Holidays

The last couple of weeks flew by as usual. Last weekend was supposed to be my rugby team's last game of the season against Petone. Unfortunately the opposition defaulted as they couldn't put a team out due to injury. It was a shame because it was going to possibly be my last ever match since I'm not planning on playing next year. The only positive was that I got to spend more time with Will, as he flew to the UK that day to spend a bit of time with his family, before presenting at a conference in Dublin.

That night my team had an end of season cocktail party. The idea was that we buddy up & bring along ingredients for a cocktail, as well as a matching canape. I buddied up with my fellow prop Hiria (above) and we made a couple of big punch-bowls full of cosmopolitan. It has been great playing with Hiria again, as we first played together for Varsity back in '98! It is also nice that we have ended up living just around the corner from each other.

Sunday morning was rather quiet. It was probably a good thing that Will was away, as I didn't feel guilty for sleeping in most of the morning! That afternoon I had my usual Wellington Masters badminton hit which I am thoroughly enjoying at the moment. I'm already excited about playing for them next year!

The last week of school passed by without any worries. I had Monday morning off to attend an NCEA Maths cluster meeting which was quite informative.On Tuesday night I went to the school production with Lucy. It was '90 years of Broadway' and a joint production with our brother school Scots College. It was actually very very good. As one staff member put it, it was pretty much the best songs from the last 90 years of musicals, without the cheesy story lines and hammy acting... It really was just one song after another, with

excellent delivery and good choreography.

By the time I got to Friday afternoon I was pretty shattered. As much as I had a great time in Chile, it did mean I essentially worked 2 long terms back-to-back without a real break, so I was well and truly ready for a holiday! That evening I went round to Hiria's for dinner and to watch the Super-14 rugby final. It was disappointing that the Crusaders didn't get the fairy-tale ending they were after,but I think they showed real character to even get as far as they did.  

Sunday morning was gorgeous, so I went and checked out the garden. I can't believe the hyacinths are already flowering! The star magnolia is also a bit confused and starting to come out...

We also have rhododendrons and camilias in bloom

There is not a huge amount happening in the vege garden at the moment. The broad beans are flowering which is exciting. Hopefully the gale-force winds we have had lately haven't knocked them all off. We have planted quite a few brassicas, but they are a far way off yet. We are eating celery, beetroot and lettuce, but that is about it at the moment. The thing that has really taken off is the bright-lights silverbeet. I don't even like silverbeet (we mostly planted it for our future chickens!) but it looks quite spectacular in the garden.

Whenever I am out and about in the garden I usually get a visit from Evie, our neighbour's beautiful cat. She really is gorgeous, just unbelievably soft. 

On Sunday I also gave the house a good going-over, before badminton in the afternoon. It is nice to start the holidays with a nice clean house. Today was the first 'real' day of the holiday and I spent a productive few hours in town, doing a few errands and buying a few bits and pieces. I then finished with a good session at the gym, hopefully starting how I mean to go on during the break!

On Wednesday evening I fly to Dunedin to spend a few days with the Roes which I am looking forward to.