April 14, 2013

  • Sunday 14th April

     

     

     

    A lovely day for birthdays today.

     

    Happy Birthday to my son-in-law Nick, who has just returned from a month working in the UK to the welcoming arms of his dearly beloved Bri, who in his absence used the time to gather up some birthday surprises for him.

    Nicks folks and myself were happy to be a part of one of the surprises.
    So now when you visit them at The Bunker in The Hood you will be treated to expertly filtered, frothed, fluffied, dripped, brewed expressoed made (I don't drink the stuff so I never know the correct terminology winky) coffee from his flash new machine.

     

    Birthday greetings also to my Aunty Janet who has attained the inspiring age of 81 today and to Eare who opted to head out fishing on her special day.

     

     

    I was woken by a random text at 6:30am.

    So when I heard the footsteps of the fairy elephant and the hairy mammoth up above I headed upstairs in my pjs to party with them before they headed off to church.

     

    Just had time to shower and pack before Azzan & Chrissy came knocking on my door.

    Russell & Chrissy dropped Azzan off on their way to church.

    He had enjoyed spending time with Asher but was keen to get back to his Mum heart

     

    Chrissy was telling me that on Friday night, around 10pm when she was totally brain dead and Asher was asleep already, Azzan asked her a question.

    'What would Asher be if he was on fire?'

    You can imagine the thoughts that must have assailed poor Chrissy's brain at that point!

    His answer was...

    'Change the r to an s.'

    To a certain pink haired 10 year old young man that might seem a perfectly rational answer, but to those of you who do not live on the same planet as him then....

    'Asher becomes Ashes'!

     

     

    I locked up the house and we headed off out to Brightwater to pick up Mahalia.

    She had spent a lovely weekend with Kashana.

    It was great to see Sally and meet Steven even if it was only for a few moments.

    Managed to prise the girls apart and we headed towards the city.

     

    Filled up with diesel in Richmond before the tank ran dry and then ran into Bunnings to get Graham a hot poker tool.

    My own fuel tank was right on empty - Crusoe's was conveniently just around the corner.

    Rami was only too happy to fill us up with his wonderful cooking.

    I ordered an Eggs Benedict with salmon and spinach.

    The kids had eaten breakfast but Azzan was insistent that he needed a small plate of fish and chips.

    All Mahalia wanted was two Alfajores.

    She got the last two in the cafe and let them sit in the sun to warm and get all gooey and soft.

     

    Before any of the ordered food came out Rami presented us with this amazing brownie.

    It is gluten free and deliciously divinely delectable.

    Dessert before mains - not really kosher but who cares pleased

    Mahalia was the first to get stuck into it - very cautiously though as it was a bit hot.

    The three of us made short work of it.

    Anat & Rami sat and talked for a while in between customers.

    We missed seeing Ellie but Mahalia bought 3 of her lolly sticks - I managed to convince her that 2 of them really should be for gifts as neither she nor Azzan needed that extra sugar content.

    Nuana came and joined us just before we finished.

    It was lovely sitting in the warm autumn Nelson sunshine.

     

    I was on a mission to leave by 1pm so we had to move it.

    Detoured off to Tahunanui Holiday Park to try and locate a wwoofer who is coming soon but it was too nice a day for him to be in his tent, he was over on the beach somewhere.
    Caught up with him later on the phone so all is good.

    Quickly zipped over the hills, dropped stuff off at Winnington's before dropping it to see Nathan at work for a few minutes.

    Then a last frappacinno for Halia and me and then we were outa there.

    It was not quite 1:30pm so we weren't too far behind schedule!!

     

    We found Aylin and Nils from Germany waiting in Rai Valley for us.

    They had come through on the bus and only had a half hour to wait for me.

    Stacked all their bags in the back - was glad I hadn't had to do any shopping cuz they certainly were not traveling light.

    Mahalia & Azzan entertained them all the way home.

    I stopped in Okiwi Bay and let them out to play in playground and walk on the beach while I popped up to visit Gaynor & Art.

    I hadn't caught up with them since Tim's funeral so it was good to sit and talk over a cold drink.

    Didn't stop long as I wanted to get home before dark.

    Found my passengers down at the beach.
    It was really pretty there today.

     

     

    I stopped a couple of times for the tourists to take photos.

    The children taught them how to play 'I Spy' so that entertained them for most of the trip.

    I stopped off to talk to Graham and let my passengers out to walk down the hill to visit the puppies at Anson's.

    By the time I got down there they had walked on home.

    Anson & Marah were in the truck heading back to the Croft so Anson and I parked up and talked through the windows for a while.

    Marah eventually gave up on us and walked up to the house - sorry Marz xxx

    We talked some more, but it was beginning to get dark so I carried on home.

    Shoshannah had prepared dinner and had everyone fed by the time I backed down to the door.

    They quickly unloaded and Azzan showed Aylin & Nils where they were sleeping.

    We were all in bed soon after 8pm.

     

    I have managed to successfully lose this blog entry twice now so it has taken me way longer to write tonight.

    It is way past my bedtime so I am going to save it now before I lose it again!