General Chat

I thought, hmmm I don't know this Rebecca Tope, so looked her up in the Auckland Library list and thought I better start with book 1. Trouble is they have only one copy and I am number 5 on the request list.... just who have you been telling about this author Sylvia?

The North Waikato libraries which I also belong to, don't have book 1.

People who read large print must be keen on her there seems to be a lot of large print copies of her various books.

You can only buy a house in Auckland now if you have plenty of money. A friend of ours was asking about rental properties in Huntly, his son wants to start on buying his first rental property whilst living at home. They thought of Hamilton but they have also been getting bought up by ex-Aucklanders who are often offering more than the asking price.

I have been cutting down vines that have been strangling trees along the back of this place.. I have pulled out about 8 rotten trees. Whoever started these vines in the first place needs their head read. I will be back on the job again tomorrow. Want to get it done before the leaves start appearing on the vines again.

we heard someone bemoaning the fact that "their" village was now quite spoiled by all the "Londoners" buying weekend property :-D

There are lots of lovely villages around there, all very pricey to live in and spoilt by tourists like us of course :-D

a lovely village ..... we went there many years ago.


The books are a quick read :-)

I like the quirkiness .....

...... among other things she has a dog called Hepzibah, Hepzie for short :-D


Hepzibah is also the middle name of one of my very elderly cousins

We walked around Chipping Cambden today and went to a craft fair, it is about thirty minutes from where my son lives

I haven't heard of that author, I will have to look her up

Linda ...........


it was indeed a lovely evening.

They "won" the same deal last year, but we were unable to attend.


Which village did you go to??

We stayed with some friends near the Cotswolds on our last trip back, and saw some lovely places.

Have you seen any books by an author called Rebecca Tope? Her character house sites in Cotswolds villages, and there is a mystery almost as soon as she arrives ........... usually a murder!

I've read 2 of them.


I really wish we could have a torrential downpour! It would be so welcome ............ except it would probably all run off the soil and make new rivers on the roads :-(

That sounds to have been a lovely evening Sylvia

There was torrential rain at my sons house this morning, but it stopped by lunchtime. We had a good lunch in a nice village pub then had a walk around a lovel Cotswolds village

The first part of the journey back was fine, but then the rain started, it was torrential for some of the time, so driving was dreadful, we were pleased to get back. It has been thundering here tonight as well

.....................

and the lady sitting next to me said she and her husband will celebrate 60 years next year. :-D :-D

She looked to be in her late 60s, but said she was 81

still no rain here :-(

The days are very warm but the nights are cool, so it is more pleasant than it was a month ago.


We went out for dinner last night to friends. They had "won" a silent auction to have 4 of the students from the Opera programme that OH is involved with come to their home and sing for them and friends. They brought their own pianist

Our friends invited 16 others, set up 2 big tables in a room on the lower garden level of their house, and we had roast beef and/or wild salmon, veggies, salads, etc, followed by lovely desserts. Dinner was preceded by chatter and drinks on the sundeck which looked out over the Bay.

The students arrived about 8:30 pm ......... a tenor, a baritone, a soprano and a mezzo ............ plus one of the "staff" accompanists.

The put on a wonderful demonstration of their talents for about an hour ................ then were fed dessert :-)

The guy sitting next to me was NOT an opera fan though his wife was, but he seemed to enjoy it!

The power of their voices was fantastic ........... they were not miked, but almost blew us away in some of the arias!

We've just been out for a lovely birthday meal at Drew's favourite restaurant. Italian...yummy. He is very sophisticated and orders his own meal with such good manners :-D

We have had rain all day - such a blessing for the garden. I hope it hangs around for a few days.

Hope you are all having a lovely lunch Linda :-)

We've just been out for a lovely birthday meal at Drew's favourite restaurant. Italian...yummy. He is very sophisticated and orders his own meal with such good manners :-D

We have had rain all day - such a blessing for the garden. I hope it hangs around for a few days.

Hope you are all having a lovely lunch Linda :-)

Your poor shin looks awful in the photo Huia

My daughter used to spend ages doing my hair when she was little. Getting all of the rollers and bands out afterwards was always painful. I bought her one of those dolls heads in the end. I got one for Eve last Xmas, she calls it Rapunzel. She was playing with it the other day, but still insisted on doing my hair as well

We are spending the weekend with my son, we went to Sudely castle yesterday which was nice, but it was far too hot, so we only looked at half the rooms. There were some medieval re-enactors in the gardens, so that was interesting

We are going to go out for Sunday lunch, then we will set off home

I think if I could have got hold of some nail polish he would have let me do that as well...... but me have nail polish when I was small.... that would be pushing it.

My mother's cousin gave me some when I was older, she would always give me things that she knew I was not supposed to have. She gave me this hair piece which was pale blue (probably nylon) and I dared to put it in my hair at high school. The class thought it was great but the teacher was not impressed at all. Us "gells" must not behave in that sort of manner.

Hello Persie :-) I think many a dad or grandad has put up with that over the generations. You put your father's hair in curlers - very funny :-D

My father would sit in one of those lounge chairs from a chesterfield suite variety with the large arms and I would go from one arm to the other doing his hair. I would put rollers in it and butterfly clips etc. My mother would never have tolerated that and she would scoff at him for allowing such behaviour from me.

You need to rest with your leg up with maybe a cold pack on it Huia as well as the suggestions you have been getting on FB

Hello Huia - good to see you on here. Take care of that shin - there is nothing hurts as much im sure. I shall look at the photos.

The weather has turned here and at last we have some rain. We went for a drive up the mountains and it is so dry there. I feel bad for all the farmers so hopefully they get some good drenching rain.

Linda, why didnt you ask Eve to let you have a turn in the pushchair - or is it too small for you?

I had a few lovely days in Rotorua, except that when we went to the Hot Springs on Wed. evening I slipped on the bottom step when I was getting out and whacked my shin extremely hard on the next step. For the rest of my stay there I had to keep fending off the 2 small dogs from my shin as it is extremely bruised and swollen and tender to the touch.

For those who have my FB page, I have put a lot of photos on it.

I can imagine your OH looked very fetching in beads and bracelets. My OH draws the line at nail polish (Aimee has tried) but has submitted to bracelets and necklaces made on one of those band looms.

We are due for some long overdue rain over the next few days. Everything is so dry :-(

A friend of ours had an ulcer that was treated with a complicated kind of medicine. It involved two different tablets that needed to be taken at different times of the day.

Linda - I hope you have a nice weekend with your son and his girlfriend. Please give them our regards.

Page 3 again

Yesterday we went to Legoland Windsor, we were there before opening time and stayed until it closed at 7pm. We went in lots of rides and Eve had a lovely time. We took one of Esme's pushchairs which she could still fit in as she is petite for her age. It made all the difference as she would have been really tired without it

My feet were aching by the time we finished :-(

We gave been playing hair parties today while OH finished the bedroom. Even he was adorned with beads and bracelets at lunchtime. We are leaving late afternoon but going to stay with my son and his girlfriend for the weekend, so I won't have much time to post

These men are a worry Persie.

The infection in Tecs leg has gone but the wound still won't heal

He said that he did have a combination of three strong antibiotics for the ulcer treatment a few years ago and thought it had healed

Today we just played at home. We spent the afternoon in the garden, Wecut out five large bags of rubbish from the borders and rescued a poor tree which was covered in bind weed. Eve spent all afternoon picking up woodlice and putting theming plastic box. She did let them go in the end