ANANDA

Alright, at the weekend, my lovely wife & I dropped the kids off at Gran and Grandpa's, and went to stay ANANDA. We thought it was so wonderful, I thought I'd share it with you all...

ANANDA is a Day Spa, with a Bed & Breakfast attached. Isn't that a marvellous idea? We got to be massaged by qualified beauty technicians; then headed off for night without the children...which meant we got to WAKE UP with out our children (only happens once every 170 days, at home) - and then have breakfast, quietly, on our own, without breaking up arguments, disputes over computer time, etc! OH, it was bliss.

Sept 1st

OK, so here I am; the 1st of September. I've started the day by having cereal, with prunes....and so far I've changed fourteen of our calendars. Anyone out there think we have enough...?

I must admit, I think the last post [about RAIN - Sub. Ed] was worthy of comment....any chance you'll do a month of Weather Songs from youtube, Ally? ...with the emphasis on water falling from the Sky...?

If Only It Would RAIN.....

OK, I'm not saying it never rains here in Timaru, New Zealand. But, if you google Timaru, you'll notice something straight away - it's on the east coast of the South Island. Cold Fronts usually come from 2 directions....the South; or the West. If it's coming from the South, the rain will hit Dunedin (my hometown); then head straight to Christchurch, missing out Timaru completely! :(

On the other hand, if the Cold Front is coming from the West, it hits the West Coast...and stays there. The precipitation pretty much gets no further; 'cos the Southern Alps blocks the progress of the wet!

So, in honour of all the rain we're missing here...ok, the rain I'M missing...my family isn't nuts about loads of liquid falling from the sky...I've got a friend to make up 2 CDs, with the following songs:

Walking in the Rain - Johnny Ray
Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley
Raining in my Heart - Buddy Holly
Sunshine, Rainbows and Lollipops - Leslie Gore
Rain - Jose Feliciano
Warmth of the Sun - Beach Boys [a li'l sun now & then!]
The Rain, the Park & Other Things - the Cowsills
Flowers in the Rain - The Move
Who'll stop the Rain? - Credence Clearwater Revival
Rainmaker - the Fifth Dimension
Rain on the Roof - the Lovin' Spoonful
It might as well Rain until September - Carole King
Smoky Mountain Rain - Ronnie Milsap
Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts
A Hard Rain's a-gonna Fall - Bryan Ferry
It's Raining Again - Supertramp
Hand in Hand - Dire Straits
Summer Rain - Cliff Richard
Feel like Buddy Holly - Alvin Stardust
It Never Rains - Dire Straits
Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby
I Can't Stand the Rain - the Commitments
The Sun Always Shines on TV - A-ha
Weather With You - Crowded House
Storm Front - Billy Joel
I Wish it Would Rain Down - Phil Collins
Storms in Africa - Enya
Rain - Madonna
It's Raining Men! - Geri Halliwell
Why does it always Rain on me? - Travis

Songs that didn't make the cut (though I wish the first one listed HAD) -
Don't Rain on my Parade - Barbara Streisand
Raindrops keep falling on my head - BJ Thomas
Rainy days and Mondays - the Carpenters
I love a Rainy night - Eddie Rabbit

Humm, hummmm....

Winnie-the-Pooh often had "hums". These could be simple, common sort of "hums"; or full-blown poems...or songs.

(Pause, while Blogger automatically saves this)

I wonder...am I doing this for fun? Or, to remind myself, I can Write? I don't know...anyway:

"There was a little green-eyed idol, to the north of Katmandu
But the wind blew up the chimney just the same!
And when the Great Pink Hunter kissed his wife whilst she did snore,
She woke and bellowed, "Doctor, I'm not that kind of Dame!"

Early Start

Well, today (Thursday) I was up early...for me, anyhow...around ten to Seven...checked the Ski website; and the Roundhill Skifield is OPEN! So, I took Jamie to School very early! And he's off Skiing, for the FIRST TIME....well, actually he's chosen Snowboarding....I hope he'll have a wonderful time.

