Author: dave

church this morning then home via the library followed by a day of homework / preparing for a photo talk which i’m giving later in the week

busy day for all today.  kezia had her third photo course.  this one was on using flash and was really excellent.  i managed to sneak this picture (above) from the side of the room with my compact camera while kezia was busy shooting down the front with my camera!

noey was meant to be out for the day with all the Thai students but we got a call half an hour before we were due to drop her off to saying the trip was cancelled because someone had forgotten to book the bus.  but then they phoned again later to say they now had a bus and could we get Noey to school as soon as possible!   so we did. 

i think she had a good day, but when we went to pick her up at 4pm someone told us the bus had broken down on the motorway 5 minutes walk from the school, but because it was the motorway they couldn’t get off.  so instead they had to wait for a rescue bus.  long story short, we went home without her and someone dropped her off around 6.30ish i think.

jane did loads of house work, food shopping and possibly some work. 

she also did preparing for a work colleague and her husband who came round this evening which was very nice.  we’re getting a bit more in to the habit of having people round.

esther also had an amazing day as she went with a friend to TEDx in Auckland.  photos below are from the TEDx facebook page.  she saw the hip hop-eration crew (if you’ve not seen the documentary you really should.   trailer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_Tl3yhjuA )

esther went with her friend Veronica and they had a great time by all accounts.

nice view this morning from the top deck of the bus

it was the westlake proms this evening.  esther was in the orchestra and choir.  it was very good

highlight was the Past Life Melodies by Sarah Hopkins which the choir performed while spread round the entire outside of the auditorium giving a surround sound effect.

otherwise everyone had work and school

kezia went to the dentist to see about her braces being removed. 

and here’s a picture which has just turned up on the school newsletter of esther’s school trip

work / school for all today.  felt quite cold.  winter is coming.  inflated gloves in the fallen leaves etc

i chaired a panel session at a regulatory workshop this morning which was a bit worried about but i think it went ok.

i also got approached by a Cheese On Toast to see if i’d like to become one of their official photographers. it’d be for free but i’d get gig tickets which could be fun.

we learnt today that Noey has never seen a sheep in real life but is very keen to eat some lamb!  we shall have to fix that.

esther had a violin lesson, a singing lesson, some orchestra practice, some sectional practice and big band today (and lessons too i think).  she left with me at 6.30am and got home at 7.15pm.

kezia and noey had school.  kez went to her youth group this evening and noey watched more harry potter

jane had school

i had work and was sad to learn the bit of wall space in the cafe where i’m allowed to hang my photo has been replaced with a television so i’m now display place less!  one of my colleagues is interested in buying my ice cream picture though so that’s nice.

and there are loads of sweets at work including this giant paint tin full of jelly beans.

school for all.

esther had a violin lesson at 7.30am and had musical things involving her trombone after school which didn’t finish until 8.45pm.  long day

otherwise not much to report.

public holiday so lots of rain today.  quite bad in auckland actually:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11438975

jane and i took Noey to the Auckland Museum.  we parked in the underground car park so went from our garage to there and back without getting wet which was handy

meanwhile the girls did their homework

this afternoon i’ve spent hours doing photos and jane has spent hours doing school prep

kezia and noey made a cake for noey’s birthday then the two of them watched Harry Potter

this evening it was birthday tea.  back to school/work for all tomorrow

church this morning

jane had high tea with her chums this afternoon.

i took the girls to browns bay where noey got very excited about being near the sea and went for a paddle despite it being really cold and windy. 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=149637

(oops, the embedded video didn’t work, so you’ll have to go to the website to view)

i’m the little dot in a white t-shirt near the black line top right when looking at the finished poppy from the stalk end. Top left on the cover image.

jane and esther were up at 4.30am to go to a dawn service for ANZAC day.

i spent a bit of time with John from next door taking pictures of him and noxious invasive weeds (pampas grass)

This afternoon kezia, noey and i went to Kelly Taltons  while esther went to a friend’s house

and this evening we had Richard and Christina from church round for a raclette.