Friends and things

Chris and Zach went to Christchurch today to pick up Oma and Opa; they are staying with us for a week or two in sunny South Canterbury.
Janine had a sleepover last night with her friend Albertine, who boards at Columba but lives near Timaru. Through her, Janine has met someone else going to Timaru girls and at last has an answer to some of life's great mysteries - what exactly do the other girls use for a bag? (Columba had a regulation school bag!) And what bits of the uniform are essential and what bits are, like, really dorky?
We managed to find the second hand uniform shop for Craighead, quite by accident. Which was was useful and we've now filled a number of the gaping holes in her required wardrobe.
Hannah has been swimming at the beach; she was a bit funny for the first few days after her cast was taken off but now she has forgotten about it entirely, unless you remind her!
Janine has set up a roster for walking the dog which is working much better; so efficient, and there's no longer any "But I don't want to!" It's all good. I wonder if there are other things I could roster. For all that we mock German efficiency, there are some definite advanages to have things highly organised. Hmmm.

Today

Today I took Shadow for a run before breakfast, then took Hannah to get her cast off at the hospital. Then we sorted most of the children's school stationary requirements.
I've talked studentsoul stuff today, cooked a meal, taken Zach and Hannah to the pool for a swim to celebrate the removal of the cast, gone to a worship meeting, tried to protect the fruit trees with netting from voracious sparrows, and watered the garden. I've put dates in my diary for this year, bought a book called "Simple Church" and washed the dog's bedding. I've given advice and encouragement on sewing to Katarina, done several other loads of washing, and found time to put my feet up for ten minutes and finish a book.
Good thing I'm on holiday, eh!

Better late than never

We took the combined service on Sunday, a mix of traditional hymns, contemporary music and terrible puns - Bee thumb-body for Jesus, complete with thumb prints of many people who came made into bee's, on a card, made by the children. And the technology worked, which is always good!

Uncle Tim stayed the weekend before heading off to Christchurch on Monday. We had Sunday roast with family and visitors from church, all good. We also caught up with the Clearwaters from Mosgiel who were holidaying in Temuka.

Chris and Zach spent today in Dunedin, settling the tenants into the house, and Zach catching up with friends of course. We are slowly collecting the girls uniform together, and of course there are the stationary requirements which we will hopefully get tomorrow.

Sometime in January

Dear me, how time gets away with you, I'm sure I've posted this year already, but there is nothing there! Humble apologies faithful blog readers - I've been on holiday!
We've just returned from a few days at Lake Tekapo, thanks to the generosity of a kind parishoner. The lake is freezing, far too cold for swimming at 8-10 degrees C, but we found Lake McGregor which is smaller, shallower, and a completely different colour. We wrapped Hannah's cast in a bread bag, taped shut with insulation tape (thanks Uncle Tim!) and SWAM!!! It was a big day because in the morning we walked to Lake George Scott, Shadow got away on us and had a wonderful time chasing rabbits in the pine trees and up the hill and through the matagouri and rose bushes until her lead became tangled in a fence. It has been hot, and a complete change, enlivened by Uncle Tim who came to stay, and cousins Bridget and Jonathon stayed a night on their way home from Queenstown while mum and dad (my sister Sue and her husband Wayne) went to a party in Cave.
Meanwhile it has been raining in Timaru, after the hotness of last week when Katarina's friends came to stay, and Chris went back to Dunedin to work on the house which is now almost officially rented, yay! So there are plenty of beans in the garden, still some lettuces and it's time to do some weeding in between shopping for school uniforms and getting the office sorted.