A bit of this and that.

No 2 and no 1 grandsons taken at Easter at a family gathering in Hawkes Bay. (above)

There is no mistaking where these two come from - I could put a photo of their respective dads at the same ages and it would be like looking at twins, lol.

It was my niece's birthday last Saturday and as she too lives in Wellington it was an opportunity to spend some time with her, so once again No 1 GS and I caught the bus into town to take gifts from family and friends in Waiuku. For those who may have looked at the blogs mentioned on my posts, Laura is the author of http://hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com and has some small fame from being on the cover of the NZ Star Times Weekend supplement last year and mentioned in NZ Cleo (I think Feb issue) for her cooking blog (if you haven't it is well worth a visit, not that I am a biased aunt at all, lol). She and Tim (her partner) live in an apartment in Cuba Mall these days and what fun it was visiting. We passed all the shops, cafes, entertainers etc in the Mall and walked up and up to just opposite Real Groovy records to a metal gate in the wall between one of the local sex shops and a tattoo shop and once inside the gate got to press the button to their flat. It was all very American tv when Laura's voice came through the speaker and we had access after being buzzed through the next door. Then two flights of stairs up and we were there. The No 1 GS was extremely impressed by the whole access and then the fact there was a rooftop garden on top of their flat again. We did collectively comment on what an improvement this dwelling was to the student flat first lived in, which was one up from living in a swamp it was so damp. (the clue was the ducks living outside the house, lol).

I was treated to a very fine coffee from Tim while the small person was allowed to try out the very new apple mac, and yes, it worked on the cartoon network just fine, thank you very much. Whilst Laura undid all her gifts (I know, I was like a pit pony lugging them into town in my back pack along with laptop to show her numerous photos), we also indulged in a piece of a delicious cake she had made that had chunks of chocolate mixed through it - a great hit all round. Time flew by as I managed another coffee and then much oooing and ahhhing over the views from the roof whilst the small person took photo after photo with the camera I gave him at Christmas. I downloaded two lots of 178 photos taken in two days, (laughing lots ) - many experimentals (blurry ones, ) but he has quite an eye developing I believe as some were great compostition. We did not have too far to walk this time to catch the bus home and walked through the door to the wondrous smell of lambshanks being cooked for dinner.

Sunday was another family gathering, this time No 1 daughter in law's two sisters and their families and her Dad visited for lunch and then Laura and Tim came round as well as I had forgotten a crucial present the day before. It was a great day, and almost got sunburnt whilst sitting out talking on the deck. Wellington certainly turned out its best weather this week and it was autumn at its best. We were still eating the last of the summer's tomatoes out of the garden so it doesn't get much better than that.

Monday I flew back to Auckland and was picked up by Mum from the airport and it was back to Waiuku for a couple of hours before driving down to Waihi that evening to stay with No 2 son and family. It was several degrees cooler down there I can tell you, though once again the days were beautiful, just the mornings and evenings were crisp. Tuesday morning No 2 daughter in law, grandson and I went to Waihi beach so the lad could have a run around on the sand. All started well, and there was much laughter as he ran along the beach and then dropped to crawl in circles whilst inspecting shells etc in the sand. I was trying to get some photos - got mainly his back lol, when he trotted towards the tide. He had seemed to go just so far to start with and then the next thing as the tide went back, he ran forwards and fell just as a small wave zoomed in and hello, it went right over the top of him and he disappeared from sight. DIL leapt into the water and fished him out and he looked like a drowned rat, crying at first from the fright or maybe it was our fright, lol. We hadn't taken anything spare with us so Nana, ta da, gave up her skivvy type jumper which we rubbed him down with the sleeves and then popped him in it.

He was not totally enthused but was smiles not long after this and it made a good story for Dad once we got home. Later that afternoon we went for the big strawberry hunt. The farm where No 2 son works had leased some land that had the remains of a strawberry garden on it, and it was decided we would have strawberries for dessert that night. This entailed all piling in the 4WD and heading across the farm a good amount of the way before crossing the last two paddocks on foot.

