To welcome me back

poppiesanddaisies.blogspot.com - a very wonderful and amazing young women - my new hero...that woman, as you know from her blog, has moments of doubt and worry about herself - but she needs to know that she is really an amazing young woman who has the personality and grace and charm of a woman like Jane Fonda, or Grace Kelly - you GO Mrs PB! we all love you!
NOW, onto what I initially intended to write about before I slipped over there on her blog to visit!
I have decided that I am a manic person in some ways - I rediscovered gardening in January (refer last blog) and now I have rediscovered cooking - I am hellbent on cooking naturally for my family (all of whom are living beneath the parental units wings once more - more on that later). Sir Ladbrook and I trot off MOST Saturday mornings - well we've been three times to TWO - to the local farmers market - local being the brilliant Lyttleton one (www.smaps.co.nz) and we buy free range eggs, and garden fresh veges that haven't been sprayed, and then free range, hormone free meat - it's all so incredibly exciting. However, I have discovered that at the bottom of my hill, there is a free range, hormone free butcher, and next door an organic vegetable and food place where the veges are the same colours they were when I was growing up in the 50's and 60's - you know the colours I mean - like www.sotreadsoftly.typepad.com - where Mrs STS had her colour rage this week - REAL orange for a pumpkin, and REAL green for silverbeet and broccoli!!!
So, now that we have the fledglings both at home, there is more demand on my culinary skills, and they are both enjoying the spoils of my hard work! Yay!:)
Now, you are asking , what has caused the fledgling to return from Nadi? Well, The Captain decided to finish her time offshore, and return to NZ to further her career. Hence she has moved back home to do some serious study for a three day interview at the end of the month; she has one in the North Island of NZ with a small local airline, and when she joins them she will be flying twin engine Beech aircraft to smaller provincial airports - a very important next step in her flying career. Mind you, with today's temperatures struggling to reach 5degrees celsius, I suspect she may be regretting THAT move a la mo! It is lovely having her back, as she is a delightful young woman, who has a mind of her own, but in a very positive way.
Ma Boiy is still hunkering down in the downstairs bedroom, and is working happily at a small coffee roasting business where he is also furthering his skills in barista-ing, sales and now adding maintenance to his repertoire of skills within the coffee world. He is such a personable young man, that he is well suited to chatting to people and winning them over. It's actually a really lovely feeling being proud of both our off-spring!
Mr CT and I had a brief sojourn to Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia where we went to the wedding of the son of a dear couple we know there. There is always great weather on the Sunshine Coast www.tourismsunshinecoast.com.au and we were not disappointed this time. We had ten days there and got growled at by colleagues/friends because I sent emails and texts from there and Mr PD also commented on it. but it was THAT sort of holiday where we were blobbing and boy did we blob!
Well, rather than put you ALL (all 3 of you that I KNOW about) into brain overload with information, suffice to say I am back and look forward to re-establishing our wonderful blogging relationship.
Until next time
Mrs CT
P.S. no photos as it is too cold to go to bedroom and get camera - it is now 4.8degrees outside and in the bedroom!!!

Where am I?

Where have I been? I don't know - gardening ( I have rediscovered the joys of gardening ), visiting ( I am busy catching up on people I haven't seen for aeons ), scrap-booking ( I am ACTUALLY starting to tidy my office, so I can get in there and BEGIN scrap-booking ), reading, cooking beautiful meals from scratch instead of using things out of packets. My latest favourite is COLOUR - red, green and yellow peppers, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli anything that can be cooked as a vege and has COLOUR!! We have had some terrific meals of late - amazing what one can do when one puts one mind to something!
No photos this time as it is late, and I am on my way to bed, but noticed that both Poppy Black and SoTreadSoftly had updated their blogs so had to touch bases too - not that I am aware of ANYONE at all reading my blog, but it gives me a sense of satisfaction to write. I guess I don't have many comments because I am not arty crafty and clever with my hands like my wonderfully talented niece-in-law, and the very crafty Poppy Black - I am more sneaky crafty - you want a surprise party organised, then I'm your (wo)man!! You want to buy someone an appropriate gift, then send me hunting, but DO NOT ask me to put together anything that remotely reeks of creativity - no SIr,it aint moi!
So this is just to let my phantom fans know that I have not forgotten them, all two of you, (thanks Poppy Black and Mrs STS!) and I shall get some photos onto this page asap and fill in more details of the past month.
Ciao bambinos.

Christmas came early!!!

Things have been quite busy for me lately, so today is the first time I've had a chance to update my blog. Many things have happened in our lives - most of them small and insignificant to others, but the biggest "happening" is that The Captain was asked by her millionaire boss in Fiji, to take over the position of Chief Flying officer in December when the present one returns to Aus to continue his career there. She was a bit taken aback as she had a special friend who was coming to NZ to do an upgrade to NZ levels of the Air Traffic Controllers qualification which he already holds - but she decided that the opportunity was too good to turn down, so she accepted it. She is to be in Fiji now for a further 12months, but is getting trained in a twin engine Seneca plane which will get her further ahead overseas when she finally travels to Canada (or where-ever she goes) after Fiji. She is now quite excited about it since she has made the decision, and she will be back here after Xmas for a friends wedding, and will catch up with her friend then...so it looks like Sir Ladbrooks and I will be doing another trip to Fiji in winter!!! Yay!!!

