Happy Birthday Jen

Happy Birthday Jen. Happy birthday from all of us here in the Colonies, the Current Chick, Robby Duncan and Minnie. Hugely looking forward to your return so that you can take me out to a classy restaurant of your choice to celebrate your birthday. Promise I won’t stand on the table, sing, nor beg for food from the other tables.

Tonight we had strawberries for dessert, fresh, large and very tasty with cream and icing sugar. An enormously large and sunny day all day. Summer is a winkling in. It has been the worst and grumpiest winter of my life. I still have a bit of a wheeze but have been taking out my bike, walking every day and feeling so much fitter. Have been for a couple of plunges in the Kauaeranga river – bracing. I mean it’s really mid spring ~ I twinkled out with a spring in my step.

Sorry for delay in responding to your blog, my computer had a fatal dose of digital swine flu, I had to rebuild the whole system. Unwittingly on a faulty hard disk that flopped so done it all again. Bother. Woe is me, ‘scuse filthy language.

Love your pictures. I had that feeling of being a part of that scenery – the water – felt privileged wonderful images.

Top pictures taken last weekend. We had P & M from Wellington stay with us and we went for a walk about the foreshore adjacent to our petanque terrain ( I beat Avis last week). At the far end, the terns, huge numbers of terns were wheeling and chortling in the sun – above that old wharf. The old wharf our rating system is still paying off long after it passed its useful life and became silted up. On the far side, the Miranda side of the Firth the godwits cluster, thousands of them having migrated back ‘home’ from Siberia, and almost under your feet at high tide.
The bottom picture was made by grand daughter Jessica while perched up at a table in the Atomic during Poppa’s visit. It gives you a fine and accurate update of our Robby Duncan and Minnie. Both now go for morning walks, wheedling under bushes, whisking up trees and gawking at Scarlatti. Scarlatti don’t give much of a fig, he just keeps on chomping. Minnie stretches herself to a thin sliver of a thing and peers over the top of the grass awe struck the Almighty should make a creature that is neither dog, nor rabbit, bird, mouse, cat nor moth. Only the Good Lord knows why he made Scarlatti.

Our End of year Poetry night on the 27th Nov. Also singing in two, maybe three groups at the Local Talent concert in the old St Georges Church. One of the groups is my ukulele ladies (girls I call ‘em). They have made excellent progress in the six months we have been going.
9.30pm,

Minnie asleep beside me, Dunkles mongering outside for moths. Time for bed.
Happy birthday.
.d