Big Day Out

I have just got in from a day at Orewa with my friend Patty. We went up on the bus a deux and had a lovely time - op shops, lunch at the Nautilus, walk along the beach, time at the "Bach". Had my decoupage course tonight and have come home to several birthday phone calls and had earlier visits and emails, so that is very nice. People make these occasions special. I have my goddaughter, Marianne, arriving from Perth on Saturday morning for a week , her fiance arrives for a few more the following Saturday, and E is going flatting again on Saturday, so life is busy busy. The pictures are of Dieter and myself at Waiheke last weekend.

Labour Weekend at Waiheke

Hi, Got home on this wet and miserable Labour Weekend from our first visit to our revamped bach in 3 months. I was a little apprehensive as it had been let out for that period but Annabelle had left it spic and span. Went to the Ostend market on Saturday morning to stock up on tamarind chutney, flowers and other bits and pieces. Lots of people there inside and outside the hall. Chatted to people where I regularly buy stuff - Maureen who makes delicious picallili and jams (Traffic Jam!). By the by when I go into business it will be as Jam Packed! Then Danielle Fillion who paints lovely watercolours of the island bays as well as delicate flower miniatures. Have some of both, as well as a couple of birds too. Restrained myself even though there was 20% off. The walls of the bach are still bare and in pristine condtion and I will enjoy them that way before hanging my pictures and wallhangings up again. I sold a lot of the bach furniture a year or so ago to a young couple who were looking for old authenetic kiwi bach furniture and so far don't regret it, though it is a bit of a squash accomodating the china etc after getting rid of the colonial dresser. Did our usual walk to the library in Oneroa in the other direction in the afternoon, walking 8km on Saturday. Went out for dinner to Bowlers across the road for baked ham, pasta bake and yummy vegetables and salad, all for $12.

Sunday went to Mass at Little Oneroa - took the digital camera and took aim at church and sea nearby. See Little Oneroa in first picture and back view of bach on second. Then coffeeed at Salvage and walked home around the coast via Blackpool. Had a garage sale out on the front lawn and tried at sell some old doors, bathroom fittings and some batts. Only sold the batts for a pittance. Cleaned out the washhouse and stowed the garage sale miscellany in the army hut until I try again.

Ponsonby

Went up the road this morning on our Tuesday off and took in an exhibition at the Leys Institute Library in the Downstairs Reading Room on Ponsonby before the Harbour Bridge, which was completed in 1959 I think.

Apart from very old photos of St Marys Bay, Curran Street, trams and Trolley buses there were a number of photos showing the final stages of the bridge project with the central archway being barged out and linking the city with the North Shore. When the bridge was opened people had the opportunity to walk over the bridge one Sunday . Many Aucklanders availed themselves of the once in a lifetime chance including me and some of my schoolfriends.

That downstairs reading room was formerly the non-fiction part of the children's library which was also opened round about 1959. I can remember going there every day after school.

The picture of the Ponsonby Post Office looks a little drab. In recent years it was refurbished and nicely painted and then even more recently it was done up again and is now a Belgian pub with apartments on the top storey.

German Reunification Day celebration

Daylight saving started today and we had the German Reunification lunch at Sorrento in Cornwall Park. The trees were in blossom and the lambs out and about, as well as gingery coloured hens and calves with their mothers. We sang the national anthem and had a toast to Germany and a lovely buffet lunch, including salmon and roast beef, after the speech. The speech was given by one of the members who had been to the former eastern part of Germany this year and asked people what they thought of 3 October, when it all happened 16 years ago. There is a bit of a wave of nostalgia about how good things were when everything was regulated by the state. There is a lot of unemployment apparently and the young people have gone to the west, or are only to be found in the university towns. People don't seem to appreciate their new free way of life, not the ones he spoke to anyway. I know a lot of firms and factories did closedown because they were uneconomic and the older workers could not get jobs after that. I think they should concentrate on tourism more as for all those years you couln't go there and there are some very historic places like Dresden,Weimar, Dessau, Wittenberg etc. Dieter has been to more of them than me but maybe the next time we go to Germany I might visit some of them too. It was nice catching up with a couple of German women who came out in the late 1960s whom we have known for all those years and meet others who have been here shorter periods but who like to gather and speak German with one another.