The silly season is nearly here, so grab it by the @*%#s and go for it, have some fun.

I cannot believe it is December already, where has this year gone to?  The older I get the quicker they pass by and I am not convinced I like that.  I actually dusted off our Christmas Tree and put it up on the 1st day of the month, threw 4 decorations at it as I didn't have time to go the whole hog on it right there and then.  But now......

Our tree is smothered in felt and fairies and 3 sets of lights, and yes it is on a lean. In fact it fell over as I have a tendency to decorate the front and sides as it goes in a corner.  All this  has been fixed and now the back has it's quota of decs to prevent further toppling.

I have even done a bit of a Christmas display in the front entrance!  At this rate you will all be thinking I totally subscribe to all that is Christmas.  Well not really, I love decorated trees, houses that have been pimped up in flashing lights and that is about it.  No carols for me, panic shopping or big family get together.  We have a very laid back attitude to the season and it WORKS!! 

It has been so warm at night that I have been wearing plaits to bed!

TOFs vegetable garden has doubled in height and the edibles are being eaten while others are being watched for signs of readiness.

I bought one of those sponge bun things so my hair has been going up!  Pretty sure I'm not doing it correctly but what the hell I say.

These beautiful flowers keep on flowering!

I purchased a Tweedia plant from Habitat and Zinnias from Bunnings and potted them all up.  Colour for the garden is everywhere and when you can get Zinnias for 99cents a plant you have to buy at least 3 of them.

All the latest colour has been put out the front and Tex even got some fancy smancy solar lights over his 'chair in the bush' bed. 

Who knew that you could get a White Kakabeak?  Well not me that is for sure.  I have 2 red ones so I decided I needed a white one.  I have potted it up and it is out in the back garden, it will be divine when it does it's thing next year.

My Hydrangea is starting to flower and has some impressive sized heads on it already.  This is the time of year to take cuttings of other ones poking through fences and on roadsides because you can see what the flowers are like.

Work has been really busy with end of month stuff and of course with a short month this month it is all go to get things done.  We close on the 18th of December for 3 glorious weeks of summer holiday. My favourite shopping places will also be on holiday as all the op shops shut up shop for a summer vacay!  I found the above brand new sandles for $2 the other day at Hospice, and they are as comfortable as they look.

I also came home with all these old decals, I remember putting a big dog one on the draws under my bed at our beach house when I was a kid to identify my bed out of the 3 in us girls bedroom.

Yesterday Sue W and I decided we would go for a wander around Lake Rotoroa the lake in the middle of our city.  I think it is just under 3 kilometers around and a rather delightful walk.  We did our walkies in the morning before it got too hot, but it was over cast and already humid. JOY not!

We parked by the Veranda Cafe and walked anti clock wise as out reward at the end was going to be coffee and cake!

There is an lovely flat even surface pathway (with duck and pigeon shit everywhere) the entire way around and lakeside all the way. 

Even though it was overcast it was still a pretty nice outlook to enjoy while chatting, laughing, stopping for photos and walking.

 

I will admit this is the FIRST time I have ever walked the entire way around.

I think when I was suffering greatly with anxiety and agoraphobia this was just far to big of a challenge. 

But now at 53 (and happily medicated) I can accept the challenge and I am so glad I did, it is a beautiful way to spend some time with a good friend.

We quite possibly solved a lot of world problems during our walk as most women seem to do when together.

Maybe it is time women took over the running of the world?

There are many lovely old trees that have stood strong over the years.

Can you see the face?  At least it has not been painted.

The last part of the walk is on a board walk and it passes by houses and meanders through lovely native planting.

 There is plenty of wildlife at the lake and numerous babies.

And the Water Lilies are all flowering!

These cars and boat have been in the children lakeside playground since I was a toddler.  So cool to see they have survived all the up grades and health and safety nonsense over the years.  They have even had very snazzy paint jobs done.

With our burst of fitness done and dusted we went to the Cafe to have refreshments and bugger me if the waitress gave us our age for our outdoor table!  The place was buzzing with activity, children playing, people walking, dogs waiting patiently in cars for other cafe visitors.

Behind the Cafe and up a small hill is this beautiful little Rose Garden, full of, well you guessed it, ROSES!!!

The Roses are planted in a circle on the outer edge of the Gazebo, so  we wander around between the roses drinking in the heady perfume that some offered.

Such an array of colours and varieties and all looking very beautiful and well cared for by our City Council gardeners.  Well done to them and I do not mind our rates contributing to the upkeep of such lovely things.

And to show our appreciation this took place!!

Some say we are mad

I say we enjoy life!

 Two of my favourites if I had to choose.

Heading back to the car

I told Sue we needed to go for a train ride. 

So we did!!

The rest of our day was spent popping in and out of Op shops and coming home with very little or in my case, nothing.  

