Happy New Year

New Calendars

We have received calendars from 3 cousins this year.
This one from Glenys and Athol has lovely shots of Maggie, Glenys' delightful granddaughter, photos of their South African safari, and photos of 'Tidsfordriv', Glenys' lovely home.
Stunning!





This calendar is from Esmee and Ian and contains family trees, heritage and present day photos as well.
Superb!
Another way of sharing geneology!

Our 3rd calendar was a small desktop calendar that will sit on our window sill. It is from Denise & Ross, and has their contact phone number on, so I can easily ring them.

Thanks cuzzies!

Day 9 reading Challenge...

Day 9 of my Reading Challenge. I have now read 12 books.

8."The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"-Stieg Larsson. An absolutely stunning thriller! It took me some time to get "into" the book, but then it went at a rivetting pace. Reading the 2nd book of the Trilogy now...

9."Fancy Nancy-The Show Must Go On"-Jane O'Connor. Delightful!

10."Fancy Nancy-Pajama Day" both books are in the "I can read" series. I have ordered 7 Fancy Nancy books from the Book Depository.($4 each!)

11."Alfie Gives a Hand."-Shirley Hughes. A thought-provoking picture book about Alfie who overcomes his shyness to become the most helpful party guest.

12."Tomorrow, When The War Began"-John Marsden- a young adult's novel. A great read, a little slow to take off, but then it went at full speed! I am left wanting to read the next in the series...

Ted's Waterwheel

Ted put the final touches to his waterwheel yesterday, it has been a 6 year project, but well worth the wait!

Day 5 Reading Challenge

It is Day 5 of my reading challenge, and I have read 7 books!

"Brown Paper Bear" -MacMillan Children's Books illustrated by Neil Reed
A lovely picture book showing toys of a bygone era, and a little magic from the brown paper bear.

"Fancy Nancy Butterfly Birthday"-Written by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.Just delightful! Loved the illustrations and storyline. A great way of extending vocabulary. Nancy loves using fancy words. Manaia (one of my students) would just love this book!

"The Hardy Boys" Papercutz Graphic Novel #6 Hyde & Shriek
Took me a wee bit to get back into comics! I found it hard to follow at first, not knowing where the next comic strip went. However, once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed the mystery. I am going to use graphic novels this coming year with my older boys.

"Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig" A picture book by Diana Neild, pictures by Phillip Webb.
Delightful! One I will be sharing with my students. The story of a wee pig with a very long name, and the story behind his name.

"CLUBS a Lolly Leopold story"-Kate de Goldi & Jacqui Colley.
This is a sophisticated picture book, and such fun to read! There is so much to read on each page, I was turning the book every way round to read everything! Tells the story of all the clubs Lolly's class have joined.

"Me and My Dad"-by Alison Ritchie pictures by Alison Edgson.
A picture book about the special relationship of a little bear and his dad. I always celebrate Father's Day with my students, so here is another delightful book to add to my collection.

"Our daft Dog Danny"-by Pamela Allen.
A delightful picture book about Uncle Peter, dogs at the beach. Problems, and a great solution. Another book to share!

I am in the middle of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" -intriguing story!

Christmas Blessings

Wishing you all the blessings of Christmas, and may the coming year be filled with exciting surprises and memorable events. One of my goals is to read 41 books in the remaining 41 days of holiday! Check out the Book Whisperer's Blog on the right. I am reading, just started,"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. I have ordered "The Book Whisperer" and " Training Your Brain for Dummies".
Any recommendations?

Ted's Homemade Wine

Ted' s new passion is winemaking. He has bottled his first and second batches.

I have enjoyed making labels for the wine!

Ted's hunting trip to Pine Milling

Ted has been away to Pine Milling (near Napier) with his mate Rick, and Rick's son Daniel, hunting. It was Ted's first hunting trip with his new hip, and it passed with flying colours! He had two small falls, but no damage to his hip thank goodness.

If you look carefully at the dark bush scene you should see a deer! Ted said there is one there... They all shot a deer, and saw lots of other ones.

We have also been down for a quick trip to Wanganui to see how Jahna and Christina are getting on, and all is well down there, a great visit.

We haven't had signs of Psa in our orchard, but are keeping a lookout for it.