It’s been over ten years since I last visited Singapore, in 2005. That visit was accompanying my hubby on business, with our first born daughter (at 19 months of age). I’d also travelled before children, back in 2002 (which was an entirely different experience!). On Sunday night I will be flying to Singapore again, with hubby […]
Blasts from the past
The Photo Gallery | Youth
Sweet 16. The year 1990. Perms were in, so were floral dresses. I was all dressed up for my school ‘Prom’, after completing my G.C.S.E.’s and readying myself for ‘Sixth Form College’. I’d spent the past few years suffering acne and tram-line braces. I was only just beginning to be interested in boys – up […]
ADVENTURE this week for The Gallery
Our family is home after a holiday in beautiful Picton and Nelson, New Zealand. We had a blast, especially with Grandma & Granddad over from the UK. As for an adventure? Well, perhaps not so much for us oldies (given we had young children stopping us from too many extended, wild adventures), but more of […]
Reflecting on 2012 & welcoming 2013
The year started on holiday in a bach on the Kapiti Coast with Grandma and Granddad visiting from the UK and got off to an energetic start with hubbie getting a paddle board for Christmas and me taking to the surf on it at our local surf beach. It was also a year of ‘firsts’ […]
This Friday my Heart is in San Francisco
2007 I was last there. It was the last time I travelled long-haul from NZ to the UK, via San Francisco. I was a mother to two young children – now three. The memories are still very clear and we had a blast (even if we had poor helmet wearing style!). Hubbie is there now […]
The stirring of the past in the autumn leaves of the Botanical Garden
I love gardens and the Botanical Garden in Wellington is very dear to my heart. I’ve walked through the gardens frequently in the fourteen years or so I’ve lived here. I lived across the road from them for a year and was fortunate to work in an office in the heart of the gardens for […]
Things I’m Loving: BIG Swells, Lyall Bay, Surfers In Action!
The ‘super moon’ has been tossing up some amazing swells in Lyall Bay, Wellington, this week. The temperature of the water, even in summer, takes a little getting used to, so right now – as the Antarctic starts to send us the off shoot of its big freeze – it takes some serious stamina, heavy […]
Underground
My skin in rubber I entered the cave. I waded through water, thinking, ‘Be Brave’. The air without motion, no day or night. I would have felt terrified without a light. Our confident guide led us on with wit, His office had no chairs in which to sit. Instead, I positioned my derrière – In […]
The Gallery – A Happy Memory
For the first time in three years we were reunited in August 2007 when Dan and I took Charlotte (then 4) and Sophie (18 months) to the UK for a visit. We holidayed in the Lake District and took the girls to London. We laughed so much as we talked of the memories, oh so […]
Shoes fit for three little Princesses
The theme for ‘The Gallery’ is shoes and prompted me to dig out this very special pair. These were the first shoes each of my three girls wore. They’ve lasted well! They’ve travelled to Queenstown, Taupo and Auckland, from our home in Wellington, New Zealand. They’ve never actually ‘walked’, but crawled, bum-shuffled and scooted around […]
The Gallery: Travel
From ever since I can remember I wanted to travel. When I was a girl my dear father would spend half the year working overseas – in stints of a fortnight in Germany, a week in Norway, a few weeks in France or the United States of America. I only have happy memories of those […]
A celebration to share…
We could have slipped away for a romantic moment, but there was no one to look after the girls and little Alice is too young for us to leave at night. We didn’t want to spend money on cards and frivolities just for the sake of it, but we did want to do something a […]
Due Date: Six months of waiting to be with the one I loved.
Joining in with Sleep is for the Weak Writing Workshop: Life on Film this week. I chose the first prompt: Due Date – Tell us about something anticipated and what happened when it arrived. ‘Daniel is leaving tonight on a plane, I can see the tail lights heading for Spain…’ The words of the song […]
Deliriously Whimsical
Tynley Hall – sweet memories from our Wedding night. Author Philippa Gregory has me caught in a deliriously whimsical state of mind with dreams of roaming the English countryside and visiting National Trust properties and other country homes. But this isn’t one of those ‘grass is greener’ / I’m feeling home-sick posts. I simply love […]