The Rellies Roadtrip
I'm back from a fabulous rellies roadtrip. Fionn, Brighid and I met my sister at Springs Junction and then we drove to a little suburb just out of Blenheim where we stayed with our very dear ex-pat coaster friends and had a blast. The next day the kids stayed with their friends and my sister and I visited aunties and cousins and got cow poo all over our city shoes when we tried to get up the driveway to one lot of rellies. It's quite hard to kick poo out of the way of the gate without gumboots. I left my sister with our grandparents (who are 86 and 88 and still living in their own home) and went back to Blenheim for another night drinking local wine.
Next morning we said our goodbyes (the kids looked so very sad, they had had the most perfect time playing and staying with their friends) and drove to Grandma and Grandad's to pick up my sister.
Where to next?
To Nelson.
Not just to Nelson. To the Nelson fabric shops. Spotlight was pretty good and I bought myself a self healing cutting board there, but Morelands fabrics was like walking into Aladdin's cave. I bought some blue jersey and signed up mentally for another go at Simplicity 1945.
My sister had taken the night off from family activities to go see her friends and the kids and I found ourselves at the best playground in Nelson (possibly in a much wider area), one which looks out at this view:
We stayed at Tahuna camping ground, which meant we could spend more time at the 'rocket playground' the next morning.
We met my sister on Sunday at a fabulous cafe which makes gluten free crepes and galettes. Not just a side line of gluten free, but the entire menu gf and utterly delicious. I want to play round with buckwheat pancakes some more now I've tasted these.
Then we stopped at Berrylands and bought about 80 zillion kilos of fruit and vegetables and two freshly made berry ice creams for only $36. This made the children and I very happy.
It was good to be happy. It gave us resilience when the car played up later in the day. Thank goodness for my sister's AA membership.
Now we are back home. Favourite Handyman has done all sorts of wonderful fixit jobs and I've both continued with the rearranging inside our home and with planting more vegetables for winter and spring.
Yesterday FH and Fionn were out doing very useful things like taking a large amount of glass to the dump and on the way home they added to their usefulness by giving a ride to a hitchhiker. Unfortunately, the hitch hiker stole Fionn's reading glasses and his camera. Once we found that out this morning, I spent most of the rest of the day doing insurance related tasks.
This morning I bought a rotary cutter and tonight I got out my new cutting board, the cutter and some fabric. Oooooh that is so much better than scissors! I've got to finish organising the lounge before I'm allowing myself to start sewing - hopefully tomorrow night. Yesterday I picked up three good sewing patterns at the op shop in Hokitika for 50 cents.
Before I left Wetville, I went to see The Artist at the movies. According to our local council, it is our civic duty to go to the movies four times per year, in order to make it financially viable. There are more onerous duties than this. The Artist was a good film. I don't have any considered and thoughtful comments to make on the film, but I did love Berenice Bejo's energy in her role as Peppy Miller.
Next morning we said our goodbyes (the kids looked so very sad, they had had the most perfect time playing and staying with their friends) and drove to Grandma and Grandad's to pick up my sister.
Where to next?
To Nelson.
Not just to Nelson. To the Nelson fabric shops. Spotlight was pretty good and I bought myself a self healing cutting board there, but Morelands fabrics was like walking into Aladdin's cave. I bought some blue jersey and signed up mentally for another go at Simplicity 1945.
My sister had taken the night off from family activities to go see her friends and the kids and I found ourselves at the best playground in Nelson (possibly in a much wider area), one which looks out at this view:
We stayed at Tahuna camping ground, which meant we could spend more time at the 'rocket playground' the next morning.
We met my sister on Sunday at a fabulous cafe which makes gluten free crepes and galettes. Not just a side line of gluten free, but the entire menu gf and utterly delicious. I want to play round with buckwheat pancakes some more now I've tasted these.
Then we stopped at Berrylands and bought about 80 zillion kilos of fruit and vegetables and two freshly made berry ice creams for only $36. This made the children and I very happy.It was good to be happy. It gave us resilience when the car played up later in the day. Thank goodness for my sister's AA membership.
Now we are back home. Favourite Handyman has done all sorts of wonderful fixit jobs and I've both continued with the rearranging inside our home and with planting more vegetables for winter and spring.
Yesterday FH and Fionn were out doing very useful things like taking a large amount of glass to the dump and on the way home they added to their usefulness by giving a ride to a hitchhiker. Unfortunately, the hitch hiker stole Fionn's reading glasses and his camera. Once we found that out this morning, I spent most of the rest of the day doing insurance related tasks.
This morning I bought a rotary cutter and tonight I got out my new cutting board, the cutter and some fabric. Oooooh that is so much better than scissors! I've got to finish organising the lounge before I'm allowing myself to start sewing - hopefully tomorrow night. Yesterday I picked up three good sewing patterns at the op shop in Hokitika for 50 cents.
Before I left Wetville, I went to see The Artist at the movies. According to our local council, it is our civic duty to go to the movies four times per year, in order to make it financially viable. There are more onerous duties than this. The Artist was a good film. I don't have any considered and thoughtful comments to make on the film, but I did love Berenice Bejo's energy in her role as Peppy Miller.
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On a happier note, we have played in that playground too, also on a visit to a sister. It's really a fabulous place isn't it?