Meanwhile, in my world, I'm off to the church leadership course this morning. I hope I'll learn something new & useful, from 10 - 12. Just after lunch, I plan to do a little more on my Assignment. Oh, I'll be SO pleased when I've handed it in!! :)

Monday Monday

Well, Monday was a pretty normal day...though it didn't start that way! I had to take M's car to the panel beaters, which, luckily, is about 50 metres from here :) I then had to take my kids to School & my wife to work; before coming home - just a couple of minutes after our Cleaner arrived. She's very good; pity she is off to Australia soon, to continue her round-the-world travels. Anyone know where I can find another young, Scottish, assiduous female cleaner...?
No?

Breakfast was made more complicated, by Jamie opening his birthday presents...still, it was nice to see his happy smiles! :D

Saturday 22nd Aug

Well, this morning my day began with a leisurely breakfast of crumpets & coffee. Then I hung out 2 loads of laundry, in the sunshine..... :)

Later, I took Jamie & his friends to G.I.Joe: Rise of the Cobra. This was an action movie, with all the depth of Paris Hilton's make-up. OK...though not to be taken seriously. No blondes, soldiers, or Polar Bears were harmed in the making of this marketing exercise...er, I mean... motion picture ;-)

Seretide! :)

A big, public SHOUT-OUT to GlaxoSmithKline, for supplying my free cordless mouse. I LIKE it! :D

An Unusual Friday

Well, I had intended going out to the Railway Museum workshop tomorrow; to give the old lads a hand...luckily, I bumped into Bill at the Northtown mall; he said he was going in to do a few little jobs on Friday, so I popped in there this morning. I did some sanding on some new shelves. Then, this evening, we had our new housekeeper, Amanda, do a spot of Babysitting for us, while we went out to Margaret's work do. Quite a pleasant evening!

Noisy Thursday ::-)

The kids are particularly manic today; Jamie has gymnastics at School, the Twins are having lunch at Ashbury Park with their class, and I'll be there with my Dr Who lunch bag & box! :)

A parcel arrived in a courier bag this morning, too - I only ordered it yesterday!! Plus, I won TWO auctions on eBay.uk overnight...one rare Dalek, and a very special CD...I hadn't expected to win either of them, so I better stop bidding on auctions!!!

...oh, and it turns out that there were over 900 peop. at Russell's funeral, and not the 600 I estimated.

Ode to Russell

One of the real characters of my local community has passed away. Russell Paul (QSM), died suddenly last week, Aug.13th 2009, of a massive coronary, at his home in Timaru. Russell was the driving force behind the Pleasant Point Railway Museum & Society; and he taught me to drive the Model T Railcar. I attended Russell's Funeral yesterday...it was the largest I've ever attended; at least 600 were there, with 2 police cars supervising the folks arriving & leaving.

So, here's the poem I wrote, as a tribute to Russell...

ODE TAE RUSSELL PAUL

Well Russell, I'm gonna miss you seeing you,
At Keanes' Crossing,
Where, for all of us,
You've been our Glue.

You always had a smile for everybody,
Old and young;
....And a cheeky grin from Russell made even polishing Brass
Seem like a bit o' fun.

You kindly taught me how to drive your "baby", the Railcar RM4,
An' you were understanding, even forgiving,
When I - nearly - used it to cut the Pleasant Point
Public loo, an extra door.

Then several years later, you re-trained me,
So that back to the tracks the ol' Railcar I would take;
But you did give me ne word of warning -
"Now look here, Dr.Who - don't forget! That pedal there,
ON the floor! THAT'S THE BRAKE!!!" :) :) :)

You were AWESOME, Russell. And you always will be.

New look, New blog!

Well folks, here I am in my new Blog...I found I couldn't access my old one when I wanted to post, so here's the new! :)

Thanks to my helpful Selkie, Ally, for her help in setting up this new page!