Crusaders, Mice, and Vampires

 

A few of us gathered together last night to watch the Super Rugby Pacific final.  The Crusaders (from Canterbury) beat the Blues (from Auckland) by 21 points to 7.

Being a supporter of neither team, it was a change to be an impartial viewer and simply enjoy two evenly matched teams battling it out against each other.

Other than the game, things have been rather quiet around here for the last couple of days.  We have had a mix of heavy rain, thick fog, and weak sunshine, but no more thunder.

Today has dawned clear and sunny, so I'm hoping it will be a nice day even if the ground is still wet underfoot.

The mice the cats keep bringing in have been more lively than my computer mouse.  It has been giving me lots of grief lately (I use the inbuilt mouse) and I have to keep plugging in the external mouse.  One of those little irritating things in life.

I read this morning that Space may be full of Vampires but we wouldn’t know because all our telescopes contain mirrors (and, of course, vampires are invisible in mirrors!).

Have an awesome day 😊

Margaret.

 

The Adventures of Brush

 

After nearly five years of daily use, I have a feeling my hairbrush has decided it is time it had a change of scene and maybe got retired.

Brush has worked faithfully every day since it began work in my service, but I must admit I have taken it very much for granted.

It often travels with me, but on my recent trip to Tauranga, Brush decided to escape my bag and hide itself on the back seat. 

This turned out quite detrimental to its health, as I put the seats down when moving some furniture and Brush found itself very squashed.

All its bristles were flattened out sideways, but a bit of tender loving care brought most of them upright again (they are made of rubber).

Brush with friend Mirror and rival Comb

And yet, Brush was not satisfied and ran away again!  This time when I was housesitting, it managed to elude my packing efforts and hid itself beneath the bed.  Naughty Brush.

I searched and searched but could not find it after arriving home, and it was a couple of days before my sister-in-law rang to say she had found it lurking in a corner under the bed.

Brush is now back home, sulking in its drawer and threatening to pull all my hair out.  It is very upset that Comb managed to do most of its work while it was gone, so our relationship now is one of uneasiness.

Perhaps if I am really nice and give it extra attention over the next few days, Brush will consent to working for me for another few years 😊

Margaret.

A Clean Kitchen

 

Our weather has changed to slightly warmer temperatures and a lot of clouds, after heavy overnight rain, and that was enough to enthuse me into tackling the kitchen and giving it a good cleaning.

I used to follow a strict timetable that had everything being done on a regular basis, but those days have long gone and I now find that every few months surface cleaning just isn’t enough and a session of deep cleaning is needed.

And, I must admit, it is much more satisfying to clean something a bit grubby than to clean something that is sparkling clean!

Once that was all done, I called on a sister-in-law and spent most of the afternoon visiting her.  It is always nice to catch up on all the family gossip and discuss the state of the world and how we can fix it!

Lake Te Ko Utu, in the heart of Cambridge township

I found this joke in an old woman’s magazine:

This week, just for a change, I thought I’d give you my favourite recipe for fruit cake.  You’ll need a cup of butter, a cup of sugar, four large eggs, a cup of dried fruit, a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of salt, a cup of brown sugar, lemon juice, nuts and a bottle of whiskey.

Sample the whiskey to check for quality.  Take a large bowl.  Check the whiskey again.  To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.  Repeat. 

Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.  Add one spoontea of sugar and beat again.

Make sure the whiskey is still OK.  Cry another tup.

Turn off the mixer.  Break two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.  Mix on the turner.  If the fruit gets stuck in the beaters, pry it loose with a screwdriver.  Sample the whiskey again to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt.  Or something.  Who cares?  Check the whiskey.

Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.  Add one babblespoon of brown sugar, or whatever colour you can find.  Wix mel.  Grease the oven.  Turn the cake pan to 350 gredees.

Don’t forget to beat off the turner.  Throw the bowl out the window, check the whiskey again and bo to ged.

 

Hope you enjoyed it 😊

Margaret.

Water Only

Politicians can be an endless source of amusement if you can see past the politics side of things.  I used to love the satirical TV programmes of earlier days, lampooning individual politicians, but apparently that is illegal now and you are no longer allowed to publicly poke fun at our thin-skinned politicians.

However, social media still has plenty to say and I had a good laugh last night after reading about The Green Party’s latest health manifesto.  (These are the people who are doing their best to both ban the use of tobacco and legalize the use of marijuana)

They state they plan to “support water-only policies in schools, hospitals and sports clubs.”  What?  No cold beer after a game of rugby?  No cup of tea with breakfast for hospital patients?  No coffee after the PTA meeting at school?  Whatever is the world coming to?

Of course, the Greens are now stating that they actually meant they want to restrict the use of sugary drinks – so why didn’t they say that?  Perhaps they have been smoking too much weed!

