I was awake early so finished watching Frasier.
Then began work in the study.
I was on a mission to get it cleaned up.
I fully intended to get through the shower and get dressed early.But it never happened until quite late this arvo!
And by then the hot water was cold

 

I spent all day cleaning the study and moving furniture in my bedroom with Shoshannah's help.
I am beginning to get my bedroom the way I want it now.
Still got a lot of things to sort through but at least it is recognisable as a bedroom now.
I had a lot of documents to scan and upload.
Got some really gutting news this arvo.
Looks like we have a fight on our hands to get this mess sorted.
Some very untrue accusations are being leveled at me.
I so hoped things could be worked out amicably but looks unlikely.
Once again, only the lawyers will win
I decided to head out to town tonight rather than risk and icy early morning drive tomorrow.
So I put the skates on and got the paperwork as tidy and sorted as I could.
Then finished off the bedroom as best I could - at least the bed got shifted to its new position and the floor was vacuumed.
The rest will wait till I return.

Seb came up after he had done some mussel work.
I gave him a pile of his father's papers to sort through.
He got some done - it's going to take a while.
Tim had piles of papers everywhere and you can't just throw them out cuz there are important things written all over.

Shoshannah is going round to Anson & Marah's to feed the pups twice a day.
She is also doing most of the cooking.

Mahalia helped with some cleaning and then tackled her room.
She went fishing later in the arvo.
She seems to enjoy sitting curled up on the end corner of the wharf catching fish no matter what the weather.
While she was there today a young fella arrived in his kayak.
I knew he was coming but didn't realise the day had disappeared so quickly and greeted him through my study window just after 4pm, still in my pjs!
He presented me with a couple of fish to go towards dinner.
Shoshannah made a delicious mixed vege roast and zucchini fritters.

Brando Yelavich is tackling a really great mission raising awareness and money for Ronald McDonald House Charities NZ.
He is traveling solo around the entire coastline of New Zealand living off the land, the sea and the kindness of others.

I left home just before 8pm.
Drove straight out to Nelson.
Stopped briefly at Hanger 58 and then met Anson at the hospital for a few minutes update chat.
Marah had not long been moved into the delivery suite and things were finally beginning to progress, so I am now going to snuggle down in the hopes that we get a call during the night with some good news.
The rest of the family are all waiting excitedly.
It's been a long week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke at 3:30am.
Managed to stay sorta sleeping until 4:30am when I gave up.
I decided to get up and make the most of the peace and quiet to get my bedroom floor cleared.
I sorted all the stuff, put away clothes and shoes, got rid of some stuff and then re-shelved the rest.
I watched Sebastian head off out the bay after 5am to do his first contract harvest.
Around 6am I headed out into the cold and spent an hour in the spa while I watched some more Frasier episodes.
They are very clever.

Shoshannah was up before 7pm.
I carried on with the cleaning up, plus I had some business things to deal with.
Had a lovely phone call with my friend Erena - was really good to catch up..
Then Anson arrived with these two wee critters

He has two bitches with pups at the moment so the kids have lots to fuss over.

Then it was up to unload the truck of all the pumpkins Anson & Marah harvested on Monday.

 

Anson & Shoshannah sorted them all out and then the girls started cutting the ones that needed using first.

Phoebe drove over to help.

Then she went with Anson to help pack up all Marah's gear and the baby bag.
Marah had gotten caught out and had nothing in town with her.

The girls carried on and did quite a few more pumpkins.
They cut, skinned and boiled.
Then later Shoshannah mashed and froze them down ready to make into soup later.
Mahalia took a break to go fishing.
She seems to have gotten addicted to it - really good.
She gets exercise and fresh air and the cats get fed, and sometimes we do too.

 

Phoebe sorted through all my stash of baby clothes and took a heap home to wash.
She had a few naps on the sofa by the fire throughout the arvo.

I carried on cleaning my room and got heaps of things moved.
Making progress!

Graham came by later in the arvo and fixed the back door handle as it had broken again.
He also helped me with some other measuring I had to do.

There is an article in tonight's paper about us and the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Trust.
It was a really positive write up.
Just a shame that they don't seem to proof read their articles properly before publishing these days

Shoshannah had a smoothie and headed off to bed to watch more of 'Downtown Abbey'.
Mahalia & I had an easy dinner tonight.
Saveloys, eggs, beetroot & cheese and toast.
We watched some more Frasier, I drifted off to sleep a couple of times so decided it would be best to get everything cleaned up and actually go to bed.

