The Lockdown GangSTARS still going

If my lovely Gangstar friends are feeling adventurous and up for a very different theatrical event, it is the opening of Te Koanga (The Spring) Festival on 23rd September (it will be at 8am for you I think).

It's not in Maori and it's free.
www.tepoutheatre.nz/events/he-puawaitanga-koanga-festival

If you book, click on 'Kore' which means 'free'. Hope to see you there.

Grammaretto, your family gathering sounds such fun. If all my family gathered, we'd fit in a phone box.

"Ladies a Plate" was written at the end of every invitation to a public and church event so people would bring food to share.
There are numerous (but probably apocryphal) stories about new immigrants taking empty plates, possibly in the hope of filling them to bring home

ixion Hitting the crossbar must be the most frustrating thing ever.
What do they need? Better training or better players? You should spearhead a cheerleading team: short frilly dresses, low cut tops, lots of sparkles and sexy dancing.

Mamissimo My Dil keeps dressing Gubbins hopefully in pink, princess-like clothing but so far, I think she'd rather be the Dragon

No Doodle I confess I've not, so far, been for a walk today. I meant to as it dawned sunny but as it's rained without a break for 3 weeks, the laundry became more important. And then Dil requested low-sugar muesli bars for packed lunches and Banana Loaf ditto, so that's filled the rest of my morning.

I get my new cooker next week, it'll be a relief to turn it on and get the temperature I intended.

Meanwhile, yesterday's minor disaster - no wi-fi, possibly weather related.
And more sadly, I lost an earring with a little silver elephant charm, a favourite. It was in my ear when I left home but by 10am it had gone.

I'm looking forward to seeing both grandchildren tomorrow.

Kaimoana I hope your training with the white stick goes well. Really keeping everything crossed that you get your VAD dog. Have you been out walking today. Perhaps Gubbins can accompany you on a stroll.
Grammaretto you have certainly taken on a lot having so many people over. Your room sounds lovely.
I hope some one is helping with the food preparation. It will be such fun having everyone together.
Mamissimo what a lovely time you and your DGDs had. I bet their eyes were as big a saucers. I used to love it when mine got dressed up. Little ones singing usually brings a tear to my eye too. Glad you all had such a good time.
Ixion nice of you to visit. Hope you and yours are well.

Gosh Kaimona, mentioned in dispatches! Thank you and fancy you remembering!
We are not doing, er, terribly well at the mo. Languishing 19th out of 20, but above Man U. There's an accolade of a sort.
With two potential goals hitting the crossbar, DS2 reckoned that the opponents' goal posts may have been sunk too deeply, thereby distorting the goal area. Bless.
Sadly, I can't replicate the match report style and detail of their Number One fan. The rôle is open...
How is your walking progressing through the pain?
Lots of positives to look forward to and I do hope that all goes
well.

Well this Lobstars is pooped! I took the DGDs to their first live music concert last night.....Pop Princesses ? It was billed as " Four beautiful princesses in sparkly dresses become pop stars and sing all your favourites from Disney to Little Mix" and was aimed at pre-schoolers.

It was held at a beautiful theatre that was built by my family so I collected my girls in their tiaras, sparkly dresses and elbow length gloves, necklaces, bracelets and trainers (!) and we set off in high spirits.

Every little girl in the audience was done up like a Christmas tree every little boy was sulking and on the way in I niftily sidestepped an extortionist who was selling light up wands and headdresses for kings' randsomes.

When the Princesses did the Let it Go song from Frozen my little three year old gazed at the stage and sang at full voice and ....I cried. She was utterly lost in the moment.

We had chocolate ice cream in tubs with spoons, sang all the way home, stopped off for chips to make them carb sleepy and I delivered them home at.....7.45 on the dot! A great granny night out ?

Kaimoana I have never knowingly heard the expression "Ladies a plate" and nor does my autoprompt. It suggests "ladies a platform!"

I have it well trained. It can detect Gaelic.
White stick training sounds rather exciting.
I do hope you get your VAD.
The family who came for pottery last week and made the Loch Ness Monster I met through my online Gaelic class. They are from Yorkshire and the one in my class, a gran like me, has a white stick and only one working eye. I never guessed from the zoom screen.
I just hope there will be very low expectations as far as food goes on Sunday.
I am just so impressed that my big room has been transformed from a tip to a ballroom.
I have tried to keep up the good work and tackled my undersink cupboard yesterday.
I decided the Nappisan could probably go now.


