Category: Photos
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London: Day 2
Before we left Auckland, we went for a walk to Butterfly Creek to fill in some time and Elizabeth found a stick on the ground which she was determined to take on the plane. We tried to talk her out of this idea and so we told her that the people at security wouldn’t let…
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Freud. 1999-2013
We said goodbye to a dear, old friend yesterday. Freud is gone. The vet euthanized him peacefully at our home. About a month ago he started going downhill again – off his tucker, nauseous and vomiting. So we decided not to send him to Australia to live with family after all (we leave for a…
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Silliness
There’s a fair amount of silliness in our household. I blame these two:
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Bethells Beach
My sister left early this morning after a wonderful week for all of us. I wish we didn’t live so far apart. Yesterday we took her to Bethells beach on the west coast. I have visited most of the other west coast beaches – Piha, Muriwai, Karekare – but not Bethells. I like the west…
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Devonport
My very lovely sister is visiting us from Brisbane. I haven’t seen her for two years so it is a big deal for all of us. Today I took her to Devonport which is a quaint village on the North Shore. I know I complain endlessly about Auckland but my complaints are related more to…
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Lake House Arts
A few weeks ago Daniel attended a dragon-making art class at the Lake House Arts centre. I took some nice photos but have been too busy reading scientific journals to upload them to my blog. Here they are at last: While Daniel was busy being artistic, Elizabeth and I wandered around the grounds. They…
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Crochet jumper for Elizabeth
I recently crocheted a jumper for Elizabeth. It was quick, easy and very cheap to make with the wool costing less than $10. Here she is modelling it: Although we are almost mid-autumn here, it is still T-shirt weather, so it may be awhile before she gets to wear it.
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Dolls' house versus aliens
Daniel and Elizabeth were intently focused on their play this morning. Me: What are you playing? Daniel: Dolls’ house versus aliens. Me: Who are the aliens? Daniel: My cuddly toys. They do mean things to the dolls’ house animals. Me: What sort of mean things do they do? Daniel: They squash them. It is true…
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Make a wish
Elizabeth has just discovered how much fun it is to make a wish on fluffy dandelion seeds, spreading the invasive weed far and wide. Me: What did you wish for? Elizabeth: Coins. That’s a bit materialistic for a 3-year-old, isn’t it? Elizabeth: Chocolate coins. Phew. She’s more interested in chocolate coins than metal ones. That’s…
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First Ballet Class
Elizabeth had her first ballet class today and she loved it!
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Waitangi Day
A friend of ours said to me this morning, “I read the article you wrote for Stuff Nation”. What!? A couple of weeks ago I made a blog post about how to save the world by bicycle. I’m quite passionate about this topic and really wanted to spread my thoughts and because I only have…
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My husband looks like my dog
“Did you get the dog to match your husband?”, a woman asked me today. This is because I shamelessly entered both dog and husband in the SPCA pet-owner lookalike competition at the Torpedo Bay Naval museum in Devonport and she was astounded by the resemblance. I could have answered with, “I got the husband to…
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I crochet, therefore I am
I taught myself to crochet just after Daniel was born, almost 6 years ago now. I have been crocheting ever since. As long as I have hook, yarn and hands to work them with, I will crochet until I die. My yarn stash has grown over the years and is kept in much the same…
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Where are the penguins?
Yesterday I took the children to the snow and the beach on the same day. There are few places in the world where you can do this and I don’t count Auckland as one of them because the snow was fake snow at Snow Planet. Christchurch is just such a place though. Although the beach…
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Saturday morning at Takapuna
It has been quite hot here. Not as bad as the heat folks in Australia are enduring, but hotter than we’re used to. So we’ve been swimming in the sea every other day and I’m quite enjoying it. This morning I thought it would be nice to go for an early swim at Takapuna beach…
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2013 – what's in store?
2013 has begun with the loss of two good friends. One has returned to Australia and the other has returned to England. I will miss both of them very much. It is not just a loss for me but also for our children who have formed friendships with the children of my friends. Elizabeth in…
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Happy birthday, Elizabeth
Happy birthday to gorgeous Elizabeth, who turned 3 today! We had a lovely party for her at home with lots of good friends to celebrate with. I made her a koala cake: Freud helped open the presents: The decorations went up along with pin-the-nose on the koala: Yummy food: Family shot with Daniel showing us…
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Santa
We visited Santa at snowplanet today and the kids sat on his lap and discussed presents. They loved it. Then we had fun snow tubing with Dad, Olivia and TJ. Even Elizabeth loved the experience and was in hysterics when slipping and sliding down the slope. A photo of us all: Daniel has…
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Zeeks
I have a new app! It’s called Zeeks (named after our dead dog, Zeki) and it’s aimed at people who want to keep track of their time. Anyone who charges by the hour or minute and those who need to record the time they spend on professional development can do this using Zeeks. Events are…
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Scarier
I enrolled Daniel in one of Rob McLeay’s cartoon workshops for the school holidays and he had it today. He produced this very cool drawing of a shark called “Scarier”. According to Daniel, when you touch Scarier, he eats you. He also likes to eat fish which he finds by following their bubbles and then…
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