It was another glorious day yesterday, got well into the into the 20 degrees apparently, which is highly unusual given we are verging on winter here. It was also Rich birthday !!!!!! We went out for dinner on Friday night and went for a wonderful hike yesterday. I have organized for he and Luca to …

The Fall is definitely here and we are having a wonderful weekend weather wise! We have had a few days of rain, so we are soaking it up. This was taken yesterday on a hike. Fall is my favourite time of the year, the days are generally clear and blue, (the last few days not …

Wow this month has been action packed and has gone so very fast, it is hard to know where to start! Luca left yesterday for camp, just as the temperatures plummeted! He packed his own pack, so I am hoping he packed well!!! His theme song as he left was, “looking for adventure and whatever …

The summer has stretched on unbelievably long and we now have drought like conditions. This is in complete contrast to the north island of NZ, which has had the wettest and most traumatic summer in decades, with a cyclone adding to the floods causing widespread devastation. It is heartbreaking and will take years to recover. …

He started Yr 10 today! Hard to believe, so grown up looking! He has a very full year ahead and came home after the first day tired but happy, stating “it was pretty good”, which is high praise indeed from a 14 year old boy on his first day back at high school 🙂 Although …

Luca finished school on the 9th of December. He has had a really successful first year of high school taking out some prizes at the end of year assembly, and getting a great report card, we are very proud of him, he worked really hard this year. The lead up to Christmas Luca and I …

The day Jen died a colleague gave me this rose, I put it on our deck and it has just started to flower, I went outside this morning first thing, and the smell from it is divine, another lovely way to remember her. Yesterday was Luca’s 14th birthday, Jen would have so loved to have …

Looking out the kitchen window these days is so different to when we first arrived…. We are having days and days of wonderful weather. This is unusual for spring here, and while it is lovely, we are always thinking about our water tank, it will need to be topped up a few times this summer, …

The next school term has started, it is a short one and Luca is counting down the days until his 14th birthday!!! Over the holidays I generally give a couple of extra chores on top of his usual, for Luca to complete. I am a big believer in chores. I think kids need to know …

Well we have had an interesting start to the school holidays. There was a polar blast that hit NZ and went up the entire country. It meant the largest snowfall we have had since living here. Our road was closed, as were all the main roads, but we managed to get out and Rich drove …