Yellow and White Checked Pants - has anyone seen them?

Meg is delighted that her lovely friend Kate,who she walked to school with every day when she arrived here, and who left to live in Dunedin in January, has come up to stay with her tonight. She's also a friend of The Crones, so they are all through there, snuggled up with the wee brothers, watching Angus Snogging and Purple Pants - or whatever it's called. Spook and I are knackered and ready for bed, so hoping Meg and Kate will just sneak in later and go to bed quietly. Finn has booked a bed over there.
Finn, Max, Spook and I had a few runs up in the Sticky Woods this afternoon, which was really good fun. We bumped into Ollie and his mate John. Ollie has beaten Spook in two races now and is doing the Mototapu next Saturday. I've decided to invite everyone we know who is doing the Mototapu for a pre Mototapu Mingle and Pasta Party next Friday. There are 2500 cyclists and 900 runners. Thankfully I only know about 11 of them and I daresay if they bring their children, that boosts the numbers a bit, but I think it will still be quite manageable. Wouldn't be good to poison them the night before the race though.
It's a windy but warm night and has a sound of October about it, but not the chill. If it's dry tomorrow, we will go and gather some more wood as the pile is getting chopped down to size.
Spook was telling me that he read in the paper that there was a robbery in an off licence in Queenstown last week. The culprit was caught on CCTV, but his face was obscured. Fortunately, a large amount of boxer shorts, with a very distinctive pattern WAS caught on camera and police are appealing to anyone who recognizes them - bet the robber has pulled his trousers up now!

Warning. These Spears will harm Nothing.

Our little warrior returned - dirty and tired, but having enjoyed a very sociable week. This seems to have been the main aim of the camp. (Just as well it wasn't catching flounders, though some children came VERY well equipped). The children mixed really well and widened their social group. I told Tony I'd pick the boys up. Unfortunately Max got home in an earlier car and the girls found him lying in a grassy patch on the way home, looking like a snow angel without the snow, his baggage lying all around him. He hadn't quite managed over the hill that is Totara Terrace without having to lie down for a wee nap. The girls helped him home. They missed their little brothers and invited them out to the cinema to see Twilight. All 5 children, which included big brother Sam, had pasta in our house, before the movie. It was great to hear them catch up with each others news. The Crone family provide a good buffer zone, albeit a dangerous one at times! It's a week since the tipping over of the truck and I still hear new snippets of information. It took 2 hours to get a rescuer to them as Pete had to find a baby-sitter, due to his wife being out on the town with her friends. Kate and I couldn't help as we were drinking wine. The men found this an uncomfortable situation and sign of the times. All women incapacitated. It got quite cold while they were waiting and the position of the truck made it less than comfortable to sit in. Spook sat on the ground and discovered it was warm. He lay down and looked at the stars. The two boys joined him. Eventually, Tony got down too and all four lay there discussing the night sky. When I told Kate, she was more stunned at the idea of Tony communing with nature, than she was about him trashing their vehicle.

It rained all night last night and was a bit damp this morning so Spook and I went to town and bought our ski passes before the price went up, and had a coffee. We decided it would be ok for him to go on a shorter cycle without me and do a bit of fishing en route. I gave the toilet and bathroom a professional make-over and caught up on paper work. Phew.

Only 3 days to Go

I'm just not sure if I'll be able to survive Spooks 4 days off. I managed to sneak another tea in bed as he had to get up and return the jeep to his workmate, so that was a bonus. But then he dragged me up Mt Roy at a limb screaming rate, followed by a limb screaming descent. I was thinking I could crawl into bed early when he thought it would be lovely to go for an after dinner cycle in Sticky Woods. He described it as a Ruari Watt Paradise of hand cut narrow single track through native Kiwi Bush. I was thinking bad thoughts about Ruari Watt as I clipped in and out of my peddles, negotiating tight corners and narrow tracks with steep inclines to one side, and scooted between trees pulling my elbows in and thinking that Spook needed some more friends. I have to admit, I did feel quite good when we got back home. It really was fun.

(I have to apologise for the commercial aspect of the blog. Wee signs kept popping up telling me to make money on my blog. I was wooed by such rhetoric and finally gave in. It only works if you see very enticing subjects to explore and cant resist clicking. It would seem that rabbits and horse racing is just not grabbing you! I'm not sure what to say that will generate more exciting web sites.)

