Time Flies -part 2

 Time flies - I swear it was just New Years…

We are still really enjoying the days of longer sunlight. But alas, Fall is nearing. There are still more weeks to enjoy, but the signs are here. It is darker in the mornings when we are getting up. And we have more rain and more wind along with the sunshine.

The kitties are growing and continue to bring us oodles of joy. 

We escaped for a weekend away to Martinborough. Five of us drove up on Friday and came back on Sunday. We visited a lovely winery, ate lots of good food. Walked the Remutaka Rail Trail (~ 20km - 4 hours)and managed to stay ahead of most of the rain. Eric chose to sit that one out. But he graciously picked us up at the end of the trail. He used the spare time prepping a fun D&D adventure that we played that evening. And we did some OPP(second hand) shopping on our way back on Sunday.

We now have a new closet door! Thanks to the amazing talents of our dear friend Kim Beaton, the boring door to the storage closet in the hall has been transformed. Now people might think we have a proper passage to the dungeon!

Progress continues on the new dining room table…hope to have new photos next time. 

Time Flies

 

Oh what a glorious month!

February once again delivers some of the best weather of the year. 

There have been a few beautiful days that we admittedly stayed indoors for more of the day than I would have usually preferred. 
     A- Eric’s not a big fan of the sun and heat
     B- We adopted 2 beautiful kitties!!!

They are 5 month old sisters. Originally named Ash & Pluto. Now called Embyr and Luna. (the white spot on Embyr is where she was de-sexed- it is growing back) She is what they call a “black smoke tabby”. Her fur is mostly black with white underfur giving her a smoky appearance. It is not a common coat, but quite beautiful. Luna is a medium hair black and grey tabby. They are amazingly cute and friendly and we are smitten. ❤️

In other news, Eric has started building our new dining room table. Pictures to come when it’s finished.

Why a new table you might ask?
Well, we did not expect to have a house with an actual dining room, so the table we brought with us is smaller, with extendable leaves. It shakes when cutting food and not sturdy enough to lean on when gaming. A friend offered up some beautiful wood -elm from some trees they cut down. We added the darker wood - Kwila, for the center board. There will be two narrow strips of the darker wood where those gaps are. And Eric, with help from some friends, are building a new sturdier table. 

I went with friends to the new Disney animation exhibit at Takina (the exhibition center). Really enjoyed it. What I enjoyed most was all the pencil drawings. It is amazing to see how much detail, dynamic movement and emotion is in those pieces. Created simply with pencil and paper. A reminder of things before the computer age. 

They also offered a clipboard with paper and pencil for anyone who was inspired to interact with the exhibit by sketching images of the displays. 

There was no way they were going to be able to include every film from its conception to current day in that space. It was interesting to see which films they chose and which were left out. Everyone has their favorites and we all enjoyed the exhibit while still discussing which of our favorites were missing. 

I think what stood out was the odd gap between 1966 and 1990 where no films were included. 

The only negative was that I had a tooth break and needed a new crown. That sucked!!!!

Feels like we’ve been non stop busy with friends and work. 

We blinked and March has arrived…

I swear it was just New Years…

Hello 2025

 

Hello 2025… and what a start to the new year.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind and poof it’s now February. 

We rang in the New Year with friends and games. 

It was lots of fun and very relaxing. 

On January 3rd, we had a small celebration for Eric’s 60th birthday by going out for a nice sushi dinner and dessert. 

After that, things began to get really busy.

Work started back up on the 6th.

We quickly got news about the fires in So. Cal 

- So incredibly devastating!!!

Living in Malibu from 1976-1984, I think we had to evacuate 3-4 times

Each time grabbing what we could fit in the car, leaving and wondering if we would have a home to return to. 

And in 1996 I had to relocate my wedding when again Malibu was burning. The cycle of fire followed by mud slides is all too familiar. 

While I was one of the fortunate ones that did not lose their home, I have many friends that did. 

This time we have both friends and extended family that evacuated and lost their homes. My heart goes out to them and everyone that has lost their homes. 

Focusing on work was a challenge as my mind was elsewhere checking in on people and following posts, emails and texts. 

Meanwhile…our first summer guests arrived the night of the 9th. 

