Dentist again

On Tuesday I had an appointment with the Bone Research Study that I’m participating in at the hospital. I had to fast for the blood tests so I was really hungry by the time I arrived there at 10am. After three more bone density scans and blood & urine samples (why didn’t they tell me that before I went when I arrived!!) they gave me breakfast, very nice too. I had intended on taking my camera with me because we were going to walk in the domain afterwards but darn it I forgot it! It was another lovely day so the walk was very enjoyable.

Yesterday I made sure I had the camera with me on my second visit to the dentist in Newmarket. The weather has been wonderful lately so we detoured on the way to the train on our way home. I had the most decadent chocolate filled croissant with my mocha for lunch, at this rate I’ll need to walk forever.

There’s a lot of construction work going on in Newmarket at the moment, a new train station etc etc, it was so noisy and dusty that we made a quick getaway in the end, after a few snaps.

The murder house.

Spring beauty.

‘Sliver’,  the Virginia King sculpture on the corner of Khyber Pass Road and Broadway.

A new bus service I hadn’t seen before, Waka Pacific. I liked the design painted on the bus - it reflects the Maori population of the Papakura area. The colours and shapes represent the water, air and land. There are also references to the area’s three pa sites.

Lunch in the sun. Behind the temporary blue wall is a lovely little park called Lumsden Green that must be having work done on it. The Green occupies a triangle of land at the intersection of Parnell Road, Broadway and Khyber Pass which had been put aside as a reserve in 1878. The park is ornamented by a modernist fountain, a 19th century canon and a stainless steel sculpture by Marte Szirmay installed in 1969 to mark the Centenary of the Newmarket Highway district. The park is named in honour of David Lumsden, the last Mayor of Newmarket before amalgamation with Auckland City in 1989.

Appetising food in the window of the Dondon Rikka Japanese Restaurant in Short St.

Where I live!

 

Nearly home, a little oasis in the midst of traffic chaos in New Lynn.

Fathers’ Day 06-09-09

This year fathers’ day lasted all weekend! Yesterday Harry & his parents came to visit and as it was such a beautiful day we all took a trip out to Kiwi Valley Farm Park in Henderson. A great time was had by all and yes even grumpy old Poppa (he’s recently given up smoking) managed a smile or two!

First up was this cheeky talking Lorikeet who wasn’t too sure what this was on the man’s arm!

And he was really interested with whatever it was he found in Poppa’s beard! Sorry about the closeup dear….

Cute bunnies.

Mmmm I wonder……….

Yawnnn, no Mum this pony is too small.

That’s better Mum, the big horse, I’m a big boy now.

The tractor ride, see Poppa it’s fun aye?

Ernie the Emu.

Feeding the goats.

 

Harry’s first driving lesson!

Look Nana….

Oops…..I guess I should be watching the road!

Today Harry came to visit again, this time with Aunty Justine.

Another lovely day although cold out of the sun. Late afternoon we walked to our granddaughters’ place where the two of them (aged 9 & 12) cooked us a lovely Fathers’ Day dinner. Thanks girls it was yummy, Lasagne & Salad and Berry Pastry Dessert with a glass of wine.

Twinkles soaking up the late afternoon sun!

Nice one Becky, what’s with the squinty eyes!

That was our Fathers’ Day weekend, wonderful weather and great company. Love you all.

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I wonder what weather this week will bring, lots more sun I hope so I can do some walking and try to get fit again!

Spring has sprung….

It’s been a long cold winter but now that Spring has arrived I’m ready to be out and about once more.

On Friday DH had to go to the doctor to get a steroid injection for his ‘trigger finger’ complaint (a nasty condition where the tendon that controls the finger spasms & locks the finger) and as it was a lovely spring day we caught the bus there. On the way home we stopped off at Olympic Park in New Lynn which is alongside the Avondale Stream. It has lovely walkways, playgrounds, Maori carvings and other pieces of art as well as an eco-system house and a spider sanctuary for the Avondale spider (species Delena cancerides) made famous as the eight legged 'killer spider' in Steven Spielberg's Arachnophobia.

These are a few photos I took along the way.

The first one is a Vireya Rhododendron in my garden that I gaze out on every day from my kitchen, this is just one branch of flowers.

Spring blossoms & flowers in abundance.

The first flowers of the Kowhai tree.

Maori Carving.

Hinaki Sculpture (Eel Trap).

The bridge over the stream with the power lines overhead.

From there we walked home via the Manawa Wetlands in Margan Street where they had recently been planting a new area to commemorate the babies born in Waitakere City last year.

Today was an even lovelier day weatherwise so we were out again with grandson Harry and his parents to visit Kiwi Valley, more on that tomorrow.

NZ Road Signs

A funny little quirk of mine is that I like taking photos of road signs! Trouble is we can't stop when we're in a long line of traffic so I miss a lot of them! These are a few taken this year.

I haven't seen a sheep one yet but I'm sure they're out there somewhere. I'm also on the lookout for a Kiwi one but I think we're going to have to wait until we get to the South Island for that one. Here's a link to one - kiwi road sign.

And look, I even found a penguin one!

Winter's Day at Brown's Bay

Harricane came to stay with us last night but he wasn't quite himself, he was only at half speed although he did manage a few water spouts in the bath.

That's his 'transformer' tatoo on his arm! We weren't allowed to wash it off.

At 5am he had a good cough and 'spat out his throat' as he put it - all over the bed! He didn't want any breakfast so after we went to our local wetlands to feed the ducks (I forgot my camera) we went to meet his parents at the skate board park on the beach at Brown's Bay.

It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky so we had a picnic lunch.

What better way to end the day than with a hot yummy Superman Fluffy!

And a yummy mochaccino for Nana!

After that a quick trip to A & E where they found he had tonsilitis! No wonder he was only at half speed.