Anyhoo (as they say here, for some unknown reason), the 50km cycle is still on for tomorrow unless I kind find a friend for Spook before morning.

Looks Like Rain

There was a bit of a cloud in the sky this morning, but it turned out ok. See view of Mount Burke from back door this evening. (Sticky woods in foreground). Spook has finally reached his goal of 4 days off. He's allowed a wee rest before tackling the wood pile.

Actually, he's planning a 50km cycle with me or a run up Mt Roy if it's windy (with me). So bang goes my frittering the day away in the library and reading the paper.

We went out for an iced chocolate drink after tea tonight to help Meg see that some things are not too bad over here.

Finn still has a couple of nights away and we have no idea how it's going. I assume we would have heard something if the flounder spear had gone into anything other than a flounder (broom handle with barbeque double pronged fork strapped to it - courtesy of a rake through the dump).

Elmer Finn

A couple of people have asked if they missed a day on the blog. The picture of the truck on it's side didn't seem to provide enough information. I think I was just incapable of saying too much at that point. I was faced by a grinning husband and son trying to hang their heads and look ashamed. I couldn't think what the expressions meant and then I saw the blood on Spooks elbow. Apparently the worst injuries were inflicted by Tony standing on him to get out of the truck. And it really was a little bunny who outran them and executed a sharp turn better than wot a big truck can. Finn was very excited that he had been in a car accident. They had just been starting on their way back and Tony had just been saying how good it was that the evenings excellent entertainment had only cost them 5 bucks. And then the rabbit appeared out of the hole.
But enough of that.....
Spook looked out the window this morning and said it looked like rain. I looked out the window and saw a very thin line of grey cloud sitting above the mountains in an otherwise blue sky. When I got home and hung out the washing at 2.45pm, it was completely dry an hour later. I don't have the temperature gauge I had at Helwick Street, but I would say it was hot. Sometimes I hang the washing out at bedtime and it's dry in the morning. Dry winds. I worry that if it looks like rain on Spooks 4 days off, he might stay in and read a book!!
Meg is missing Finn. She is feeling a little homesick. She misses her friends, her school and even the purple carpet at home. I think we are in the wee dip after the honeymoon period. Mind you, that was last night and tonight she went straight to the wharf after school and didn't get home until 6pm. I think it's healthy to love home.
As for Finn, he is Elmer Fud. ( I know a joke about him!) I think he would be happy to be Elmer Fud in any country.

4 day off tea issue.

I was telling Spook about the great big black bull I saw at the races and Finn said "What bull?"

"The big black one"

"Where?"

"At the races".

How did he manage to miss a bull this big?

I'm having mild seperation anxieties now that he has gone away for 5 days and I wont hear anything from him until he gets back on Friday afternoon. Chances are, he'll be safer where he is than he was when out shooting rabbits with his father. I was a bit worried by the relish with which he shot out the door this morning, weilding his home-made Flounder spear.

I went to play tennis before Spook got home and when I got home, Spook had gone to get more wood. He will still be splitting it come next Spring (I think that's mid-September)

Only 2 more cups of tea in bed before I will probably have to get up and make Spook a coffee. I don't know if I can do 4 days on/4 days off.

Cromwell Races

When Finn and I arrived at the races, we weren't too sure that we would find much to entertain us. Certainly, the power and beauty of the horses impressed us and the pack of race-day-ready individuals that we saw leaving Wanaka in fine cloths proved to be the minority thankgoodness. There was a Blues Brothers style that seemed to be de rigour for a lot of the young men and some of them even managed to get their buttocks out, within the constraints of this style. It wasn't Ayr Races, but that was fine as we were hoping for something culturally different. We were there for the first race and tried our hand at working out the winner, choosing no 3 Old Jock, as a fond memory, but not realising that we were reading the wrong paper. We were confused when, in the race, no 3 turned out to be called Jack and the winner was called 'Our Bee Jay'. We thought we would have noticed a horse called BJ and that was when we realised we were in the wrong town, and we were betting on a race in Auckland. As the day progressed, we made our way to the other end of the course, where we found a blues band and Spooks work-mate Pete, doing the day in style in a hospitality tent. In the short time I sat with them, I was offered chicken and smoked sausage kebabs, king prawn and scallop kebabs, sandwiches and a glass of champagne. Even Finn could see that a pre-requisite for a day out at The Cromwell Races is a bus and a few beers.