Thursday, August 30, 2007

Girlies


My darling Zoë had her 16th birthday a few months early. Her real birthday is early December and usually exams are on, school is finishing, or people are heading away on holiday and she misses out on any real occasion of celebration. So, she decided to have her birthday 6 months early…Well that slipped a little but come last Wednesday she thrust The Plan into my hands (having compiled it in a Maths class) and told me that some girls were coming over for a party on Saturday afternoon from 1pm until 6 pm. I was a little taken back as this was Wednesday! And I work Thursday, Friday and have rugby to watch Saturday morning.

Anyway having a plan was great and I just went and bought all the food we needed and gave Zoë a list of things to do Saturday morning while I was out – wash the kitchen floor, tidy the lounge etc...And it went off like magic.

Twelve girls just relived a child’s party. We had fairy bread and cheerios, pin the tail on the donkey and pink balloons, treasure hunts and pass the parcel. All that was missing were tears and tantrums, and the greedy or sick children that often accompany children’s parties.


It was a lovely sunny day, which led to an impromptu water game. All the girls dressed up in clothing from Zoë’s reject wardrobe and they stood out in the street answering Cranium questions. If they got one wrong they were dowsed with a cup of water. Hilarious!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Jack in his kilt


Had a fabulous weekend in Wellington. The Te Papa opening was special with Jack and I treated as VIPs from go to whoa. We never once felt like hanger-oners(?)

We also hit: the zoo, the cable car, a Parliament building tour, Te Papa we did to death, a couple of classes at the Wellington Seido dojo, shopping, Mass and plenty of walking to work off all the coffee and cake that fueled us.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Scots wha hae!

Well, hello there to my two regular readers! Gosh it was easy not to bother writing anything. It’s not like I haven’t been busy. Just that the business of life, and life, and life, which consumes all of my time down here at the arse end of New Zealand has been non-existent. Nought exciting, nought funny, nought, nought, nought pretty much covers it.

But it’s August now – heading for spring and I’m heading up to Wellington with Seán and Jack for a long weekend of fun and a tad of culture thrown in, I imagine. It’s the opening of Te Papa’s Scottish exhibition that Seán helped with and we have been invited to the opening.

Jack is coming because he looks good in a kilt. He and I have Friday to dawdle around the capital – duck into parliament buildings for a gawp, stroll along the water front, have a coffee or cake, maybe take in a gallery or two… Then we have some family time with the three of us, the opening itself on Saturday night and more free time Sunday. Should be fun.

I have nothing to wear (as usual) and am going to beg to borrow some clothes off a friend tonight. Wellington and Te Papa and VIPs galore mean serious clothes and I don’t do that so well – men have it so easy by being able to throw on a suit.

Got to dash and borrow a sporran for wee Jack :-) Pix to follow…