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the day started with jane and esther taking pearl for a walk at long bay beach where all three ladies were very well behaved and interacted nicely with other beach users

esther and i then popped out to the shops and then kezia and i went to her swimming competition.  she did four races.  it was meant to be three but the stopwatches didn’t start on one of the races so they had to do it again at the end.  But kezia was swimming in the race that was meant to be last in the day so she had to do a race, get out then jump straight back in again.

she got personal best times for everything and did so well in one particular race she’s now in the next category which happens on a different day (or something, i‘m not entirely sure)

esther and jane went to esther’s tennis which was on despite the rain, but when they got there they decided it was off, so they are hoping it’ll be on again tomorrow but it depends on the weather and whether the other team has booked some courts.

this afternoon has been general household things and music practices.  then this evening we played some monopoly.

jane won, kezia second, esther third.  i won’t tell you where i ended up.

 

apologies for the numerous pictures of my head recently.  not long until movember is over and i’ll stop. 

there were two cruise ships in town this morning including this one just parking up.  summers on its way.

jane took pearl for a successful walk, went to school, did various admins.

the girls had school then kezia had swimming (esther skipped her swimming tonight as the logistics wouldn’t work)

then this evening we went out for a dinner with people who work at the church, and the elders and their spouses. and that was very good.

not much to report today – busy at work, passed jane for a few minutes when i got home as she went out with the girls to swimming.  i collected the girls and we had some pizza.  she’s at her crafty chicks this evening (i think).

pearl the dog went for a walk this morning in a wide open place near our old house and that went well i think.

sorry i don’t know any more about anything.

i’m not even half way there on the mo.  i’m a bit fearful of what it will become.  anyway …

there was a 87% solar eclipse.  people gathered at the window to watch.  i tried taking a picture through some dark glasses, but the remaining sun was too bright and i wiggled so it didn’t come out very well (above).  then i took another picture which had a funny reflection down below which must have been due to the tinted windows reflecting the light and go this inverted version (below)

that was quite exciting.  and i bought jane a new phone

i also spotted some weird patterns on the floor under a tree which i think might have been eclipse related.  i’ll have to look tomorrow morning and see if they are still there.

 

and at lunch i went for a walk (to get jane a new phone) and bumped in to these lovely ladies who i recognised from the paper

jane and the girls had school

pearl the dog was a bit mad on her walk this morning and did an unmentionable in the car on the way to violin lessons.

this evening i’ve been finding photos for kezia, writing a proposal document for church and helping jane set up her phone in readiness for its SIM card arriving later this week.

jane had a good day at the church office and then bought some hats for a school play

the girls had school

then this evening we took pearly for a walk after our friend Thomas dropped a million (approx) lemons round to our house because he’s going to Australia for 2 months

here’s my head.  this time with a cloud out of it.

can you belieeeeeve we had massive hail stones this afternoon near our house, although we didn’t get any here.  details here

oh, and prince charles has been in auckland the last couple of days but it was raining so i didn’t bother to see him on his walkabout

I think this photo is from today

My nice class is putting on a play in French soon. We finished the props today. Voici le train.

Pearl is allowed out now. So early this morning Kezia and I took her on her first walk – to the end of the road and back. It was very successful. I even let Kez hold the lead for a bit. Then this avo I took Pearl with me and Esther to E’s vio lesson and we wandered around for the lesson. Pearl enjoyed sniffing in the hedges very much and now sedems to be having some very animated dreams!

here’s the new face style.  we’ll see how this develops.  by the way, my sponsor page is open here:  http://MoBro.co/davefunkypancake

 

we did a final trial of the new sound system at church this morning.  that meant a 6.30am start, but i think it all went well. 

jane did some running and skyping first thing too

we had the CEO of the Warehouse do the talk – Warehouse is perhaps Argos if it were a real world shop? possibly

anyway, after church (and after we’d packed everything away) we went to the zoo with the church youth group

it was a really good afternoon for both the kids and grown ups who wandered around in groups occasionally bumping in to each other

everyone had a great time

 

then this evening kezia had flippa ball and scored 2 of her team’s 3 goals (unfortunately they lost 4-3)

and that’s it really for the weekend.

sunday night is bin night.  and recycling this week

just in case you were interested

so, this is the last of the beard.  i’ve now converted it in to a moustache.  you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see that.

the day started early as kezia had her swimming and jane went for a run

i had a church training thing all morning which to be honest i wasn’t properly engaged with (my head has been in another place the last week or so, but i think the fog might be clearing after this afternoon’s excursion)

after lunch we headed down to devonport to look round a sculpture festival at takapuna fort

the weather was perfect and there was some amazing things to look at like this massive ladder

kezia and i both did some photoing. 

 

this one was my favourite:

this evening jane cooked up a lovely roast dinner and the girls watched some telly about crocodiles and snakes (neither of which are present in New Zealand thankfully)

here’s some final beard pictures

i had lunch with buzz today which involved a quick trip over the road to a cookies and milk bar

i had a cookie (first one in months) and some dipping milk

this evening i went out with warren whilst kezia was swimming

esther had swimming and jane had her gym class

jane went to the pool shop and got some more chemicals and she met up with a teacher who is off for the rest of term to talk about what jane needs to do to cover her lessons

they’ve changed the offer at the shop with the excellent sign. but got no better at spelling.

  

here’s some more pictures of perl

here’s the latest beard update.

and here’s me with sky tower out of my head. anyway, busy day.  unpleasantness at work unfortunately as the lawyers who i sit next to (and who were part of the same team as me until last week) are facing redundancies with one third of them going.  tricky times for those guys who i continue to work closely with. all should be done by the end of the month though.

luckily my team (and my job) is safe and our nominal head count reduction was ‘solutioned’ by not filling a vacancy from earlier this year. 

kezia fell off some play apparatus at school and winded herself.  she’s got a bit of a bruise on her back but we still made her go swimming this evening though i think she took it easy (we sent her with a note).  she’s ok.

pearl has been digging up the garden and worrying the guinea pigs.  she’s still not found a way in to their run

this evening jane and esther took her to the dog class the girls and i went to last month.  pearl was apparently massive compared to the handbag dogs other people had

 

and she was so tired she didn’t couldn’t do any learning.  oh well.  fun times.

 

that’s all i have to say today