Sebastian arrived back in around 9pm.
I hopped out of bed to scan and email a document for him and then he zipped off home.
Long day for him.

Anson has been phoning throughout the evening with updates.
Sounds like a baby is imminent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter is seriously upon us.

There is snow down low all over the islands.
Many roads are closed.
None here but we are feeling the chilly effects of it's presence.
The girls have kept the two wood fires going and I have turned on the large heater in the hall to try and keep the chill at bay in the bedrooms.

The cold is slowing us all down.
Don't really want to do anything that is going to take us away from the heaters!

 

Shoshannah whizzed round to The Croft to feed Anson's puppies.
Mahalia went and found Olly and let him have a feed in the home section, but he got left too long and decided to do some gardening so has been banished again!

I am trying to get more of the clearing out done but days just go by and the inspiration is not really there.
I want to do it but the body is not co-operating.
I did however back the Regulus down to the backdoor and begin to load all the boxes and bags in that have been waiting in the kitchen.
So the living area is looking loads better.

Seb came up and then went out to do some checks on our mussel farms.
Another couple of guys came in to do an independent assessment of them all so we can try and get the business mess between us and our ex skipper and partner sorted.
We need to try and get this achieved soon so we can all move on in our separate directions.

It has been a day of deciding what day I am heading to town next.
It has been hinging on Shoshannah's STAR courses and Marah.
The Carpentry course scheduled for this Thursday was off, then it was on again and then it was finally cancelled when yet one more person pulled out.
So in some ways Shoshannah is pleased cuz she doesn't have to go to town this week and I am too cuz I can go a day later..

 

 

Anson spent most of the day in the hospital with Marah.
She is strapped up to the monitors so they can keep a track of the baby.
He blood pressure is far too high and she has very little fluid around the baby which is even more of a concern.
Anson took this photo of his lady love before he left to drive home.
She's happy to be there and know they are looking out for her and the babe.
When I commented to her about how brave she was to allow this photo on FB she said that everyone knows having a baby is not a glamorous occasion, so no worries, and I have her full permission to use it here 

Actually Marah - you might not think you look glamorous, but you are still gorgeous

 

Anson arrived in just on dark and came round for dinner.
We had lots to talk about while it was cooking.

Shoshannah made a delicious lettuce salad

and a warm roasted vege salad

which we ate with sausages.
Then we finished off with Aunty Liz's delicious cakes.

Anson called up Cat for a chat, then passed the phone to me and he headed home.
We talked for a while and then I had to go to bed.
My early mornings are catching up on me.
I fell asleep watching Frasier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy's Law!
After going to bed and sleep so early last night I woke at 4:30am.
Spent the next few hours updating my blog and catching up on mail.
Then hopped into the spa and watched some of 'Frasier'.
The storm hit in the early hours.
I could hear the rain and wind lashing the house.
When I looked out all the stuff Azzan had left outside his room on the decking had been blown about and the ladder had sailed along the deck and smashed a plant pot.
It was all over soon after dawn.

Anson & Marah left for a couple of days in town.
Marah had her hospital visit scheduled.
Anson was intending to transport some posts and timber to the treatment plant but because the weather was so rubbish when they were leaving he decided against taking the trailer.
They went picking up pumpkins instead.

I intended to get some more of the 'Spring' cleaning done but ended up in the study most of the day.
Seb came over so we talked over some things.
He has spent all the past week working on the Tardis, getting it cleaned up and back into working order.
He has contracting work lining up to do so had phone calls throughout the day getting that all sorted.
It is all weather reliant.
Her needed a crew, found several sources, but then it was all put on hold for a day because the forecast was not good.

Mahalia has learnt how to chop wood and is pretty pleased with herself.
We now have piles of chopped wood at the backdoor.
She went for a walk to find Olly and brought him back home.

Shoshannah spent her day doing her birds and chickens, feeding puppies, reading her book, and cooking.
She made butter chicken and rice for dinner.
I added some roast parsnip & yams.
While dinner was cooking I washed up the days dishes and Mahalia fed Archie.
He is growing into such a fat wee porker.

Mahalia and I did a few minutes of sorting stuff in my bedroom before dinner too.
I have a goal of what I want to achieve, it is just taking me a while to get there!

