Bears in Shorts

Glorious weather on Saturday so we left the still wet (from 3 extra rain rinses that caught us on the hop) laundry on the line and went for a drive... ...  https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/parkmaps/map-waitawa-regional-park.pdf It was all new to me! Quite a few people were dangling strings in the water; some had gaffer-taped their rods to the wharf railings and adjourned for lunch... The sunshine obliged all the way back to the house and the laundry was brought indoors to dry-off. (Isn't this exciting! 😄) Sunday was rubbish! Cold, wet and uninspiring. Today? A repeat of Saturday's weather.  Now, I'm struggling with little camera so I'll post this and see if I can get some better images fot the next post. Please don't go away!

  I'M BAAAACK! Yes, back on Blogger. And back on my home turf, New Zealand. At present, bunking with The Man's brother, but let's get on with this bloggy stuff, OK? Some of you may know that  I could probably waste time (mine and yours!) trying to write something witty, but our erstwhile friend in Norfolk has come up with a good idea. Well, pretty good for those of us either genuinely busy or too damned lazy to write! Just four photos. New or old. Well, okay...  First up is Sporran, sitting on a cabin trunk. Yes, of course she  came with us! First time on a plane and she  can now boast that she's actually been on TWO planes! What a trouper... Demonstrating to buyer that the TV does work... Ditto, tool box The Quisqualis was still going great guns when we left... Well, there you have 'em...four photos.   The greedy bastards at Wordpress are making things difficult on what they call a "free" site! I'll scoot over and see if I can leave a trail of ...

  ...it's "that time of year again." I seem to be grumpier with every year that goes by.  The seasons are still the same, but my gods! the people have got worse! Two women, scrapping like kids at kindergarten, over some item. One of them put her basket on the floor and managed to out-reach the other for the disputed item. Ah! but her rival kicked the basket into the aisle and it was soundly sent out to another customer by a passing trolley whose steering was waaay beyond its pusher's control. I left before the ensuing scrum... I shall steer well clear of the January sales! Right, a brief update ... we continue to scale down our goods and chattels, though a departure date is still some way off. Just let me say that we cannot invite people for meals as we're now down to two bar stools at the kitchen bench! But feel free to pop in if you don't mind standing about with a plate of finger food. (My butcher had some really delicious fingers last week!) The monsoonal ...

     I promised I would try to update this more regularly.   Was that a lie? Or a broken promise? How about a picture of a Kowhai ( Sophora ) in glorious flower? I'd love to grow it here, but the summers would probably do for it.   We are still waiting for some rain...it's a good thing that we have the water tanks! Only a stop-gap, of course, but at least garden water is not coming out of the rates bill.  Just around the corner from our flat is a glorious, old jacaranda   and I keep saying I must take a camera and get some photos. I shall do that, right now! You chaps nip out and either put your kettles on or pour a Pimms, depending on your time zone...       Aaaand, I'm back. With a jacaranda for you.         But I was so excited at a pair of  Red-Tailed cockatoos         Calyptorhynchus banksii  I spent more time trying to     get them on film. Well, t...

...but I might just be sideways! Wordpress is no longer sending me demands for money at my old site, but it is being EXCESSIVELY obstructive. So I guess I'll just muddle along with Blogger.  Right! That's settled, so ... what have I been up to? Well, the de-cluttering continues, but we still have some way to go before we go! The Spring orchid show was a couple of weeks ago so I put on my kitchen pinny and served tea-and-tiny-cakes. In quiet moments, I wandered around and salivated over some gorgeous plants. I didn't take my camera (fool!), but there were some glorious blooms; like the third prize in the raffle!  Oh, you want to see the first prize? Hang on... Back home, my quisqualis is flinging itself about with gay abandon. on and over the fence close-up And the goanna has found a girlfriend! They've been flinging themselves about, too.  We are hopeful of eating home-grown passion fruit this year! At last count 8 (I think) fruits; still green, but fingers are crossed....

 I'm still muddling along in the no man's land between Wordpress and Blogger and trying to dodge sniper fire. Not the happiest analogy, but there it is.  In trawling through archives, I came across this and thought it worth a re-run... . How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?  Stop and think about it and decide on your answer before you scroll down.   The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.   2 How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?    Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.   3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference.  All the animals attend …. Exc...