We played host. We visited Zealandia, spent a beautiful weekend in Nelson with a day in the Abel Tasman National Park, one of my favorite places. 

The following weekend was the big celebration at Hobbiton. Celebrating Eric’s birthday (a little late) along with our friend James’ bday, with 51 close friends was amazing! As of about 6:20pm we had the place to ourselves. It was truly magical!

We were with friends that had never been to Hobbiton, some that had not been there for a while and some that had recently been there. Yet everyone claimed that they will never be able to top their experience that night. Friends in costumes, amid true middle-earth fans, with many individuals that had worked on the films. Some still working at Weta. It was an experience beyond words. 

And Eric loved every moment. 

We also visited Hamilton Gardens and the Matamata Tower Museum. 

Returning to Wellington, we got a brief hiatus before our friend Peter and his girlfriend Jenifer arrived on Feb. 1st to stay for 5 days. 

We went back to Zealandia, took the harbor ferry boat to Somes Island. Something we had never done. And then accompanied them on a Weta Workshop tour. 

Our two heat pumps died back in December. We knew they were old when we purchased the house, but had hoped to get a bit more life out of them. Alas… a new one is being installed as I type this. This should help make the hotter days more comfortable and will definitely help when the colder days return. 

Summer continues to be a bag of mixed weather. But the cicadas have finally arrived. I love hearing their song. 

If you have been enjoying our blog and want to continue to do so, please take the time to “follow” the blog directly on Blogger.

We are actively reducing our usage of FB, Instagram, etc (Meta) 

The best way to continue to stay in touch is with email.

Cheers for now… 

Tis the Season!

It is right around the corner, not sure how it got here already and feels like it will be the new year in a blink of an eye!

We will likely not come up for air before the new year so we will consider this our last post of 2024. I really have no idea where this year went. But what an amazing year it has been. We bought and moved into our new home. I started a new job. We returned to the US for a quick visit. We saw the Aurora Australis and spent much time working on house projects and hanging with good friends.

As for Thanksgiving, there is certainly lots to be thankful for! We did indeed celebrate here, just a few days later with some dear friends and other ex-pats. I can’t believe we did not take a photo of the group, but we were so busy eating and having fun that we forgot. The meal was delicious with everyone chipping in.

In addition, more yard work and weeding has occurred. Eric spent a good part of last Sunday with our neighbor trimming back a bunch of trees and dead branches. We have not yet done much planting. But the Hydrangeas are looking great and the Dalias and calla lilies I stuck in the ground a few month back are doing well. I am looking forward to more planting next season.

  

Eric has spent most of the last few weeks building some shelving and they are looking great! Hoping to have them installed before Christmas.

The days have gotten long, which we love. Daylight til 9:00pm. We are enjoying walking in the evenings and watching the beautiful late sunsets.



We have decorated some of the house for the holidays and will be hosting a small gathering here on the 24th. I also continued the tradition of “elf toes”. It is more fun here when it’s warm and you can wear open toed shoes, as opposed to Seattle when it’s cold and rainy.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and we will continue our adventures in the new year!

Catch-up Time

 Where we left off…

The Skullduggery art show was a big success. We had a great time. There were many amazing pieces of art. We love being a part of this amazingly talented art community. 

Work is going well. PikPok released the new Into the Dead:Our Darkest Days Demo on Steam. If any of you are interested in a fun Zombie game give it a try! And then post a great review. 

We have gotten back to working on the house. Trying to get a bunch more painting and stuff done over the next several weeks and then plan to take some time off to enjoy the holidays. 

The dining room and lounge 

And getting some more shelving built. 

The election- we are sad and angry and baffled, really???? We will say no more here. We are very thankful to be in NZ.

We had a yard service come for a full day to start the clean up on the lower portion of our property. There were 3 people for 8 hours. And two full truck loads pulled out of the yard. They were amazing ! A bumblebee nest, and some odd rubbish including two dinner plates were found beneath the organic debris. And a birds nest up in one of our trees was discovered. 

We also took a nice weekend getaway to the Wairarapa to visit some friends. Always fun to take a break and just relax. 

Wishing all our US friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving.