My Christmas Day

Hi there

Well, my friend and I went to Christmas Day buffet at a hotel.  The buffet was nice but never in a million years would I rate it as a hundred and thirty nine dollars' worth!  It was the sort of buffet  that under normal circumstances, I would rate at, say, the forty dollar mark.  I suppose we have to pay for the staff getting triple pay working on Christmas day..  It's a good thing we don't tip in NZ.

Still, it was nice not to do our own cooking.  And I went for a swim afterwards.  I hadn't eaten all that much so I didn't sink.  Many of my friends were at the beach and I had a lovely time chatting, laughing, swimming. 

Amora Hotel

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Hi there

As I type this, it's about 8 am on Christmas morning, in New Zealand...hopefully, the weather will be fine (and its about time; I'm sick of this unseasonably cold spurt Wellington has had over the last couple of days).  I want to swim this afternoon, after lunch.

Of course, I may not be able to swim after lunch,- I may just sink to the bottom of the waters at Hataitai Beach because I will be so heavy with Christmas fare.

My friend and I are going to a posh hotel for Christmas lunch.  It's a posh hotel buffet at a very expensive price.

"We have to get our money's worth," says my friend.  But he's as thin as a rake.  And I'm .. curvaceous!  I don't know if I can eat my money's worth and still waddle to the beach afterwards.

Have a wonderful day, today ...

Birds

Hi there

I love it when I'm out walking and I come across dogs.  I always make a big fuss of them.  I love any sort of pet really.  

Here's a mother swan and her babies that I came across last week.  She'd got them to shore because the waters of  Lake Taupo were particularly vicious.  With just one day's notification I got a chance to stay at a holiday home in Taupo last week and I took the offer and ran with it.  I didn't run far though because it was cold and wet and I stayed inside mostly.  However, I did manage to swim three times in the (brrrhh, cold) river.  But my dream of sunbathing on the banks of the lake and swimming in it every day amounted to nothing.

Also, last week, in the grounds of the Flat Hill Cafe, just out of Taihape, I saw these ducks sheltering under the last unoccupied picnic table,  away from the sun.  Rather than disturb them, I sat on the grass to eat my lunch.

Maps

Hi there

What is it about reading maps that I can't grasp?  And I believe it's not just me, that women everywhere are in the same boat - or car, or on their bikes, or walking.  Men, apparently won't use maps at all.  They refuse to ask for directions, too.  Perhaps this is why GPS thingees are doing such a roaring trade.

After I've taken forever finding where I am on a map, I then have trouble deciding which way up  - or down - to hold the map in relation to where I'm standing.  Maps on the wall as I enter a shopping mall have the same effect on me; I can never follow them.  Sigh.

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"Wow, yeah, Pilates? ... oh, wait, I thought you said 'pie and lattes'..."

Free Range Eggs?

Hi there

I was standing in line at the supermarket.  A friend stood behind me.

"CAGED EGGS!"  She looked down, horrified, into my trolley.

I shuffled my feet, embarrassed.  "Well, er, I was in a hurry, I just grabbed the nearest carton..."

"Really?"  My friend tsk-tsked.

No, not really.  I'd gone for cheap eggs.

My friend said that I should definitely be buying free-range eggs.  "To produce good eggs, the hens need room to flap.  They need to socialise.  Exercise."

I nodded.  "Mm, Mm, yes. - pilates in the evening?  Squats after breakfast?  Book discussion groups every second Wednesday, perhaps?  Oh, how about a spot of ballroom dancing?"

Then, I was accused of belittling hens.  And eggs.  The people behind me in the queue were solid in line behind my friend.  Oh dear, I guess I'll have to change my egg-buying ways.  Or make sure I'm alone at check-out.

Silly weather

Hi there

"I hate this weather," I say.  "It's too warm."

My friend sighs.  "Last month you complained that it was too cold.  At the beach, the other day, it was too windy.  You curse to Thor, the god of thunder, when it rains"

""I'm contrary," I say.  "So?"

"So, live with it.  Embrace the weather."

I'm trying.  I really am.  But it's far too hot today to do any embracing.  Maybe tomorrow, but only if I'm in full embracing mood.  Tomorrow, I will probably end up moaning; it all depends on the weather.

Hudson and Halls, new show in Wellington

above: the real tv chefs, Hudson and Halls

Hi there

A week ago I went to the Hannah Playhouse/Downstage to see "Hudson and Halls Live".  It wasn't truly Hudson and Halls live because sadly the two New Zealand tv chefs passed away several decades ago.  Still, the play was a recreation of the production of one of their light-hearted  cooking shows, complete with stage manager, lights for 'applause',  breaks for commercials when all sorts of shennanigans happened, and the 'filming' where things just kept going wrong.  There was loads of merriment, some angst and, of course, liquor.  We attendees were meant to be the tv show audience.

This show was so hilarious, especially when their 'guest for the evening - opera singer, Kiri Te Kanawa - apparently got in a huff at a power cut and left the building.  Her singing slot was taken over by the initially reluctant floor manager.

At the end of the show, members of our audience were invited to take pictures with the actors, just like Hudson and Halls did in real life.  I took a photo from my seat in the stalls but because of the fully bright disco ball above the actors' heads, the photos are not very good.  It was funny when five young ladies from up North who had come especially down the line to see the show, and wearing hard hats because of Wellington earthquakes, had their picture taken (by the singing floor manager) with the stars of the show!