If we cannot have a giggle at some of the mistakes our political parties occasionally make, then the world is becoming a very sorry place indeed.

Hope your day is going well,

Margaret J

 

 

The photos are all different drinking water fountains from my archives.

Closing Down Begins

Hamilton City Council this morning announced it was closing down community facilities as it was unable to trace people if the need arose.  These facilities include swimming pools, libraries, museums, the zoo, and my favourite themed gardens at Hamilton Gardens (the wider park area will remain open).

Our country borders are now closed to all except residents and citizens and essential freight.  Domestic travel is being actively discouraged.  Bars and restaurants are being required to run a guest register so they can trace people if needed, and also help keep their clientele to below 100 people. 

Our national carrier, Air New Zealand, is receiving government support to stay afloat

Private functions like funerals and weddings are being encouraged to use video transmitting instead of being physically present.  Even the local cemetery has closed its chapel, although it is allowing graveside services if people will keep their distances from each other – which in such circumstances sounds barbaric.  It is human nature to hug and comfort those who are in deep grief.

Celebrations, like my parents' golden wedding anniversary in 2003, must now be put aside

Late last night we discovered we were out of milk.  Bad planning.  Son was at work (he works from home but cannot leave) and grand-daughter is at her mother’s this weekend.  So I made a mercy dash to the supermarket.  It was interesting!

It was late evening but there were still a few people around.  The atmosphere was friendly though, with smiles and joking at the same time as avoiding getting too close to another person.  A security guard was stationed at the door, which was not normal.

There were noticeable gaps on shelves as I walked through to the back of the store for the milk (why do they always put consumables right at the very back?).  There was not a loaf of commercial bread to be seen, although the bakery department still had some, and all the flour was gone from its shelf. 

No flour on the shelves

There were also signs up about rationing.  I was in Pak’n’Save, but Countdown supermarkets had earlier announced a limit of two similar items for each customer.  

Thankfully, fruit and vegetables are not rationed

Today we had fog that eventually lifted to let in some sunshine before giving way to clouds.  For some reason I have been very tired today, and actually had a long sleep this afternoon – usually if I need a nap it is only for 10-20 minutes and I am up and about again.  Feeling much brighter again now, thankfully.

Something to make you smile and brighten your day up a little (the bucket is for baling purposes)

We are planning on homemade hamburgers for tea tonight.  Should be yum!

Stay safe and keep well,

Margaret.

Pottering

The rain we were promised this morning never eventuated so after breakfast it was out into the garden to do some watering.  I usually water in the evening, but didn’t last night because of the rain that was meant to arrive.

It was a bit of a potter-around day, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that but nothing that important.  I was telling one of my sons about disposing of more books, and made the comment that I was trying to only keep those that “spoke” to me.  His reply:  “You might need to stand there for a while, then, and see which ones go quiet!”

With Christmas fast approaching I thought perhaps I should put up some trimmings, and decorated my bedroom with a few little baubles.  Grand-daughter bought a small artificial tree and has decorated it with a string of lights and a few ornaments.  It looks very pretty.

Hope your weekend is going well,
Margaret

Telephone Triage

Cloudy today, with a little bit of sunshine, a little bit of wind, and no rain.  Temperatures are warm and we are expected to reach 18 degrees today (that is Celsius, I think it is about 65 Fahrenheit).  The washing is drying but I am keeping a close eye on the weather as it is meant to come in wet again before this evening.

I don’t drink coffee myself (although I adore coffee cake), but I thought this sign was rather good.  I photographed it last year when visiting my daughter in Arizona.

Calling all coffee lovers

I received an email from my doctor this morning informing me he will be away for a couple of weeks.  No problems, as there will be a reliever on duty should I need a doctor.  I also received the spring newsletter from the medical practice he belongs to.  From the end of this month they will be introducing a new system of Telephone Triage.

This may be common practice in some places, but I have personally not come across it before.  Usually we have to wait 2-3 weeks for a doctor’s appointment, but this way, if something requires urgent attention, one can have a phone appointment with one of the doctors (there are about fifteen doctors at this practice) who will then decide if you need to come in and be seen, or whether you can simply be given medical advice, a prescription, or a medical certificate for work.

It sounds like a great idea to me.  The doctors, and the nursing staff, are run off their feet with patients, and something needs to be done to address the problem.  I seldom go to a doctor unless absolutely necessary, and then it is usually in an emergency situation and I end up seeing a different doctor to my own.  We can re-order prescriptions online, so no need to see a doctor then.  An added bonus of this telephone consultation is that it will be free (it will not be in-depth), although scripts etc. will still need to be paid for.

A beautiful cherry blossom tree

I sometimes think progress can be a good thing.  If nothing else, change keeps you mentally young as it exercises the good old grey matter.

Cheers,

Margaret