.
We piled onto my bed with our dinner plates and watched 'A Shine of Rainbows'.
It was a lovely movie, gentle and slow. But not so slow as to loose our attention.
It gave a message of how love given to a complete stranger could transform people in such a positive way.

Got a call from Anson to say they were at the hospital and Marah was not allowed to come home and he was having to rethink his work plans for the coming week too.
Nothing like babies to put all our plans into disarray
Talked to her later and apparently her blood pressure is too high so they are putting her on meds and monitoring her closely.
Depending on what happens she may have to stay in the ward until babe arrives.
She is in good spirits and baby is fine.
Prayers for her and babe please.
And for a good labour and safe delivery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woke to a lovely morning - clear skies and calm seas.
Just perfect for a day out.
Shoshannah was up early and had a plate of sushi ready to take with us.

It was a bit of a mission but the girls and I managed to get ourselves ready and out the door around 10:30am.
Still in recovery from our week in town

We called in and picked up Marah and headed over the hill to Sandra's.

Sandra & Liz had invited us all to a Baby Shower for Marah.

Shoshannah & Mahalia got loose with my camera, hence the wonderful artistic shots I have to use here today

Loved the nappy cake Sandra had made - or as Mahalia said in American, 'Cool diaper cake'

As Marah & Phoebe haven't had much opportunity to meet the locals since they arrived in the area it was a time of 'meet and greet' over a cuppa when we first arrived.
There was a great group of local ladies there.
Sandra - and cuz it was held at their home Phil was there for some of the time.
Jude, Jenna & 4yr old Zaria, Georgie & her friend and their 2 wee boys all came from over near French Pass - that is over an hours drive away.
Liz came from Te Towaka and filled her car with Sythe, Caroline & Sandra along the way.
Jo came from over the hill.
Sue picked up Phoebe.
And I brought Marah, Shoshannah & Mahalia.
So we were 16 ladies in all.
The weather forecast precluded some others from coming unfortunately.

 

I was outside talking to Georgie, watching Harrison explore the garden - he was just deciding if he could manage to drop down over the edge to play with the cheeky wekas.....

when Shoshannah came out with my phone.
She was looking a little upset and said that someone was wanting to talk to Dad.
So I took the call and had to break the news to yet another person that Tim has died.
It is damned hard because you have to steel yourself to tell them the bad news and then to cope with their distress and know what to say etc.

 

When I got back inside the creative teams had gotten to work.
They had to use baby items - nappies, bibs, wraps and loo paper - to create wearable art.

Mahalia, Jo and Caroline were the team models.
The result was a tie so they all got prizes

 

There was much squishing and kissing of the wee-est baby onsite - 12 week old little poppet with the mushiest of cheeks that Sandra couldn't resist

 

There was a delicious array of food platters on the bench so we queued up and filled our lunch plates

We had a couple of quizzes to do throughout the day as well.
One was to name the baby photos that some of us had brought along.
That was fun - cuz I already knew 5 of them so had a head start

The other was a list of names - the letters were all scrambled and we had to work out the names.
It was jolly difficult actually!
Some applied themselves to the task more diligently than others.

Dessert was delicious

 

It was lovely to sit out in the sun and socialise.
Some sat at the tables and others reclined on the deck steps

Lovely shot of the beautiful mother to be.

My pensive darling.

My two lovely extra special daughters

When we were all quite replete we were called in to play the $2 Shop game.
A favourite game of our very loved friend and district nurse Peggy, who is sadly no longer with us.
But the game is played on in her memory.
Basic rules are -
Everyone brings a wrapped gift from the $2 shop.
They are piled in the centre of the circle.
Dice are thrown randomly around the circle - we had three die going
Throw a 6 and take a gift.
Once all the gifts are taken then you can start stealing gifts from each other.
Loads of fun.

Harrison was right into the game - claiming the die and taste testing them before he could be persuaded to throw them again

 

Then it was time for 'The Shower'.
Marah was given the choice of opening gifts then and there or taking them home to open.
She said, 'I didn't know there was going to be presents!' and opted to open them now.

Sandra submerged her with all the gifts and she had a ball opening them all.

There were 4 gorgeous pairs of cosy wee boots so we have all decided it must be a girl as it has a good start to it's wardrobe already

 

Most of the ladies had to leave mid arvo so there was just me and the girls and Jo left.

