The dancer within...

I wanted to dance. So I signed up for a class. Somehow all of that ended up with me in a red sequin dress that was way higher than mid thigh, and fishnets. Good fun though, even with the nervous pees that occured before going on stage each time (4 shows!!).

Cat food conundrum...

Here's Eddie. Today. With one of the two birds she gifted us.

And we have had birds before and rats, and secada's (little fly like bugs) and weta's (horrible crawly insects with lots of legs).

But we have never had a fish brought to us, and left on our doormat. Nor have we had chicken with vegetables.

So why is all the food for cats, not actually food that real cats hunt out and kill? Are we really a society that panders to delicacies for our cats, like we do for ourselves? Is there anything really wrong about bird in a can for my cat? Hmmmm.

A catch up

Some pics from recent days. I never did get a chance to get more photos from the trip home in September. Might do that soon. I have truly hit the ground running ever since the plane landed and this has just been a crazy few weeks. Lucky my job has such good holidays and I will be chilling out in just over 4 weeks!
We have two new calves in the next door neighbours farm block, Smudge and Socks (named for where the patch of white fur is on their chocolate brown body). Very cute.

Carl and Denise were here this weekend for the 12hr MTB race in Wellington. Denise and I had some great time to catch-up and because the race was only 12 hours and no one had to sleep over night, they didn't need us as Camp Mom's to manage the team. We went shopping instead and had a nice lunch on the Wellington waterfront. Denise is 7 months pregnant (I think) and is looking very cute with her big belly and skinny legs. The boys came 2nd in their race. Same place as last year and most of Bryce's last few team endeavours. Says he feels like a bridesmaid, again and again. I remind him that maybe he should really train and take it seriously and the results may be more pleasing. But the worry about that is if they all truly train then they will have no excuse if they don't win, again!

Last Tuesday, B and I went down to Wellington for the Under 17 World Cup Soccer game at the stadium. It was awesome, and awesomely freezing as well! We were fully rugged up in down jackets and toques (beanies) and enjoyed hot chocolate instead of beer. New Zealand played great and scored 3 times against Columbia, who only scored once. Fascinating game and it was true sporting prowess to see the girls get fully tripped or crashed into but instead of pulling a "Hollywood" like every male pro player, the girls just jumped back up again and played on.


Another exciting event that occured was the Junior Vball tournament, where my team came 1st place. They are travelling to the National competition in December (half of the reason why I am so busy) as the first junior team from our school ever to go. Pretty cool. That night a bunch of us teachers went out to watch the rugby game, and celebrate, and ended up making quite the night of it all. Ended up at a bar which had shadow boxes. These are translucent screens beside the DJ booth with a spotlight highlighting the person who is dancing behind the screen. From the dance floor, it is just a silhouette dancing and could be quite sexy, I guess. Probably not so much when we got up there. Fun anyway though!


So I am off to bed now, after eating dinner at 10pm. Par for the course these days. But I think I am finally over the Canadian cold/flu I had! AND the weather today was gorgeous. Super sunny and just gorgeous when I headed to the beach at lunch and could see stunning Kapiti Island and the South Island in the distance. Not bad living in the middle of the Pacific.

From Home to Home....

Had a great trip. Super tired, but wanted to get some pics up first before I crash.
Will tell more stories of trip soon.

Some old pics...

Found these on the computer at my parent's office. Not sure why I scanned them all in or what project I had been working on, but they were cute to see again. And man, what a bruise. It's been along time since I haved bruised like that. Been a long time since I have fallen or walked into something too, I guess. This particular bruise came from the crash aluded to in the first photo, when Bryce and I took a toboggan run a bit too quick, on a GT racer (pictured), which is designed for 1 or 2 children, or 1 adult. Not 2 adults, at lightning speed. Needless to say, the ridge on the back of the GT seat made a lovely 'impression' on me.



Me and Laurie - looking forward to seeing Laurie and her new son Baron on this trip. Laurie and I flatted in university together.

The girls, many years ago. This was the before picture. The "hors dervez" picture was the after picture. (not in this selection of photos, but funny funny night)

Another university photo with Kate, Me, Juls and Katie

The holiday has begun...

It's sunny. That's enough of a treat, but you add in seeing friends and family and enjoying Mom's cooking and Clamato and I am a happy little girl.

