Tidy-Up Time at Orewa and E's Art in Motion assignment

We had a nice weekend, albeit busy . Had a good trip up by bus with Dieter and a friend of mine who came with us. Had a quick lunch of ciabatta, salami and cheese then a trip into the village to get some things from the op shops. We both got a nice Carltonware type small dish for $8 as we both liked them and that was all I bought - that I remember! Sorted out some other stuff to go back to a different op shop so haven't really gained much. I had to clear out the bedroom that the flatmate is going into and accomodate all the stuff, get rid of the dust of several seasons (it seemed). E arrived early evening but didn' t want to film us until the next day - ended up being round 12. She was pleased with our efforts and we were suitably impressed with her skills. I had been dreading it somewhat especially when she pulled out this bag of odd- looking clothes, but endured all for art's sake. We just had to mime the words to a plaintive little love song written and performed on CD by her friends, the Gladeyes.
Next weekend will be a weekend at home which I am looking forward to.
Today I went to the Y , not quite as energetic as the sports day I attended last Friday. It was several of the N2O groups from around Auckland playing volleyball and badminton. I had a go at both which was fun but rather hard as I had not played before.
Today lunchtime met D to look at the book sale at the library. Bought one book each which was very restrained then went to the staff cafetaria at the Council for our midday dinner which saves cooking this evening.
Had a first look at an interesting exhibition of NZ paintings, landscapes I think they are, in a new exhibition being hung at the City Art Gallery, so had a very satisfying day.

Not content to take it easy on a rainy Monday afternoon I made some feijoa jam and am in the throes of making another batch of guava jelly. Have only a small quantity of jam covers, sugar and small jars so will freeze some of the juice and make a third lot later on.

Easter and Afterwards

Spent Easter up at Orewa doing our usual things. Went to the Good Friday ceremony which along with the Easter Sunday Mass were meaningful occasions. E came up on Saturday evening to celebrate Easter with us, with D providing the usual easter eggs for us to find. The dahlias were in full bloom so picked some for the table. Had some lovely lamb shanks for our evening meal and fresh feijoas from neighbouring trees for dessert.

Have been busy on the domestic front making a pot or two of quince jelly with my good neighbour, Gladys's high-up quinces. She and her daughter made two batches of quince jam which looked beautiful but too much work for me, peeling and cutting up that hard fruit.

Our flatmate Gerard moves in up there on Anzac weekend so I have been busy making space in cupboards, pantry and on shelves for him to put his gear. This has been a good opportunity for me to prune back our possessions there and I have two big bags of stuff for the op shop.
Had some welcome light relief when the shops reopened on Saturday and made a foray to the Baptist op shop and replaced my old blue dressing gown with a nice bright cherry red one for $5 and my old black handbag for a new one for $4. So it's two steps forward and one step back in that direction.

Friend Frances came up with us for the weekend and took us on a jaunt to Wenderholm on Easter Sunday. Visited Coudrey House with its beautiful old architectural features and furnishings. Drove home with a detour to Waiwera where we reminisced about outings to the hot bathes there is the oldendays and vijsits to the Waiwera Hotel afterwards for dinner or drinks.

Weekend on Waiheke

Enjoyed lovely late summer weather on the island with a couple of swims, a visit to a country fair at the Steiner kindergarten and general lounging about. The bach is let for Easter so did a modicum of housework to make it spic and span for our guests.

D has a new camera so hopefully the images will be of better quality once he has mastered it. I have a new mobile and am concentrating on mastering that. There is a picture of the bach with feijoa tree and another spindly tree in the foreground, one of Blackpool , another of Oneroa Beach from the Little Oneroa walkway in front of the church and one taken at the country fair of childrenand adults enjoying very creative teepees.

There is an abundance of feijoas under our feijoa trees and we scooped out the flesh of a bucketful of them and froze it in containers for future use. Made guava jelly during the week , a perfect set for once, because it can be sometimes a bit runny.

Visitors from Germany

Had a delightful 10 days or so with D's nephew , Klaus and his friend Christiane who spent the last days of their 7 week Neuseeland OE in Auckland. Thankfully the weather was better and they enjoyed warm sunny weather at Waiheke and Orewa and also round Ponsonby with us. Had a couple of swims at the Herne Bay beaches, walked around to Westhaven and along Ponssonby Rd. It was very nice for D to have some family here for a change. His other nephew came about 22 years ago.