We also have Mah Boiy back from Melbourne, and he is staying at home for a few months. He is running a cafe that does only takeaway coffees and he does a few bits of food like paninis and muffins. He is learning how to run a business and do the GST and ordering etc, so he can go back to Aus and look at eventually buying his own cafe and making his mother LOTS of money!!!!! yeah right!

Sir Ladbrook and I are moving our photolab from Church Corner in Christchurch to opposite the pharmacy in Lincoln Rd - that will make running the two businesses easier by having them closer together. The move takes place on 27th December.
Now, one of THE most wonderful things that has happened lately, is getting a parcel from my niece in Greytown in the North Island, and this parcel was a few of her goodies that I ordered. Take a tip friends, if you want beautifully handmade gifts as presents for special people, I cannot recommend Al's stuff highly enough. The detail and finish is absolutely fantastic, and the goods are delightful. I shall try to remember a photo on this page before I finish blogging. Seriously, the packaging alone showed that this was a quality parcel - you know those presents you get where you don't want to ruin the parcel by actually opening it??!! Well, it was one of THOSE experiences.
And when I DID open it, I saw the great things as pictured. I have put the BIC biro alongside to give you an idea of the sizes. The little nests are going to adorn the Christmas tree - and one HAS to have a REAL tree to do them justice, so thanks to Al for bringing the real Xmas tree back into the home instead of one with Made in China stamped on the base!

The first pic is a great little bag and the vintage book came with it - boy, have I had a rush on to read that book!!! 2nd pic is a terrific scarf which has a loop on it - made in superb material shades. Pic 3 shows the two cloth badges made using vintage buttons - very popular with the staff at school - and the others are two of the fantastic little wool and raffia nests (am I right,Al?) They will defintely be on the tree, and the last photo is of 2 coasters which Al sent - they are so much nicer than horrible photo ones made by large firms, or advertising ones which generally have a place in our home! Thanks to Al, very much!:)and pics 4 and 5 are the doorstops - they have a handle on top so moving them is easy, and they are so pretty to have instead of some unglamorous-looking old heavy thing!

So we don't actually NEED the 25th for Christmas - we have had it now!

Take care my friends and remember Al if you want extra special handmade presents to give that someone special. Will write again before the silly season takes hold.

Let's try something new

I have decided that I am going to try for the ad-sense scene - so there's not a lot to add to my last post, but I just wanted to see what people think of this

We have now passed Halloween and Guy Fawke's nights and I am left wondering why HZ has to take these ridiculous occasions and make them into something so horrible - at school we are not allowed to teach children about witches and goblins, nor about terrorists (like GF), but the parents, who are the first to complain about certain myths and legends, are allowed to celebrate and encourage their children to celebrate occasions such as these 2 - I really am getting to be an old grouch, but something reeks of double standards here!
Enough! spring has sprung and so has a change in the weather - yay! I am getting such beautiful vistas from my lounge window of my glorious roses, and "flags" (don't know the horticultural name, but Poppiesanddaisies will, so contact her for it.)
A busy couple of weeks on the work front for me, and that is great - I am saving to have both bathrooms in the home re-done - they are both 16years old and beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Doesn't help having Ma Boiy home fulltime, as the downstairs bathroom where he inhabits, is the worst of the showers.
Speaking of Ma Boiy he is happily ensconced in a coffee outlet which is a machine and cups place only, and it is in the front of a printing shop. He has no tables for sitting at, but he has a great local clientele who are returning there in droves for Ma Boiy's coffee - he IS a great barista! - after the tyoung lasss who WAS running it, and who professed that she was NO barista! It has given him a chance run a business and learn that side of things so he can return to Melbourne and hopefully buy his own place in the not-too-distant future.
The Captain is staying on in Nadi for another six months, and has made that decision quite happily. She is going to be trained on a Seneca, which is a twin engine, and will stand her in good stead for returning here or going on to Canada to fly the ATR which is a small provincial sized aeroplane.
Sir Ladbrooks has decided to move the digital photo lab that we have from Upper Riccarton to across the road from our pharmacy in Addington. Things have changed in UR since we sold our large pharmacy there, and the mall we were in is now full of Asian restaurants, and butchers and florists, and the whole area is different from 4 years ago!
We are very excited about this new move and it has inspired Keith and I to re-look at what we are doing with that business, so I shall keep you posted.
Well, good people, I shall sign off now - have a great weekend. :)

What is Labour Day?

