Would you believe it if

I told you where this photo was taken?

Or this one.

I wonder.

There is a significant clue.  I'm not asking for the name of the beach by the way although some of you will know at least one of the two.

"I Did It, I Jumped The Fence" Explained

Because it is a quotation that I use so often I forget that some of the readers of this blog might not realise the significance when I used it yesterday.   Some time ago I posted the following on Eagleton Notes:

I thought that CJ had blogged about this some time ago but it appears to have been a passing reference in a post on books of childhood. Anyway when achieving something members of our family invariably say “ ‘I did it, I jumped the fence!’ cried Trotty”. This was from a book entitled Farm Babies. I for one loved the Trotty story and the one about the duckling but most of all I loved the illustrations. I still do!

Even the inside covers were brilliantly illustrated.

I Did It, I Jumped The Fence

For some of you (Adrian for example) this will be a non-achievement.  For me it's HUGE.  I've just completed my first cryptic crossword without any help.  OK it's the Two-Speed from the Dominion Post and perhaps not the hardest (OK it's probably really easy) but I did it all on my own.  Please don't tell me I've got any answers wrong.

Warbirds 3

I suppose that it's not really true to say that these are warbirds because they will never see military action. However the pilots who fly them certainly obtain skills useful when they fly the real thing. For the time being the crowds at Art Deco Weekend in Napier simply oohed and ahed as the little Pacific Aerospace CT/4E Airtrainer Aircraft pilots showed what they could do. 

I always think that it's a Good Day when I wake up in the morning.  The day I don't wake up will be a real bummer.  So today started as a Good Day.  In fact I suppose it's like the presumption of innocence in English Law (and many other legal codes) or a presumption of Original Sin.  How fragile they can all be.  The first thing I did (well it wasn't actually the first but I can't cope with inaccuracy of 'one of the first things I did') was take the bin liner out of the kitchen waste bin (trash can for those from the US who still use the old English).  As I tied the top the bottom split open.  'Irritating' was one word which flashed through my mind.  As, however, that's the worst thing that happened to me so far today I'm a very happy bunny.

In fact I've spent a lot of the day either reading blogs or writing comments.  In particular I read a post on Frances Garrood's blog entitled A Letter From Death Row.  Years ago when I was an idealistic youth I spoke very publicly against capital punishment (a principal I still hold to) so this was of immediate interest to me.  Two hours later I stopped reading about capital punishment in the US and thinking about the arguments I used back in those days and eventually commented on Frances's post.  

My day was going to be spent sorting photos from Art Deco Weekend and Northland and writing some posts but now I have to get some household chores attended to and cook dinner for the family who are returning from Gisborne this evening.  I've had the two oldest boys (17 and 15) for dinner for the last two nights.  What delightful company they are.

Giveaway Time

By that I do not mean that I am giving away time.  Would that I could.   It's just that Scriptor Senex aka CJ and also known to me as Bruv is running a giveaway on his blogs Rambles From My Chair and several of his other blogs this week.   Many of you who read this blog will also read CJ's but just in case you don't then I suggest that you will find much of interest in his corner of Blogland.

It seems to be catching because Jenny Woolf on her blog, An English Travel Writer is also running a giveaway this week.  I'm a fairly recent devotee of her blog but I've found it to be a very interesting and independent way to learn about places to which I might contemplate travelling.  I was certainly so impressed by her article on Visiting Cairo recently that I am seriously considering the possibility of a visit to a place that our Mum always wanted to visit but which has not, until now, ever had any appeal to me.

PS I'm not sure what happened.  I wrote this days ago but it never posted.

The Journey Home From Mount Maunganui

I've often been asked to show more of the countryside of this beautiful country.  Like my brother, CJ, when I am lucky enough to be a passenger rather than the driver (which is my usual role) I continually click away with the camera in the hope that I'll get the occasional, or hopefully more frequent, useable photo.  Here's some to show the journey home on Tuesday. The countryside in New Zealand is immensely varied from Alpine glaciers, fiords, live volcanos and subtropical forests to beaches stretching for 50 miles or more.  It's a wonderful and spectacular place.  These photos represent one tiny part of that rich variety.

A Waning Gibbous Moon

On the drive home yesterday as we were on the outskirts of Napier I looked up and there in the sky (where else would you find it?)  was what I think is a waning gibbous moon.  The photo was taken in daylight, in a car, through the windscreen/windshield at 100 kph.  I wasn't displeased.

Thankful Thursday: The Tournament

I can't believe that it's a week since I posted on this blog.  I think it may be the longest period I've gone without posting when I've been in this country since I started the blog in 2007.  I am now hitting the problem of currency.  All my posts for Art Deco Weekend and even my Northland posts will no longer be current and whilst that won't matter in the least to you as a reader it's a question of mindset for me, the writer.

As you may imagine it's been a busy couple of weeks and the tournament was particularly time consuming both in terms of time spent on the lawns and time spent socialising and, I have to admit, sleeping.  Gone are the nights of 5 hours sleep; now I seem to require 6 or even 7 hours and it's eating into my 'doing' time [sorry Francis, I feel sure you wouldn't approve of the use of those 's].

Excuse me whilst I deprive a mosquito of its existence.  I can't go to sleep or type a blog post with a mozzie buzzing around.  Done.  Leastways lots of spray distributed liberally in the area of the room to where he (or, worse still, she - the bitey one) retreated.  Oddly I have become more allergic to mozzie bites rather than less as my time here progresses.  Fortunately Mozzies carrying any disease likely to be serious to man are rare in New Zealand. 

The tournament was both enjoyable and, for me, successful.  Having languished in the doldrums for the last season with relatively few tournament successes I managed to win the Bay of Plenty Golf Croquet Open Championship.  I was, I have to admit, fair chuffed.  That evening I went to Katherine's for supper with some of her friends and family.  As one might imagine from her blog the company she keeps is equally interesting.  I had a wonderful evening.  When I replied to her question as to how I'd done at the tournament with the news of my win she responded "and how are you going to blog about that and not sound as though you are boasting?" (or something like that).  Well you can judge whether my mentioning it was boasting or not.  I'll accept whatever judgement you bestow.  'Cos I won!

So today I am thankful, as I usually am these days, for my full and interesting (to me) life.  I am thankful for the win which has lifted my croquet spirits from the doldrums.  

But to put all that into perspective I am thankful today for the news I received last evening from a croquet friend and doubles partner with whom I won the Vets (veterans - nothing to do with furry creatures) this year.  She has had the all-clear after her latest check-up after having had a cancer removed last year).

Thankful Thursday

I woke to the sound of the rain hammering on the roof of the deck.  Not, I thought, as I realised it was still darkish at 0710, really the sort of day for driving up to Tauranga for a 5-day tournament.  One day at home was all I had to do catch-up and, of course, I have nowhere near managed it.  Not only have I got a myriad of posts from my adventures in Northland but there are still lots from Art Deco weekend.

Time.  There's an old saying 'when the Lord made time, he made plenty of it!'  Sorry that's no more valid than the old feminist saying 'when God mad man He was only practicing.'  There is never enough time.  

My lift is due in 3 minutes.  I'd better get out there with my luggage - which, ironically, is more than I have when I travel between Scotland and here.

For all of that little gripe I am truly thankful that I do have the time that I have and that I have the opportunities to spend so much of it in enjoyable pursuits.

Have a great day!

PS It's 0945 an the sun is now shining!