Christmas Eve and Day

Spent the day getting ready for the evening, making the mince tarts during the afternoon. The fruit mince is mixed with crushed pineapple. Had a nice meal in the evening then after some carols and candlelight opened our presents which are now all over the table. One of the problems I am having with my condition is that my perception of time seems to be affected so time is going twice as fast, which is not so good when you are trying to make the most of it! Before I knew it, it was midnight.

Mass at the Cathedral today which was quite memorable with the choir singing beautifully. It was chocka with standing room only at the end. One of the last seats near us was occupied by a portly gent bearing a carton of bottles of wine(?} and another bag of them. By the time the choir got to Ave Maria he was overcome with emotion and started sobbing, kneeling and beating his breast with remorse{?}. I asked him if he was alright at the sign of peace and he said he was. He said his prayers very loudly from an antiquated mass book.
Came home and had our ham and cheese croissants , then went off to visit an elderly friend, and then to the beach for a swim with friend Margaret, whose boys weren't coming round until the evening like Elisabeth.
Had our cold turkey, ham, salad and cheese potatoes and now this very nice Christmas is drawing to a close. Off to Waiheke tomorrow for a week.

Waiheke Weihnachten

The top pictures are views of the bach sitting and dining area. The mural used to be in the old Post Office. It now hangs in the Community Art allery, Artworks. Forgotten who painted it.

The reclining nude was a painting for sale at the Palm Beach art and craft fair last weekend.

The pohutukawas are in full bloom and the bush is nice and green with all the rain we have had.

Mid-December

The choir performance went off well. There were a lot of graduate students and staff there, all very youngish looking. The performance sounded good and strong and some people were quite moved, they said. One women who had had a stroke sang a solo verse of Silent Night. There was nice food there which I took advantage of, then trotted off home again on the bus. Of course I was very tired in the evening and had to fight the temptation to go to bed after tea.

Altar EGOs

These are Elisabeth's latest four artworks - acrylic on hardboard.

Advent Venturing

Marked the second Sunday of Advent and St Nicholas Day with a little celebration of our own in the evening. Earlier we went to St Mary's chapel for the usual Christmas carol concert performed by present and past students of the college. Former Sr M Leo students this year were Lindsay Freer and Patricia Anne Shaw, who reminisced about her school and singing days. I am sure she said she was overcome with emulsion instead of emotion! I remember my own singing days at St Mary's when on one occasion Sr Leo sent me down to the primers to get them to show me how to sing, a humilation I barely recoved from, certainly not in my school days. The present-day Schola and the Chamber Orchestra, conducted by David Hamilton, NZ composer of note, and teacher of composition at St Mary's performed some of the old familiar carols like O holy night which brought back a flood of memories of the school prizegivings. We were all lined up in the blazing sun in front of the old brown convent (now demolished) for what seemed an interminable length of time singing these carols and getting through the prizegiving. Last night's offerings included several David Hamilton pieces, the highlight for many of us.

And I have now joined a choir myself - this is a choir for people with neurological conditions that meets fortnightly and is under the auspices of the Centre for Brain Research in Auckland. Many of us have conditions where pathways in the brain have stopped functioning properly and music may stimulate them or other pathways giving us a lot of pleasure and rediscovery of the joy of making music ourselves. I certainly feel stimulated by the exercises and songs we have been singing, mainly Christmas carols which we are performing at the Centre for Brain Research Christmas party later this week.

Recent photos

Photos of trip to water gardens

Waiuku and environs

Went on a trip with the Silverdale Historical Society recently to visit the museum in Waiuku. It was crammed full of all sorts of collections from dolls, ornaments, dolls prams, tools etc. Had a great home baked morning tea of the traditional kind up on the first floor. This buildding was formerly the fire station which has a nice new building next door. There were several cottages attached to the museum one of which housed crafts and preserves for sale. We are enjoying a jar of delicious lemon homey at present from their shelves - a big jar which cost only $4. l Willl have to try and make some myself when it runs out.

