Christmas in Holland

Here's a Christmas photo of Ted's family in Holland.

Piet Sterrenburg (Cousin) Immeke (26) Piet's daughter Aunty Mary & Uncle Gac (Sterrenburg) Maartje (27) Lies and Bertram's daughter Lies (Cousin)

Holidays again!

A catch up of what has been happening at Paradise Orchard...

Judith came up for the Tarnished Frocks and Divas show. On the Friday we walked around the Mount, then enjoyed a visit to the Te Puna Quarry gardens.

Here we are at the Tarnished Frocks and Divas Show. Yvonne (in beret...the show had a French theme), Judith, Rachel, Ellen, Jennifer, Anne, and Gloria. Front row seats!

We had a fabulous time!

Dame Edna Everage

Here I am at Esmee's E party. It was great to have abundant coloured hair... and to be able to "hide" behind my cool glasses!

Dancing

We are back dancing! Super! We first started learning with Irene Oliver in Rotorua. She was nearly 90 when she was teaching us, and she was fantastic.

The Hall where we had our lessons.

Inside the hall.

 

Easter and Anzac Day

We went to the Maketu Dawn Service at the Maketu Marae on Anzac Day.
An inspiring service followed by breakfast on the Marae.
During Easter we caught a little bit of the Jazz festival in Tauranga, with street performers, and on Easter Sunday we had lunch with Sarah at Papamoa, for my birthday. Sarah gave me some lovely gifts, and also my first ever "Step-Mother's Day" gift. This I am not allowed to open until Mother's Day 8 May, so the parcel will sit on the sofa till then, for me to look at!

Yvonne's Special 65th Birthday Lunch

Today I had a birthday lunch with a special group of friends. Thanks Anne for arranging it. Thank you too, for the lovely cards and gifts, and I really appreciated Ellen travelling from Ohope, and June from Galatea.

My birthday cake.

And flowers.

Day 117...

It's Day 117, and I have read 135 books. You probably wonder what else I do, if anything!
Books I have enjoyed...

• "The Book Thief" -Markus Zusak. Young Adult book-stunning.
• "Mr Pip"-Lloyd Jones. Superb.
• "The Cross Feeling"-Pauline Cartwright. Picture book.
• "Annie & Moon"-Miriam Smith. Picture book.
• "Scruffty Mouse & One Eyed Ted" Penny Wech. Picture book, about two toys bought from the "Op Shop". Delightful
• "Room"-Emma Donnaghue. Adult story about a young woman who is kidnapped. The story is told through her son Jack's eyes.
• "Minding Frankie" & "Heart & Soul" -Maeve Binchy
• "Still Life"-Louise Penny. A crime novel.
• Bubble Trouble"-Margaret Mahy. Charming pictures, wonderful words and rhymes.
• "Opposnakes"Sally Yoon. A Lift-the-flaps book about opposites. Charming.
• "Quaky Cat"-Diana Noonan.Poignant picture book about the September 2010 Christchurch Earthquake. In rhyme.
• "Common Ground" & "Common Table" -Virginia Pawsey and Janice Marriott. Emails between two friends whose friendship is rekindled at a school reunion. A love of gardening, cooking and the outdoors shared.

More next time!

Stewart Island

Ted is at Stewart Island having a great deal of fun I hope. This year instead of setting myself huge goals, like spring-cleaning a room a day while he's away, I am just giving myself bite-size challenges. Amongst this, I have to keep up my reading, so that takes precedence! day 110, I have read 126 books, (that includes 3 stories I heard on the National Programme's Story time this morning) Also a little bit of extra exercise, say 15 minutes a day. that means I can't count wandering around Te Puke doing shopping etc. Did I tell you Ted and I, and 3 others from Farmlands had an 11 week challenge losing weight. We weighed in each Monday we put in $30 each, and the winner at the end takes all. This was all to encourage a workmate of Ted's who said he couldn't lose weight. He fell by the wayside, well, who wouldn't, if they kept on eating pies and drinking copious quantities of beer? Anyway, it was quite fun, weighing in on Farmlands scales! It was a hard fought battle, I came 3rd with a 9% loss, from my initial start weight. Final weigh-in, Ted and another guy, took off everything they could, boots etc, and even their shorts! (Disgusting, I say!) and Ted was the winner! He asked us all to put our $30 towards either the Christchurch or Japanese Earthquake funds, so mine has gone to Japan. We are weighing in 6 months from our start date to see who has put the weight back on! It's been a lot of fun! Today I am going down to scrapbooking so will enjoy that I am sure.

