In the Summertime

Sweeney and I spent a few weeks in Christchurch with Nana over Christmas. We went on a horse trek. We erected a Christmas tree that reminded me of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. We ate trifle and chips and dip and Christmas mince pies. Sweeney had a rad time with his bubble machine and his major lego haul. We experienced some whomping Christchurch earthquakes. We hung out with Christchurch friends, and Wellington friends who happened to be in Christchurch. The weather was extraordinary.

We travelled back up the island to catch the ferry. There was breathtaking scenery. There was fabulous, no-frills nosh in Kaikoura. There were seals just north of Kaikoura. Sweeney realised just how useful his binoculars could be. The weather was beautiful.

We stopped back at home for a few days, then continued north to Raumati Beach. Liisa pumped out glorious, non-itchy food. Rex ensured that a drink and the paper were within arm's reach at all times. Sweeney and Bela spent every second chatting to each other. We jumped in waves and took in more breathtaking scenery. We went to the park. The weather was horrendous, then splendid again.

Then we shot back to Christchurch for a spot more Nana-time, to celebrate her birthday with her. We dragged her around cafes and whatnot in weather that got to about a million degrees. We attended to chores that needed tending to. We ate salmon and salads made entirely from Nana's garden and trifle and more Christmas mince pies.

Then back to Wellington and back to work for me. For Sweeney, it's been a cracking pace of playdates, library visits, swimming lessons and hanging out with Grandad. The days are just packed, aren't they??

Little Star

 What Sweeney's been doing for the last while - highlights ...  

Caught some considerable snow action up the Rimutakas



Had a wicked time at the skate park with Bela

  

Stayed in Wellington while his mum and Nana were caught in the snow in Christchurch



Was awestruck with Harper at the Observatory

Made inarrpopriate use of the big gun outside the Observatory

Stunned his mother by asking if he could have a salad sandwich for dinner. Stunned her some more by actually eating it.

Went to see The Lion King in 3d.

Had that pesky dead tooth removed.

Crikey.

Wonderful Life

Yes, I've been off the air, but here's a quick catch-up on Things Sweeney from the last three weeks:

• Sweeney turned five;
• He had a Last Day party at EIK, and bid his preschool friends adieu. Don't get me wrong - he didn't actually say "adieu";
• He had a party at home, with some friends and family. The weather was not only fine and warm, it was finer and warmer than was forecasted;
• He and Blessing moved from his party to a sleepover at Blessing's, to celebrate Blessing's birthday. Quite the party boys;
• He started school. He started school the day after he was supposed to start school, but that's post-party / sleepover tummy bugs for you;
• He hung out with his Nana, who came up for the party and in fact made lots of party grub. We had a lovely day mooching about with her, then she saw Sweeney into his first day at school;
• went to Cars 2 with Harper;
• went to Kung Fu Panda 2 with his friend Reuben;
• He rode his birthday bike, made up his birthday lego, ran cars down his amazing birthday track, drew pictures, printed letters and words, read homework books, chose his own clothes, packed his own bag, unpacked his own bag, demolished his room, tidied his room ...

I know it isn't really how it happens, but things feel like they've been turned on their head in the last three weeks. Things have been bumpy for Sweeney, what with all the new people to know and new rules to get the hang of since he started school. Things have been bumpy for me, too, what with a little work-related weirdness, and I had a stupid accident which left me with time to do nothing but think about how I'd like for Sweeney's dad to see how he's turning out. But he's not, and all the anniversaries around that absence have been packed into the last few weeks, too. And do you know what?? He would've loved how Sweeney's turning out.

So, here's a song that he really liked a long time ago. It's been on my mind the past few weeks, and it's really rather lovely ...

Long Weekend

Check out what Kimberley's been doing. She's like, a traveller again. She brought me back some maple syrup and an extraordinary tea towel. Chuffed.

In other travel news, I carted Sweeney and Harper to Christchurch for a long weekend at their Nana's. We met up with Kimberley at the airport, and set off for three days of hanging out with our mum and watching the boys goof off.

We explored about the place. Luckily, most of the groovy houses I lived in have already been flattened to make way for carparks, so no surprises there. We had lunch in Lyttleton, in the one cafe that's managed to reopen. Sweeney asked for us to stop beside the twisted bridge on River Road, so that he could look at it properly. We checked that the Bridge of Rememberance is still there. It is. It's all a lot to take in, to be honest.

And then we were there for another quake this morning that made the papers ...

