Documentary evidence

For those who like visual evidence click on the link below to see the Christmas Day swimming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU4hZ561CfE

Christmas Day Part II

We are now at the end of our Christmas day. In keeping with the spirit of reinventing the tradition which we started by opening the presents at Midnight. Our church service was at the Salvation Army, then we went round to Mike and Rissy's for food. And what food! No turkey, brussels, and roast potatoes. But BBQ steak, ham, chicken under a gazebo on the lawn next to a swimming pool where we all had dips at various points during the day.
There was also shooting practice, sunbathing, stories, trampolining and puddings.
Very nice and thanks for the invite.
The evening has followed a more traditional route of wall to wall TV of dubious quality (Brotown, My name is Earl, a UK drama about a woman who has 4 autistic boys, and the history Channel: the worst jobs in the world).
There you go our second Kiwi Christmas.
Suggestions for what Chantelle might be saying by email please.

Christmas Day

We are into Christmas Day here in the Southern Hemisphere. Seasonal greetings to all our readers around the world and hope you have good years in 2007.

We let the boys stay up until midnight last night and they had the countdown going on the computer.
Presents were opened at midnight in a break from tradition and to take the pressure off this morning.

Eric is going to add a few words:eric
"For many years i have been buying toy guns NOT THIS TIME! ......"
Stuart says:
"Mine is dad's old gun. We will be shooting for many years!"
Patrick says:
"Nah"
Chantelle says:
"Happy Christmas to you all"
The rabbits and possums in Church road are trembling.

See y'all and have a good day

Posy

Posy was a joyful bundle of black cat. She spent alot for time either sat on the deck with Zephyr or sat on top of the chicken coup counting the chickens.
She cracked us up when she scaled the great heights of the net curtain on the ranch slider , and gave us a giggle when she hid in the blinds of Mike and Chantelle's bedrooom, then absailed on top of their heads whilst they were asleep.
Best of all is that you always came out of the cat flap when we arrived home ffrom work and school.
Posy was killed on the road on the night of saturday the 9th of December.
We loved Posy.

Skools Out

Well that's it for me! I have sat through 2 prizegivings this week, the seniors on Monday night and then the juniors yesterday. I joined the rest of the staff in farewelling various colleagues who are moving on. I was thanked for being the Year 9 Dean. Today after a lovely lie-in and a mosey round the garden, I wandered into school at midday to tie up some loose ends. I cleared out my office and handed the key to my successor. And that is it until next year. I need a break and to remind myself who my family is.

The boys and Chantelle have to carry on until next week, because for some reason primaries have longer terms than secondaries. I get to have the house to myself, which is blissful especially as Stuart and Patrick are going through a music stage at the moment. Stuart is dithering between guitars and harmonicas. Patrick is showing some promise in the woodwind section and has been practising mary had a little lamb on a very cheapo Wharehouse recorder. Such was his enthusiasm that we splashed out on a $10 upgrade tonight. They go to school at 8am ...

Some pictures above, with more to follow. Firstly Captain Stuart on board the SS Matty. As well as being a pleasure craft, his boat has proved its worth as a work boat when we had to repair the irrigaton system to the veggy garden. Then there is the eating of the first peach from our tree - the one that Margaret and Ian bought us when they were over. It was soft and juicy and divine and we hope to have a bigger crop next year. The boy watching Paddy eat is Reuben and though it does not look like it, he had some peach as well!
The other pics are of the Christmas parade which was held last weekend through town. The boys had helped make the float, but Stuart and Patrick were both ill and could not go on it in the end. Eric was a shepherd with his sheep. The other float is of some pupils from Chantelle's school. Maori women often used to have facial tattoos on the chin like these girls - theirs are not permanent.

England vs NZ

I have not done an update for ages. Lots has been going on, mostly at school, where we have all been busy marking exams, writing reports and then getting ready for next year. All takes a long time, but not the sort of stuff I want to put on this blog really. Tonight is Friday night and the pressure is off me. Prizegiving next week on Tuesday ( and for seniors on Monday night). Then that is it as far as obligatory attendance at school goes until February. I worked out that we get 7 weeks off! It seems like we deserve a long holiday as we have been under a lot of stress this term. I do wonder if this holiday is too long and the others are too short. One day when I am minister of education, I will realise why things rae like this, in the mean-time the future looks good.

Check out the pictures. I wanted to compare our crowded UK life with our spacious existence here. The Google Earth image is taken at the same altitude 280 feet and our property is outline in yellow. Nuff said!

We finally bought 3 more more sheep last week. Beautiful dainty Pitt islands they are. The residents are not being too friendly, but they will accept them eventually I think. We knocked Stony on the neck and had him for tea last Sunday. Decided that we only really need 1 cock and that Stony was a brute and was better off to us as slow cooked tea rather than a vicious rapist!

Other news Northern Force won their first match on Wednesday against the Brazilian team Futbao. We are getting better every week though we have some way to go before we win the cup!

Hopefully the next update will be quicker coming than this one.