How are all the Lobstars?

Thank you ALL for the encouragement, it's both appreciated and very much needed.
I used to be a very confident person but sight loss has turned me into a scaredy cat now and I need to be kicked up the bum stronger.
ixion how's the team doing? Do they still play in summer (in 30 degrees ) or train hard for the coming season?

Love the Bambi pictures Grammaretto and gosh, what a LOT of preparation for 23 people - I hope your invitation said "Ladies a Plate" remember that? Casual sexism we all accepted way back then.

I am to start white-stick and mobility training soon in prep for a dog. Such a lot to do to get approved but I agree that it should be so.

A VAD dog, unlike a fully trained guide dog, won't warn about cracked pavements and obstacles, so the long, thin white stick with its roller-end will be essential. It's roughly how I use my walking stick anyway, feeling ahead for kerbs etc. but it's not long enough.

Not quite so wild and windy today (the weather, not me ) but still cold, wet, grey and mizzerable. Sick of it.

Kaimoana I love the photo of the little puddle stomper.
So sorry about your phone. I hope your son can fix it.
Ooh a visit from Gubbins that will make your day. ?
Grammaretto I expect you will enjoy a little peace today. Hope your family have a good day at the beach.
Wow full house again at the weekend. Hope you all have a lovely time. Love the little dears ?

Here are the dears

Thanks for the lovely photo of Gubbins splashing in the puddles Kaimoana though the extreme weather sounds alarming over there.
Agh! Technology. I hope your Samsung device recovers. When that same thing happened to my Samsung Galaxy I had to buy a new phone.
Today the family are off to the beach with their friends so a quiet day for me.
DSis and DB arrive tomorrow with their partners so there is more prep to be done.
Sadly our forecast isn't great this weekend so no garden party but most of the cousins will be here so a very full house We reckon 23 on Sunday.
Bambi and his sister were in the garden yesterday.

Your family are definitely safer with you Grammaretto - state of emergency and hundred evacuated due to extreme weather, though Wtgn doesn't seem to have suffered.

We're having wild winds and lashing rain too but I did my walk just before it got dark(er).

Today's disaster, they follow me around in case you hadn't noticed, is the Samsung Galaxy which Phil gave me and on which I listen to my downloaded audio books, has died. It refuses to charge.

I have done all the usual troubleshooting to no avail.

Joe is coming over on Saturday so he might be able to see if it needs a new expensive battery.

He's bringing Gubbins.

Yes, Doodle most children in NZ wear uniform - at least in Auckland.
I don't know if anyone will recall T E Lawrence's remark when he was asked if he was in pain. 'Yes, it hurts, the trick is not minding that it hurts.'

I'm quite happy to be a little (??) engine that could Mamissimobut I wish they would credit Mabel C. Bragg for the original story.

Kaimoana I’m so glad your assessment went well. Don’t know how you managed to walk so far today with your injuries but I do hope you make it. I’m keeping everything crossed for you and prayers included.
Grammaretto pleased you are having such fun with your family and getting out and about. Do children in NZ not wear uniform then? Glad your little DGD had a good day.
Mamissimo loved the link ?

Yes you can do it Kaimoana and we are all behind you. Good luck. I am glad you passed the main test. Surely allowances are made for broken ribs

We saw and enjoyed Nelly Bly the reporter who went around the world in 72 days, in 1889. (a show at the Fringe today) Later we ate ice-cream in the park
Littlest DGD started school yesterday. She was delighted to be wearing school uniform and shiny black shoes. Kiwi DGS thinks uniform would be awful!

Kaimoana you ARE the Little Blue Train! ?

youtu.be/5TPUwrURo6M

Gosh Kaimona!
You can do this.
Rooting for you❤️

Happy Birthday Grammareto - glad you had a lovely time.

I can understand someone twisting their ankle coming out of a pub having freely imbibed but to do it before you've actually taken the anaesthetic is daft! but to balance that buffoonery Mamissimo Well Done your son.

My dog assessment went as well as could be expected but before its finalised, I have to prove I can walk 30 minutes, at least twice a day.

As some of you will remember, I have arthritis and there's no padding under me feets, so swimming has always been my preferred exercise.

Sadly, I doubt the folks at the pool would appreciate my flinging a dog into the water twice a day, especially as 'exercise' includes widdles.