Arrived on Friday in BC to stay with Grandpa and Joan for the night. It was great to see them; they both look really good. Grandpa didn't miss a beat on the whole drive to and from the airport and around town. Well, maybe one red light that we almost went through, but Joan quietly reminded him about. But otherwise, he is the best, safest 89 1/2 year old driver I have ever seen. Put a lot of worries at ease for me.... : )

We went out to the Boathouse for dinner with my Uncle Bob and Aunt Lynette to celebrate their birthdays, Grandpa and Joan's anniversary and my visit. The Boathouse is a beautiful restaurant on the water in Horseshoe Bay where people catch the ferry across to Vancounver island. It's a very picturesque setting with tall rock walls that go up away from the trees, and a marina right beside the restaurant. Yummy steak and seafood meals too and 'fat as' wine glasses, which suited us just fine!

We went and visited my cousin Janet and her kids Zach, Rachel and Nathan after that and enjoyed some more family catchup time. Zach just had his bar mitsvah weekend and we saw all the photos from the huge event. I had not seen the family in over two years. The kids were all so much bigger and fully into soccer season here. Vancouver seems to have some nice soccer fields to play on. Everything is being renovated and cleaned up to make the city look good for the world to see it when the Olympics come in 2010.

Grandpa and Joan and I had a great Tim Horton's breakfast on Saturday morning and then went off to search for a rain jacket for Daisy (their Lhasa Apso dog). Daisy was not a fan of the one we picked out, which was a cute little down type vest, but Joan said Daisy will come around to it. They have other little jackets for Daisy, and Daisy wears them with pride so maybe the fashion will just have to wear in.

I left for Toronto soon after and was quite proud that I held back my tears. Decided to be hard this trip and not a softy. Lasted well too, until today, when I had to say good bye to Robyn, after a long day chatting here with her. We only had this one day to hang out between her trip back from Austria with her Mom cycle touring, and her flying back to Canmore. Great day though, with lots of sunshine and shopping. The way a holiday should be!

Sarah came to visit me after church yesterday and we got to catch up as well. Looking foward to seeing how big her daughter has grown since December.

So not sure exactly what the next few weeks hold for me; lots of family visits for sure, and catching up with friends. And getting sunshine, and running. Lots of Clamato's and lots of running. Oh, and Mom's ceaser salad. And..... : )

Nice day for a ride

Today, we had our first totally sunny day on the weekend for the first time this winter! It was awesome. Breakfast on the front deck, jandals, shorts, and a mountain bike ride up on the escarpment to make sure we caught all the views. We could see the snow-capped mountains in the South Island, as well as some of the South Island's coast that comes up almost beside Kapiti which we can see well on a good day. We had a great view of Kapiti Island (which you can see in the background of the pic of me on the bike). Glorious Day! Winter is finally leaving us, and good riddance!

Our first roast

We did it. We finally grew up and made our very own roast dinner. We thought about it all day and planned things out ahead of time so everything was finished at the same time, and we even invited friends (Brent and Clare) over to make sure we put our full effort into it. And it was good! Besides a wee mishap with the gravy, I don't know what we were so worried about. I always thought roasts were a huge deal, but they are super easy, its just the clean up after with all the dishes that was the hardest part!
Looking forward to more culinary exploration......

Some cute pics....
Here is Tim and Zoe, asleep, and proving that genetics is not a farce.


And here is our Li'l Eddie. So cute. So fat and lazy. But we love her!


On to the start of another busy week. Volleyball season is back on, exams, Canada trip at the end of this week and heaps to do before I go. At least I haven't got the "bug" that everyone seems to be getting. I sure hope I stay healthy until I can get at least one cuddle with each of Maire, Raelen, Asher, Abby, Annalise, Max, Zoe, Laurelle, Baron, Jada and Kyla (all the babies I want to see while I am home). And Mom and Dad of course!

Hen's Party

We went to our friend Cindy's hen's party last weekend. This involved a 1 hr belly dancing lesson, with 20 or so women between the ages of 16 and 60(?). It was great fun, better than I had expected. We first had to place our hands on the hands on the woman in the circle beside you, and then using your hips, spell your name. She taught people with dots in their names how to be demure, but hip thrust forward to accentuate the dot in their name. Quite funny! I volunteered to be the groom, for one segment of the lesson. Little did I know that the teacher ("Moon Jelly") and Cindy were going to do a seductive dance for me, while I sat in a chair. Never would I have had a woman do that for me before, I must say. Cindy and I have had some giggles about it since then!
Back at Cindy's place, we had a feast, and lots of bubbles (champagne) and played some games (as you do). One of the games was a classic NZ children's party game called the Chocolate game. I had never played it before though, and as it involved chocolate, we were all keen. You had to roll a dice and if you rolled a six, you had the opportunity to put on all the clothing in the middle (a boa, fairy wings, and two gloves) and then use a knife and fork to eat a block of chocolate, BEFORE the next 6 is rolled by someon else. The panic really sets in, because as women, we don't often get offered chocolate, and then get it taken away from us, just before we are allowed to eat it. Some of the girls were eating the chocolate off the floor as it had fallen and it was difficult to pick it up with a gloved-up hand and fork. And chocolate off the floor is still chocolate and not to be wasted!!
Fun night: some shameful karaoke at the end and lots of dancing, but a really fun time.
In the pics, Clare, Charlotte, Kim, Michelle and me

