Month: July 2010

Belle of the semi-formal ball

Eleanor and friends had a big night on Saturday. As well as having a ball to celebrate the end of their school experience, it seems the norm in New Zealand is to have a semi-formal ball i the year preceding. So it was EQ’s turn with her friends from St. Mary’s, along with the lads/boys/men in tow.

The photos are from the pre-ball party. There were plenty at the ball itself, and the after-party. All of which are standard requirements.  The ball had a disco (music not good enough), buffet food and too may teachers in attendance. So I was told anyway.

Late to bed-3-30, and a slow Sunday.

Never happened in my day.

Family of Six go to Taranaki

We currently have an extra member of our family. She is Yasmin, who is from Germany, and is Eleanor’s exchange partner.
She arrived two weeks ago to the very cold weather, though looking on the bright side, the wet weather has been less of an issue. So much so, that there have been lots of clear days, cloudless nights, and hence cold nights.
In order to make her stay interesting and to experience the “real Kiwi life” we have been out and about a little more, seeing places that we pay less attention to these days. This weekend we went to Taranaki. We stayed a little beyond W(h)anganui at Waiinu beach. We stayed at chez Rook with Helen and Andrew and the boys , with other Rook members in attendance in the day and evening. It was Conor’s birthday bash, and we watched the All Blacks v South Africa game with real Kiwis.
We spent time at the beach and the children had some dreams fulfilled. The quad bikes were out, and Isaac could not get off the thing. Joe, Eleanor and Yasmin all had a go, as did I, just to break my rule. We had a bonfire on the beach with toasted marshmallows.
So Yasmin has been to rural NZ, driven the quad bike and seen a couple of All Black games. What else is left?

The best play ever?

The “arties’ have been at it again, seeing Samuel Becketts’s “Waiting for Godot”.

This is a famous play that I knew little about before we went to see it. Having read up about it before hand, I did not know I would be any the wiser. As it happens, going along did not enlighten me much further to its “meaning”, but it was a positive experience all the same. The performances by the four actors were great. It received a very positive review in the Dom Post.

Ian McKellen was as good as one would expect. Matthew Kelly, from “Stars in your eyes” fame and other such tv stuff was also very good, and quite a step away from the work I have seen him do. The actor for “Lucky” was quite brilliant, from his quiet moments of stillness and would guess pain to the soliloquy he performs.

As to the meaning-life, death, friendship, dementia, the cruelty of man and how easy it is to join in? Who knows.

Another successful choice.