So in order to pass BlindLowVision test I must grit my teeth and walk.
I'm not allowed anti-inflammatory medication either but today I did my first walk - 15 mins this time and with 2 cracked ribs, a bruised and arthritic knee and feets....and in wind and rain.

I really do want a Vision Assistance Dog - I can do this!

Mamissimo wonderful news about your son. I bet he is very pleased. Oh poor MrM I hope he’s behaving himself.
Jan hope things are improving on the Covid front.
Grammaretto so pleased you have had such a lovely birthday and a nice meal to round off the day.
Your cake sounds wonderful. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Thanks for the cake and the birthday wishes.
I have been having a lovely day. DGS and I made a chocolate cake while his DP were working on decluttering my big room.
A mammoth task for them, but as it was raining there wasn't too much to distract any of us. they failed to find the deeds
DGS and I then went to Oxfam to donate but made the mistake of asking if they had any Beano annuals. We came home with a shopping trolley full.
This evening we went out for an Indian meal which was really delicious.

You must be very proud of DS Mamissimo that he has landed his dream job.

Great BJ that you have your own brave warrior home with you again to be cossetted.
That is a sad tale of Glenelg.

I think I've had enough chocolate to last a lifetime until tomorrow anyway so Jeeves a cup of herbal tea please

Happpy Birthday Grammaretto. Hope you have a great day with lots of people to spoil you! As for lots of candles - oh dear - not having a cake on my next birthday! In fact I’m going to hide away and pretend it’s not happening!

Happy Birthday Grammaretto - I think Doodle was jolly rude to suggest that there would be lots of candles! Ladies only require one! ?

Warning! proud parent alert! You may remember that DS did an MBA during lockdown whilst a key worker? He has just secured his dream job in the defence industry - there were over 3000 applicants for the one job ? I may have shed a few tears!

Mr M is having a blast......he managed to twist his ankle going into a pub last night at least that's what DD2 told me. He obviously didn't have his reins on!

Grammaretto many happy returns. Jeeves has made you a cake ? with lots of candles ?
Hope you have a lovely day. Bet it makes it special to have your NZ family with you.
Hope your little DGD enjoyed her first day at school. So grown up.
Hello ? Cherry . Lovely to have you close by.
Boadicea what a sad tale about the children.
Hope MrBJ is recovering well. Hope you keep safe from the storm.
Had our first rain here for days. It lasted about 10 minutes though more is due later.

Happy Birthday Grammaretto I hope you have a fantastic day ?? X

Lovely pictures of watercraft, everyone -thank you! Interesting about Glenelg, and the origin of the name. It's a beautiful beach, with the most beautiful white, fine sand. Sadly, though, it was the site of a tragedy over 50 years ago, when 3 young children were apparently abducted from the beach, and have never been seen since. One of Australia's enduring mysteries. Those poor, poor parents.

From tonight, the country is going to be hit by another storm, with strong winds and heavy rain. Some people have had an appalling winter, with one flood after another. We're going to hunker down, MrJ having been redressed and approved for staple removal on Friday. He's going to have a mass of interesting scars, though at least half of them are where the sun never shines. I've hauled in loads of firewood and filled the pantry for a few days of isolation from the rest of the world. If push comes to shove, we have shelves of kumara, stored in the cool and dry.
Keep warm/cool and dry everyone. x

Hello Lobstars,

Ofcourse its the shawl Doodle I was looking at the wrong picture.

How nice to spend time with your DC and DGC in the garden.

The family who came for pottery made a model of Loch Ness complete with a monster, a baby monster, monster eggs and Urquhart castle.

So glad you are both testing negative Jan
For several years, long ago my Inlaws lived on the Suffolk coast and we frequently visited them there and became familiar with East Anglia.
Years before that I was at Art School in Norwich and years and years before that I discovered, when doing genealogy, that my 3 x gt grandparents were from Norfolk.

I went on a long walk today with the walking group (7 miles) and ended up with a huge blister on my heel. It seems cruel to be rewarded in this way. The rain stayed off while we walked but has been relentless since.

On arriving home, the Kiwis are back and beginning to clear my clutter. It is exhausting but necessary especially as more family are coming to stay next weekend.

Littlest DGC starts school tomorrow and she is beyond excited. She really has nothing to take but she packs and unpacks her rucksack and checks her water bottle.
I do hope school is not a disappointment. She will go on the school bus with her big sister.

Children grow up so fast.
Hoping all the gang are in fine fettle and a bit cooler from now on. apart from those in NZ who are hoping for warmer