One year ago

On the 11th it was a year since my mum died. We went down to the rest home where we have a memorial chair to mum, and put these flowers an teddy there.

Andrew and Tim standing at the back and Kathryn holding Ija and me in front.

Andrew and Tim.

I went down today to check and I was sad to see that neither the flowers nor the teddy were there :-( so someone has taken them.

Photos of new house

Looking down to my house from the deck of the flat.

Andrew standing on the deck of his flat which is above the double garage.

Well we are more or less settled in now, I still have some things in the spare room that don't have a home but that's all. Andrew is enjoying having his own space.

Nearly Moving Day

Just 2 days till settlement and 3 days till we move. Busy packing and sorting and organising. I'll try and post pics of the new house and then maybe close this blog down. Ruth and Karen I'll keep checking your blogs to see how you're doing.
Take care.
Kiwiruth

It's been a while!

It's spring and I decided to go for a walk- up a very steep hill. Did I say it was steep?? It had a steep path, muddy inplaces and also around 250 steps to negotiate. Above is the view from the start of the track- those are nikau palms and the name of the reserve is Nikau Palm Reserve. The first part of the track the vegetation is almost all nikau palms and it's like walking through a jungle! Very pretty!

At one of the (several!) rest stops I made, I saw this tree- can you see the face?

At last I got to the top and what a view- isn't it worth it? The island is Kapiti Island, a native bird reserve. The town on the coastal plain is Paraparaumu, the closest big town from where I live.
I think it was just as hard going back down the track- my knees and hips felt it! I must get back into walking, I'm sure I'd find it easier next time.
We have 4 weeks until we move into our new home. I've started sorting out what I want to take and what I want to give away. I need a small mortgage but it won't be too much. It will be so nice to have more room!

Unconditional

I thought I'd try the "My Japanese name" thing just for a laugh. My daughter Kathryn is part Japanese so I often look at Japanese web sites.

Our house purchase went unconditional on Friday- can't get out of it now lol! I paid the deposit and the balance is payable on settlement on 2 November. It still seems a long way away!
Tim and Sarah are trying to do work on the little place we're in at the moment (we rent from them- he's my eldest son) and it makes it real difficult as Andrew works night shift and sleeps during the day. They are putting in a new kitchen and new flooring in the kitchen and want to paint the lounge. I know they need to do the work prior to putting this place on the market.

My Japanese Name

My japanese name is 石丸 Ishimaru (round stone) ?? Yoshiko (pleasing child).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

I finally bought a house!

Well, I could lie and say this is the new house lol, but it's not. Kathryn and I took her partner's daughter out this afternoon and we drove way up towards the Tararua mountains to nearly the end of the road and took a 10 minute walk to a tramping hut, which is pictured here. It would be a great place to take the girls and stay for a night. No power, but there is a long drop toilet and running water and a woodburner.

To reach the hut you have to cross the river over this swing bridge- strictly one person at a time! This is Kathryn's partner's daughter crossing it.

And this is Kathryn almost half way across. In summer this would be a great place!

Ok- this is part of the new house. I couldn't take a pxt of the rest of the house because the lighting wasn't great and my cell phone needs a lot of light to take pxts. This part, would you believe, is a fully self contained 1 bedroom flat above the double garage. Guess where Andrew will be sleeping?? The main house is off to the left. It has two double bedrooms and 2 living areas and a nice patio area off the lounge and dining room. We signed the agreement yesterday. There are some conditions to meet like getting a builder's report done, but providing everyhting is OK, we settle on 2 November. I need to get a small mortgage, it was a bit dearer than I hoped but having the flat will work out really well. It's about 100 metres from a park and playground and about 7 minutes walk from the beach.