We sat and talked a bit longer over another cuppa.
The girls had fun taking more photos.

 

I really love this one.

And this one is so specially true with Sandra in the background - her home exudes love.

One last photo before we leave.

It was a really lovely day.
Thanks so much Liz & Sandra for all you did to make it happen.
Marah said she felt so loved

The day had turned quite cold and windy.
Shoshannah had a mission to open the gate at the top of the hill cuz the wind was so strong.

The afternoon sun setting was beautiful.
Just loved the light through the clouds and the wind playing on the sea

We dropped Marah and all her gifts off.
She was so excited and had to show Anson everything and tell him all about it when we got there.

 

When we got back I was so incredibly tired that I pretty much just went straight to bed.
I was feeling really drained.
It had been a day of very mixed emotions for me.
Loved being with all our friends but also was struggling to hold back tears a lot of the time.

The girls found their own dinner as non of us were very hungry.
I grabbed an emergency Weight Watchers frozen meal and zapped that.
Took it to bed with a cup of licorice tea and a slice of Liz's lovely banana cake.
Sat and ate that while watching a wee bit of 'Frasier'.
I was startled out of my dozing state sometime after 7pm by a phone call.
Hopped out of bed to answer it then went straight back to sleep.
First time I have been in bed and asleep at that time in forever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a very slow relaxed sorta day.
Both fires were going so the house was toasty warm.

Seb arrived at 8am to pick up his stuff and spent most of the day working on the Tardis.
Shoshannah made a large stack of buckwheat pancakes and some cashew cream.
She served me up a pile with blueberries.
Very nice but too filling for me at that time of the day.

I hopped in the spa and watched some episodes of 'Frasier' while having a soak.
I had not seen it before but found it at the hire place and thought it might be light hearted, easy to watch, and it is

Marah & Anson came round to visit.
Anson was in mission mode so went off to do some stock work.
Marah stayed for most of the day.
I made us some lunch, the girls made their own.
We just hung out and chatted.
Pretty chilled - nice.

Seb brought Phoebe back with him after lunch so we had some more girl time.
Mahalia went fishing.

I had offered for Phoebe to use the computer and internet to load their holiday photos on FB but it was getting late so she let me load them for her after she left.
I have decided I must be the best mother-in-law around
I loaded them all on and never touched her site even though the girls were encouraging me to!!
It is all safely logged out now Phoebe xxxx
Phoebe drove home and dropped Marah off on the way.
Seb took the dinghy back.

Mahalia fried up the fish and boiled some spuds and and I made a salad.
Shoshannah had a pile of fresh fruit and buckwheat pancakes.
We sat on my bed and watched 2 movies while we had dinner.
Shoshannah had hired 'Legally Blonde 2 and 3'.

Now the girls have gone off to bed and it is time for me to snuggle down.
Am getting texts from Azzan in Auckland telling me he can't sleep.
Funny that he didn't want to take a phone with him but now he is using it.
I think he might be missing me - maybe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another early start so we could get into the city by 9am.
The girls were all up and packed and we were saying goodbye to Ross at 8am.
It was great actually because it gave me time to pop in to the courier and pick up a parcel for Sebastian, and then also to zip into Burnsco and get something else for him.
He is busy working on the Tardis, tidying it all up and catching up on all the maintenance that has been let slip so he needed stuff for that.

Then I dropped the Regulus in to U-Save Tyres to get the new tyres fitted and balanced.
I had the use of a courtesy car so we were soon away.
Dropped Shoshannah off at Katherine's then we stopped in to see Leeanne to talk about some fabrics she is making up for me.

I had a 10am appointment at the bank so set Mahalia off to go see if she could find herself a dress for Jesika's wedding.
Once my meeting with the bank manager was finished I met up with her again and was pleased to hear she had actually found something.
As it is now winter I wasn't sure she would.
So we went and had a look and decided it was perfect.
Plus it was on sale - double bonus!

Dave called up to say my tyres were on and the vehicle was ready to go so I zipped back and collected it before meeting up with Valerie at Hanger 58.
Nathan and Mahalia came too.
It was really nice to sit and chat - hadn't seen Valerie in a while even though I drive past her bay everytime I go to town.

Paula from The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Trust arrived at 11:30am and we chatted for a while before the Nelson Mail reporter and photographer arrived to interview me.
They are preparing for their annual appeal and need loads of support to keep doing the awesome job they do.
So if anyone out there feels inclined to support them please, please do so.
There is a donation link on their website.
They are such an important asset to our community.

