Time to call it a day

A family update:

Our Grandchild count has now risen to six, and now all our four children are married/partnered. Two live overseas, one in Australia, and our daughter still in Bahrain.

The last wedding took place in Queensland, Australia five weeks ago. Our youngest son married his long time Australian girlfriend. What a lovely occasion it was, way out in the country, in a vineyard, surrounded by Australian bush, kangaroos around (well evidence of where they had been) in the evenings and our accommodation in rustic wee cabins amongst the trees.

I can tell you though, these New Zealanders with their fear of snakes and spiders and other creepy and lethal Australian creatures, trod very carefully along the stony paths at night to their cabins! For those of you who may not know, we have no snakes in New Zealand, and only one poisonous spider and that is rarely seen. So here in NZ we can tramp around off the beaten tracks with no fear of anything nasty lurking. The grandchildren were warned not to play around the edges of the duck pond as a snake currently lives there! That struck fear into the hearts of the parents! Australians seem to learn to live with these creatures and are very casual about them. However in Australia I don't see children playing amongst the undergrowth or in any overgrown grass verges.

I have decided to say goodbye to my blog. It has been sadly neglected of late and rather than just peter out, I thought that I would give it a proper farewell.

I am not sure why this has happened, maybe as life moves on other things start taking precedence and there is not the need to record events as there once was. I don't even take the photographs I once did, my Husband has taken over as the family photographer.

I guess we have taken a slight shift in family life with my husband now retired and home all day. We are travelling more, overseas and in NZ, and also going off to our beach house more often,

I have also become more involved with quilting, a creative pastime I really enjoy. As well as knitting, and also transcription of old letters.

I thank my faithful readers, Candy, Betty, Gail, Veronica, Chrissie and Teepe for their continued interest. I will still visit your blogs and keep in touch.

I wont delete NZ Links, just in case I have a change of heart!

With best wishes for the festive season,

Bye and God Speed,

Merinz

Items seen in hotel foyers in Turkey

I became quite fascinated with various items on display at some of the hotels we stayed in. 

Shoe shine anyone?

The second pic is a lovely carved bench. I could have packed it up in my suitcase if it had fitted!

The tea trolley in the third photo was a gem. And the  buggy in the last photo is I think for a donkey to pull. 

Visit to a pottery in Bahrain

While in Bahrain we visited the A'ali pottery in Manama. They make these distinctive style of pots which are very popular here. People often have them in their courtyards as decoration or to house a lamp. The header photo shows a selection of sizes.

What a shame they were too big for  my suitcase!

Some photos taken in Turkey

These are two photos taken from our hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey. The first photo shows some older dwellings that appear to be unused. The second one us a modern house squeezed in amongst the rocks. It possibly has an underground room or two that is not visible in the picture.

Cappadocia  is a world heritage site, a place of wonderful natural beauty, as well as an incredible history. There are thousands of man made caves, many still used as dwellings and commercial premises.

There are entire underground networks of caves, some four stories deep, used by Christians as retreats when they were threatened by invading forces. We were lucky to be able to go into some of these, a humbling and amazing experience.

Bahrain and Turkey

We have been away from home for over a month now. Three weeks in Bahrain and another nearly two weeks touring Turkey.

What a lot we have seen and done. Where do I start!  We feel quite at home in Bahrain now having spent seven weeks there this time last year. This time we just slotted right into life there, an expat lifestyle I have to say. Although unlike some expats our daughter loves shopping and generally poking around in the souks. And eating in traditional places.

I will load some photos when we return home. At the moment we are awaiting a bus to take us to Istanbul airport to begin the long journey home to New Zealand.

All is well....

I have had the 'all clear' now from the health professionals - its a wonderful feeling! In celebration mode I am. So its off to Australia to visit our youngest son and take in some sunshine. I am all over winter, and rain.

However there are some heartening signs of spring - the bluebells are flowering madly, our vege garden is under way, and the potatoes are up.Life is good. Some photos to follow....

The Shaky Isles

New Zealand is living up to its name of the Shaky Isles with 48 hours of earthquakes jolting the Marlborough/ Wellington area, the largest was 6.6. People near the epicentre at the small town of Seddon have had damage to houses, roads etc. Wellington has also sustained some damage which seems to be mostly in the CBD area, broken glass etc.

The 'kiwi' spirit came to the fore with many people offering rides home to stranded commuters after all trains were halted.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/9054859/Quake-rattled-residents-flee-after-tremors

“Seddon tackles clean-up and "amazing Wellington spirit' comes to the fore after 6.6-magnitude tremor and aftershocks strike upper South Island and lower North.

Thousands of quake-rattled Wellingtonians fled the city, choking roads, as the tremor and a swarm of aftershocks rocked the capital.

The 6.6 shake at 2.31pm was centred near the Marlborough town of Seddon, not far from last month's 6.5 shake. Yesterday's shake caused more damage to homes, but no lives were lost and injuries were few.

Roads around the CBD and state highways quickly became clogged with people trying to make their way home, with some even deciding to walk along the highway to avoid the traffic.

Passing motorists were stopped by police and told to pack in a few of the thousands of commuters stranded at Wellington railway station after all trains were cancelled.

Senior Sergeant Bruce Johnston had been helping people find rides home from the station since before 3pm. "People are naturally pretty great and willing to help. We're still waiting on buses to places like Waikanae," he said.

"Kapiti Coast and people who get the Capital Connection are the hardest to find rides for."

However, many opted to wait out the clogged roads or bus queues with a drink at the pub.

City workers sitting in the outdoor area of the GP pub nursed beers as they checked their phones, many waiting for rides that were a long time coming".

Its a Boy (x2)

Congratulations to William and Kate on the birth of their little future king!

But we too welcomed a new little boy into our family, Grandchild number 6 arrived at 7am on Saturday morning. Not destined to be king, but will be loved and cherished by his own family of subjects!

Like the royal baby he is just over 8 lb. He is now home with his Mum and Dad and 2 year old sister and is doing well. He bears the names of two of his grandfathers. One, his Great Great grandfather, a pioneer of New Zealand, and the other is the name of my Father.

The best laid Plans........

We never got to take our holiday in Australia last month as planned. That has now been deferred until early September.

I started having chest pains. Not what I would actually call pain (like childbirth pains!) but a cramping heavy kind of sensation that crept up into my jaw.

So consequently I am now involved in a whole new world with a new set of vocabulary. I am now becoming familiar with words like CT Scan, angina, coronary angiogram, circumflex artery etc. as I wait for the appropriate tests to be completed and then move on to the next procedure.

Of course this is probably pre- ordained. I have an abysmal family history of sudden deaths at a relatively young age due to heart attacks. I have lived to a greater age than my parents did and my two younger siblings. (and I don't consider myself old yet at only mid sixties)

I do have an advantage in that heart research has come a long way in recent years with the diagnosis of heart problems and the use of stents, surgery etc. as well as general awareness and education regarding some of the contributing factors of heart disease eg diet, and smoking. I have never smoked, weight - well that needs some attention, but I have been told that is lower down in the list of 'causes'. Family history is the highest on the list. Those genes have a lot to answer for.

I will keep you posted.

The Yearly Event - Kiwifruit Harvest

For those who have been reading my blog for years I apologise - the photos are much the same every year. It is an important event for us, the harvesting of our crop of Kiwifruit.  This year has been a very good growing year. In spite of a drought for about two months over the heat of the summer, the fruit is a good size and hopefully we dont have too many rejects. It is going to be processed at the packhouse this afternoon.