We set out for a fabulous day of steam trains and adventure yesterday at Ferrymead. The steam train ran at about 2mph, with views of soggy, mostly bird-free wetlands on one side, and the soggy back end of the Ferrymead compound on the other. It was a little anti-climactic. The bit I enjoyed most was when I pinged Sweeney's undies, and a boy next to him - a complete stranger - thought it was a good idea and did the same.

Then we got off the train and staggered around in the most miserable weather of the year. That was when we saw The Horses. To me, they looked like a collection of clapped-out, somewhat moth-eaten nags. To Sweeney, they looked like glorious stallions with shining coats and possibly even wings.

Anyhoo, from there it was a quick sprint through a pianola demo and a whizz round the crafts stalls, then back to Nana's for hot lunch and a spot of lazing.

Thanks, Mum, for the lovely weekend!!

Sparkle Me

Oh yes, check out my bling. Sorry, it's a terrrrrible picture, but I don't know how to make the Finepix do justice to the new jewels.

Anyone who's ever actually seen Actual Me will know that this is not my usual style of earwear, but this is what Sweeney chose for me for Mother's Day. He asked me to wear them to work this morning, and was chuffed when I put them on.

I was chuffed that they didn't make my lobes swell up like septic watermelons, and after a little while, I quite liked that they made  a little jingly noise whenever I moved my head.

Like Santa in the distance, maybe ...

In other news, Sweeney had his first school visit on Friday. Frank from next door was there, and he made Sweeney welcome and showed him around. The class had mat time, did some colouring, had some free play, then we all tidied up and skedaddled home. I had a really good time playing with the medieval castle and the armies of knights.

Ah, school. Bring it on.

Taking the Rest of the Day Off

Sweeney and I cut school and work today - a mixture of horrendous cough-sounds, torrential rain, freaky coldness and the delightful prospect of a day spent just cruising at home all combined to make that decision this morning.

• We made biscuits. They were delicious;
• We discussed what each half of an oval is called when you cut an oval in half;
• Sweeney learnt a tough lesson about what happens when you play with the pliers, even after you've been told to leave them alone, and you trap a bit of your palm in them when you close them;
• I made some pita bread for our lunch, and Kitchen's pork noodle soup for our dinner;

• We watched G Force. I learnt a tough lesson about pre-judging films about guinea pigs saving the world;
• Sweeney played with his new favourite Hot Wheel for what seemed like hours. I bought it for him last night to celebrate his fabulous helpfulness and co-operativeness of the last few days;
• We discussed Batman's awesome powers vs Superman's awesome powers. It all leads me to think that Sweeney really doesn't know anything about Superman's awesome powers and I must remedy that immediately;
• I safety pinned a tea towel around his neck, and he ran the length of the house and back several times shouting "Batman!!";
• We read the next chapter of Winnie the Pooh - the one about the Woozle. We've been reading a chapter a night this week;
• I read some of my book and watched an episode of Marple while Sweeney stared out the window at the rain. He insisted he wasn't sleepy, despite lying on the sunroom couch under a blanket without moving for ninety minutes;
• We discussed how handy your fingers come in when you want to add four and five; and
• KimberleyJoeHarper came for dinner. We ate pork noodle soup. It was pretty tasty.

Best day off ever.

Island Life

We went to Kapiti Island today. If you don't know, Kapiti Island is a nature reserve, just a wee ferry ride off Paraparaumu Beach. It's known for its awesome bird life. I'm very fond of certain native birds, so I was pretty excited to show them to Sweeney. We went to the North End, because the terrain is easier for the littl'uns.

I think the next time I go there with Sweeney, he'll be at least thirty years old, and we'll go to a part of the island where there are some birds. Well, some birds that aren't ducks, anyway. Oh okay, we saw a bunch of weka, and there were a few beautiful robins when we got underneath some trees, and I saw a bunch of what I thought were takahe, but they were just enormous pukeko. I'm being churlish, I know, but I was totally hanging out for some kakariki action, and I wanted forest, not coastline. Sigh ...

But as the photos - none bird-related, I'm afraid - show, Sweeney, Harper and Leo had a fine time. The ferry-tractor config at the start of the day was fascinating, and throwing rocks into the sea was a fab end to our time on the island. And they had a wild time together inbetween those bits. We even saw an enormous stingray.

Sunday Song

 

Ordinarily, I have no reason to wear platforms in the forest ...

  

Fantastic Mr Fox breakfast - French toast and blueberry smoothies





Some O'Neill family chaps with the O'Neill family bike



Sweeney with his full set of cousins.

House Quake

Usually, I'd be kind of chuffed that little old Christchurch had made it onto the front page of the New York Times. Not so much today.

