35,000

That's the number of frequent flyer points I had that were about to expire so, rather than waste them, I went shopping.

I realised when I unwrapped them that I had gone a bit retro but all in a good cause.  The phone because I only have a walkaround one that will be no good if the power goes out (emergency planning in action!), the mincer, well, just because. The wine aerator is the mod con, I only drink one glass at a time.

Going low tech

A few thousand travellers, including me, were at the mercy of mother nature on Friday, trying to fly into or out of Wellington.  The fog was going up and down, flights were cancelled, delayed and diverted.  By the time I got to the airport late in the afternoon to get home, surrounded by high tech (people on their on their mobile phones, ipads and whatnot, automated everything for checkin) someone had decided that low tech was the way to go - worked a treat too.

Wandering Elephants

Yup, elephants.  These guys are an installation for the Garden Festival which began yesterday.  They are on the landing outside work at the moment but will be wandering to locations right round the mountain over the next 10 days.  They are life size, made of woven willow and very beautiful.  The local duck population however, were looking less than thrilled.

Two weekends

Last weekend was our annual pilgrimage to Puniho Marae for language class, this time with the added bonus of our Whanganui classmates coming up to join us.  There was a lot of fun and a lot of learning plus a fair bit of just sitting around and enjoying the sunshine.

Then on Sunday it was off to Hamilton for 3 days of library conference. This weekend is Labour Day and I have plans to go nowhere and do as little as possible!

Moving up in the world

We have been moving around at work and my view has changed.  I've swapped ground floor, south side for third floor north side and a view of my favourite bookstore for a view of the ocean.

Yarn Bombing

This last weekend, to promote Canteen the teenage cancer support organisation, the city was yarn bombed.  People from all over the place have been knitting squares that were collected and under cover of darkness the Canteen guys wrapped things around town.  Somewhere in there are a couple of dozen rows that I did - we had share knitting in the tearoom at work; pick it up, do some rows, leave it for the next person.  Very relaxing.

With family

It's almost a month since I last posted and that's mainly because nothing much has been happening. The weather has been wet, work has been flat out and the local rugby team have been playing rubbish.  But this last weekend I had the whole family here for my birthday which was wonderful.  Mum & Dad were here too although somehow they didn't end up in any of the photos.

My brother christening the BBQ

Breakfast the next morning

Up the mountain in some not very flash weather

At the Te Rewarewa bridge in much better weather