Christmas

This is going to be our Christmas blog, to take the place of sending Christmas cards. The idea is to try and save paper but also the last few weeks have been totally mad with school ending and various other bits and pieces going on.

The Doneys outside the family home in Eketahuna.
Barry Keith Snr Ada Diane Natalie

Stan Judy Keith Jnr

Last weekend was great with a trip up to the Wairarapa to Eketahuna to attend Stan's dad's 80th birthday. This was the first time that the six Doney children had been together for about 30 years as far as I can gather, so it was quite an auspicious occasion. There were also many grandchildren there as well as 4 great grandchildren too.

Keith's birthday was on Thursday 13th so that was the day that the party was on. We flew to Wellington then went to Titahi Bay to collect Jay and got on the road in our rental car. Had a nice trip with lunch in Carterton followed by a quick peek at Clint and Karen's new place which they have bought there and will be moving to next April. It looks lovely and will potentially be an excellent property for them to be living in.

The birthday celebrations continued over the weekend as everyone gradually left to go back home. It was lovely to see all of the Doneys, and to see them together as a family enjoying each others company. Of course there was lots of liquid cheer, and masses of food. 'Carol' the pig was spit roasted perfectly on a huge fire out by the creek, and went well with Stan's 'Mainland' contribution of koura, kina and tuna.

Stan and I and Jay and Karen stayed for three nights at Brookfields Bed and Breakfast Lodge http://www.brookfieldslodge.co.nz/ in Eketahuna which is run by an English couple, Terry and Corinna Carew. Ever such a nice couple and the B and B is fabulous with great facilities and lovely breakfasts, all for only $100 per night. We thoroughly recommend it, and odd as it may seem, you never know when you might end up spending a night in Eketahuna - a million cars go through there annually evidently and it's a good halfway point between Wellington and several other places.

On our return to Christchurch, we had a visit from Abby, Brett and River for a few days before Christmas. Managed to get a cot from one of the parents from my class so that was a bonus for River who now likes the idea of a cot as a place to spend quite a lot of time.

He is cuter than ever and getting the rolling over trick perfected. Next will be sitting up and then - university I guess!

Last Monday night while Abs, Brett and River were at home, Granny and Jane (who is out from Prescott, Arizona for Christmas and New Year), came to ours for dinner. A lovely time had by all on a very hot night which was after our school picnic at Spencer Park. The day had been fabulous but went to 32* and I had got rather burnt - a poor role model for the children!Wednesday night was another big celebration for my class at school with their graduation dinner and dance. They had been learning the salsa, merengue amd cha cha, as well as a couple of old time things which I had taught them but using modern music. They laughted at the name of the Gay Gordons at first, but after they learned it and the Virginia Reel, these were their favourites. These fit very well with some tracks by Vanessa Mae, Pet Shop Boys, Chieftains, Afro Celt Sound System, Santana and even Suffragette City by David Bowie!! The night was a roaring success with kids and parents up on the floor dancing their socks off! We finished the night at 10pm with the Cha Cha Slide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbMLOr0tHU The school hall was rocking!!

The next day was supposed to be a day out to Quail Island with my class but it was raining so we cancelled. Very fortunate as we still had to practise our graduation Mass which was held on Friday. As a result we got to go through it about 3 times during the day and then again on Friday morning briefly, which meant that the whole thing went off very well as usual. Lots of tears from the children - they get pretty emotional at the end of the last week, but I try to keep things fairly busy so they don't dwell on it too much.

This weekend we have started work on our little farm which we finally paid for (thanks Westpac) on Monday after several months of waiting to have the title sorted. We can't quite believe it now and need time just to sit and ponder what to do with it all now! Stan has begun clearing some of the weeds, prunings and dead branches down by the creek and we also planted our first trees. Two feijoas which my class gave to me as a gift - how lovely!

So now holiday time for me, and work as usual for Stan. We will be having a very quiet Christmas with Abby and Brett celebrating theirs in Karamea. Jenna and Zach will be in Chicago with the Muhrers for their last Christmas there for a while. They are coming to live with us on February 25th, looking to make a new start in New Zealand - how fabulous! Next Christmas then will be a biggie with all the Chalmers clan including Clint and Karen we hope, probably with Karen's son Kris, and also Jay and Karen too. Perhaps we could all learn the Gay Gordons and Virginia Reel!!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. Enjoy your families and friends while relaxing and making some time for yourself. Don't spend heaps on presents - it's not worth it. And anything with too much packaging (if you do buy or receive presents), take the packaging back to the shop it came from. If you have a few extra $$$, go to Oxfam and put some money towards a well, a goat, books for kids....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.
All the best for 2008!