A clue as to my character at Esmee's E party... I will post a photo soon.

Esmee's 'E' Party

 Ted...Captain Edward England, an Irish pirate.

 Lydia...Envelope, Thalia...Egyptian Princess, Matt...Entertainer, Esmee...Oueen Elizabeth the First.

 Philippa...Emo, McKenzie...Easter Bunny.

 Ian...Executioner

 Glenys...Electrician.

Athol...No.11 in the Eketahuna Rugby team, Scott... Egyptian.
Another amazing Rowden Birthday party!

Holiday Roundup

Jahna came and worked in the orchard during the Christmas holidays, and managed to earn some money! He went to visit his Dad in Auckland, and had a great time.
I had a lovely visit to with Uncle Emyr in Motueka.

Uncle Emyr, Bruce and Lorraine. Uncle Emyr's lovely new home, and Uncle Emyr's tomatoes. I am totally envious! We have eaten 2 tomatoes off our plants, two more are ripening on the window sill.
At the end of January we held our annual Edgecumbe friends Get-together at Whakatane. A super occasion.

Then, later in the day when I was visiting my sister-in-law Ursula in Edgecumbe I learrned that Charmaine and Michael had won the Heart Foundation's Lottery. A $500 000+ fully furnished house on the Whitianga Waterways! Isn't that amazing?

School is going well. I am still on track with my Book-A-Day challenge! Day 73 and I have read 80 books! I will report on some memorable ones next time.
Finally, my heart goes out to all those affected by the Christchurch earthquake on the 22 February.

Day 41 of my 41 Day Challenge! The End!
School tomorrow!


48. "The White Tiger"-Aravind Adiga. Adult fiction. Mann Booker Winner. An interesting journey into today's India .

49."The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society"-Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows. A wonderful tale of post-war friendship, books and love. Highly recommended.

50."Interrupting Chicken"-David Ezra Stein. Picture book about bedtime stories. Great fun!

51."The Purple KANGAROO"-Michael Ian Black and Peter Brown. A delightful picture book.

Day 39...

3 more days of my Book-a-Day Reading Challenge! I have decided to keep it going for the whole year if I can...
I won't report on every single book, I promise!


39."Kensuke's Kingdom"-Michael Morpurgo. A wonderful book, a modern day Robinson Crusoe. A great read aloud for 9-10 year olds.

40."The Magician's Elephant"-Kate Di Camillo. Another great read aloud for 8-9+ year olds. A spellbinding magical tale.

41."Bink & Gollie"-Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee. Story of two friends, complete opposites, but great mates.

42."Ling & Ting Not Exactly the Same!"-Grace Lin. Ling & Ting are twins, they stick together, and look alike, but they are not exactly the same. A chapter book. Delightful.

43."Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute."-Jarrett J Krosoczka. A great graphic novel about a school lunch lady's out of school activities.

44."Funny Lunch Max Spaniel"-David Catrow. Great picture book.

45."Fancy Nancy Sees Stars"-Jane O'Connor

46."Fancy Nancy Heart to Heart"-Jane O'Connor.

47."The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"-Stieg Larsson. Third book in the Trilogy. Simply stunning.

Waterwheel Opening

Waterwheel Opening

Fence over bridge. There is going to be a gate, and steps leading down to a viewing platform...

The piano.

The guests.

Wine tasting...

Checking out the mechanics...

Day 27...

Day 27...


32.'Ms. Todd Is Odd!'-Dan Gutman, from his Weird School series. Action packed, would be a great read-aloud to 8-9 year olds.

33. 'Fancy Nancy Splendid Speller'-Jane O'Connor, such a delightful wee book, I am sure Manaia will love it.

34.'Fancy Nancy My family History'-Jane O'Connor- I will take this to my scrapbooking class to read! Nancy stretches the truth about her ancestors to make her school speech more interesting!

35.'The Book Whisperer'-Donalyn Miller. An inspirational book on how to make reading magical again.

