Maria Gabb, d. 28 December 1994

This is a portrait of my mother which hangs in our hallway. It was painted many years ago when she was in her 40s, by one of the tutors at Elam where she used to sit as a model for the art students.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas. It is 8am here and everything is quiet . Had a lovely day yesterday- made more cookies for Dieter - buttery Viennese crescents made with ground almonds. Went to Mass at St Bens at 11am then got ready slowly for our four afternoon tea guests. We had coffee and cookies, cake and stollen, and florentines which Ann had made followed by a drink and nibbles. Elisabeth came round at 6.00pm and we celebrated Christmas with a late meal of turkey roll, cheese potatoes and green vegetables, followed by trifle for dessert. Exchanged our presents after that - Dieter gave me a new hand-held phone and Elisabeth gave us a DVD player. My technological challenge for January will be to fathom how to use both of these. Elisabeth is home until late afternoon so we will have a peaceful day and have a couple of visits to and from friends after that. Off to Waiheke for a few days tomorrow.

Another picture

Dieter took this of our Advent stand and behold two pieces of my finished Stollen, made with apricots and raisins. It meets with Dieter's seal of approval and has a very nice texture I must say.

Christmas is Coming

Well another week closer to Christmas. Spent the weekend over at Waiheke. I went over on Friday with a friend, who hadn't seen the bach for a while. Went for a long walk round the coast to Oneroa via Blackpool, browsed the shops including op shops, where I managed to find a couple of nice Crown Lynn cups and saucers with an autumnal pattern, and a silver sugar bowl (with silver mark, I think). Had lunch at the deli and dinner at Bowlers in the evening. Sad to say the standard has slipped with new caterers but it was better than cooking and the drinks were cheap. Saturday we walked to the Ostend Market and I bought some preserves to give away as presents, in lieu of making my own. Seem to have run out of steam and have yet to make any Christmas goodies. Today just may be the day to make that Quark Stollen.

New Hobbies

Have been a bit lax in updating this as I have 2 new hobbies which are giving me a lot of fun and taking up a lot of day and night time. First of all I am doing a decoupage course at Art Station which involves fossicking out old wooden containers , objects etc, painting them, then sticking pictures on and polyurethaning several coats of that over the top to make said object nice and shiny. I have done coathangers, picture frames, little dishes , round boards so far , giving things a new lease of life. Will add some images soon

The second one is online scrabble which is quite anonymous so it doesn't matter how bad I am! I have won a few games though and used to consider myself a good player until I started this lark. It is at www.scrabulous.com.

Spent the weekend at Waiheke where we tried to get the garden into shape - lawn, pruning shrubs and trees and letting a bit more light in. Had to buy a new washing machine which we also accomplished as the old one leaked badly all over the nice newly polished floor and made the most disconcerting noise.

Sylvia Park Megacentre

Went on a grey nomad safari today to the new megacentre in South Auckland. Got off to a shaky start after observing someone prowling round a neighbour's backyard. He got very aggressive and asked me what I was looking at when he emerged from their driveway , then he kicked their burmese cat which limped away. I called 111 from home and the police picked him up in a neighbouring street about 20 minutes later. In the meantime I had lost Dieter who had said to this guy that he better watch out or else... and this guy lunged towards him saying he was going to waste him or words to that effect. Thankfully he changed his mind as I know who would have come off second best. I envisaged him languishing in hospital somewhere but he turned up in the aforesaid neighbouring street and had given his side of the story to the police after which I met met up with him and we proceeded on our bus trip as planned, albeit half an hour later. All the usual shops and a very spacious Warehouse Extra store where we bought a few things, had some lunch then got another bus back via Glen Innes, Glendowie, St Heliers, Orakei and waterfront , places I hadn't seen for quite a while. On Sunday I bought myself a new book on the history of Crown Lynn china and have decided to collect it, if I see pieces in my travels. Have rescued a few pieces from under the house and underneath potplants on our front porch to start with. The image is off a fluted bowl probably used for floral arrangements in the 1950s. I found it up at our place in Orewa in the garden somewhere.

Visitors from Perth

Have enjoyed showing my goddaughter Marianne around Auckland and our usual haunts for the past week which has been fun - Up to Orewa, over to Waiheke, out to Titirangi, Parnell, Devonport, Takapuna, Westhaven, Albert Park, Uni to name a few places. Her fiance Dean arrived yesterday so Marianne was able to show him around herself. We all finished up at the Gables for a meal last night before they set off for Taupo for a couple of days. The house seems very quiet today especially as E has gone flatting again. Took in a fair and market at Aotea Square this morning of many of the Catholic parishes and organisations. Great ethnic food and bric a brac which I was able to resist.

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.

Waiheke

Front of bach with the 2 new bedrooms and small deck.







Got my Certificate of Code of Compliance for the building renovations this week. The end of an era. Looking forward to going there from Labour Weekend onwards. The Council also notified me the front part of our section is a heritage site - part of a larger area containing middens and stonework.

Parnell

Got the bus to Parnell this afternoon to have a look around as part of our rediscover Auckland. Hadn't been there since our 25th wedding anniversary when we went there for lunch with Eileen and Frank. Walked up the hill and did some window shopping just venturing into the tableware and cutlery shop near the top to admire the Villaroy and Boch china and the George Jensen cutlery. Remember buying our Danish Blue Shark cutlery back on my OE . Most of the shops and cafes are new but there is still the same lovely atmosphere there. It was a balmy day - spring has finally sprung . The picture is one of Dieter's prints - It shows the first Family Barrow outside the Parnell Village and is by Peter Arnold.

TGIF

Getting ready for the weekend which we will spend up at Orewa, browsing the op shops in the morning and walking along the beach on Saturday afternoon. There is always work to do in the garden but it is low-maintenance gardening. Next week I have to report for jury service so we will have to come home on Sunday afternoon. Recently celebrated Elisabeth's birthday by going out for dinner to an Indian restaurant in K Rd. She is 23 now. She has got an additional part-time job in the library's website Dept and will be editing stuff there. We are pressing on trying to downsize a bit by selling some of our excess baggage on Trademe - mainly Dieter's books, prints and coins and my antiques and collectibles, those that wouldn't be of interest to Elisabeth. Sold an old china inkwell this week which brought back many memories of inkblots and G nibs . Those were the days.

Titirangi

Dieter and I are trying to make the most of our days off by going to a different place in Auckland each week. Yesterday we went to Titirangi where I hadn't been for a bout 10 years probably. Stopped off on the way at Waikumete Cemetery and put flowers on Mum's grave. Visited Lopdell House first and took in a wonderful Colin McCahon exhibition of his Titirangi years with a range of paintings I hadn't seen before. Many of them came from the Hocken and depicted stands of kauri , houses, seascapes in a range of colours in a grid pattern. Then went to Cafe Boss, a German cafe with wonderful baking and good coffee.

First Day

Today is the day I start my Blog helped by Anitha from work who is presenting a Blog workshop for Adult Learners Week.

Anna's Days