New Year's Day 2019

Lunch in the garden with a good book on a warm, sunny, summer's day. The book was excellent (Find Me Unafraid: love, loss and hope in an African slum by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner) and lunch included a few strawberries from my garden. A relaxing day although the game of squash with Lynda this afternoon was quite the opposite to lazing under my sun umbrella. 

Paekakariki Escarpment

The sky was blue, the ocean was blue and there was a gentle breeze. It was a perfect summer day to walk the Paekakariki Escarpment. Alison and I traversed it north to south and I think that was a good direction to walk it. There are steep steps both ways but in the morning we had the sun behind us and the added interest of two swing bridges towards the southern end. It was a popular outing for holiday makers today although we started a bit earlier than most of the walkers. We passed a lot of people heading north as we descended and there were about a dozen people waiting for the bus (train replacement today) at Pukerua Bay. 

Staff Christmas BBQ & Karaoke

My secret Santa gift was the 'perfect man' and several perfectly talented librarians entertained the rest of us - Jemma with her unique (hilarious) version of I Will Survive, Rosemary who was a Wild Thing with her dance moves, and Harley and Emma who impressed everyone with their duets. 

Baby Birds

On the first day of summer - four baby birds in my bougainvillea.

Mr & Mrs Blackbird were kicking up a fuss a minute ago as Winston Cat strolled down the neighbour's driveway. He stopped and stared at me as if I were to blame for the racket.  

Mid Winter 2018

Oops, found this in my drafts folder and I had forgotten to publish it. Better late than never. Some cheery things from mid-winter:

A few of the surprising number & variety of flowers in the garden

Decorating the Wellington Cable Car for the Rainbow Storytelling school holiday event.

The rainbow lights in the tunnels were gorgeous.

The Kapiti College sign on Sunday made me laugh.

Planets visible in the clear night sky from my house. True they look like bright stars with the naked eye, although Mars has an orange tinge. Skyview app helpfully identifies them all. From left (west) to right (east): Mercury (disappears first), Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars.

Armistice Day 2018

One hundred years after the end of World War One I attended the Armistice Day commemoration in Te Awamutu with my mother. She belongs to the local RSA so we marched behind the official party to ANZAC Green and watched the ceremony to remember the fallen soldiers and mark the moment a hundred years ago that the guns fell silent. Due to our time zone New Zealand was the first country in the world to mark the event at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I think Te Awamutu was the first place in the world to mark the event because everyone was ready and the MC said we may as well get started and the bells tolled a few minutes early! 

1) Armistice Day service Te Awamutu 2018. Iraq & Afghanistan vets lay a wreath.

2) Peace Memento given to Waiuku school children. My grandmother received this one.

3) Gilbert Heald 1882-1915. My great grandfather's brother who was killed at Gallipoli. 

4) Crosses outside Feilding Fire Station in 2018 commemorating local volunteer firemen who died in World War One. Gilbert Heald's cross is front row, second from left.  

Spring Holiday

I've been delving deeply into family history research so I've neglected the blog for a while. But through my research I recently met some extended family members while on a 'meet the family' holiday with my mother. People I phoned out of the blue have been very welcoming and helpful.   

                                 Mum, Ian McCaul & Edna McCaul at Huirangi

      Ben & Fanny Hall's house (my great, great                The house at Huirangi in 2018
              grandparents) built about 1880

   

Jim, Alice, John, Gordon, Annie, Bill,       Alice's son Lyndsay Shuker, Florice's daughter 

             Tom & Florice McGowan. c.1930          Lois Knight. Same doorstep about 90 years later

           The McGowan family homestead                          With a new roof in 2018