Thursday, April 18, 2013

Tiny Tales from week 15

Love this sign on Orrong Rd! Maungakiekie is one of my fave places in Auckland!

Mega Lawn Mower- the excitement never stops around here!

OMG!! A Cherry picker... the day just gets better.

Hello!!!! A Water Tanker in action- what more could we ask for?

A digger hauling trees- NO WAY!!!!!


DOUBLE DIGGERS all the way! What does it mean???

What's that you say???.... a third digger from inside a TRUCK.

May have just died and gone to heaven.


All that is enough to make a boy a bit thirsty!


Merenia's team in Bumble Bee Colours at their first game of the season- Merenia's first game ever.


They were a player short.

She was in Goal for the first half.

Will made new friends.






Tama got spots.

But this made up for it.

They lost 22-0. :-(

At least someone was happy.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tiny Tales from week 14


This week was super quiet on the home front just the usual stuff really. There were though a stack of completely different and super cool cloud formations- I took a photo of the sky almost every morning because it looked so cool.



Dancing Dog and Chicken Tama's favourite spot at Foodworks.


How Jedi's shop.




Dog spotting.





Will beg for Bacon.





Les went to Barrow Island and thought this Parente Lizard was coming to get him...


... it was actually looking for some shade.


Love,

love, love.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Just a soul whose intentions are good....

Feeling a bit like this at the moment...

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Story Chapter 15 - Shorts


My favourite number is 51. It has been for as long as I can remember. In a pinch I'll use 15, 1 or 5- but 51 is my go to number when I have the option. I think it's kind of weird actually. I mean why? And the answer is I have no idea. 

 *****

When I was youngish I wanted to be a boy. A little Maori boy called Rangi. I get why I wanted to be a boy- boys have so much more fun and boys are so much less hard work to relate to than girls. but why a Maori boy and why Rangi? Once again- no idea. 

*****

I invented my own religion: Mormish. My dad's mum wasn't a Mormon- but I always used to joke that she got sucked in by one of their door-to-door religion salesmen and my mum's family have Jewish heritage. Hence my religion a combination of the two. We of the mormish faith have (had) two religious rituals which I tried to adhere to devoutly. 
  1. Eat soup with a dessert spoon. Eat dessert with a soup spoon.
  2. Never wash or dry cutlery. 
 *****

I used to call sparrows by name. My most favourite sparrow was called Thomas. He had family- parents and cousins and such. Thanks to Dr Google and Mr Wikipedia I've just learned the shocking truth about Thomas. It was my long held belief that we had two types of sparrows in New Zealand. The darker and generally skinnier sparrows were I thought house sparrows- and the lighter and stouter- seemingly fluffier sparrows were hedge sparrows. Thomas was a hedge sparrow. In fact I am now reliably informed that the darker are the males house sparrow and the lighter the female. Thus Thomas was in fact a girl sparrow and I am utterly shocked by this revelation.

*****

For a very long time I believed that me, a little girl in the russian circus and a dog were the only ones in the world called Gypsy. I felt like an absolute individual in my own country. When I was 21 I learned that there was another- she like me was on the dole, banked with Westpac, was 21 and to add insult to injury also shared the same last name: Smith.

*****

When I was quite little I liked to arrange things in ordered lines. I called them Stripe-piles. I still like things to be in a particular order- now we jokingly call it my OCD.... I'm not sure if it's completely a joke.

*****

When ever I read the section in the book Motherstone by Maurice Gee where Susan is travelling across the desert with the blood cat I can hear a track from the New Order album- Brotherhood in my head because that's what I was listening too the first time I read it.

*****

When I was about 9 I lived in the middle of student land. Some friends of ours rented the house next door and I rented them our spare fridge. I'm not sure how it came about but I had a rent book and collected the cash from them on a regular basis.

*****

They also had a large shed that they didn't use. I took it over and called it 'The Hutt' I moved all my books over there and called it the 'Hutt Club Library' I renamed them with all with the Hutt Club logo and loaned them out to members with all the library borrowing trimmings. I expect there were only 3 members of the Hutt Club; myself and my best friends Suzy Duncan and Tracy Esplin (who came and stayed with us sometimes when we could get her released from the children's home). We probably allowed Suzy's little sister Lisa into the Hutt on occasions that we were bored or made too- but she wouldn't have been allowed to be a full member because we were a bit mean like that.