Li'l All Blacks

Today we went to visit some of Bryce's family and got a chance to see his 2nd cousin (?) Henry play rugby. Henry is 7 and Cushla had said he was one of the youngest on the team. It was a much more skilled game than I thought we were going to see, considering their age. They had "proper" scrums, lineouts and even some super hero, leap in the air trys to score. Very cute.
Henry is number 9 and was a great player. Very focused and a super tackler. Here's a picture of him at the end. His mom Rachel said that he would not be in the bath till later in the day. Not by her choice, but he just loves being dirty and we saw the esteem he held around the big rugby boys later, with having lots of dirt on him.


The picture below shows Henry and an opponent (with barefeet,of course) fighting for the ball.

Head butting teenager- the latest update

So, we got a letter. Actually we got a phone call from the police first to tell us a meeting of her whole family and lots of agencies were meeting with "HER" to help her rehabilitate to a proper citizen who doesn't head butt strangers. Then today, we got the apology letter she wrote. Man, there was some shocking grammar, spelling, not alot of thought process...or flow, but a nice gesture, I guess.
If you would like the low down on what the letter actually said, I'll let you know, but not in a public forum like this. I do believe that the police are doing all they can to make her make amends for her rash stupidity, but it's hard not to criticize when she obviously behaves like this for many reasons than just her being an "evil unruly teenager". I did like the addition to the letter that was addressed to me, "I am so sorry for making your female partner affaid and making her scared. You both should really visit our town again. After all, there are alot of excellent people staying here including myself."
The giggle we had was retribution enough. Surely that doesn't make us evil, does it?

Grandma/Grandpa Party

So, this past weekend we were home for the first time in 3 weeks. How great it was! We spent the day doing some much needed gardening and stacking some free firewood we got after giving some labour to a farm who needed lots of wood gone, after the big wind storm from 3 weeks ago.
On Saturday night, we were invited to Michelle and Nathan's house for a house re-warming/birthday party that was a Grandpa/Grandma theme. It was awesome to see everyone's outfits because everyone got into the theme of it. Crazily enough, Michelle's outfit was so good she actually didn't look like she was wearing a costume at all. I can see her looking like that as an old teacher one day! (Just kidding Biggs!)

Bryce and I, looking ahead to the Year 2043:


So Bryce and I went to the Salvation Army and got some "cool" nana duds. Bryce got a plaid engineers hat and plaid suit jacket. I bought a turquoise blue 2 piece suit, with lapels and shoulder pads. The skirt was a size too small. It's amazing how after a glass of wine, wearing a skirt that is only partially zipped up isn't such a big deal.
Enjoy the pics. It was such a fun night!

John and I, "In my day, we didn't have schoooool buses, or cars! We had to walk to school, uphill both ways. That's the way it was, and we liked it!"


Grandma Kim Kelly - but in the car with my cellphone camera - not a good mix


THE BAHAMA CRESCENT REST HOME - not everyone that was at the party, but a good overview of what it looked like with all of us as old fogies


Michelle Biggs - aka, the best costume for real life resemblance... to an old teacher


Clare - enjoying the old woman bra, with old woman breasts


Clare with me, enjoying the comfort of her old woman breasts


Clare - getting her old groove on (before she busted her hip, that is)


Don't mess with the geriatric crew. We'll waste you.


