Ta Dah....

I did it! There is no wallpaper left in my bedroom or my hall.
Actually, in my whole house!
I'll be the one with the sandpaper ...

Working

Still can't reach. Now what am I gonna do?
and look, all those stripy vertical lines. digital camera on it's last legs? dropped too often? Blast!

The Handy Man

Okay, I'll fess up. The CHCH man? It's going well. Real well. He came to visit at the weekend. He fixed my car, he chopped firewood. We like the same kind of music and he likes to dance! We cooked together and he had coffee with some of my friends. So he needs a name cos I suspect he's gonna be around here for a while. Let's call him the handy man.

Oh, but I'm not telling him about the blog. Nope.

travelling...

This is (the very badly named) Craters of the Moon, Taupo, middle of the North Island. Steam rising out of the ground, a little bubbling mud. Great place for a walk on a cold day.

It's cold cos of the snow on the mountains. Beautiful. That's Lake Taupo, Mount Ruapehu and Tongariro in the distance.

You can't go to Taupo without going to Huka Falls.

And it's just a couple of hours drive to Waitomo. Extraordinarily beautiful limestone caves.

Those tiny straw stalactites? See them? They're thousands of years old, so don't go breaking any.

Big. It's all big. Big skies, big big lake, big mountains, big caves, big long low waterfall. Little NZ does beautiful in a big big way.

Goings on

The tv broke down. I bought a very cheap brand new one. The baby of the family wanted to play with the box. Some things never change.

The wallpaper stripping is going well, if slow. Yes, that's the fireplace in my bedroom, it works, and it's beautiful.

Had an extraordinarily good Japanese dinner (in Wellington) sitting next to the tall dark handsome famous person, and some movers and shakers. Work isn't all bad.

Kitty and I are enjoying the olympics, given the chance. He was particularly fond of the chinese gymnasts. Blackbird has posted some great olympic pictures. Go see Michael Phelps. Sigh.

try this

Here, check this out.
I'm playing it loud, and getting stuff done.
It's not my favourite track from the album, but it's good!

oops

I was going to post pictures....of Taupo and Waitomo....of op shopping in Christchurch.....of lovely trains in Waikato......I was, really I was, cos we all needed cheering up after that last post. Only the camera battery is dead as a doornail, and I can't find any of those old fashioned double A kind, so sorry, I can't show you ...... yet.

Come back soon though, won't you?

Today I baked brownies

I got up early today. I baked a batch of never fail, hardly touch the plate, kiwiquilters brownies. So named cos the recipe came from the Kiwiquilters yahoo group to which I belong in name only. Hi Shirley! (Shirley is the list mum.)

I took the brownies to work, to a meeting. I told my assembled colleagues that I'd brought them a present, because I enjoyed their company and I greatly appreciated their contribution to this piece of work which is about to meet a major milestone. We grinned big grins at each other, and hugs were exchanged. Because I should have told John that. But he wasn't there today, because on Monday night he took his own life.

So we worked through the stuff we had to do, and we talked about what John had said about x and y and z, and I shed a tear on behalf of the staunch and quiet men that surrounded me, and we laughed some and argued the point, digressed and told stories about John, and did some more work, and at the end each of them gave me a peck on the cheek goodbye and thanked me.

I'm glad we had that meeting today, and I'm glad those lovely blokey colleagues came, even though we'd talked about postponing.
Sure wish John had been there too.

Hello

Okay okay, here I am, I'm sorry for neglecting you. Where've I been?

• it's winter, it's bloody cold here in the corner where the pc is, and my poor fragile hands can't handle the cold
• first born's internet connection to his pc broke, I think it's the modem, so the pc is now shared by 3 of us, it's easier to just give in......
  
• there's no wallpaper left in my bedroom, and the hallway is half de-nuded of wallpaper too. progress!
• I've made two skirts and two tops, and a dress. The skirts and tops are good enough, and the dress is hideous. I shall either finish it, or cut it up and use the fabric for something else. I'm getting into it though, you'd be so proud!
• I've been travelling, tales to come...
• work work work. Intense, kinda exciting, kinda stressful
• I hurt my back in April. April! I didn't sit down for much more than 30mins until July. Finally I am cured. Hallelujah!!

Okay, does that explain my absence sufficiently? Well, you asked for it....there're gonna be a whole lot of posts tonite.