Quite the social butterfly

 The last couple of weeks have been amazingly busy . Something to go to almost everyday. There are now people here I know well enough to be recognised and "Hello Liz" is quite nice to hear. So  here is a pictorial record of some of the activities.

My birthday dinner at Malay restaurant  

Lovely flowers for my birthday from Gil and Dorothy

The first of the U3A seminars  

Friday afternoon touch rugby game - Cordelia on the left 

I get to be the driver to get the girls to their touch games. Huge number of kids and parents - I calculated over 300 primary school kids from different schools. No score kept but lots of running madly - sometimes int eh wrong direction!
 

Annabelle at touch rugby afterschool Friday - she is short hair in red and black on trhe right

The giraffe statues at Greenhaugh gardens  

Part of the beautiful gardens at historic homestead Greenhaugh Gardens  

The third U3A lecture 

Judo practice session - Annabelle on the left

Annabelle has decided to do judo on Tuesday nights and after some negotiation with mother we went along - Jonathan joins in the adult session following the children's one. She is a beginner yet but had a big smile on most of the time.

Cordelia on the flying fox at the esplanade playground - 

Then this weekend i have visited several quilt shops  as part of a promotion in the local region - I liked this wall hanging - only part of it showing but i have bought the pattern - could be quite fun!

Prior to the U3A lecture I had been to a couple of hours of song and music by a group called Operatunity which made music in great costumes and trained singers "I love Paris"  - had lots of lively songs that we all knew. Target audience is Seniors and they are almostt monthly throughout regions of NZ - I enjoyed and will go again.The lady in the photo was the violinist. Singers were trained opera-level singers with well painted backdrops. Daytime concerts with lunch provided.

The Garden Club talk this week was about a visit to Croatia - the lady who went had been to some of the places we went but also Zagreb and Lubljiana in Slovenia - interesting to see what someone else photographs.  

So Monday ngiht i am off to my first night of the Rose City quilters - I will enjoy that!

Woops now it is October - golly!

 The weeks are flying past and the best thing is that the weather is starting to get warmer. we are now in daylight saving but I am wearing a T shirt today!

I spent the first week of the school holidays back in Auckland. I needed to catch up with a few people and so i drove up in the car and stayed with Gilbert and Dorothy for five days. Wonderful spot to be - close to the harbour - lovely walks with the dogs albeit very windy the first few days. Harbour Bridge had major hiccups due to wind and a truck being blown over onto one of the major vertical beams. Reduced lans meant big traffic jams but the engineers got onto it pretty fast and it will be resolved in a big hurry. Temporary fix was up on a few days. I was able to catch up with several friends - dinner out with KAren and Anne, lunch with Stephanie and another lunch with Lynn and her husband John. Then Gilbert and Dorothy took me out for a pre-birthday dinner to Swashbucklers - seafood restaurant down at Westhaven. Lovely fresh seafood - I had the Pirates platter to get the full range scallops, mussels, prawns, shrimp, salmon and battered fish! as well as a delicious sea food chowder with huge lumps of sea food in it. 

A full day of sewing with my friends at Wattle Downs was great and then i stayed the night with GloriaM which was also very good company. Felt quite spoilt. Margaret has finished her Birds in the Garden quilt - here it is!

then the long drive back to Palmeston north on Friday - but gorgeous weather - no snow on the Desert Road and home early enough for KAren and her cousin Sue to drop in for a fish and chips tea on their way to Wellington. Lovely.

To top off a great week Jonathan and Amy had all the kids at the farm for a camping night including a little fire and toasted masrshmallows. One little girl slept in the campervan with Nana and the other fled there in the wee cold hours so it was very warm and cosy. Callum and his friend came up for breakfast but they had to sit outside. 

Today I have been babysitting as Jonathan had a meeting and a class to take at Uni and the kids and I had a quick trip to the local Bike park and playground after Cordelia had made cheese muffins for lunch. They enjoyed the break although they were diving back onto their devices as soon as we got home. 

So now I have done a little bit of gardening and need to catch up on my sewing. and a few other tasks. 

But with the sun shining it is a glorious day. I do like nice weather.