A West Coast weekend.

Thank goodness for Canterbury anniversary Weekend and the old 'Show Day', which gave us a holiday on Friday. We set off for a weekend on the Coast beginning with a pleasant drive to Karamea. I felt pretty good all the way for a change - no woozies from Stan's driving on the Karamea Bluff.

Arrived at Abby and Brett's place about 12.30, to find Abby and River entertaining each other in the kitchen. Abby puts River into his little rocker seat thing and plonks him on the kitchen bench, so he can watch her doing all of her tasks around the kitchen. He looks out the window at the trees and birds and chats away to his mother madly. In fact yesterday afternoon, at the end of his first little meal of banana (which went down a treat after a few shudders!), Brett entertained him with the 'octopus banana'! So cute.

(Have tried for about 2 hours to upload video of this, but without success - sorry.)

So we had a lovely time catching up on River's progress. He is a handsome little boy, with such a cute way of looking at you from under his brow. He blows lots of raspberries and chats away to himself when he wakes up. He loves all of his toys and spends time talking to them too.

Part of the purpose of our visit was to take a cot over which we managed to buy on Trade Me. Flash! Although yesterday River didn't seem to think so, and in fact he seemed to want to spend as little time as possible in it. However, persistence by the adults around him won out, and he is learning that it is a really nice place to sleep, and far more roomy than the Moses basket which he has just come out of.

As usual, Abby made us some lovely meals. Last night while I was making a salad to have with our yummy quiche, I saw a fluttering happening in the apple tree outside the lounge window. The night before and on previous occasions, I had seen a kereru (pigeon) coming to roost in the apple tree. It was guzzling on the blossom and leaves of the tree. So this time, when I looked up, there were feathers coming down from the tree and I could see that one of the cats was up there attacking the kereru. Abby took off outside, but at the same time the damned cat had another go and there were more feathers shooting up and out of the tree, followed by the pigeon trying to get away. It fluttered across the grass and went to the long grass, but just lay there. Poor thing, it was dreadful to watch. We all went out to try and help, but really it was futile. Brett managed to pick it up and inspection revealed a couple of huge gashes on each side of it's breast. We put it into a box, but unfortunately, within a few minutes it died. It was very sad, and I gave that damned cat a good kicking.

Abs and Brett have a new van - rather different to their Toyota Surf which they bought from us last year. He arrived home from work on Friday after getting a bit of ribbing from quite a few of the locals about the appearance of his new wagon. It's fine though and goes well so no worries. It has a CD player and he used his great skill, to connect their old tape player to that too.

Enough! Just time to finish with another gorgeous pic of the Mighty River, at the ripe old age of 4 1/2 months. Hope you enjoy this catch up.

Stalkers Road

This is an exciting innovation and something which I haven't yet tried - blogging! I thought that it might be a good way to get info to people overseas, as well as photos and video footage. This is vital especially for recording progress of our lovely grandson River Chalmers-Mawson who lives in Karamea with his mother and father.

So the topic of conversation today is renovations at Stalkers Road.

The bathroom downstairs is recently completed and waiting for the last touch - rimu shelving for our linen. Garth (Stan's cousin) delivered the finished shelves yesterday, and they just have to be installed. Garth got the rimu for these and the bathroom vanity and mirror frame, from a couple of old doors which he bought in Christchurch. My gosh it's all looking just great. Have included a few pics of the room which show the beautiful paua tiles ( http://www.oceanshell.co.nz/ ) which are from Riverton in Southland, and which cost as much as the wall tiles and the floor tiles. But we figure it is worth it for the great look which they have given to the whole room.

No need to feel total embarrassment when people come to stay - hooray!

Installing the rimu vanity.

The new shower - just walk in!

So the next project is almost finished as I write - the balcony. Yes, well, I have been waiting for this to be added to the house for almost 4 years now - ever since we put in the French doors upstairs. These doors have had nowhere to go and are absolutely filthy, so it's good to see Stan and the builder (Simon) standing out there hammering their little hearts out. It has had a rather long build-up and this is actually balcony Mark 2 - due to a misunderstanding by Simon with his first attempt! All good now and the summer will see us sitting outside there having lunch, reading the Saturday Press etc!

Stan and Simon passing the time on the balcony.

The view from the bedroom - note our gorgeous maple tree which has just come out in it's summer dress.

There will be board and batten around the outside of the balcony so it fits with the house. All to be done in a few days I hope.