I looked back at my post about the September earthquakes, and I'm ashamed at my glibness. Who gives a fig about buildings and nostalgia??

I just care that my mum's okay, and all our friends and whanau are okay. We're so lucky.

Read this.

When you get power back on, and you read this - stay safe, Mum!! Wish you were here!!

They Say It's Your Birthday (Next Week)

Sunday morning. Woke up, got up, made coffee and toast, shlepped around the kitchen and garden for a bit. Watched a Psychedelic Furs video from about a million years ago. 

Mixed this up and bunged it in the oven. It turned out brown. Just right for a chocolate cake. After breakfast, Sweeney helped me knock out some ninjabread men from this healthsome recipe. They turned out brown, too. Just right for baked assassins.

Why the baking hubbub?? Harper's birthday party was on, that's why. He's three any day now.

 

Here's the star of the day, looking rather splendid in his new t-shirt. Note the entirely adequate cake in the foreground ...

You're a rather lovely chap, Harper, and I'm chuffed to know you. I love the way you call me "auntyange", and how you call Sweeney "Seeney".

I love that you and Sweeney can't get enough of each other, yet you're happy enough, each of you, when the other is gone. You're so similar and so different. You're lucky boys, to have each other.

And here are two beautiful, fine women who breached the perimeter yesterday. Bela, who we've known forever, and Coco-Inez, who we've only just met.
Anyhoo, Happy-Birthday-for-Saturday, Harpoon!!

Corn With the Wind

I'm an inconsistent gardener, to be sure. But growing broad beans and finding that they actually don't make me gag blew me away and inspired me to continue my half-arsed efforts in the soil. A few evenings ago, Sweeney helped me to plant some corn seedlings for a late harvest. I read my Yates Garden Guide and it told me that corn and beans do really well together, so I planted them in amongst some butter beans Dad planted a few weeks back. And there are actual beans on the bean plants.

Only problem is, I'm pretty sure that butter beans will make me gag. Totally.

The wind over last weekend was dramatic and threatened the two major events on our calendar. First up was Regan and Susan's wedding. After a white-knuckle ride through Ohariu Valley - it was like an episode of Wacky Races, I swear all the road signs were 45degrees out - we arrived at the gig 10 minutes late, and entered through the most indiscreet door in the whole place. Susan looked beautiful,  Regan was handsome, the ceremony was lovely, the company was fine, the dinner was delicious. The wind blew us around something chronic, but the sun was out and it was really a beautiful day.

The following day, we went to Wadestown for the next-day-after-the-wedding barbecue.

Check out these fine characters. These are Sweeney's cousins from Dunedin - a finer quartet you couldn't hope to meet. Let's see more of you jokers soon, please ...

And here's a snap of the bride and groom, for good measure. Let's see you jokers soon, too ...

She's In Parties

First up, Happy Birthday to my mum, Sweeney's Nana!! And to the several hundred other members of our extended family who share her birthday with her. It's the same day as Al Capone's birthday, but that's another story ...

Kimberley, the lads and myself went down to see her for a few days this week. The garden looks great - lots of fuschias for the boys to pop, red dahlias for me to covet, and a vege garden that manages to be functional and pretty.

We had lunch at the Curator's House, in the Botanic Gardens. There's a beautiful kitchen garden there, and the bees were keeping busy in amongst it all. Sweeney even picked up his first ever bee sting, which earned him a tea towel filled with ice cubes and full attention from The Italian - one of the waiters - for a bit.

I made a devil's food cake from Kitchen - yes, I travel with it - which was pretty flaming splendid, if I say so myself. Two chocolate sponges, layered with icing made of butter, sugar and a cake of dark chocolate. Then the whole external mass slathered with more of that same icing. The boys carefully positioned chocolate buttons on the dark surface, we plonked on some candles, and we were away.

It was rich enough that none of us ate much. There was a round on the birthday itself, then morning tea the next day, a slab was packed up for some neighbours, and there was still enough to seriously dent anyone's resolve to calorie count. Look at it, it took three people to cut the thing ...

Block Party

Ahhh, Boxing Day. According to something I read today, it's the one day on which it's acceptable to eat trifle for breakfast. I love trifle for breakfast any day of the year. Unfortunately the trifle I fancy is something that only my Mum makes. It's nothing like anything I've ever encountered anywhere else, except when my Nana was alive and she would make it. The unfortunate thing is that my Mum doesn't do deliveries ...

Today I slept in, brought coffee back to bed once I did lope downstairs, listened to the music that is someone else doing the dishes - thanks Dad!! Then Sweeney came up with part of his lego haul from yesterday and we spent what felt like twelve years putting the bottom of a speedboat together.