Mahalia walked into the cbd to meet up with Shoshannah.
They hung out with Katherine and had lunch together.
Nathan didn't have to start work for a while so I asked him if he would like to have lunch with me.
We met up at Morrison Street Cafe.
It was freezing cold outdoors so we were quite pleased to find one free table inside.
Food was great.
I had the Roasted Chicken, Quinoa & Pumpkin Salad - it had Roasted chicken, quinoa, pumpkin, red onion and walnuts tossed with a mustard and maple dressing - and was deliciously filling.
It was good to have some one on one time with Nathan, we don't do that often enough.

The afternoon was fast disappearing so I gave my boy a last few hugs and headed off to find the girls.
We had another look in Jeans West, bought some veges, got fuel and groceries and some hire dvds.
Then a last stop at Starbucks and we were off home.
It was around 5:30pm.
The evening was cold, drizzley, grey, yucky and generally a miserable reminder that winter is upon us

We had a good drive home.
The rain lessened to nothing by the time we left the main road.
Got to the top of the hill at 8pm and stopped to talk to Graham for a few minutes and then popped in to visit Anson & Marah.
It was nice to get home and find the lights on and fire going.
Thanks Anson for doing that - made it so much more welcoming

The girls helped unpack the Regulus and we were soon all off to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I slept in so only had half an hour to get ready this morning.
Did a scramble and raced upstairs and got the kids moving.
We were gone by 8am.
I was glad we had gotten away as planned because we had a good run almost to town.
Just hit the queue beginning to build at the Ridgeway.

 

Got to the city centre at 8:30am so had time to get a frappacino, fill two kids tummies, post some mail, and get to my 9am appointment on time.
Azzan set himself up in the Nelson Beauty Therapy waiting area with my laptop and he contentedly filled in the hour watching podcasts.
I had ordered a taxi to pick up Mahalia at 9:40am and take her to harp lesson.
Shoshannah walked down the street for her 9:45am appointment with Helen Loveday.
With the three kids all organised I laid back and relaxed and enjoyed my hour with Julie and Amanda.
I took a call offering me an earlier appointment with Scott so I took it.

Azzan came with me and set up camp in the Loveday Clinic waiting room.
I whizzed upstairs and caught the last few minutes of Shoshannah's appointment.
Then she walked back to her next appointment with Amanda.

I had to wait for a wee while until Scott was ready and ended up having quite a social session in the waiting room.
Marianne had just finished with John, so we had a good old catch up.
Azzan was watching a fascinating podcast about the sea life at the Galapagos Islands so we were sharing some of that with him plus talking with the receptionist.
Then Bedelia walked in, so some quick catching up there and then Scott called me through.
I have only had two sessions and my shoulder is feeling so much better already.

Shoshannah was lost in Farmer's trying on clothes when we eventually caught up with her.
Then I lost Azzan to the Living Lights shop where he stayed for ages talking with his friend there.

I zipped over and got hot potatoes for lunch, including one for Azzan to deliver to Auckland for Sunni.
Michelle was very amused to hear it was being flown up there with Azzan
Then back to check on Azzan, he was okay and wanted to stay talking so I went to dig Shoshannah out of Farmers.
Finally went back and got Azzan.
His friend had given him a wee gift for me and another for him to take up to Auckland.
He was delighted.
He loves candles.
I took a photo of them before we left.

Then we drove out to the airport.
Azzan was very pleased that the time had finally come for him to leave.
I got him all checked in.
He was flying as an unaccompanied minor so had to wear the red necktag.
He wasn't too sure about that!

I had to wait there with him until everyone else had boarded and then the hostess took him to the plane.
I got loads of hugs as he was leaving.

He text me later to say he had arrived safely.
I have given him Tim's cell phone so he can contact me.

 

Shoshannah and I then headed off to get some groceries at the wholesaler.
She checked out the Red Cross shop across the road while I whizzed in and got a few items.
Stopped to pick up some baby gear for Marah & Anson.
Then back into town.

I left Shoshannah with Mahalia and they walked down to do some op shopping before going to the library.
I had an hour to go visit Paula & Dave.
It was really nice to just sit and enjoy Paula's company.
At 5pm I had to leave to pick up the girls, then I whizzed along to Starbucks and got myself a final frappaccino for the day.
Liz was shopping nearby so we chatted for a wee while before the girls got impatient to leave.

