walked up Lambton Quay.

It took about 20 minutes.  Lambton Quay was busy with people walking, Wellingtonians have wonderful public transport so they walk a lot, too and from buses and trains.

The bottom of the map is my starting point, the Hotel Ibis on Featherstone.

Lambton Quay is a pretty walk, full of sculpture and places to sit, places of historical interest and shops!  Some of the most exclusive designers have a store on Lambton Quay.  Trelise Cooper, Country Road and luxury stores like Kirkcaldie and Staines.



The Beehive (so named because of it's distinctive appearance) was opened in the 1970's by HRH Princess Ann.  It houses the executive wing of Parliament and the National Crisis Management Centre (known as the Bunker) in the basement.

This was my first view of the Beehive, I have to say it does look impressive.

Below is the old house, this is where the government sits when it's in session.  A tv news crew were filming on the steps.  The pinkish building to the right is the Parliamentary Library.  The Statue in front is Richard (King Dick) Seddon our longest serving PM to date and regarded as one of our finest leaders.

All in all it was a pleasant wander.  I had dinner in the hotel restaurant with Alesha the other Aucklander and we decided to wander the waterfront until dark to walk off the meal.  Then it was a shower and bed for another day of work.

I got home at 6:15pm last night, to the Wee Girl waiting for me at the gate, a valentines gift of a pair of earrings from the husband and the man child grunting a welcome home.

Some more images of Wellington:

The Albatross fountain, with bubbles for Valentines Day

Wellington Harbour

Westpac Stadium aka "The Cake Tin"

Off on a quick trip

It's 5am and I'm getting ready to be picked up by the shuttle service.  I'm off to Wellington for work.  The Wee Girl is not very happy about the prospect of my being away, despite it only being for a night.

I'm packing my camera, Wellington has some wonderful kinetic sculptures and I've promised the WG that I will walk up Lampton Quay to get a picture of the Beehive if I can.

Here is the inspiration for my next blanket, blue and white porcelain.

I'm still working away on my top but I need something that I can mindlessly crochet, something that requires less thought than shaping.  Something that is familiar, soothing at the end of a busy day.

I'm saving my top for days off when I can give it my full concentration.

In between I entertain myself with little things for the wee girl, bracelets, purses etc.  She's coming home to a vast collection of little things I've made whilst she's been away, living it up on the farm with her grandparents and brother.

Here is the beginnings of it.  23 rows of trebles so far.  This is pick up and put down.  I have yet to decide where it will be utilized, probably on the sofa this winter.

I finally realized it's ok to have more than one project at a time on the go.  So long as they all get finished eventually.

Pintrest has been a pleasant diversion and an inspiration, the bracelet was inspired by the wrap bracelets I have seen there but I made the pattern up myself and I feel inordinately proud of my first wholly my own creation.

Monday was my birthday.  It's been many years since I had a birthday without the kids around.  The husband was mine for the day, I had his undivided attention, he handed off his pager and turned off his phone.  To tell the truth, it was the best gift I got, having my husband all for me.  It's easy to forget how much time and energy children take.

My darling found me this beautiful watch, isn't it elegant? It's a watch for a lifetime this one.  It's not a fun,whimsical watch or even my usual practical watch.  It's a watch that says I feel like Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" today.  I'm elegant and classy.  It makes me feel pretty.

Back to my darling, who took me on a birthday adventure!  We went to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf.  We left the car in a park and ride carpark and caught the train to the city. Then we hopped a ferry to the island and hired a car.

We had so much fun!  Lunch in a cafe, we wandered the island on foot and in the car.  We went to the Stony Batter a world war 2 gun emplacement and explored the tunnels.

The ferry ride on the quick cat was the best part though.  It was gorgeous weather and I love a boat ride.  Our harbor and the gulf are gorgeous.  Here are some of the shots I took on my wonderful adventure.

Leaving Auckland

Onetangi Beach on the island

Looking out toward the Coromandel Penninsula

Sheep on the road to Stoney Batter

Heading home

I had the best birthday a girl could ever want, the undivided attention of my handsome husband, exploring unknown parts with him and talking, so much talking.

I love summer!

Back to work

My parents called the other night and asked if they could keep the children for another week.  At that stage they'd only been there 2 days.  We agreed they could stay, even though I will be missing having them here on my birthday.

They are having awesome fun with their cousins and grandparents on the farm.  My wee girl finally has a girl cousin to keep her company, there are only 4 girls out of 11 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild, one is nearly 17 so not great fun for a 10 year old, more an object of worship than a playmate.  The one girl cousin she has lives in Australia with my brother and his family.  This is the first time my great niece has gone to stay and she's just 10 months younger than the wg.  It's a match made in heaven.  Good news on the horizon is my brother is marrying his girlfriend this year and she brings two more little girls to the family to even up the male/female balance.

The hubs and I have been kicking around the house when we aren't working.  On our last day off together we went in to town to explore the Wynyard Quarter.  It's a new part of downtown Auckland, along the water front.  There's cafe's galore, a play ground and sea steps down to the harbor, very family friendly.  Just across the viaduct bridge you have the pre existing party central, night clubs, pricy restaurants etc. It was the place to be during the Rugby World Cup.

I haven't had much opportunity to crochet this week.  I am still working on the top and am just about to finish the second ball of bamboo cotton.  It's wonderfully soft and cool.  I'm about halfway up the back.  I shall post some more photos soon.  With the children away it's a wonderful opportunity for me to move things around and do some uninterrupted deep cleaning.

Meanwhile I have a very quiet home and I am looking forward to whatever surprise the hubs has in store for me on my birthday, he's taken the day off and I am on my rostered days off.

Live Fire Exercise

Have I ever mentioned my husband is a rural fire officer? Monday night is training and tonight they had a live fire exercise, live in that there was a real fire to fight.  I was invited along to take pictures to be used in recruiting and informational pamphlets.

These two were taken as everyone was packing up, I think they look suitably heroic for pamphlets.  I also got a lot of hoses and dams and other rural fire fighters doing their jobs.

The fire was a bit of a fizzier, we've had some rain this week and the brush collection although suitably large and brushy, wasn't as dry as it could have been.  None the less I did my best ...