Weekend at Hanmer Springs

It seems to be the place to escape the daily trudgery. Hanmer Springs is a nice place to unwind and relax. OK, a little expensive compared to some places but on the whole, a nice experience. On Friday night Sally and I went up to Hanmer Springs. On the way I missed the turn. Yeah, I know. It's not as if it's difficult to miss. So I quickly indicated right and did a quick loop-tha-loop and got onto the right road. It appeared out of nowhere and I was not expecting it. It was dark. Then from the turn off to Hanmer Springs was quick too and we were there in no time. We stayed at the Alpine Springs Motel. It's out by the golf course so there are expansive views of green and no buildings. Which was very relaxing. After booking it it was a quick 10 minute walk through a twitten (look it up!) into town and dinner (and a couple of jars) at Montieth's Brewery Bar before turning in. Saturday and it was a relaxing "no kids jumping on the bed", nice and late start to the day and we went for a coffee and a think about what walk to go on and ended up walking up to the top of Conical Hill and then back down the side through Woodland Walk. I took some pictures on our way. We had a little interruption on the peaceful walk as the Westpac rescue helicopter turned up and wanted to land right where we were standing. So we moved a few metres away. As they landed we felt a fair force of the draft the blades made which was quite interesting. At this point we were trapped and could not go around the helicopter so waited until they left. When they left, we carried on our way for the rest of the walk. in the late afternoon, early evening we spend a nice relaxing soak at the thermal pools after the long walk. It certainly was nice on my feet to float, although the paths around as I hopped from one pool to another were rather cold. A quick bite to eat and then back for a cuppa Rosie and to watch a DVD. On the Sunday it was up and out and a lazy drive back, stopping at Amberley for a coffee before dropping Sally off at her place and driving onward to get some food for the pantry and picking up the kids from Amy's.

iPod/iPad/iPhone

So, I've had my iPad 2012 for some weeks now and I thought I'd blog about it's use and my intended aquisition of an iPhone. I use my iPod for music and podcasts. I'm using my iPad for reading articles and vidcasts. Flipboard is brilliant and now I've managed to get Google news into Google Reader and then through into Flipboard in it's own segment, it's almost perfect. I use iBooks for storing magazines and the like. I'm not really a book reader. I expect to use my soon to be aquired iphone for phone calls and texts and possibly replace my iPod for music and podcasts. For that, I shall wait and see what Apple come out with next. Just in case it's more what I'm looking for. There are still a few things my PC is used for though. Games. I have a few games on the iPad but it's not really me. I like mouse and keyboard games. Some social sites just don't have the same level of functionality on the iPad as on the PC so sometimes I'll go back to the PC to continue what I may have started on the iPad. I bought an iPad case. It's a parcel post bubble lined plastic jiffy bag. Perfect size too. It was expensive because it had to be a prepaid envelope, at NZD4.50 (GBP2.17). The real reason I bought this one was to see what I actually use my iPad for and in what situations so when I do, if I do, get a 'proper' case, I can make sure it does all that it is required of it. The picture was taken with the iPad camera and emailed to my PC where I uploaded it to picasaweb and linked it here to my blogger blog. Something the iPad again doesn't do too well is blogger.

No Balls

I had a letter from my Doctor at Family Planning Clinic today. She's had an interest in my sperm lately and been following it's count. Anyway, I have the all clear. I just like the YAY! the doc added onto the letter. Great stuff. Very professional.

Mother's Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day. I was given a short foot massage, and a home made card and decorated flower pot from Bees. I then took them into town where we met up with Catherine Anne for coffee and chat and the kids bought a toy each with their easily earned pocket money. After a late lunch it was food shopping, coming home and stick the kids ion the bath giving me time to get the food shopping shelved and the dinner on. If we had a bit more time we could have gone to Hagley Park with the scooters and the kids could have zoomed around enjoying the fresh air. But we don't because they'd rather do something else and then go to the park. You can't have it all guys! :-) Hope you all had a great Mother's Day.

The Birds and the Bees

I gave Jamie the talk about where babies come from today. It was interesting watching his reactions but on the whole, he was unimpressed by it all. I can't remember how the topic came up but he was in bed and mentioned that he knew that you needed a sperm and an egg to create a baby and that the sperm is from the man and the egg is from the woman. I asked him if he knew where the sperm and the egg lived in each. He did not know so I told him. Then I asked if he knew how the sperm got to the egg. Again a blank look until I said where would the shorted way a sperm could get out of the body. He got it then. I then told him what happens, where things go and 9 months later, a baby appears, given the right circumstances. The next step was to briefly explain that he couldn't yet have a baby because he needs to go through puberty where his body changes and he becomes a man and that it is illegal to have sex if you're under 16 and if you do you will BURN IN HELL! Or go to prison. Whichever. :-) I think he got the message.

More photos from Google Plus Book Club

Testing Extended Share for Google+
More photos from Google Plus Book Club

You take all the fun out of life

That's what Jamie said to me as I told him he couldn't use the corrugated iron as a ramp because he might slip and cut himself on the sharp edges. Looks like I'm doing something right. It was the same when Bees drew a picture for me with the words "I hate you because you shouted at me".
Kids. Gotta love 'em.

The more that things change, the more they stay the same

I was watching Connections, an old 80's TV series on YouTube a few days ago. In it he was explaining that things are getting faster and peoples' attention spans are shortening. I thought it was interesting for 30 years ago. (OMG! 30 years ago!!!) Then yesterday I listened to the track Witch Hunt by Rush, sung by Machine Head where the lyric "They say there are strangers who threaten us in our immigrants and infidels" I found rather interesting too as this album was released 30 years ago too. Looks like things weren't as good then as they aren't now. Ah well, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Tidy and neat...neat and tidy.

I spent the day in a tidying mood, slowly getting into the groove helping the kids tidy their bedrooms. Bees has the right idea, tidying up quick, albeit not too tidy but clearing the way so one can at least wander around the bedroom without treading on something. Then someone came over to take over the Treasurer's role for Ellesmere Pony Club. I took her through what I did and gave her a USB Stick with the accounts on it and it's now all hers, however we still have to hand over many other things like signing rights and all the mail that comes my way...etc. After she left I started to tidy up the area around Audrey's PC. It's still Audrey's PC. Seeing as I have all the treasurer's stuff there and I thought now is the time to get rid of it all and anything else that we don't really need there. I found a few family keepsakes for the kids when they grow up and a few important docs which I've put with other important docs. The dust is still there though. I'll get rid of that when I next hoover.

Bleeting

Maybe I should be "tweeting" in my blog. Bleeting as it happens. If so, then...Dun-dun daaaaaaaah. Bees needs glasses! The 4-eyed little squirt. :-) She's long sighted but supposedly only a little. The optician said that she may grow out of it. Where have I heard that before. Anyway, she's got a pinky-purple pair and a yellow pair. Buy 1 get 1 free. I hope she takes care of them.