Then we went to a barbecue at Sweeney's Uncle Dom and Auntie Emma's house, where I found that I can beat a nine-year-old at table tennis.

Home again, and in honour of it being Boxing Day and a holiday and all, we had chips and dip for dinner and Sweeney stayed up well beyond bedtime.

And I finished off the speedboat, then felt all lego-hungry and knocked up a few other vehicles and a petrol station. In other news, preschool broke up for Christmas on Friday. To celebrate, Lana, the incredibly clever face-painter-who-also-does-the-food-for-the-kids painted all the kids up. She's the woman behind all the tigers, cheetahs, leopards, goblins, pirates and whatnot that Sweeney arrives home as. She totally researched Spiderman, just for Sweeney and his Spiderman-crazy friends. He campaigned hard to avoid the bath that night ...

Hope your Christmas is turning out just as Spidey as you'd like!! Ours is. I'm going to make an aeroplane now ...

Dear John

Today Sweeney and I went to a funeral for our friend John. He was 83 and had been ill for some time. John was a lovely man, always up for a chat, always smiling.

It was a great funeral, with a lovely get-together afterwards. One of John's sons was my partner for several years a long, long time ago, so most people there, I hadn't seen for aaaages.

It was sad but nice, and I look forward to seeing a bunch of them again over Christmas.

Sweeney handled the looong service rather well, although we did nip outside for fresh air a few times to break things up a bit. He went a bit mental at Makara cemetery, had to go for a long, long run, then a long, long sit under a shady tree. We popped in to Karori cemetery on the way back into town, then back to Peter and Ginny's for the get-together, where he found an attic with Lego AND Playmobil. And this was AFTER he had lemonade to drink.

In other news, I'm watching Zombieland right now. I'll never, ever let Sweeney watch it, what with the swearing and the carnage, but it's terrifically funny. That cute little girl from Little Miss Sunshine's sure grown up ...

Back to (Real) Life

We're home, Sweeney and me. The last few days of holiday ramped up on the Hectic scale, but I think I'm the only one of us who actually threw anything approaching a tanty. It's nice to wake up to the sound of tui and Frank and Arthur next door.
Here are some highlights of our time away ...

We arrived in Christchurch, after a ferry crossing and a 6-hour car trip, incorporating many toilet breaks and runs in long grass beside SH1. Harper tried to teach himself to wink ...

We hung out a little bit with Bruno and his fine parents. These two were like peas in a pod. Which brings me to ...

Actual peas in an actual pod, from Nana's garden ...

Nana and the boys found a hedgehog trapped in the waterrace and I was despatched with a fishing net to rescue it. It's been a long time since I willingly put myself into a body of filthy water, but when it's for your family ...

The (ungrateful) hedgehog sat outside the back door for an hour or so, then we think it went under the house.

We sampled delicious local fare ... I lost my mind periodically ...

Nana made fern crowns for the boys and they showed their appreciation by doing whatever is they thought they were doing here ...Sweeney introduced Harper to the Monster Truck ride at the mall ... But mostly, we all just had a Big Relax together.

Love you, Nana!! Love you, Mum!!

Tonight I made lasagne from the Edmonds Cookbook. I think the last time I made it was in 1985, and my friend Lee and I made it together from an Australian Women's Weekly cookbook that she had. It seemed complicated, which is why we made it together.

Tomato-mincey goodness, cheesey cheese sauce, pasta. What could be better?? I thought if I added in some broccoli and mushrooms, that'd make it better. Sweeney disagrees. He's taken a dislike to the mushrooms he sees in his food. The ones he doesn't see slip down just fine.

In other news, it's been a busy weekend. Today Sweeney went for a jaunt with Regan and Susan today. Sounds like they did a bunch of things, including some time at Te Papa, and encounters with Regan and Susan's cat.

Then he and I headed up to Helen's to wish her some Happy Birthday tidings. Sitting around with a bunch of fab gals and a table of cakes. Sweeney played trains and drove the older kids a bit mad with being only four years old. They're such great kids and put up with a lot from him.

And I found this blog. I'm thinking some comfort reading is right up my alley right now. I finished Everything is Illuminated a few nights ago, and am ploughing through Butterfield 8 right now. It's tremendously uncomfortable reading, to be honest, and I'm tired and just want nice things to read now. So next up is Julie & Julia. Food and fluff. Ace.

Oooh!! And I got to check out our second-newest neighbour today. Wee Lily's three weeks old and looking gorgeous. Her mum and dad are knackered. Lily sleeps most of the day, then parties all night. She looks good on it, though.