Side note when I was done writing this I searched up Tracy Esplin and found her and sent her an email- I await a reply!

*****

I'm sure there's more but I can't remember right now. :-) This post was brought to you by the letter G and the number 51.




Saturday, April 13, 2013

Friday, April 12, 2013

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Tiny Tales from week 13

Love the Forrestfield Clothing bins. People here just hear the word bin and see the sign on the bins that say (NO) Dumping and go Woo HOOOOO!!!! Bed, couches, bikes, TV's, suitcases, baby gear, Fridge, freezers, washing machines... I'm surprised no ones dropped their Granny off there- she could probably live quite comfortably till the truck comes to do the pick-up. I think people move house or are about to go interstate can't move their gear on Gumtree (lame aussie trade-me) and so they go... I know lets take it to the clothing bin! 
Personally I find this to be a lot of fun- because leaving anything including donations outside of the bin is illegal dumping.... this means if you want to go pick over what's there like say baking tins for sand pit toys or what ever else might be groovy then it's not stealing it's picking up litter. :-)

"Reens" Tama discovered a love of nectarines right at the end of the season... darn it.


We have a new afternoon routine. We go jump into the king size bed at 4:30pm and watch Day-tool (Play School) most every day- Tama loves it and we sing all the songs and dance around. Then we lie on the bed and watch out the window for dogs and people walking and riding and running.... but mostly for dogs.



And then eventually this happens....


and then this happens....


Obi-Will Kenobi


You know when you buy all the Schools Easter Raffle Tickets yourself because you don't know anyone else who doesn't already go to that school to sell them to. And then you cross your fingers that you don't win because you need a pile of chocolate about as much as you need a hole in your head. And then you win not once.... but freakin' twice.

Yeah that.



Will's school also had an Easter Hat Parade... the uniformity in the schools concerns me. Makes me wonder about autonomy and creativity... if they are all doing the same thing... won't they all get the same results? Reminds me of all those Scrapbook Pages you see coming out of the States with the Annual school excursion to the pumpkin patch... why?


Anyway me and Tama, or "Tatum" as he likes to call himself, went and watched Will's Parade. While we were waiting for the parade to start- (they delay it by half an hour so that they have the time to make sure very kid has a hat!) we talked to one of the class Grandads who was telling me about how he constructed some of the playground equipment 20 some years earlier when his own boys were juniors at the school- super cool! Strangely I never saw him at the parade, which was a pity because he missed the Easter Bunny who was gone by the time I saw him again after the parade. Weird.




Will wasn't in the least bit phased as to how the bunny made it from the radio station which was interviewing him during the car ride to school to Lesmurdie in such a short time. 
"He is magic you know Mum!"


 Darth Bunny! The teachers are cool at LPS!

By the way I would have gone to Merenias Parade too but it was at a totally crappy time for watching... sometimes I think Wattle Grove is intentionally obstructive to community involvement. And that was before I checked up on their statement in the school newsletter that said for insurance purposes it is illegal for toddlers to attend the school with parents who are volunteering to help out in any manner (eg in the library). Just a little hypocritical to preach the values of acceptance, honesty and integrity if you're going to tell lies to your parenting community in the school newsletter.


On the way home for the parade just to add some variety in our day we stopped to observe Heavy Machinery- YippEEEE!!!!








The LPS local IGA Supermarket had Will's classes Easter art displayed right outside the front door... pretty cool!




Me: "You need to wait till Dad gets home so he can see what you made too."
.... time elapses....
Sound of car pulling into driveway.
Les walks into the house.
Sound of food being consumed at lightning speed.
Les walks into kitchen.... food already gone.




Well maybe not so much?


In our garden right now. Such a funky flower.



....And then this baby just came falling out of the sky and Les totally caught him.

High security visit.


 
Banana Cake for Easter.



Last of the summer weather? I think not.