Winter Sunsets from the Sunset Coast ...

This week I thought that I would take some photos on my way home from work, from the same place each time, to see how different the sunsets would be . All were taken at around 5pm.
I love sunsets, so living on the "Sunset Coast" is a bonus, and I am never disappointed.

Tuesday 8 June..... "Softly the evening came with the sunset."

Wednesday 9th June..

Thursday 10th June.." It is impossible to watch a sunset and not dream"

Friday 10th June.. " Winter is on my head, but eternal Spring is in my head" - Victor Hugo.

I found these lovely sayings that go so well with the photos.

Thank you for your birthday wishes..

Many thanks to you all for your wonderful birthday wishes. I realise that I am a a few days late with this "Thank You" but I did want to share with you what my birthday celebrations entailed.

You see, in my family our" birthday" usually lasts longer than the normal one day celebration. And it always starts with an early morning "Happy Birthday" telephone calls from one of my children.
This year it started at:

6.30AM  Yes, you read this correct, 6.30am wake up call from Sam. (No2 daughter) She was on her way to work, and just had to call and sing Happy Birthday. Of course I just love it, as it has become a bit of a tradition to wake the "Birthday" person up as early as you can.

7.30AM  Evette calls (No 1 daughter) from the US, with my second Happy Birthday call. And to let me know that her birthday song has been left on my Blog. Half an hour later,  and I really did have to get ready for work.
8.00AM Birthday card and present from Nan and Pop before finally getting myself off to work.

8.30AM Arrive at work to another tradition. When someone has a birthday we always dress up their work station with lots of balloons, lollies (sorry, candy)the Birthday Hat, and as you can see some Leis. And of course a birthday card. This year the girls went a bit further, one of our Sales Team is a great cook and she made a Gluten Free, white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake, topped with fresh whipped cream and fresh raspberries. I tell you it was divine. Thanks Mandy.

By this time it was getting a bit difficult to stay focused, and it didn't help that we were working to short deadlines for our paper on Tuesday, as Monday is a holiday. But we soldiered on. By about 11am the girls decided that perhaps we should go to the restaurant next door for lunch, after all it was the Friday before a long weekend. Well you didn't have to tell me twice, and so the lunch order was taken and we all worked on until 11.45am.
I hope you are all still with me, because it just gets better..

11.45am I was working away at my desk when one of the girls said " Hi Phil" and I looked up and there was my hubby, standing in our office with a bunch of flowers and a big grin on his face. He works about half an hour away from me, and had organised to have some extra time off work to take me out to lunch. It turns out that the he had rung the girls and told them what he wanted to do and they had pretended to organise our team lunch.

I have to tell you that in between all this excitement I was getting text messages and phone calls from family and friends wishing me "Happy Birthday" . By the time I finished work on Friday afternoon I had to come home for a cup of tea and a lie down. All this excitement is a bit much for a girl to handle.

But then of course we had the Saturday night celebrations too..

 7PM On Saturday night we went to one of our favourite restaurants in Auckland, "Gigi's." It is owned by a long time friend of my Dad's, and we try and go there as often as we can. We met up with Stephen ( my son) and his girlfriend Alys, Sam and Roland, and our dear friends Paul and Nadia.  The last time we were all together at the same time was Christmas, so you can imagine there was lots of catching up to do.
We talked and ate, drank lots of red wine, talked some more and ate some more, and just generally had a great time, laughing and joking together. You would never come out to dinner with my family and expect a quiet meal. We are a bit of a rowdy bunch.
I was also lucky enough to get birthday pressies.
Steve and Alys gave me a 3 DVD collection of a great British comedy series called "Black Books." One of my favourite programmes.
Sam and Roland gave me Westfield gift voucher, Westfield is our local shopping mall, and I have to tell you I love getting gift vouchers. And will put it to good use. I'm thinking jewellery.
Paul , Nadia and Jake gave me a three book collection of novels by Paullina Simons. One of my favourite authors.
By the time we left the restaurant and made our way home it was nearly midnight.
It was a great night, and I have to say an amazing birthday.

It wasn't until we were leaving the restaurant that we realised that in all the catching up we were doing during dinner, no one had taken any photos of us together.
Not to worry, there's always next time.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Thanks to Tracy over at Hey Harriet for hosting us, you can visit her over at Shadow Shot Sunday: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Found these shadows of my husband's motorbike, we managed to get a few hours of sunshine before the rain started again.  It is a Honda Blackbird CBR1100, and is his pride and joy.

 

Hope you all are having a great weekend. Thanks again Tracy.

Another one is here..

Over the past few years I have usually felt more than a little sad about being a year older. This year I feel different and I can't quite put a finger on it.. It is the eve of my birthday .

In the bathroom this morning I looked at my reflection and stood there thinking to myself that overall life is pretty damn good. Okay, so there are a few more wrinkles around my eyes, and gravity has definitely taken control of a few of my body parts and what was once perky certainly is not perky anymore. But at the end of the day, who cares. I am in good health, am relatively fit and other than having to watch my Gluten intake can eat just about anything.


So, what is it that has suddenly made me feel this way? I can't put a finger on it exactly but here are a few random thoughts:

  I know that I am now comfortable with who I am. I enjoy my own company, and don't mind being on my own. This is something that I have struggled with in the past.

I no longer care about what people think of me, I have adopted the "What you see is what you get" philosophy.

I can relax a little with regards to my children, as I watch them leading their own lives and being successful in what they do.  Happy that they know that if necessary I am always there to help in any way I can.

At the end of the day getting older is a part of life, so you may as well embrace it with gusto., and that is what I intend doing. As the "Hands of Time" tick closer to the Big 60, I fully intend to do more of what I love to do.  

Happy Birthday to ME!!    4/6/1952