It was good to have waited a while because the worst of the evening traffic had left.
We didn't get caught in it until way towards the Richmond end of the motorway.
The girls wanted to suss out Farmers at Richmond Mall as it is a much larger shop with more stock.

On the way to the store I saw some super cool boots at Hannah's.
The best part was they had them in my size and they fitted.
So much to Mahalia's disappointment I bought a pair for me but none for her!

I let them loose in Farmers sale for a while then rounded them back up at 7pm.
Paid for what they had bought and then drove around the corner to have dinner with David & Sasha.
Andrea & Ross joined us and we all had a very pleasant evening.
D&S had cooked a roast of mutton with veges and excellent gravy
Andrea bought a delicious feijoa & apple crumble.

One pair of Mahalia's brand new socks had holes in it so I took Ross and the socks and went back to Farmers on the way home.
Andrea took the girls and they were all tucked up in bed by the time we returned.

We have to be away gain in the morning by 8am.
I was so hoping to be out of town early but tomorrows to do list has grown longer and longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children had been primed the night before that they had to be up and ready to leave by 8:30am.
I managed to get myself upstairs in time to hustle them out the door around 8:40am!
Mahalia was still helping prepare Azzan's lunch moments before we left and then Ross followed us out holding Azzan's manbag which he had left somewhere in the house
I would make a shocking full time townie mother - I seriously do not like having to keep to such an early timetable.
Once every two weeks is more than enough for me!

 

I dropped Azzan off at One Day School and then met up with Melanie and her Mum down the street a tad.
Mahalia happily hopped in and took off with them for the day.
Sasha had already taken Shoshannah into town for her 9am appointment so that left me child free for a few hours - happy dance

I headed into the city and straight to Starbucks to get my morning fix.
Then figured I had time to go sort out the vehicle plates.
I had to deregister the Safari, then change the Regulus plates for my personalised ones.
That made the girl behind the VTNZ counter stop and think for a few moments as to how to do it.
I was glad to see it wasn't just me that was confused over the whole process.
It required filling out three forms, changing my Safari personalised plates to normal ones, then deregistering the new number and then changing the Regulus plates over to my personlised ones & deregistering the old ones and then paying several lots of money.
Then she told me I needed to physically change the plates on the vehicle as soon as poss as the old ones were no longer legal.

I was pondering as to how to do this, and decided to pop around the corner to visit a friend who has sold tyres to Tim & I for most of our vehicles for years now.
I was doing fine thusfar.
I parked up and went to find him and as soon as I started to ask him for some help I began to cry.
It just all felt way too much.
Having to ask for help for such a small thing.
He was lovely, gave me a big hug and immediately got one of the junior mechanics to come do the deed for me.
While the young fella was doing that Dave did a recce on my tyres for me.
He knows exactly what type of tyre Tim liked to use on our roads.
He decided they were not up to scratch for our winter conditions so I booked the vehicle in to have new ones put on.

The new plates were on so I headed down the street to see my therapist.
I had a very very emotional session with her.
There has been so much happening since I last saw her, and despite her reassuring me that I have been coping pretty well considering, the flood gates opened and I all the tension I had been carrying was released.
I had been aware over the past week that I was constantly feeling tense and sick in my stomach from all the stress.
Was really good to talk it all out.
I was so drained when I left, but much lighter.

I zipped across town to pick up some more funeral dvd's that had been ordered.
Went to Post Office to post them.
Then met up with Sasha & Shoshannah at Fashion Island.
They had been shopping the sales and found some bargains so Shanni was smiling
While Sasha waited for our Salmon & Avocado wraps from the Wrap Shack at the Farmers Market I went with Shoshannah and picked up a pair of shorts she had on hold.
Shanni got a baked spud and we ate our lunch as we walked to Farmers and returned a dress she didn't want.
The heavens had opened by then and it was bucketing down.
I had left my umbrella in the car so walked to Renaissance keeping under cover as much as possible.
The girls stayed to finish their lunch and do some more shopping before heading back to Richmond to pick up Azzan and take Shoshannah to guitar.

 

I had booked a cut and blowwave with Hitomi at Renaissance.
It is only 5 weeks since my last cut but I really had the blahs today and needed some morale boosting.
Hitomi worked her magic on my hair and my spirit, we had a really fun hour of laughter and she made me feel great again.

