Autumn Sunshine

We have enjoyed a week of sunshine, with the days starting off clear and cold and ending up warm and clear. We lit the fire for the first time yesterday and it kept the front room all toasty.

We are all getting over our viruses and school has been a lot less busy for me this week as the seniors all go on exam leave. It is great to have a bit of respite to catch up on ... sleep, being normal and 1001 delayed jobs.

Last weekend really was unpleasant and the blog entry was written whilst being virally challenged. We had committed to killing and spit roasting a sheep for a Salvation Army band meal on Saturday night. It was a bit of a mare getting the job done, but with a lot of help from friends we managed it.

Just back from a good soccer game. Pamapuria 2 beat Kaingaroa 4-2. The opposition had no reserves and played a good passing game. But Pamapuria could rest their players with 4 reserves and even started to pass to each other at some points in the game. Paddy scored 2, with the second in the last minute of the match.

The pictures shoud be mostly self explanatory!

The cool looking dude with the shades is Stuart!

The jet landed at Kaitaia Airport a few weeks back and the 2 resident plane-spotters were up at the airport to look at it in minutes! (I am a birder and I married a plane-spotter - better than a bus-spotter I suppose!)

The sheep need a shear. The one eating out of Chantelle's hand is Ginny, very tame and staying on our maternity block.

And the team is most of Pamapuria 2, taken on the day the were thrashed by Eastern. The coach deserves a medal for his patience. I would find it hard to remain good-humoured and to strike his balance of taking the game seriously, so that the kids have a chance of winning, but also keeping it fun.

Finally Stuart again in his go cart. Currently stationary as the wheels are not attached to the shell, but one day .... it might get finished.

Autumn Viruses

We are all currently in various stages of attack by viruses. Stuart and Patrick were off school with it earlier in the week. Chantelle and I have been hammered this weekend and Eric seems to be starting with it now. It gives you a headache, saps your energy and amches your neck and shoulders ache.
Not very pleasant at all, and kind of irritating when there is always so much to do. But in the interests of remaining positive and finding a silver lining in every cloud, perhaps there is something to be said for being laid low by a virus. Maybe it is because we are so busy that we need to be forced to stop evry once in a while. I have always found those tv ads where some thrusting executive carries on meeting the deadlines by popping a potion, even though he has flu, to be disturbing. I wonder whether we are more likely to just pack up if we keep forcing ourselves to go on when our bodies are telling us to stop. Not that I have not been taking Lemsip and Paracetamol to keep going last week until I gave up on Thursday night.

What else have we been up to?
Mostly just the day to day stuff and not very exciting.
Patrick has had a couple of good soccer games. Pamapuria 2 surprised the pundits by beating Ahipara 3-2. Don't ask me how, they carried on with their pack tactics where every player tackles any other player, including their own team and hoofs it in the general direction of the goal. This tactic overcame Ahipara's careful spread out passing play.
They got a wake up call last week when they were thrashed 6-0 by Eastern. Shame really as it was the first match that Chantelle had come along to this season. At the end of the day, the kids all seem to enjoy playing and they are getting better slowly.

Animals are all doing well, the ducklings are getting bigger. Chucks seem to like their new coop. Rock looked like he had been attacked perhaps by a rat and was blind in one eye. He is a bit crankier but otherwise recovered. We acquired 2 new sheep this week. One was only on our land for a few days and is now feeding the Salvation Army Band in town. the other is staying to (hopefully) lamb and then might end up on a spit later on.

I can't think of any other exciting news. My brain is like mush so it might come back to me. Haven't taken many photos recently either.