It is Labour Day tomorrow, and I am still trying to work out the relevance between Labour Day's name, and the fact that most people I know spend all weekend working in their garden! Am I missing something? Anyway, we got through the Rugby World Cup with many NZ'ers happy that England did not win this morning! Personally, I was in my garden, and I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of my hard work with you - I weeded, and trimmed, and hoe-d and thinned and watered. I am delighted with the colour in my front garden - photos of which I share with you here. I spent about three glorious hours out in the garden, but paid for it later this afternoon when I realised I had not taken my pain killers for the recently diagnosed osteoarthritis which I have in my right knee...the pain has been intense, so I went to a friend up the hill who has a great spa, and sat in that for about an hour - nearly all back to normal...but I have one more area to conquer tomorrow - downstairs.
By that, I mean down the bottom area of our hillside garden. There is a small walkway one can wander through, and Poppy Black, who is a font of all knowledge when it comes to gardens and flowers and breeds of flowers etc, wandered there with me last night with another garden enthusiastic friend, and they showed me what I need to trim and prune in order that some smaller plants can see the light of day, and prosper further - so that is tomorrow's job!
The second garden photo is the right hand side of our driveway, and it is my "pretty" garden - I am not normally a "pretty" flowers person, but my man who does for me planted this mass of plants earlier, and am I glad he did!! Isn't the result glorious?
The next photo is our gorgeous Katie. Katie has a very strong bond with cars, hence she is in the back of the Daihatsu as we potter in the garden. Katie spent the first few months we had her stopping beside every car we came across on our walks, and that is because she spent a lot of her early life as a breeding bitch, travelling around the South Island in cars so she could go to the stud dog!!! There's got to be a joke there somewhere!!
So may I introduce you to Katie, our 6year-old German Shepherd. We also have an old model Volvo that has
not got its latest warrant, so that is parked at the back of our property in the boat park, and when I go out for the day, if it is fine, I leave the backdoor of BigRed open, and Katie spends the day using that as her kennel.
We have a friend from Nelson and her awesome DUDE of a 3year-old son staying with us from Tuesday until Sunday, and then her husband comes down on Friday to take the son to Thomas the Tank Engine show at the WestpacTrust Stadium - now I don't "do" ankle-biters but this kid's a real dude, and SOO well behaved that he is a joy to have in the house. Plus they will be based downstairs so I can leave for work in the morning without seeing them on Wednesday morning...only 2 days work this week, but that suits me as I want to get a lot more work done on my scrap-booking - as I know that today's generation of children are not going to have too many hard-copy photos to admire when they are older, so I want to ensure that future generations have some great memories of our family and what we looked like. I have hundreds of dollars worth of materials all relating to scrap-booking, so the time is now to get these pages done. Plus our photolab has one of the first digital scrap-booking kiosks in NZ, and I am looking forward to playing with that!
People have a really great rest of Labour Weekend, and take care of you and yours. :)

Spring has sprung ....a leak!!

It would appear that spring HAS sprung a leak - as you can see by the photo, Oompaloompah certainly knows the best spot in the house - on the windowsill, on her cushion with the rain beating down outside and the heatpump doing its best on top of her - why did cats get such perceptive behaviours?!
It has been a strange mix of weather recently - and not just affecting Canterbury. We in Canterbury, have a strange weather pattern called the Norwester ( a VERY dry wind that comes over from the West Coast after travelling from Australia. It hits the Southern Alps on the western side, rises up and dumps its moisture, and carries onto hit the Canterbury Plains with strong - occasionally VERY strong, dry winds, which play havoc with sufferers of hay fever-)
On Saturday night we had winds that blew roofing iron off homes, knocked over sheds and created damage and mayhem up and down the island. But the North Island was not spared either. To get from my Nephews home in Greytown -sotreadsoftly
to the capital city of Wellington, they must navigate this hill, and motorists were being advised to stay off the hill over the weekend.
Needless to say, today is an inside day, and a great opportunity to spend time with you. My only regret on my blog, is that, unlike my clever friends and family (see links to the side) I am not arty crafty, more sneaky crafty, so I have nothing to share with you about what wonderful creations I am making on my quiet days - but how I love hearing what Fiona and Al and the others are up to. Should anyone read this and just want to reply and start a conversation, I would LOVE to hear from anyone :)
Since my last post I have had the news that I have osteo-arthritis in my left knee - so I now have a fitness regime on, and the challenge to lose many kilos in order that I might take the pressure off the leg - so it's all on - and I shall need some encouragement - losing weight is not an easy thing after carrying excess for more than 25years!! While I don't want tips (I only got this way by opening my mouth more to eat than talk, and god knows I talk enough!), but encouragement in truckloads would be great:)
The school term started again today, and we are welcoming a new principal into the school with a powhiri at 11am this morning. A powhiri is a Maori welcome. I shan't be going to the powhiri as I shall be at the local pool walking against a Lazy River for exercise for my sore knee.
I have a bit of supply teaching this next fortnight, and that is good - I am wanting to re-do the bathrooms in our home, and Sir Ladbrook agrees - but I like to pay for what I want around the house, and he pays for what is needed - sounds fair to me!
Fortunately my friend Poppiesanddaisies is in the process of buying a block of land and the ensuing house and landscaping, so I am hoping to live my livfe vacariously through that with her and John - I have never built a new house, so choosing materials and carpets and designs will be VERY exciting. I know that Fiona and John are looking forward to it!
Enough! I am sitting here as I write this wondering if ANYONE reads my blog or if I am doing it for my own consolation?!*&%*
If you ARE reading this please enjoy it. Have a great one.