Because it was wet outside and I didn't have my brolly she decided she needed to take photos of my haircut before the weather ruined it

She is so proud of her wonderful cutting skills and the amazingly wonderful colours that she is now to be known as the Queen of the Salon - so look out for the red carpet and be prepared to bow to her graciousness if you have the pleasure of visiting her

(Sonia took this lovely photo of us both for their FB page, so I borrowed it)

 

I drove out to Richmond and because Sasha had picked up Azzan already I had time to go find the Vodafone shop and get Shoshannah a new phone.
She has been using one of Nathan's old phones and it has been playing up a lot so I said I would get her a new phone for an early birthday present.

I then collected Azzan, and picked up Shoshannah and headed back to Ross & Andrea's.
Mahalia was dropped back a bit later.
Andrea gave the kids their piano lessons and then cooked dinner while Ross & I were busy sorting out some business stuff.
Throughout the day there had been many phone calls to do with the boat drama.
I had been far too busy to deal with any of it so Ross helped to get it all sorted, well he made some major inroads towards getting it resolved.
I had to leave just before 7pm as I was meeting Phillipa at Speights for dinner.
It was really good to just have a few hours together.
We spent a luxuriously long and slow amount of time devouring our food as we talked.
So long and slow that the waitress kept thinking we had finished & wanted to clear off our plates, when all we were doing was pausing in the eating process so we could talk.
Can't hurry good conversation!
Especially when between us we are busy mothers with 18 children, 10 son/daughter-in-laws and several grandchildren and both running family businesses.
Not often do we have uninterrupted unlimited time to enjoy that time together.

We weren't quite the last to leave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't dally in bed too long this morning.
Still hadn't managed to do all my packing so after I got the kids moving I had my shower and sorted clothes.
As my room is still in a bit of an upheaval I had to fossick to find things.
Seb arrived before I had finished.
We had a lot to discuss and details to sort out so spent an hour or so in the study talking.
Soon after 11pm I realised the kids were actually not doing a lot so I cracked the whip and got them moving.
I wanted to leave by midday as I needed to get to Nelson to not too late.

Seb helped me repack the Regulus.
I had to leave behind all the recycling as we had too much of our own gear.
I will just have to try and take it out next time.

Anson came round before we left, we said goodbye to the two boys and left by 12:30pm.
The road was very muddy and slippery.
I only got the first corner and I was skidding into the water table.
I freaked a bit but managed to carefully skid drive my way down and we were soon over the worst.

I was sposed to be towing a trailer out to Rai Valley but Seb reorganised his schedule and took it out instead and did a few other jobs at the same time.
Shoshannah was nursing a small box containing her budgie all the way out.
She had advertised her birds last week and has managed to sell one thus far.
We arrived in Nelson at 3pm, dropped Helene off at her backpackers and then Mahalia & Azzan at the library.

Zipped up the street to drop off hire dvds before meeting up with Pat at Hangar 58.
Nathan had a day off but came to see me there too.

Pat and I had a lot to talk about so ordered some coffees and whiled away the better part of an hour.
Shoshannah's lady arrived to pick her budgie and nesting box - she came back inside with money in her pocket looking very happy.
She went off cruising the shops for a while.
Mahalia & Azzan walked up to join us as they were getting bored at the library.
Mira arrived so got to meet the kids.
We left around 5pm and went to pick up the children's plane tickets from Roni.
Azzan is the first to be flying the coop.
He leaves on Thursday for 2 weeks with Sunni & Mat in Auckland.

It was getting cold and dark so time to head through to Richmond and drop Shoshannah off at Sasha & David's.
Then Azzan and I zipped around Pak'n'Save and picked up a few groceries so he could make his lunch for school tomorrow.
He likes to get salad vegetables and fill his own bread buns.

We finally got to Andrea & Ross's place and quickly unpacked the Regulus.
I was so weary and my headache was still hovering.
We enjoyed a tasty dinner together with the kids and Ross bantering in very fine form.
The kids sat and downloaded podcasts on my laptop while Andrea and I talked.
Finally got them off to bed around 9pm.
We talked some more and then I headed down to my cave with Andrea's large umbrella as it has begun raining since I arrived.

The forecast this morning said we are in for a wet cold week.
Looks like it has begun.