After going there we went on to Wrights Water Gardens in an old quarry complete with water fall, ponds etc. The flowers and other plantings were very beautiful.

Post-Holiday Mode

Seem to have been a bit lax in completing the holiday blog, but hey there is always next year to have a better go. This past week celebrated birthday and wedding anniversary, both in a low-key way which is the way I like it. Have had several goes at baking a cake but each time the eggs and butter go back in the frig. Today I ground the hazelnuts so that is an advance.
Spent the long weekend, Labour Weekend, at Waiheke which was very pleasant after having it let for 3 months while we were away. Walked to the market and stocked up on local spepcialities like Maureen's picallili and a delicious herb spread from another stall. Celebrated the birthday with a restaurant meal at Bowlers across the road.
Have been catching up with friends in Ponsonby, usually for lunch and a browse in the shops along Ponsonby Rd. Bought myself a filmy black and floral jacket/blouse which I will be wearing over summer and also a nice recipe book full of old-fashioned reccipes from yesteryear which I am looking forward to trying out, once I have restocked the pantry.

Today after our gym class our YMCA social club paid a visit to the synagogue across the road and had a guided tour organized by one of our members. It was interesting to hear about their festivals and the stories behind them.

Later Dieter and I went up to an art gallery and looked at some before and after reunification photographs of Berlin and other East Germany cities. It reminded us of when we lived in Germany in the late 60s-early 70s and went to some of these citiies on our travels.

Elisabeth did this public art in nearby Cox's Bay.

France

On the next day to La Rochelle which was some distance from town so we opted for a tour to the Ile de Re, Island of Light instead. It is a very low lying small island with 5 or 6 villages and earns its money from tourism (never got to the beach which was the main reason I wanted to go on the tour there) and sea salt production. Didn't buy any as it was too dear and too heavy. And to me, salt is salt. We did walk up winding streets with lots of souvenir shops to an old church where there was a lovely view of the island. In the little village of Ars there was a statue of the Cure of Ars in the church. Somehow I think he came from another place with the same name. There wasa lovely little marina lined with cafes where you could buy icecream and waffles. Back to the Azamara to be serenaded by old French sea shanties by a group of locals dressed up for the occasion.

On to Bordeaux up the river with its old bridges and buildings. It was Sunday and there was not much doing apart from a farmers market near where the ship was anchored. We had a glass of bordeaux there in the afternoon, not quite the drink of choice for a sweltering day. The locals were out as there was some sort of festival on with dancing of the tango and group variety. We did a couple of long walks of about 3 hours each so was pleased to get back on board again.

Cruisey Pics - Rouen

Our stateroom was on the main deck very handy to the main reception area, big enough andwith plenty of storage. Our butler turned out to be a glorified steward in a suit, pleasant enough. He organized my early morning cup of tea to be brought to the cabin by room service.

We sailed off into the night and traversed the canal linking the Baltic and North seas from Kiel to Hamburg. It was idyllic with a lot of birdlife, lush green landscape and tidy brick houses with their gardens facing the canal. Most cruise ships are too big to get through the canal and ours was not so people waved, stopped their cars to take photos of the ship.

On to Amsterdam (bikes everywhere) the next day where we spent the morning in the Van Gogh museum - mindboggling with its great variety of paintings on display and other exhibitions of works by his contemporaries and documentation on one of his patrons.

From there a day at sea then on to Rouen where we visited the cathedral which Monet painted so many times. Sought out the art gallery and took the photo (permitted) and looked at several others of his paintings. Rouen had narrow streets of beautifully painted old houses right in the centre, a famous gateway with a very old clock, a very new Joan of Arc church with amazing architecture inside and out. Dieter took lots of ordinary photos as he lost his digital camera a few weeks before we left, so it is all (still) only in "my mind's eye"

Copenhagen