60th Wedding Anniversary

60th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CLEBRATIONS.

They started with the arrival of Vicki and Maurice from Vancouver.
It was September 1.

That evening, all our offspring, Paul, Vicki, Vivienne and Carl,. with their spouses, took us to dinner at Remuera restaurant. We had a wonderful time, and the other patrons raised no complaint about our noisy presence.











Next day was the family affair.

We stood, as we had on the church steps in 1947,

for the informal photos;



And, although it was a little smaller than the original, and was in another place
it was cut in the same style

Certainly revealed...by an Angel

This is what I have been trying to post, failing to achieve that until Marie, also known as Angel9991, unlocked the procedure. For those who don't know the Chinese Toon, the earlier posts, together with the following poem, will reveal all.

I just wanted to share with readers, my fascination with its seasonal cycle.

Chinese Toon

Winter

Masquerading as
A gorgon’s head!
Startled serpents,
Stretching for the sky!

Spring

Stirring

Blood red snake tongues
Tentatively
Tasting the air.
Timidly venturing
Into weak spring daylight.

Encouraged.
Extending into
Bright pink tendrils
And beyond
Blushing in the broadening spring;
Putty in the alchemist’s hands,
Paling from rose madder.

Overnight
The tendrils mature;
A sniff of summer;
A celebration of grass green
Overcomes the faded taupe
And flutters in full multi-leafed
Splendour.

Summer

Emerald
Fronds in the summer sun
Flirting with the fickle eddies;
Pan’s pipes playing
To vanity.
Conceit
Blinds the eye
To the devastation of the rays
Upon the verdure;
The creeping stain of fawn
Upon the fading flush of youth
Heralds the wily closing
Of the Fall.

Autumn

Rapidly
The fronds are shed;
The deceit revealed
For all to see.
Serpents no more!
Those lying limbs
So recently encased
In petticoats of rose and green,
Stand naked,
Unashamed,
To defy the world
Of winter’s herald,
And thrusts their scornful phalli
To the sky.

FRH. 2004

The Chinese Toon

Is it a tree? It doesn't have a central trunk, but grows rather like bamboo, sending up new stems from its earth bound suckers. So it matures as a clump, slowly spreading year by year, unless controlled by removing the new stems as they emerge. In winter, it appears as a stand of barren, upright rods. With the first hints of spring, however, the new growth appears as deep crimson frills that become fernlike as they grow, but pale constantly so that, by the arrival of summer they merge, from the crimson to pink to beige, and finally to green, a constant changing of hue. . It is this spectacular display that fascinates Toon lovers, a seasonal, riotous cycle of colour. My earlier post shows it in mid-summer, in full green.

Our stood outside our bedroom, finally urging me to set it in a piece of verse that can never do justice to its beauty.

Our house(s)

This picture was taken in mid Autumn, two years ago. The house is the one we had lived in for over 30 years. It had just been sold.

I think we had already started to grieve; we were now to look for a smaller home, with a much smaller garden.

On the right, partly obscuring the bedroom window, there is a tree, a Chinese Toon. I had planted it as a young sapling, tearing it from its parent tree. And in the clay soil of St Johns, it thrived, delighting us each year as, from its bare branches it reached out its young red tendril leaves that faded into beige and then to bright green, from which it discoloured again to fall in winter, leaving just the bare branches.

Looking out to it from our bedroom window, I was moved to try to write a poem. It was that kind of tree.

New Firefox profile - whoohoo!

I have managed, with a lot of help from Ju's Little Sister, to create e new Firefox profile. And that has allowed me to recommence blogging.

So we will be in action again soon.

Cathedral Cove

A selection of pictures at Cathedral Cove.

More birthday pics, and some from Black-Jack

The cactus bloomed

in the morning.

They shot the breeze in the afternoon

and they relaxed at Black-Jack, Kuaotunu, still eating and drinking. But it New Year by then! Maurice and Vicki, from B.C.

The Party

Eda's family party was in the Sky Tower (see earlier blog) But this was too good to leave out. Enjoy.










Eda's wider party was held on the Saturday, December 30. Family, immediate and extended, and many friends from the past joined in the celebrations. She was sent flowers from UK.







We assembled the entire family , wives, husbands and partners,
to retain a record of the occasion.


And a loved sister of mine who could
make it, was there to share.
She's 83 years....must be in the genes





Of course there had to be a cake, and Eda had enough breath left to remove the flames (with a little help from a little friend)


More photos, next blog, and some to follow from the New Year
at Kuaotunu

A series of family occasions

Eda turned 80 (would you believe it?) on Wednesday, December 27. To celebrate on the actual day (a great party was planned for friends and relations on the following Saturday) daughter Vivienne, SIL Paul, and G.sons, Michael, Anthony, and Sam, took us to the Orbit restaurant in the Sky Tower.

It was a wonderful occasion, and a waitress was kind enough to create a record of us all together., You can see how high we were!

Next blog will reveal the Saturday's party

On the way to Rob Roy

These pictures need to be viewed, right to left. I just might be getting the hang of this. See previous blog.

Well, that was a relief!

Now I have to find out if I can repeat it, and continue. Isn't it silly; I don't even know what I did right.

There are many photos of Eda, me, and our extended family that I would like to share, but I have a suspicion that there might be some restriction of publishing personal pictures in a blog. There would not be, I imagine, a problem with family, but what if others are included in a group photo?

In 39 albums, Eda has meticulously filed photographs of our life together from the day when we met in 1943. They are, of course, in hard copy, black and white to start, and many in faded and distorted colour. She has laboured many hours to keep up the record, but there is one problem in this advanced age: I cannot post them here. So what I can share are those from more recent time when I have had them placed on CD rom, and where family members have sent them to my computer. So these are recent. We spent part of last September with our son in Wanaka, staying until our 59th wedding anniversary on Sept. 13.

He took us up the Matukituki river to the Rob Roy swing bridge. I could go no further, abut it was quite a trek anyway, and you may see from my being pushed up the slope by Eda and a piece of Kanuka, and hlding up the swing bridge. It was worthwhile. In Addition to the amazing scenery, and the fascinating rock formations, we were treated to an Anniversary Dinner by Carl & Carol. You can spot our satisfied faces at the restaurant.

I wish I knew what I am doing

I am trying, for the third time, to introduce myself and start my blog. The posts keep disappearing so I know one thing: I am doing something wrong. Confession is good for the soul, I have been told.
I'll leave that preamble, so that you know how frustrated I have been, but now it's working.
This is Eda and me at our daughter's home for Christmas, 2004. We were only 78 years then, but you see the naughty glint in her eye.