Busy happenings

Bella loves defacing the walls in the backyard - with chalk. And of course who am I to stifle her artistic streak!? Keeps her busy. And the rain deals with it eventually.

We are coping without our cat, although the other day Bella gently told me not to worry, he would turn up soon. Sweet child.

The school holidays are over now, and ended up being fairly busy, for me anyway! I went to the Brooke Fraser concert which was brilliant, and a few days later, on my birthday no less, I took Bella to see Hi-5 in concert. She loved it and didn't want it to end. And then, a couple of days ago I had the best day ever - went into the city in the morning with a good friend, and left the kids in their Dad's charge. We saw the Egyptian exhibition at Te Papa which was fascinating, and lunched at Arizona [delectable], then we saw Fiddler On The Roof [wonderful], and finished off with dinner and a movie in Brooklyn [very relaxing]. I considered my birthday well-celebrated and myself well-spoiled. [It certainly bet my actual birthday evening wherein I drank too much and was rather horribly ill later in the night, and never even left the house. How sad is that!?]

Had a great chat to my twin in Sydney last night, and it turned out her birthday evening wasn't much to write about either. Next year we will be in the same city and do it in style!!!

Yum yum yum!

This morning it is very rainy and cold outside. So we are being sensible and staying indoors, at least until we have to go out later and do some stuff. I have made some Caramello. My sisters will remember this delish sweet treat - I used an old recipe book of Mum's, with the recipes typed on the back of old Blind Assoc. calendar pages and glued into a scrapbook. It is very well used and covered in food smears, but somehow reminds me of Mum a lot. Here's the recipe should you wish to try it:

CARAMELLO

8 oz butter

5 oz brown sugar

1/2 tin condensed milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 lb crushed biscuits [I used Girl Guide ones!]

Melt butter in saucepan, add sugar, condensed milk and syrup. Heat gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add to biscuits. Press into greased dish. Cut while warm. ENJOY!

My sister Katy was the expert at this recipe in our house, growing up. Yay for big sisters!!

Bot Gardens

Such a lovely day today - we went to the Botanical Gardens and spent ages strolling through the grounds, playing at the playground and then took the Cable Car down to the shops, and had McDs for tea, before doing it all again in reverse. It was dark by the time we got home. We all had a blast!

The photo of Bella and the Sad Tree Man is at the playground, where a tree stump was cleverly turned into a work of art - the back of the stump features two large tuataras. And the other photo is taken at the top of the Cable Car, with Soames Island in the background, at dusk.

Grim News

It looks like the end has indeed come for our Hemi... a neighbour called this morning, after Bella and I had dropped off 40 flyers to nearby letterboxes, to say he heard a car brake suddenly a few nights ago and went out to see a man get out of his car and admit to hitting a cat that was crossing the road [by corner of our old street]. They saw the cat limp up the neighbour's driveway - towards our property, but he disappeared from their sight and certainly never made it home... there is a lot of thick bush at the back of our property so he may be in there somewhere.
We are very sad - Fraz and I more so than the kids, as we had Hemi since he was a kitten and he's been with us a long time. We used to joke that he was our first [and hairiest] child.

RIP dear Hems. [Ernest Hemingway S-J!] Condolences welcomed.

Is this the end for Hemi?

Our beloved Hemi is missing... gone for 5 days now. At nearly 12 years of age he has had an interesting life; he's lived in many many houses [we tend to move a lot], and in 4 different towns, but he has NEVER been away so long without a postcard.
Tonight Fraz was convinced he heard a faint squeaking outside and spent a while out in the back yard with a torch, whistling and calling for the cat, but to no avail.
We have made up flyers with this handsome photo on them and have added his name to the Lost Pets database at the local petstore/vet clinic.
We feel pretty helpless other than that, and keep asking ourselves if we could have done him better. The kids did harrass him frequently, and we don't have a cat flap at this house, which sucks. Plus the neighbours' two cats hang out in our yard a lot, much to Hemi's horror. A couple of days before he disappeared I had to rescue him from the two cats who cornered him, and that must have been quite humiliating for him. He still frequents our old address, as it is only a block away, but even the old neighbours haven't seen him for a few days.

WHERE FORE ART THOU HEMI???!!?!?!