I miss her, Mum, even though she’s not gone. Still here, but not. I see a flash of her smile and hear her laugh. Drying dishes. Tears in my eyes, wishing for easy conversations. I move on. Wipe down the kitchen bench-top; my daughter has left hot glue gun remnants soldered onto the surface. I […]
memories
Getting back into routines and the new school year
It’s the second week of term 1 and we are getting well into our stride. Thankfully the first two weeks of this term have been short ones – four day weeks (if only all weeks were four days on, three days off!). We headed over to Martinborough for a couple of days this weekend, to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Gallery: Dads
Thank you Dad for loving me, just the way I am. Thank you for the hours you spent teaching me to add and rhyme. I know it can’t have been easy, to deal with my crazy mind! Thank you for the time you always gave to listen to me ponder, on the big questions in life, and […]
Being thankful
The past week and a bit has gone by so fast. As parents it is so easy for our children’s lives to pass as fast as one wild and crazy roller-coaster ride. But also, as individuals it is also very easy to be so caught up in ‘doing’ that we rarely allow ourselves a pause […]
Forget Me Not
Join me today as I share a very precious memory of my beloved Grandfather… The old man looked out to sea with a faraway look. The eyes, which once sparkled, were empty, but he retained something of his handsome youthful looks: His white hair swept gracefully over his head and his neatly clipped, white moustache […]
New Year rolling in on a BBQ!
Phewie, the BBQ has been steaming over the past few day’s. Dan’s got the whole week off work and we are so blessed to feel like we’re having a holiday at home in our beautiful garden, with the sea just a short walk away. Kathy and Mark came round on Sunday, with their gorgeous boys. […]
A little bench where I like to sit
I have a little bench, outside our backdoor. It’s sheltered from the wind and rain and it’s where I like to sit and think. I look up at the changing sky, the mostly ever-green trees and watch the season’s change. Listening to the cicadas in summer and the birds cavorting with one another. I think […]
Thank you Grandma and Grandad
Thank you for… All the cuddles, kisses, tickles and love; Grandma for gentle combing of tangled hair (a purple comb would be brilliant!); Grandad for his jokes, tickles and crazy fun in the swimming pool; Grandma for story telling and messages of love from the heart; Grandad for taking photographs of a nursery-web spider’s web […]
Jamming all weekend… and for a lifetime!
We can’t thank my dearly departed Grandmother enough. She’s brought music to our home in a way we could only have dreamed about. Our pianos arrived on Friday – a classical upright to fulfill my love of the traditional; and for Dan a digital piano with all the bizz for him to compose a masterpiece! […]
From Snow to Surf: Happy 70th Aunty Olga!
We woke this morning to an e-mail from ‘Chicken’ Grandma and Grandad (because they make brilliant animal noises on the telephone!) with photographs of them in the snow and Grandad having some beers with his big sister, Aunty Olga, on her 70th Birthday. Grandad Aspinall is one of seven and they are all absolutely brilliant […]