The aftermath. . .

A bit of deconstruction of dresses bought on TradeMe that were too small. . .
. . . a bit of construction of new tents in preparation for camping at Piha.

Christmas Day 2010

Arriving with present at 8am over the road at Helen's place.

Present opening begins.


Then off to the North Shore and my cousins place, where we had a family lunch.




Mmmmmm

Friend's Christmas BBQ

AND a GOOD TIME was had BY ALL!

Christmas baking underway

GOT to have Christmas mince pies. . .
maybe a few raspberry tarts. . .
. . . and definitely Gingerbread Men!

Christmas occasions

There have been so many of these celebrations - and this is the lunch we who work in the Office of the University Librarian enjoyed to celebrate Christmas and the end of the year. The pink drink - my BOO BOO - a non alcoholic delight of shaved ice and pineapple and other juices.
I matched my drink. . .
Bridget, Larraine and Gill
Rene', Shari and Eamon. . .

Queen of Hearts/Tarts tonight at Library Christmas Party

Pool perfection

HOT days in late Spring required a trip to the Warehouse for the acquisition of this necessity.

Oh yes, now I have everything! Bike, hammock, and pool. What else does anyone need?

The Last Cornish Pasty

And there it is - the last pasty made by Mum, and offered to me to take home for dinner last week. She says the mincer has finally died, and anyway, it's a big job scraping off those bits of stuck pastry from the oven tray afterwards, but a pang went through me. . .
These little beauties have been a family favorite ever since Grandma Jeffries OR Attwater popped them on our plates way back when. Cornish roots coming out in the recipe - which I discovered to be pretty close to the authentic one when I visited Cornwall myself.
Dripping is always the method of holding the pastry together, and the filling has to have swede and maybe turnip in it, along with onion and minced meat. NO carrots, peas, potato or that palaver.
A dash of tomato sauce and Bob's your uncle.
And now they're all gone. Mum says she'll be using pita pockets from now on - oh well. I guess I could take up the gauntlet.

The wheels are spinning

There's been an awful lot of this happening of late. So much, that nothing else has really been getting done. Oh well - it's only housework! After such a long wet winter, we just can't get enough of the sunny weekends.

Setting up new area at work

I enjoy my role as marketing and communications coordinator for the AUT library. We've just moved from one end of the floor to the other - a small move you might think, but no, it took masses of paperwork and meetings, and organising different departments to set up computers or powerpoints, and finally, voila, I find myself in new home.

Birthday celebrations

Love this one of Mum's eager face. I'm blowing the candles out on the lemon syrup cake my sister made me for my birthday at the humble family afternoon tea.
Helen presented me with these wonderful floral panniers for my bike that she had made herself.
Dinner out with friends at Gusto on Ponsonby Road.