Where to Start???

These are my Sister-in-law's beautiful Amaryllis flowers. This photo was taken by BFJ on the night of my brother's 60th birthday party. It was an 'Island' themed party, & was very colourful, & hilarious, in parts. Most guests dressed for the part, & there were some excellent costumes. I did manage to get some pics, but had the camera on the wrong setting, & so had to stop taking pics till I got that sorted out.
I suspect I have gained a lot of extra poundage- the food was just glorious, & everywhere I went I was 'banqueted'!!


Just dont know where to start on the story of my holiday. It seemed to go past so quickly, & I tried to savour every minute.

As with any holiday, it was a bittersweet ending. I was so glad to see GOM & AAGranddaughter at the Airport on arrival. It made me realise just how much I had missed them.
The level of excitement in dog-language was incredible when I got home, & Leo made me pay for leaving, by keeping his distance, after his initial overjoyed reaction. He has settled into his normal excited self again now.
And little Honey is quietly warming my rear in the chair again. I had missed them severely, kept having to find animals to pet.

I am not having much luck with posting my pics this morning- the ones I took will not seem to load, but luckily BFJ took some lovely pics, & she presented me with a lovely souvenir album, with prints from her camera, so these are the ones I have managed to post this morning.
These are her Gorgeous Granddaughters, who are so beautiful. As with all children, they have totally different personalities, & both are just gorgeous.
BFJ & PB -who is known as "Pa-Bu" to the grandchildren- took me out on Thurs 29th, & they had GG S with them, & as we looked about she had the following conversation with Pa-Bu
"Is Uncle J bigger than you Pa-Bu?"
"Yes, Uncle J is bigger than me"
"And is Uncle C bigger than you Pa-Bu?"
"Yes, S, Uncle C is bigger than me too"
A pause while thinking ....
"Are you smaller because you have got no hair?"
GGS is 4- Just love the logic processes of 4 year olds! She is such a good little girl, & played quietly with her doll, & was a treasure to take out. BFJ tells me she has her 'moments', but she was so good with us that day.
Pa-Bu does have hair, but not so much on the top these days! The tall uncles are blessed with positive thatches!










This is a picture of Patterson, a lovely old loyal Blue Heeler, who belongs to BFJ's brother & lived with BFJ & PB.
Poor old Patterson had to be put to sleep, as he had a cancerous tumour & was about to suffer. He was a very loved dog, & had led a happy adored life.
This seems a rather sad note, but I just wanted to pay a tribute to him, as I know he will be terribly missed. He was always so gentle with the children, & tolerated all sorts of things.
BFJ took this pic on Dec 1st.

It is nice to be home, but I am still tired- we covered a lot of ground in our travels, my brother & I, & I also was lucky to have a wonderful trip up to see my eldest son, with BFJ & Pa-Bu, who kindly offered to take me up to see him. He lives in a city quite a long way from Auckland, which is where my brother lives, so it was a lovely day out, & I got to see countryside I have never seen before- felt quite the tourist.

I will have to try to post some of the pics from that tomorrow.
I was faced with a barrage of offers to join Beta.. am wondering if the pic posting would be easier??
I am sure I read someone's blog saying she was happy with the new format?? Any info would be good??

I suspect I am suffering a bit of 'jet-lag' -which is fraudulent really, seeing the flight is only about 3 hours long, & them time difference is only 2 hours.
We had a rather bumpy flight home, & it was raining in Sydney!!! Celebration indeed!! After the nice cool weather in NZ I was so happy to find it cool in Sydney too.
I was very lucky with my seating companions on the way home too. I had a gorgeous, friendly, young girl on one side of me, & a very happy, funny, handsome young man on the other side. He kept me laughing with his jokes about crashes & inexperienced 'Captains' for a good deal of the flight. One poor woman was sick- luckily she was not too close to us, but I never felt the turbulence was THAT bad. Handsome seat companion made several jokes about that too, & I am ashamed to say I laughed! He reminded me of one of my sons, & also a loved nephew I had just visited. I love flying & the rough bits dont bother me.
I have been on a plane that got struck by lightning, & another, that had an engine knocked out by a bird strike, but I tend not to panic, so consider myself lucky.
I did think of you Isobelle- 'In This Life', as I know you do not like flying!

Perhaps tomorrow I will collect my thoughts & write a cohesive line or two, & perhaps I may even get to post some of my pics!

Once more Thankyou to BB & SIL, & all my family & friends, for a wonderful warm & loving stay.
As previously stated I am still slurping from my saucer, as my cup runneth over!