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Wellington, New Zealand
welcome to my corner of the blog world! i love step, boxing, zumba, scrapbooking, photography, watching movies, walking the hills of my suburb, my family, and life in wellington. take some time to have a look around and be sure to say hi!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Week in the Life: Saturday Words & Photos




i realise i haven't taken a picture of my bedside table this week, so take the opportunity today

so this is how i decide what book i'm going to read next:

- i'll see a post from a friend on Facebook
- or a picture on IG from someone that i may or may not be following
- or i'll ask my friends what they're reading
- or i'll read a blog post from someone that i may or may not be subscribed to

if a book piques my interest, i'll google it, then if i think i want to read it, i'll order it from mighty ape (New Zealand's answer/miniature version to/of amazon)

that's how i came to read "the girl on the train" (ali was reading it)
that's how i came to read "on the island" (kevin and amanda was reading it)

and that's how i'm now reading "Life after Life" by Kate Atkinson, although i can't for the life of me remember where i saw it!

SO - if you're reading this blog and you posted about this book within the last 2 weeks can you please put me out of my misery, so i can stop trying to remember?!

thanks!


it's a chilly start to the day, but it's ok, we're heading north and chasing slightly warmer temps!


some days this drive seems steeper than others
some days as i'm walking up the drive then walking up the steps, my glutes remind me that they got a workout the day or night before


2 unopened papers tells the story of a VERY busy week and no time at breakfast to linger over the daily news


see that laptop charger cable on the floor by the pink 'toolkit'?
that does my head in, although it doesn't annoy me nearly as much as when one of the kids was sitting further down the sofa (on the right) and needed THEIR laptop charged so would drag that cable over the back of the sofa (where i was sitting) and that damned cable would rest on the back of my neck!!!

i guess that doesn't happen anymore because Mikaela's laptop charges all day in her room while she's at work, and she doesn't bring it upstairs during the week.


today is 'housework day' but clean sheets is as far as we'll get because we're heading out of town for Clive's sister's 50th birthday party.


 it occurred to me recently that Clive and i have VERY different tastes in music, and in fact the ONLY music we both like, is kiwi music from the 70s and the 80s.  everything else he listens to i really can't stand: groove amada, his block-rockin' beats and house music that is so repetitious that after 20 minutes i want to poke myself in the eye.

i on the other hand, will pretty much listen to anything and tend to listen to top 40.

he knows i feel this way, by the way ;)

for me, i haven't really come to grips with how 'music' works since the last IOS update and my playlists are a little dated.  this is part of a playlist that we can both live with today, then for the rest of the trip we listen to my '50th birthday pre-speeches playlist'.

given that i'm now 52, you can see how out of date my music is, and i don't really know where to start to update it



 we take a slightly different route to the one we normally use when we're heading north
it occurs to me that Clive has probably ridden of MOST of New Zealand's roads and i ask him his favourite [for both islands].

 In the South Island it's State Highway 6. it runs all the way from Invercargill right up to Blenheim
In the North Island it's shorter stretches like "The ParaParas" and "The Gentle Annie" and some of the roads near Cape Reinga (in the far North).

today we're going through Woodville after passing through the Manawatu Gorge
the last time i was in Woodville was when we went on a steam train excursion
i was pregnant with Mikaela
she turns 19 in 2 weeks' time... 


i could poke around these stores for an hour or so after our stop for lunch, but you know men and road trips: "men don't want to stop for food; men don't want to stop for ANYTHING!!!"
we loves us some Jeff Foxworthy


saw this in the window of a curiosity shop in the main street
how cool is it?


before long we were in Wine Country (Hawkes Bay)


but we needed to make one more stop for a bottle (or two) of wine
my mum always says never arrive at someone's house empty-handed

i just loved this chalkboard (and the light for photos)


i left Clive in charge of tasting
(I'll pretty much drink any wine)


and then we arrived!

our accommodations for the night (far left)
it was NOT comfortable...


My sister-in-law's property at dusk
love love love this place


man that fire can poke out some heat!
the joke of the evening became our 'rotisserie' conversations: where 4 or more people would stand around in a circle chatting, all the while turning slowly on the spot so as not to burn on one side!
the other technique employed was 'swapping out' positions in the group, or rotating clockwise every few minutes.

it was quite funny, and i'm sure we looked ridiculous


the Birthday Girl Viv


my favourite sister-in-law (yes i have a favourite)
we have 8 daughters between us

EIGHT.


we're drinking one of Russell's (Viv's husband's) famous margaritas
i sip mine - because in the past there have been occasions where i have NOT sipped mine and the results were disastrous

(lessons are repeated until they are learnt).

Lesson #1 in drinking Margaritas - Tequila bites.


Brothers


more brothers - and sisters too


Viv can sing.  Russell can play guitar
they are both extremely talented, and it was a pleasure to watch and listen


their youngest - she leapt in when she saw me taking the picture, and was surprised when i was ok with it.  it's all about capturing the moment.
 that's their 'Ruby' on the left and 'Ed' on the right


let's just say some people aren't as used to me capturing memories as others...


NOW - Clive is one of 7 children, so there are many, MANY stories to be told about growing up 'at Fisher Ave'

here brother Grant tells of the time Viv's mum picked up one of their Muscovy ducks to investigate for lice around the duck's 'nether region'.  she turned the duck over, pointing it away from her, at which point the duck let loose with a 'golden stream' that went all over Viv (or Vivienne, as her brothers like to call her when they're telling an embarrassing story!)


 here, Viv's wondering WHICH story will be told tonight...

...and here she's recalling the story and how it ends...


the siblings love to hear the stories as much as they love to tell them
Clive's enjoying watching his sister squirm


thanks bro!!!


it's a trip down memory lane for Viv, but awkward for their teenage daughters

nothing new there!



 

at about a quarter to midnight i realise that i've been TAKING all the photos and are yet to be in one, so i hand the camera over.


i didn't plan on taking a lot of photos tonight, but here's what else you need to know about me: if i realise that i'm at a special occasion, or a milestone event [with my 'big girl' camera] and there's no-one taking photos - i will.  i hate the fact that there might not be anything captured 'on film' so i make sure there is. 


160 photos
145 on my canon 60D
15 on my iPhone 6





2 comments:

Carmel Keane said...

It was me who had recently read Life after Life - how are you liking it? It was answer to a Scrapmates question and I couldn't lend it to you because it was from the school library. Now back to the rest of your blog post.

mandyb said...

Great post...love the bay
havent been there in years
love that seating area outside...stunning