White Christmas

On the 22nd we drove up to Oxfordshire. Will had his dentist appointment in Witney & I had a wander around the shops while I waited for him. Afterwards we headed to Fletcher's Farm, Will's parents place, which looked an absolute picture in the snow. This was to be our home for the next few days.
On the 23rd we had a big family gathering at the local village pub. It was a lovely afternoon & really nice to get to know some of Will's family better. Some of them I had only met at our wedding & didn't have much opportunity for chatting at the time.

The 24th was nice & relaxed. We tried to earn our keep with a few jobs around the place. Will's parents had had a big branch chopped off one of their trees so we moved the logs from under the tree to the wood shed. The most efficient way of moving them in the snow was using the old family sled!
Will also helped his dad chop up a whole heap of kindling which should hopefully last them a while.

Below you can see the very last quince hanging on for dear life. Also note the brussel sprout 'snowmen' in the bottom right of the picture!
It really has been cold over here. Even though we haven't had any snow for a few days, it isn't melting because the temperature is barely getting above zero degrees. It made for some spectacular icicles on the greenhouse. You have to be careful walking around town because all the snow is piled on the roofs & every now & then you hear a noise like a mini avalanche & a whole pile will drop down to the ground. Will had a small amount come down & hit him which I found pretty amusing!

On the 24th we also popped round to spend some time with Will's brother's family. The kids have grown up a lot in the year & a bit we have been away.

Usually the squirrels wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the bird-feeders which hang in front of the kitchen windows. However because it is Christmas, & because it is so hard for them to find any other food at the moment she has relented slightly. The one below took his nuts up to the top of the barn to eat them in peace... The pheasants were also foraging around,trying to steal the food put out for the small birds.

Christmas day was a stunning bright winters day, albeit bitterly cold! We took advantage of the sunshine & blue skies to take a few pics.

Will's mum cooked up a superb Christmas day feast. Turkey & ham with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding & brandy butter for dessert.

After the Queen's message in the afternoon, Will's brother & his family came over for the unwrapping of presents.

We had given each of the three children a kiwi toy each, & Katie was especially taken with hers...

At one stage Will's mum did a very good impersonation of a zebra, much to Katie's delight, who recorded the moment on her new nintendo DS!

Soon it was time for the kids to bundle up again in all their warm layers & head home. It was a lovely family Christmas, which we'll hopefully repeat in another 2 years time.

The next couple of days were very relaxed. We headed back Reading way on the 27th after braving the madness that is the Bicester Village outlet shops. It was absolute carnage with everybody trying to get first dibs in the sales. There were huge queues just to get in the door to places like Prada, Gucci, Ralph Lauren etc. Just as well those sorts of places aren't exactly our scene! However we did pick up a few bargains, so it was worth the trip.

Today has also been pretty relaxed. I checked out the sales in Reading & bought a few clothes while Will stayed at home & caught up on a bit of work. Tomorrow we are heading in to London to spend a couple of nights staying with my friend Nicola. Then on New Year's Eve we will head back Reading way as Claire & Mike are hosting a house party to see in the new year.

Back in the UK

Last Monday Will & I started our epic journey back to the UK. We began with a flight from Wellington to Auckland, followed by a flight from Auckland to LA, a couple of hours in a transit lounge at LAX, a flight from LA to London & then the Railair bus from Heathrow to Reading. About 36 hours after leaving NZ we finally arrived back in the UK! We are staying at my old school, with my previous head of department. Wednesday was the last day of term for the school, so we attended the end of term party in the common room that night. It was just like old times really, the usual drunken debauchery! We left at about half-12 which wasn't a bad effort considering we had arrived in the country the previous day. By all accounts the party carried on to the wee hours of the morning...
Britain is experiencing a huge cold snap at the moment, & Bearwood is looking stunning in the snow. So far the weather hasn't impeded our plans too much, so fingers crossed that continues. It is beautiful walking around the estate in the snow.

Anyone for a spot of golf?

The lake is nearly frozen over & looks pretty cool with all the snow on top.

On one of our walks we called in to say hi to our previous neighbours. We found them in the garden doing a spot of snowman building. Below is our old driveway, looking very picturesque.

On Thursday we headed out to Will's parents who were obviously pretty excited to see us. It was lovely catching up with them again. Most of Friday was spent catching up with Claire & Nic.
Christmas time means pressies...

This trip is all about catching up with friends and family. Several of my Bearwood friends have had babies since I left, so there have been some new wee people to meet.

On Saturday night Will & I had a very nice pub meal catching up with several of my rugby friends. We were planning on heading back to Will's parents on Sunday, but decided not to risk the roads. Oxfordshire had had a lot of snow & there was major disruption on the roads. Instead we had a very nice relaxed day in, barely leaving the house! It was probably for the best as we had already had a hectic few days catching up with lots of people.

On Monday Will & I braved Reading. It wasn't actually too bad, considering it was one week until Christmas! The weather helped keep the crowds away, there were severe disruptions to the train service with cancellations & delays aplenty. We both agree that Christmas does make a lot more sense in the winter. There is something about the cold & snow, & darkness by about 4pm... Reading was actually looking very festive. Monday night we were invited to Steve & Kate's place next door for mince pies & wine. Again, it was a lovely evening and just like old times... I called it a night at around 1am, & Will was later still.

Today was also pretty lazy. Tonight we met up with Curto at the local pub for a couple of pints. I will admit that Britain does make some pretty damn tasty beer!

Tomorrow we are heading back to Oxfordshire. Will has a dentist appointment tomorrow, then on Thursday we have a family lunch. We'll stay up there at Will's parents for Christmas, possibly coming back to Bearwood on the 27th. Merry Christmas everyone!

Last week of school!

So, 4 days of the school year left to go... In fact it's only 2 'proper' days, as we finish at midday on the Thursday & Friday, & the mornings of both those days are taken up with clean-up/prize-giving practice/carol service etc. My first year at QMC has gone by super quick, & I have really enjoyed it.

This time next week Will & I will be on our way to the UK... We have 3 & a half weeks in the UK, then 4 nights with my bro in Hong Kong on the way back home. We are looking forward to catching up with lots of friends & family, although if we don't make it to your neck of the woods while we are over there, don't take it personally! We will be pretty full-on... We have had some glorious weather here of late, so the extreme winter conditions the UK is currently under will be a shock to the system.

We are loving our garden in the warmer weather. In the pic above you can see one of the several cabbage trees we have on our property. Will still thinks they are pretty exotic, even if they do drop their leaves all over our section! The hills you can see are where I took my photos from in my last post when I walked some of the skyline track.
A couple of weeks ago we bought a new rose 'Prospero'. It caught our eye at the garden centre, but we decided it would just be an impulse buy & we didn't really need it. We then saw a sign saying '25% off all roses' so decided it was meant to be! It really is stunning, the young flowers are a bright crimson two-tone, & then they fade to purple as they get older. It is gloriously scented as well.

Our white climbing roses have been growing like mad since I gave them a severe prune. I don't think they had had much attention for a while...

These flowers are also on the same terrace as the roses. I can never remember their name, but they are very pretty...

As are the petunias...

The vege garden is also growing like mad & we have our first courgette which is exciting. It will be big enough to eat before we head off which is nice. The sugar snap peas & runner beans have both reached the top of their support, I have never grown peas this tall!
Over the last couple of months I have had bit of a tomato nursery growing on our window sill, growing them from seed. Tonight I planted out the last of the seedlings. We have 3 tomato patches, so it will be interesting to see which ones do best.

That's about it this time round... This week will be busy getting everything ready for our big trip.