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.