Just me and my Dad

does this strawberry patch make my bum look big, lol

my haul

I have to say, it was a lot easier getting these than the 5.30am mornings on hands and knees through wet grass etc strawberry picking of my youth when Mum, Kay and I did a stint at a local Waiuku stawberry farm. There is something very hunter and gatherish about harvesting food in the wild so to speak and though between the rows were clogged up with weeds and not one of these fruit would have graced any shop because of the smallness in size, - these were the sweetest, most strawberry tasting strawberries I have had for a long long time. They were literally the last of the last but oh my, sunkissed with a couple decent sized ones in the bunch, the taste was magic. We did contemplate whether it was the stolen fruit aspect that made them taste better, lol but no, I think it was just that they had not been force grown and picked to soon that made the difference. I was still in the mode of hunting and gathering as we walked back to the car and found two lone mushrooms amidst some thistles to add to the haul so was very satisfied with myself. We had stopped earlier at a large drain/stream that runs through the property whilst No 2 son pointed out a trout that was lurking there - very tempting indeed to complete the day's finds, but decided to leave the fish to another day. The landscape of the paddocks on this farm is very interesting as there is a raised banked area running through it. This was where the railway ran through the property back in the day and is clear to see once you know what you are looking at.

Friday came all too soon so it was back on the road again to Waiuku. I managed to catch up with a good friend whilst in Waihi and came away with an armful of must read books lol. I also paid two visits to my favourite bakery which makes the best Neinish tarts bar none that are nearest to home made ones from the Edmonds cookbook, that I have ever tasted. I will not tell you how many I bought over those two visits, laughing lots, suffice it to say, I had to store up the taste for some time to come - possibly Christmas, as the No 2 son and family are moving back to Auckland in June to return to their home on the North Shore. Both will go back to work as the farm contract has come to an end, as has the DIL's maternity leave.

I am writing this in Perth airport, and it is just before 6am. I arrived here at 10.30pm last night after flying Auckland to Melbourne, Melbourne to Perth. Both flights were good and I slept most of the way. The second leg, the pilot said we were travelling several thousand feet below normal as there was a lot of turbulence at the higher altitude - I must say I did have a split second Erebus thought when they said we were flying lower, but it was all good. We were delayed disembarking in Melbourne for about 10 - 15 mins when the gizmo tunnel thing that you walk into the airport through would not attach to the plane but as we were on the ground was quite ok with that. It was a bit more daunting coming into land at Perth when with my eyes shut I could smell smoke. There were no messages about the plane bursting into flames and just as I was looking out the window to see what might be causing the smell, the pilot along with the usual blurb about landing mentioned the smell of smoke and the haze outside and said it was bushfires further east - welcome back to Australia!!!!!! Had no hassles through customs - my bag was overweight at Auckland by about four books so I had tucked them into a volumious hand bag and was EXTREMELY thankful that neither my back pack or handbag were weighed at any point as I know my handbag weighed nearly as much as the back pack. Luckily I am going by bus back to Geraldton than flying Sky West as they weigh your back pack as well and there is not a book I could part with to leave behind.

It is ANZAC day today and I guess at this very minute there are dawn services kicking off around WA, - New Zealand already having theirs some four hours ago. I was wearing my poppy all through transit from NZ and have had a wee smile because nothing has been said about the pin that has affixed the poppy to my shirt - maybe that sort of patriotism means I would not be likely to use said pin for a terrorist activity, lol. So today is a day of Rememberence, and once again I will miss most of it as for the last three years I have travelled on this day. I know Maori TV in NZ will have excellent coverage of the day and hopefully I will get to see some of the Aussi coverage in the news tonight once I am back in Geraldton. There were some fascinating stories on morning TV, the local newspaper, and the radio on to the airport which I did catch. I received an email from Mum today about the story of the Last Post which was in fact written by a Confederate Soldier and played at his funeral at the request of his father who fought for the other side. I find that always moving to listen to. I have always found ANZAC day an emotional experience and feel extremely lucky that I have not had to have any first hand experience of family at war in my life time, though our family like most others has ultimately been shaped by the experiences of our forebears who did. So today, I along with many others will take the time to pause and remember those who went to war from Australia and New Zealand, and for those who did not come back, and will be greatful to those who did and the legacy of freedom that I have grown up with.

Lest We Forget