And the newest neighbour?? Strangely enough, another addition to the street popped into the world a week after Lily. I haven't caught up with her yet. Knitting up a storm's worth of little boots in the meantime ...

Holiday

Go on, love. Have a day off from the chores.
And for goodness' sake, put a cardi on. You're 52, and it's freezing outside. You'll catch your death.
Happy birthday, Madonna!!

There's a Mouse in the Kitchen

Our new flatmate, Maose, died a hopefully-not-too-heinous death in the cupboard under the sink. I've been sinking under the weight of that mouse for too long now.

I took a naive approach to start with, thought I'd be reasonable and just remove any chance of him having a nibble, and cleaning everywhere I'd seen that he'd been, with strong-smelling cleaning products. But it just forced him out onto the bench when he thought I'd gone to bed, and I'd hear him trying to penetrate the packet of rice crackers. So Dad got a trap, and smeared it with peanut butter and popped an almond on top. Yes, I researched bait a little bit.

It totally worked.

And the following night, it worked again.

I'm a little frightened that there's a whole community in there, and there'll be new little mice to trap every night, and they'll get progressively smaller and more adorable.

In other news, Sweeney's busting through the left knees of all his trousers, and his uncle Dom turned 40 on the weekend. There was much revelry. At Dom's birthday, not Sweeney's breezy knees. Happy birthday, Dom!!

(Kind of) Wish You Were Here

I'll tell you a story about one of the better birthday parties I ever went to. It was Martin's 40th birthday, and he was in Auckland Hospital, undergoing assessment to see if he could go forward for a liver transplant.

The previous week had been enormously stressful, and he'd had a stint in ICU, but he'd rallied and we were all feeling rather chipper. All the extra fluid he'd been dragging around for months had been dialysed off and he looked and felt comparatively great.

His team of doctors sang Happy Birthday to him at morning rounds.

Kimberley had come up to stay with me for a bit, and we spent the morning racing around Auckland looking for a Happy Birthday banner. Martin's dad brought the cake, I think, and everyone who visited came with lollies or biscuits.

There's a photo, which I can't find now, of Kimberley guffawing at something stupid Martin was doing, while, behind her, a chap in the bed opposite Martin's is gurning in anguish as his transplanted kidney gives him enormous gyp. We were so used to hospitals by this point that we could switch off other people six feet away.

Anyway, that was six years ago today.

He's been on my mind lately, not just because of his birthday, but because his mum's not doing so well herself now. Sweeney and I spent some time with her on Sunday, and Sweeney told her about his cars and his train set.

Then there was a knees-up at Grandad O'Neill's house, with almost full contingent of O'Neill uncles and aunties. Good food, good fun.

In other news, Sweeney's friend Blessing came for a sleepover. There was pizza, chocolate biscuits, a looooooong bath, a kickaround at the end of the street with Frank and Arthur, inaugurating the train set etc ...

What nice boys.

Celebration

Sweeney O'Neill, you are now four years old. You're tall and strong and brainy and kind of a nice young chap. I think you're ace.

On my fourth birthday, I got wrapped up in the paper that came with flowers from my Nana, and I ran around the garden with my friends for what felt like hours. It was hot and still and glorious.

Yesterday, you chose your Crash Landing t-shirt and your Speed Racer sweatshirt to wear, because "they go fast". You and your friends had to stay inside during your party because it rained so hard and the wind was blowing like it was carrying ice throughout the city.

You had a really good time, but you told people it was a bad party because you think that's funny. I know you had a good time because you were smiling for hours.

The day was a bit of a blur, as it turned out. You woke up, asked me "Am I four, Mum??" for the fiftieth day straight, jumped on your bed and played with balloons for ages. Then off to the fire station to check out a fire engine and firemen with Kimberley and Harper. And an actual fire alarm, as it turned out.

The party was fun, there were lots of people crammed into our little house. Lucky we put lots of stuff in boxes and Grandad carted them to the shed, or we'd've had to stack people two-on-two on the chairs. People were generous and thoughtful, and just so fun.

But I lost sight of you as soon as the living room filled up with people, and I only have a vague idea of who's responsible for which present, and I couldn't get near the bench once the kitchen filled up with people, so I didn't get the fruit platter or Nana's scones onto the table, and I forgot about the cheerios completely. I snaffled Nana's camera and took some very bad photos of you cutting your Robot cake - thanks, Kimberley!! - and then I lost sight of you again while the party continued. And here's what you looked like when you were four DAYS old. This is us moments before we walked in the door to our house together for the first time. It's the same door that everyone came through to say Happy Birthday to you yesterday.
You are ace.