Haere Mai (Welcome)
The weather in early July was great – for winter. Bloody freezing in the mornings with ground frost five days in a row (almost unheard of here in the Waikato) but lovely sunny days so Ann got out each afternoon pottering in the garden (she’s been on her Term 2 holidays).
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The day after Ann finished Term 2 she invited all the staff from Blue Block (two classrooms) to a shared lunch here. Everyone brought loads of food so we were all stuffed by 4pm.
After everyone had gone home we walked the dogs (and walked off a few calories) then went out to friends, Jean and Tim, for another calorie laden slap up meal!
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We had a bonsai workshop on the 10th and 11th which was great – concentrated on just bonsai (it’s held at the potters society) but of course at the same time we kept thinking about how much we could do in the garden as the days were lovely and sunny and we were inside – and it was cold inside the potters place.
Ann spent ages just cleaning up and thinning out her picea. |
| Peter worked on one of his trees then helped Noel with his large Juniper. |
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As it was Peter's birthday a few of our bonsai friends joined us at Gengys for a great Mongolian meal. Ann surprised Peter with a special 'rat' cake at the restaurant (well - you're only 50 once in your life time). |
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For his birthday Ann got Peter a personalised plate for the Ute - it's now RAT 001 - better than TG1266 don't you think.
Peter now has his own 'Rat Mobile".
He also got a nice bottle of Single Malt from his brother and money from Mike and Jean & John |
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Following on from the weekend bonsai workshop, Ann invited Sandra and Donna to come over and do some carving on their trees. Despite lots of dust and noise they had a great time. |
Time goes way too quickly these days. We have the national bonsai convention which our club is hosting this year - in 13 weeks - argh! There still seems so much to do.
Although Jaz and Maxie had a lovely couple of weeks whilst Ann was on holiday, and Peter managed to get a few days off too now it's back to us out at work all day again, and the girls really don't like it. When we get home we get five minutes of barking and woofing - telling us all about their boring day and how dare we go out and leave them alone - sob story extraordinaire. |
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Jaz is still waking us up three or four times a night (several times a week). We’ve tried leaving a light on, extra treats before bed time (apple), blankets and turned the heater up a little – but nothing is working on a permanent basis. Peter’s beginning to threaten her with the dog pound!
News from home
Muriel and John have finally moved into their new home. They'll certainly get a lot of exercise now as they've upgrade from a two bed bungalow to a four bed three storey mansion. Lots of stairs to cope with now!
Carol (Ann's sister in law) sent us some photos of their holiday in the Lake District with Ann's dad, Mike, and her auntie Shan, and a whole rabble of other friends, relatives and dogs.
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