Grandma and her boys

Friday 30 November 2007

Christmas gifts

Ben on his new bike  ............... Bet this is the first Christmas gift photo's you have seen of 2007 gifts

Alex on his new bike
As Alex is not quite into bike riding yet he has a push rod and handle on the bike but it will not be long before he his off riding on his own.
The push rod on this bike also operates the steering so easy for the person in charge of him.

Home in New Zealand

As most will realise from reading the date, it has been ages since posting on the blog.
There has been good reason for this as we have been on our travels.

We came home to NZ to attend the wedding of our niece Kerry to Daniel


as you can imagine the bride looked stunning and it was a beautiful day

Our grandson's Ben and Alex where ring bearers and looked cute in their tuxedos.

Eric then flew back to Dubai the following day, but I stayed in NZ where I am bumming around in the camper van staying here and there.
I have just spent 5 days at a beach resort where the van was parked within 10 meters of the beach, the weather came to the party and was beautiful. I had my bike along with me and managed a ride every day, I also swam in the hot pools each evening and did a fair amount of walking.
Iain and Claire and the boys joined me for the day on the Sunday when the weather was at it's extra best, my niece and her family who live a few kilometers away from where I was camped also joined us for a BBQ in the evening.

I have spent a few days with Kathryn and Steve and the boys, where I managed to do Christmas shopping for them all. The boys had new bikes and we helped with a new BBQ for the grown ups. I bet you wish you could do your Christmas shopping in one day.

Eric will be back in time for Christmas, when we will have the first family Christmas where we have all been together for years... to many to count, but of course we have 4 extra little folks around this time, Ellis 6 , Ben 4 , Harvey 3, and Alex 2 so it is going to be a real child orientated time.
The silly season starts here next week with the commencement of Christmas Dinners and bashes, I have 4 to attend so far. Of course not a thing to wear, but being summer that is really no problem.

Sunday 11 November 2007

From a new Gmail user.....

That is it...the Yahoo debacle that they call an email server has had it's day in this house.
It has been getting worse each day some days I could not even log on to it, then others when you are working on it it closes down or does not another move when asked.

Now they have finally cooked their goose when they changed the format and I had moving adverts all across the screen which you only had to scim across with the mouse and up popped another...so bye bye Yahoo for the period we are staying in Dubai..

Hello Gmail...now..., listen here you have to live up to the wonders that people keep telling me about you.

I have had 2 days of trying to work out your system and I am getting there, I keep re- listening and watching the "getting Started" video, I have pressed the help key quite a few times, but there are somethings you need to look at like

"you can not select a list of the addresses you wish to forward to" you have to write each one individually. Now come on even Yahoo had that!!



I will give you a fair try , but you have to remember you are not talking to a whiz kid here but someones Grandma and I can get frustrated with new things, I am getting to that stage in life when I like things I know ( unless I am learning a new Quilt Block or technique).

With Love from a new Gmail user


A Picture just to remind you it is only 45 days to Christmas.

Thursday 8 November 2007

Shame he does not get a bedroom


Our Grandson Harvey asleep under the table, seems Harvey did this maneuver himself.

Time for a Hair Cut or my frayed nerves



Now a hair cut or trim is not a major thing where you live, but here in Dubai for a Expat woman it is traumatic.
Finding a hairdresser who can speak English is the first hurdle, when you have convinced yourself that you have achieved that, you go on to the actual sitting in the chair....then the real trauma begins......my hair is in a bob it is straight and grey and I would like to keep it like this but all hairdressers seem to think they know better... ....so after a shampoo where she tries to convince you that a colour would be good and why would you want your hair natural colour.
No one has natural colour hair now, this is very old fashioned, she has now written you off as a waste of time, you are not going to spend enough money in her salon. So back to the chair.

Questions begin ..

Me....have you cut straight hair before..
Girl....Yes! madam
Me.....like mine
Girl..No madam

At this point you want to get out of the chair ASAP, but you are tied in with the flumptious gown and heavy weight shoulder cutting mat and dripping hair. So you think okay we will talk our way through this.

Me....Please do as I say
Girl... Of course Madam
Me ... I want you to cut it same shape as now but taking off only 1/2" inch just a trim not a restyle.
Girl... Of course Madam you will have a good cut and look beautiful.

Now you know she has not been listening or understood what you have said and you now realise her English is just the pleasantries, and her sales talk at the hair wash station was learnt parrot fashion, because that is what her boss has taught her to say.
She Picks up her scissors and begins to part the hair, it is like a horror film.
I always come away with shattered nerves and a near disaster of a haircut and not quite but almost near to tears.
Now I have had 5 haircuts here each has been as good if not better a disaster than the last.

Now resulting from all this trauma, the good side of this story is Eric is becoming a great hand at trimming off the long ends straightening the back pointing out bad areas and generally soothing my frayed nerves when I get back.
So I think he will re-train in Rotorua as a Ladies hairdresser so get in line and make an appointment.

Sorry no photo of my disasters but here is a really cute one of Ben having his hair cut and there is no trauma in sight and the barber is definitely cuter than the girl who cut my hair yesterday.


Wednesday 7 November 2007

Must be the coming season



I am not one for cute sayings and twee poems but this one somehow hit home.
 
Around the corner I have a friend
In this great city that has no end
But the days go by and the weeks rush on
And before I know it a year has gone
And I never see my old friends face
For life is swift and a terrible race
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine - we were younger then

Now we are busy, tired old men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name
Tomorrow I say "I will call on Jim
just to show I am thinking of him"

But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes
And distance between us grows and grows
From around the corner, yet miles away
"Here's a telegram sir" "Jim died today"
And that's what we get and deserve in the end
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

MORAL
So stay close to your family and friends
for they have helped to make you the person you are today.


Saturday 3 November 2007

November Already News update.

It is November already and the weather has cooled so much, in fact today there was no sunshine it was very cloudy and quite cool...the tiled floors were cold to our feet and Eric even put on a pair of slippers.
To all those who have given us Margarita recipes we have finally found the correct mix.
We had to buy a new liquidiser a strong glass one to crush the ice, and of course the correct glasses to drink from. I am sure we could have had them for weeks at a hotel for what it has cost us to have half a dozen at home so far.

Not long now and we wing our way to New Zealand ( again) for Kerry and Daniel's wedding, Eric will do almost a "U Turn" and come back here after 4 days and I will stay to bug the life out of people till after Christmas. I am looking forward to a nomadic life in the camper van for a few weeks and may be to take the older grand kids with me at weekends, albeit one at a time.

Christmas.
Will see Eric back again, to have all our family in one house for the "big Do" and Santa's visit.