Kim, John and Bryce

On another note, I have truly enjoyed watching the Olympics. B and I have been glued to the TV every night, and on most occasions been caught yelling and cheering on the athletes from our lounge. I think that having so much sport on TV is just fabulous and wish it came around more than every 4 years. Quite sceptical about the Jamaican success in the track events though. Can't help it. I am putting money on them being "juiced". Mind you, I would rather find out they had some amazing unusual training regime instead, which made them stand out so far amongst the rest of their competitors.
Super impressed with all the sports, especially Synchronised Diving, Gymnastics (every event) and the 10km swimming marathon. Who swims for 2 hours? Like, seriously? What is up with that?
Volleyball is still by far the greatest event at the games, but I must admit, I am thrilled to be watching any sport when you know you are seeing the best people in the world competing at that event. It doesn't get much better. Except when they are on the trampoline....and they fall. And only because I have been yelling, "fall, fall, fall" at the screen. That is always better than any gold medal.

2 week catchup...

How dare I leave the blog unchanged for two weeks? Shame on me. So I will make it up to you with funny pics.
First off, I am going home to Canada for a well deserved family visit to meet the newest Knights: Zoe and Annalise. They will be almost 2 months old before I get a cuddle so hopefully they will be well out of their "puke on their aunt" phase. (I can hope, can't I?)
Second, Two weekends ago we went up to Ruapehu again for a ski weekend with Carl, Denise and some friends of theirs. They had booked a great chalet, which was an A-frame style house with a cosy fireplace, a warm shower and bedrooms upstairs right above the fireplace so that the rooms were stinking hot at night. Nice though, considering it was snowing lightly outside.
So Bryce and Carl got a big day snowboarding in on Saturday, while the ladies stayed back at the chalet, chilled out, went for a run, and then went up and watched a snow competition on rails up on the mountain. Denise and I also partook in a little bit of "bum-sledding" on any slope we could find. Great fun.
The next day, we decided we were going to spend the next day toboganning so we bought some small slide on bum toboggans that you sit on, with the handle that goes between your legs. We had a great time and because you are up high on the mountain/volcano, there was a lot of powder. I have never sledded in powder. It was awesome, but super cold when it blew all over your face from sliding through it all.
Bryce had got a tummy bug late Saturday night and felt pretty sick after almost fainting in the chair lift lineup on Sunday, so he cut the ski day short and we headed back home pretty early. And No, no 14 year old girls caused us any trouble this time, which has nice.

Weekend in Vegas

Another weekend away, another long drive on both Friday and Sunday (5 hours each way), but another whole suitcase full of memories as well. Good to be getting away after being homebodies for a month or two. Mind you, being at home for a weekend is looking pretty appealing now.

So, we drove up to Roto'vegas' on Friday, amidst lots of rain and bad kebabs and stayed with Mark and Rachel for the weekend. They were on call for the entire weekend, so our visit was complete with great vet stories about delivering calves with arms up the cow's backside up to Mark's shoulder, and about twisting uterus' around to deliver twin calves. It is always great to reflect on your own job and how the problems of unruly teenagers are still always preferable to me than putting my entire arm up the backside of a bovine. Although, we are looking at alterior discipline strategies at the school....maybe I should pass on the suggestion....I'm sure the threat of it would cause some behaviour changes!

Anyway, I digress. The most amusing vet story/situation I encountered this weekend was when Mark and Rachel were both busying around getting their vehicles ready for their next call-outs and they were discussing how they need to go back to the clinic for some lube. Silly of me to picture a small, toothpaste size tube of lube for delivering a cow. Instead, I was shocked to see that the amount of lube they use in these deliveries is carried in a plastic milk-type carton, that must hold about 10L of the stuff. Ewwww......so impressed with them though. MArk and Rachel I mean, not the lube jars.


So we had a rainy weekend, AGAIN. But we at least were in Rotorua, so we had great sulphur stench all weekend, along with a fun ride for Rod and Bryce, an AllBlacks vs Australia game to watch at the pub, great cooking from MArk and Rachel, lots of cafe visits with Rod and Donal and a visit to see that Maureen's tree is looking strong and healthy once again. Oh, and I also ran a half marathon.


The race started in lots of rain. Cold. I was wearing mitts. Didn't want to get out of the car. But finished in 2 hours 13 minutes. Same time I did at this race last year, with not as bad weather and surely a more severe headwind on the last 5Km that we had last year.


On the drive home, we came across some flooding on the highway. With my fancy new phone I captured some of the water shots from the car. This country has gone from drought in some areas, to serious erosion, mud slips and floods in the same areas, all in one year! Blessed to not have had those problems with our town. And our house. Our main house problem right now is that only 5 out of 6 of our cauliflower seedlings have started growing. Life is good!

Oh and I got to meet (over Skype) my new niece Zoe the other morning. Big baby, but still soooo tiny!