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We're away for a weekend; Bronwyn's old friend Natalie is getting married. Sarah is going to be a flower girl, and Rachael is a dog girl. Natalie is very keen on animals, and has become the South Island representative for Swedish Vallhunds. Not that there are an awful lot of Swedish Vallhunds in the south island, although one of her neigbours runs a husky sleigh team, and keeps the town awake all hours. Thankfully we're not leading a horse up the aisle.
The wedding is in the Ngatea Water Gardens. About 15 years ago, someone bought a paddock, and turned it into a garden. It's full of all sorts of odd things. The dovecote has "For rent" signs on it. There are fake crocodiles floating in the water, and a sign pointing straight down saying "Buried village - 10 metres". It's officially closed for the weekend, but they're opening it up for the wedding.
Bronwyn now has a new denture with four teeth on it, and several fillings. It cost us quite a bit, but hopefully she won't need any more work for a while. Meanwhile she went for a cholesterol test, and they said her blood sugar was too high, so she had to go in for more tests last Friday!
Bronwyn's been for another job interview. This is at a creche in a tourist attraction. It's called "Old MacDonald's Farm". It's about 25 minutes drive, but along the back roads so there shouldn't be a lot of traffic. No news on that, or the original agency job, but it takes weeks to get a police check here so anything could happen.
Monday. Three limp helium balloons are on the floor, and it's taken us a while to get up. My comment about the horse very nearly happenned. We were on the road to Ngatea. It's typical of many of the roads in the Huaraki Plains - dead straight, flat as a pancake, and 6.7km long. Suddenly Bronwyn slowed down. There was a horse on the road. With no rider. And another on the side. We pulled into the nearest house, but nobody was in. WE then tried a farm house. Nobody there either. But the cows were in the milking shed. So off Bronwyn goes, and tracks down a woman in the shed. She makes some comment about "#^@?! husband leaving the gate open" and phones her son. We then head out to the other farm on the far side of the road, and apprehended the horses. They obviously knew what they were doing, because one had made his way straight for a bale of hay.
Meanwhile. we set off for the wedding. Natalie was late. Over an hour. There is a one lane bridge that we all had to cross, and half of Auckland was heading home on it. From then on it all went smoothly. The dog was very well behaved, and Rachael and Sarah were the star attraction on the dance floor. It was past 10pm by the time we finally went home.
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( 3 / 2087 )It's going to be a busy two months. Two contests, two concerts, three times running the computer at church and twice playing trombone. But next week we're off to a wedding; one of Bronwyn's old friends from Way Back. So we'll be away for the next weekend. May is going to be so quiet, but I'm sure I'll find something to do.
Rachael and Sarah are going to be flower girls. Well, actually Rachael is a dog-girl, because Natalie wanted to include one of her dogs in the wedding. She's quite into animals, and worked as a vet nurse for a time. I just hope Rachael's dress survives! Sarah's dress used to be Rachael's at Claire's wedding. The two of them look really good with their matching sashes.
We've had more rain, and it's now warm and sunny again. So the dam is overflowing (or at least up to the drainage pipe) and the paddocks are green again. Haven't seen my trees for a while, but my little collection at home is slowly growing.
Bronwyn is still looking for work, but has a couple of offers in the pipeline. I'm really busy at work. I think it's the tablets my product manager is taking. He keeps signing us up for more projects from the Ministry of Education, which is great, but I generally end up doing the work!
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( 3 / 2021 )We had about 5cm of rain this week. The tank is full, the dam has reached the overflow pipe and the fields are green. The trees are doing well, along with the others in various stages from seeds upwards.
Had a full weekend in Katikati. It's off to the south east, about 100 miles away. We had a rehearsal on Saturday, a meal out in the evening, and the concert on Sunday. The concert was at an old homestead, where they were holding an open day. So everyone was in period costume (well, anything old, anyway) and we had a number of vintage cars and a display of old wedding dresses. A man arrived, in a frilly dress and a large hat covered in flowers. It took me a long time to work out he was actually male. He introduced the parade of people in wedding dresses (there must have been at least 30).
Both bands played quite a bit, and we had plenty of fun. I need some sleep. Meanwhile, Bronwyn struggled alone with the girls, and is very glad to see me home again. Sarah is getting quite a handful, and regularly gets Rachael into trouble.
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( 3 / 1939 )We've had rain at last. About 4cm, and more is on the way. I've been watching the MetService website with great interest. We had a series of high pressures standing guard over the country for several weeks. Then one of them let its guard down, and a herd of low pressures piled in from the north west. Another high pressure made a desperate attempt to regain posession, but was bulldozed by a second low pressure that charged right through it. So much rain fell on Friday that a great cloud rose up from the central plains and came back to Auckland. So we had more rain on Saturday. That cloud is still heading north west, and has teamed up with another low pressure, planning to return for a third go on Monday. Once that lot goes through, there's another one behind it ready for the weekend. It's going to be a wet start to February, but the grass is happy.
It's going to be a busy few weeks for me too. I'm off with the band to return a visit to the Katikati Concert Band next weekend (raining or not). I'm on the church roster to play twice and do the computer three times. Bronwyn's friend Natalie is getting married in March, and the band is playing at two contests and the agricultural show. And that's just as far as April. Hopefully it should calm down after that.
Bronwyn is still awaiting her police check for the agency job, and has been applying to a couple of other places too. We're rather short of money this month, so we need to earn more or spend less!
Sarah has adopted Bronwyn's nighdress, and has sucked it to bits. For valentine's day I bought Bron a couple of new ones. Sarah isn't allowed to suck those...
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( 3.1 / 2161 )It's really hot here. We missed out on the storm last week; it passed about 400 miles away. There's another lot heading for us. I've been monitoring the Met Office website, and willing the rain to come out way. The paddocks are really dry. I did my back in last week watering the trees. It would have been worse if it wasn't for the hosepipe - I joined all four lengths together and stuck one end in a nearby cattle trough. But it only reaches partway down the hill, so the rest I had to do by bucket. I went over yesterday. It's all dry again!
Bronwyn had a tooth break last weekend, and went to the dentist on Monday. He's given her a temporary cap, and sorted out the forms to get two extra teeth added to her denture plate. There's a couple of small fillings needed where the plate has rubbed against the teeth, but apart from that the others are fine. She's currently helping out with the haymaking, and then we're over at Mum and Dad's for a birthday tea.
Bronwyn has applied for work at an agency. It went well, and should be all OK once the normal police report is through. She'll be doing relieving at various child care centres around the district.
My car failed re retest for the warrant. The brakes were still not balanced. I took it back, and was told that they needed time to bed in properly, having been sanded and cleaned. However, our mechanic's son is now back, and he's qualified to give warrants. He sorted it out for free, plus a pack of beer that we brought round as thanks...
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