36.'Little Monkey's One Safe Place'-Richard Edwards. A delightful picture book abot a wee monkey's search for a safe place. His facial features, as he searches are very telling.

37.'You can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons. The World on One Cartoon a Day'-by Mo Willems. Mo Willems spent a year travelling the world, at the end of each day he drew a cartoon of something that had stuck in his mind. These are his sketches, with a short note of explanation. This is in the 'Young Adults' section of our library. I enjoyed this book, it was different!

38.'Between the Assassinations'-Aravind Adiga. Vignettes of the lives of ordinary Indians, living in a fictional Indian town of Kittar, in a time of change. Thought provoking.

Waterwheel Opening

Well, yesterday we had our Waterwheel opening, and it was so much fun! Our neighbour and his worker tidied up the area around the bridge, cut the grass, took away rubbish etc, He also dropped off a piano for me to play! We were all set to fire up the hired barbecue, only to find we had been given the wrong fitting for the gas bottle. Never mind, another neighbour went and got his barbecue! We had over 50 people there, including 10 children, who had so much fun in the stream. People came by car, 4 wheel motor bike and trailer, horse and some even walked! One family bought a gazebo, so that was fantastic, as it was extremely hot on the bridge. Ted had got venison from the freezer minced up, we had kebabs, meat balls and meat loaf, along with tasting of our gold kiwifruit and  feijoa wines. The feijoa was voted the best! So all in all a fabulous day, wish you could all have been here!

Philippa

In this week's Woman's Day there is an article about my young cousin Philippa, who has taken up side-car racing with her husband Andrew.

Day 20...

23. "Letters to the First Lady" written by American children, a collection of quotes and pictures to inspire other children to read and stay active. Delightful!
24."Angels ride bikes & other fall poems"-Francisco X Alarcon, a Mexican-American poet revisits and celebrates his childhood memories of autumn, in Los Angeles. Bold, earthy illustrations are vibrant.
25."Buhuki"-Janaki Sooriyarachichi. An award winning picture book about a baby monkey's adventures.
26."Ciconia Ciconia"-Andrea Petrlik Huseinovic. Another award winning picture book, about a white stork, uprooted because of war. he travels around through towns and cities searching for his idyllic life. Thought provoking.
27."Don't Let the Pigeon drive the Bus"-Mo Willems Picture book. Fun
28."Don't Let the Pigeon Stay late" -Mo Willems Picture book.
29."Knuffle Bunny"-"-Mo Willems Picture book. A cautionary tale. Great cartoons combined with black and white photos, with a true-to-life tale! I will share this book and author with my students!
30."Knuffle Bunny Too"-Mo Willems. A case of mistaken identity! A great read!
31."The Reversal"-Michael Connelly. Great story, with Mickey Haller, and Harry Bosch. A twist at the end, and as I turned the last page, unaware that it was the last page, (expecting more!) I said "What?" One of those endings...

Day 14 Reading Challenge

13."Gary and Ray"-picture book by Sarah Adams. A delightful book about Gary the gorilla who doesn't have a friend. This book is for Poihipi, who loves everything to do with monkeys!
14."Nutmeg"-David Lucas. A picture book , life is dull at Nutmeg's house, until she goes for a walk...
15."The Horrendous Hullabaloo"-Margaret Mahy, a pirate picture book that is fun!
16."If you were an interjection"- Nncy Loewen, illustrated by Sara Gray. A fun way of learning about parts of speech. Love the illustrations.
17."Fancy That!"-Gillian Lobel, pictures by Adrienne Geoghegan. "Full of vibrant jungle colour... A treat for the eye."Inis magazine.
18."Nursery Rhymes for Young Australians" illustrations by May Gibbs. Love the pictures!
19."Best Mate"-Michael Morpugo"-novel for young readers. This could be a good book to read to a class of 8-9 year olds.
20. "Chronicles of Arthur: Sword of Fire and Ice" -John Matthews, illustrated by Mike Collins. A graphic novel telling of Arthur's life as a young boy.
21."Tales from the Brothers Grimm" adapted by Mazan, Cecile Chicault, and Philip Petit. A graphic novel of 4 stories, 2 new to me. Really enjoyed this book.
22."The Girl Who Played With Fire"-Stieg Larsson. sequel to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." I couldn't put the book down, and can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy! Highly recommended!