New Friends, Old Friends.....

Quote for the Day:
"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
-Sutta Nipata, Buddhist

Another blustery spring day, complete with squally showers (I moonlight as a weatherman, didn't you know). The morning was spent with a new friend in the driveway for a few days:


as we wait for our car to be fixed at the panelbeaters. We also had a new friend visiting with Tramp for a bit - Tubby the Golden Retriever-Ridgeback cross:


Tubby came with his friend The Glazier, who came to fix the broken pane in our front door:


Old friends The Hargreaves came for a visit this morning and we all snuggled up in our bed in the afternoon to watch one of our favourite movies of all time: The Mask of Zorro ("Zorro, You Look Better Than Ever!" and "I am Going to Give You the Great Honour of Being My Horse").

It's All In The Beans.....

Today we "crashed" a birthday celebration (Barnyard at the movies and McDonalds for lunch) that A10 was attending. L8, H6, L4 and I sat well away from the "Big Boys" and enjoyed the movie no end.

We called in for a look at the new kittens at our mates place, and on the way stopped off at the Sunday Craft Market in town and bought this beautiful harakeke bouquet for another friends birthday.



This evening I'm laxing out watching some Sunday night TV - CSI: Miami. I'll have a chunk or two of Whittakers 62% Dark Cacao - a slightly sweeter alternative to our usual favourite - 72% Dark Ghana, and I'll be sipping on a brew from my much longed-for, stainless, Vev stovetop espresso pot - very Italian, darling!

Todays Beans: Fusion Tsunami

Nostalgia, Memories - and a Sharp Jolt Back to Reality.....

Music for the day: Retro with Talking Heads; and Blues, BOP-Style with Kokomo.

We were treated to a show today, a show of L8, H6 and their mate Jessica "doing" Kelly Clarkson. I always love an impromptu show, whether we're at home and we've broken into "30 Seconds of Fame" where we each do an item for 30 seconds off the tops of our heads, or we're at a family party and the singing and connecting comes to a halt as some of the kids are doing "A Show". You know, it doesn't seem like all *that* long ago that it was me and the cuzzies doing the party-stopping for one of our Shows.....



We went travelling yesterday to visit our dear friends Esther and family in Tokoroa. It was quite a nostalgic trip for me, having spent a good chunk of my growing-up years there. We went driving round the town as I pointed out friends houses, houses we'd lived in, especially the house that my Mum and Dad built in Tainui Street, schools, Brownie Halls, Churches, Pie Carts, etc.

I was all very floaty and misty as I drove off to our rendezvous point off Old Taupo Road, when all of a sudden some flashing blue and red lights snapped me back to reality, tout de suite! A $180 speeding ticket later - "Really, Officer? A 50kph zone you say? I can't recall seeing many signs, it's a pretty isolated country road we're on here, isn't it? Oh, and a $200 fine for no warrant? No, really, *you* have a nice day!!!!!!!!!"

"Hello, My name is Debbie and I'm a ....."

I thought I might try introducing myself and my tamariki before we get on to our days musings. I don't usually like many photos of myself but I *love* this one of Harold the Giraffe and I, taken at Orana Park in Christchurch. Luckily I do, because The Lad printed it on canvas at about 800x600mm and has it on the wall in the dining room.



The first addition to our wee whanau was A10, he spent an entire day in the shed with The Lad sawing, laminating, routering, sanding and oiling these pieces of Jarrah into a cutting board that he was rightfully *very* proud of in this photo taken last weekend.



Next came L8, she wanted her photo taken this evening with her hair freshly 'fluffed' out of her plaits of the last couple of days. She was learning how to make different putiputi at a friends house today, and she is holding them in this photo.



H6 spent a different day with The Lad in his shed sawing, hammering and sanding pieces of plywood into this fabulous birdhouse, she had a thrush take residence the very day they erected it which pleased her no end.




L4 - 4 as of last weekend, is the youngest person in our home and is pictured here blowing out his candles.



Put them all together, add the dog and a couple of the chooks and they look something like this:

For Starters.....

Maybe I'll start a blog, and maybe it'll be here. Maybe I'll suck, maybe I won't.

Will I start with how I flew through the air tonight at Indoor Netball and did an *awesome* intercept, only to come crashing down to earth - being the lithe, nimble wee thing that I am, land on my knees (with ball in hand, I might add) - only to be pinged for stepping! What an OUTRAGE! My team tried to protest on my behalf: "She didn't step! She crawled!" The team got six goals tonight in the entire half hour game. They were stoked, because last week they only got five.

Maybe I'll start with the amazing Breast Cancer Support Fun Run/Walk I participated in last night. The first time I've done it, and it was truly amazing - of course, the wine tasting at the halfway mark made the last leg fly by (we had to make sure that the minors amongst us didn't partake, so we absolutely *had* to drink, I mean 'taste', their share) and the sexy firemen handing out flowers as you crossed the finish line ensured you weren't too piqued looking! . The people that were there were *so* into the spirit of things, they were all dressed up in any manner of pink outfits with any manner of boobs and bras in every combination you could imagine, and then some! There was an 82 year old lady there who got a prize, she was wearing a sign that said "Having Fun - Minus One!" Obviously a breast cancer survivor and making the most of it. Next year I'm taking the whole family - although men are only allowed to participate if they are dressed in drag, as it is strictly a 'Women Only' event. I can't see The Lad dressing in drag in public (he may surprise me, so watch this space.....), so he might have the task of saving us a table at the pub for afterwards. Here's the gorgeous pink gerbera I received at the finish line.



Or shall I be as boring as sharing dinner with you - Halve that French Stick lengthwise, keeping it together, then slice it into four. Place all eight chunks on a grill tray, cut side up. Pluck the parsley and the chives from the windowsill and chop roughly, chop a few *large* cloves of garlic equally as roughly and combine all in a good couple of dollops of room temperature butter, spread the bread and place in the oven, ready to turn on after you have started the fish cooking. Into a bowl, throw fridge scraps and call it a salad - we had the baby spinach leaves left over from Paninis, a peeled and diced orange from the aunty's tree, some cucumber, some tomato, some shaved cumin gouda, a few olives and a vinaigrette (use the zest from the orange you peeled, some of the juice left on the chopping board, some of that gorgeous oregano olive oil and some tarragon vinegar to finish). Chuck into the toaster those crusts lurking in the bottom of the bread bags that nobody ever wants to eat (but nobody ever wants to chuck them out the window to the chooks either.....). While they are toasting, put a couple of tablespoons flour mixed with some freshly ground black pepper into a bowl, stir an egg with a teaspoon or so of water in another bowl, and when the crusts are ready chuck them in the blender with a few cornflakes and some lemon pepper, dip the halved (lengthwise) fish fillets (that you bought from the market on the way home) into the flour, the egg and then the crumbs and cook in the organic oregano-infused extra virgin olive oil you found in the specials bin at the vege shop (with the knob of leftover garlic butter thrown in for good measure). Turn on the asparagus pot and the grill for the bread, round up the whanau and have turns sharing "Three Good Things About My Day...." with each other round the dinner table.

Not bad for a first effort.