Now it is the weekend so it is time to hang at home with TOF and the pets.  We are having to keep our eye on our dear old man Tex as he is slowly but surely heading done hill thanks to being elderly.  He has lost a lot of weight and generally just sleeps.  He is still eating, drinking and peeing and getting about, just moving a lot slower.  Trust me, he is being watched and waited on and if the need arises he will be helped into the next phase of his journey.

So no matter what age you are,

have some fun,

enjoy life because none of us know

how long we have!

 

I took my Great Grandmother some flowers.

I managed to exchange the  photos for some from my fathers side of the family on Saturday, there were not many, some how an album has gone missing along with a fabulous photo of his dad in his flying gear from WW1.  Thankfully I had a few photos already, but now I have loads of photos to add to my ever growing album of gone but not forgotten to me relatives.  I started dabbling in my Family tree over 30 years ago which seems impossible to me because I was sure I was only about 25!!  It is so interesting getting back into it and so much easy with all the internet do-hicky thingymajigs.

Sunday was a gorgeous day so I picked some flowers from my garden and decided to go visit my great grandmother Minnie.  She is buried in one of if not the oldest cemetery in Hamilton.  Armed with my little map off I went.

Even tho there is a motorway nearby it was surprisingly quiet, well apart from a Rooster crowing and a bunch of Native birds having a good old conversation high up in some big old trees.

There is something lovely about a picket fence and a wide open gate inviting you in to wander up the hill and around.

Minnie was my dads Grandmother and lived most of her life as far as I know over at Thames. 

 

She was married to Charles Kerby who died very young leaving her with a big family to raise on her own in 1901 when my Nana was only 9 months old.  Some years later she re married a Mr Holden.

Following my map I found the section she rests in but a bird landed on a tall headstone next to her grave as if telling me where she was.

Minnie is right at the very back of the Cemetery and the graves are mostly covered in flowering plants, but I would have to say reasonably well maintained due to the age of them all.

It isn't flat land so it must have been a hard slog back in the day to bury someone. Imagine the ladies dressed in their heavy black mourning dress on a hot summer day or a wet and wild winter day.

Some of the headstones are very ornate.  Do we still do this for our loved ones? Most of my family have been cremated so there is no where to sit with them quietly and think.

The Children's Lawn, not a place I could wander being a mother myself I find it hard to see young ones laid to rest too soon.

Likewise with the soldiers section.  I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to send a husband, father, brother or son off to a war that wasn't even in our own country.

The fence line to the cemetery has this row of strong tall old trees guarding over land.

Opposite the Cemetery is this lovely gate with Hardy Centre on it. I wasn't sure what that was but have since discovered it is to do with the Girl Guides.  "Hello, look at the clue Sue, the guide symbol either side, you were a guide once upon a time remember!!"

At the end of the road there were these wild daisies doing their thing on the fence line, so pretty.  The paddocks here are for some horse riding group, pity there weren't any nags for me to photograph.

Tagging alive and well on a fence! HBHS stands for Hamilton Boy's High School, where my lads went.  Rather see tagging on a fence than on a head stone.

I did an exchange, leaving flowers for Minnie but taking a slip of the plant growing on her grave to plant in my garden.  My Minnie plant!  I have a Daphne bush I planted for my dad.

 

I love this old photo. Back row is my Aunt, Great Grandmother Minnie and my Nana.  Front row is my Uncle, Mr Holden and my dad.  Seeing this photo of dad just shows how strong our family resemblance is, as many of the offspring have his look.

On Sunday night the dogs were causing a fuss rather loudly  out the back so I went to investigate.  I found this poor Hedgehog rolled up in a tight ball probably wishing they would bugger off and leave it alone.  So I scooped it into a bucket and put it out the front safely away from the barking mad dogs.

This blackbird is a resident of the front garden.  Every morning it sits on the roof of our garage waiting for Tex to turn away from his bowl of breakfast.  Then it swoops down and helps it's self to Tex's food.  Twice a day, every day.  I have noticed a second bird has decided being regularly fed is perfect so it has joined in as well.

Something else happening out the front is the flowering of my Fuchsia plants, flax bush, and Yesterday Today Tomorrow shrub.

 The Fuchsia reminds me of a dress with underskirts peeping out.

Oh look at my new to me sandles that arrived in the post yesterday, they match my eyes!!  Super gorgeous and will definitely be getting an outing this week.

Today when I got home from work I got stuck in and gathered up all the last of the pruning and loaded them onto our little red trailer.  TOF will be pleased with me! 

 

And because it is the first day of December I have put up our tree.  The decoration will happen tonight.

 

It has been confirmed, I am not 25 as this was taken of me in the early 1960's.  Bugger!!!

PS: In the photo of me and my sisters at the tram in my last post you all guessed wrong, I was the small child with the boy hair cut wearing shorts!!