Author: Rachel M
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Our Christmas Tree
It’s Christmas tree time again. Last year we bought a living branch which was very full and beautiful and smelt delicious, but it inevitably turned into a very big dead branch. I’m not so keen on that again and I really hate the plastic trees. When I first moved to New Zealand, Ben and I…
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How are you?
This is an interesting question because it is often asked without a genuine desire to hear a truthful answer. Most people expect a “fine, thank you”, response. But if you’re feeling miserable and you answer ” fine, thanks”, then this is a lie. And why bother asking a question if you already know the answer?…
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Earthquake strengthening, Tourette's and Team Work
I snapped a photograph of this building in central Auckland last week because not only does it look beautiful, but I think it has the most effective earthquake strengthening I’ve seen yet. That facade is never falling off! The paediatrician who saw Daniel a couple of weeks ago phoned me this week. She wanted to…
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Raglan and the C-barn
We just spent the weekend in Raglan: a little coastal village on the west coast of the North Island, a couple of hours by car south from Auckland. It was great. The whole region was very picturesque with lush, green hills and winding roads. The hills were bigger than your average hill which made for…
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What to do about a sore neck?
For the past few months, I’ve had a sore neck. The pain was just on one side of the neck (right side) and spread down into my shoulder and the upper quadrant of my back on that side only. It wasn’t debilitating, but always there and so irritating. The pain in my back and shoulder…
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You've got green hair
I managed to get to sleep last night thank goodness. I’m still a zombie today though. It will take a while to catch up I think. Daniel had his long-awaited appointment with a paediatrician yesterday. It was all a bit disappointing. He got a diagnosis of ASD (autism spectrum disorder) which was nice to have…
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Insomnia
It’s Halloween today and I’m a zombie. Not because I’ve got blood dripping from my mouth but because this past week I’ve had the worst insomnia I’ve ever known. Last night I slept briefly for a time between the hours of 4am and 6am. The rest of the time was spent twiddling my thumbs and…
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The need for control
When you don’t like where you live but there’s little you can do about it, there’s only one thing to do…and that is, colour your hair. This creates a feeling of having some control over your life, when in reality, you have none. So it was with this thought that I decided to ditch the…
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Culture clash
New Zealanders are moving to Australia in droves. The job market here is poor and salaries are low, so it’s a fair assumption that they’re moving to Australia in order to pay the bills. Sometimes New Zealanders move to Australia and become famous. Sometimes the Australian media dares to suggest that these “famous” Kiwis are…
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More scenes from Auckland, frogs and play
More scenes from Auckland as viewed from inside our car (most of Auckland is viewed from within one’s car): I watched a great TED talk yesterday titled, Science is for everyone, kids included. It’s delivered by an adult, Beau Lotto, and a12-year-old girl, Amy O’Toole, who is the youngest published scientist in the world. There are…
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Scenes from Auckland
A couple of weekends ago I took Daniel and Elizabeth to a farm west of Auckland. They had a lovely time, patting and feeding animals. I took some photos which I’ve been meaning to share. Elizabeth loves feeding animals, even sticking her fingers into their mouths on occasion. Daniel likes feeding animals too and inadvertently…
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Tennis or Karate?
First day back at school for Daniel today and we were all a bit sad about that. Daniel’s love affair with school seems to have waned lately, although he still seems moderately happy with the place. According to his teacher he was exhausted all day today and at one stage she suggested he should come…
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Opshopping
I had a great trip to the opshop this morning with a fellow opshopper here in Auckland: the very lovely Pascale. I got this gorgeous, 100% silk top by Gail Elliot – Little Joe New York – for $8. Ok, so my amateur photo doesn’t really do it justice and it needs an iron, but…
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Driving to heaven
Elizabeth is missing our dog, Zeki. Yesterday she said to Ben, “Zeki has gone to heaven. Tomorrow we’ll drive to heaven and get Zeki”. She seemed to accept his explanation that we won’t be going to heaven to get him.
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I'm in the money
Today is a momentous day. Yesterday I released a new version of my Auckland Ferry Times app. The new version includes ads, in addition to some other new features. This morning I looked at the statistics for my app and I see that I’ve earned 3c already. Although 3c is hardly worth celebrating, it does…
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'Twas a bit windy last night…
…and the neighbour’s tree smashed onto another neighbour’s BMW. It snapped clean off at the base:
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
I’m currently reading a fabulous book called “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” by Oliver Sacks. It uses a case-study approach to document the lives of patients with various neurological disorders. I started reading it because one of the case studies is that of a patient called “witty, ticcy Ray” who suffers…
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On old age and misery
Today I looked in the mirror and saw a long black hair in my nose. I know that nose hair has an important role to play but I thought it was something that was only visible in old men? Am I turning into an old man? Something happens once you pass the age of 35:…
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Brewery tour for $10 and Collette Dinnigan for $6
Ben is home. Hooray! He had a very productive trip in the Black Forest region of Germany. It wasn’t all work though. On one day, he took some time off to visit a German brewery. For the paltry sum of NZ$10, he got a tour of the brewery, two cups of beer and this handsome…
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