Day 207.

There's a song by Dorothy Moore called Once or Twice that I first heard years ago when I befriended Nina, who became one of the few near and dear ones in my life. It stuck all these years.

I didn't realise I surpassed 200 days without Larry until I looked on my 'days since' counter app. this evening and read 207.
It's not that I don't think of him anymore, it's quite the opposite, but the chorus sums it up nicely.

We're in for a wintery treat over the next 3 days that not only will freeze the cajones off of anyone outside, but see's the wave energy above 10k. Hitting Wairamama with my brother on Friday for what could be the surf of the year in this area.
Cameras loaded.

Tuesday Dinner.

Had dinner with my cousins tonight, Harriett & Emma. Emma's been globe trotting and got back on Saturday, so it was a good catch up.
The Bride to be get's married in October .. in San Diego! None of us are going.

Dinner.

Emma's new ink since the last time I saw her 3 weeks ago.

The couple on canvas. Love it and I must commend the photographer ;)

Miss Emma Camilla Leonie.
That's her full name minus her last.
Doesn't roll of the tongue does it.
Nope, not at all.

Tyler & Aunty "Twinny".

Ms Hubba.

This drink was gross.

We turn to eachother for friendship in our family. This is how my grandparents raised their children and how we were raised. Our parents had offspring around the same time and so there are alot of us who are the same age eg. Emma, Leonie and myself.
Sometimes it's just nice to be together if for anything, for the reminder that we'll always have eachother.

FHE aka The Circus.

I've been wanting to do Red Velvets for a while now. They're an adult cupcake. I wanted to try the recipe in cinnamon rolls. I left some ingredients out of this recipe because of the yeast. It had to be adjusted because I was making bread, not cake.

Scald 2 c of milk with 100g of butter and 1/2 c of sugar. Take it off the oven before it hits boiling (this is what scalding is if you didn't know), add the color and sprinkle 1 pack of dry active yeast over and let the temp drop to warm.

Mix 4 c of AP Flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder 1 teaspoon of salt. Add wet mixture.

Mix through then leave in a warm place to rise. Usually 1 - 2 hours.

This didn't rise as much as I would have liked. Knead it out with more flour for about 5 rounds.

Roll out.

2 c of brown sugar 1/4 c cinnamon.

Roll.

Cut into 2 inch scrolls.

200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes.

I used a raspberry glaze for the top.

I did mention a circus. Glutton for punishment, I don't know why I invite them to my place. It's the smallest of them all if you count Jeston's place as being my Parentals.

Waiwais.

The Holy Ghost game.
Coral was the Holy Ghost and Waimea was the sacrificial lamb who had to make it through obsticles placed in his way. He could either listen to the directions of the Holy Ghost or to everyone else, who had him bumping into everything.

Tyler tried her luck. We pulled out spray bottles for her and duct tape as obsticles.

These three little ones are the worst. I think I hate Sharing Time at church because 7 of the usual 20 are our own.

Dinner tomorrow night with The Bride to be.

The Sabbath.

The rain dampened my spirits today and all I wanted to do was get out of the cold chapel and into my warm house.

So I did.

I also warred with myself for the rest of the afternoon to go to KFC and get the special that kept showing during every commercial break, but the rain that dampened my spirits kept me home in front of my warm fire.

Suits, then bed.

Sat. Rugby.

Before I go to bed on Saturdays, I usually sit down at the computer and unload my photos. As always, I get the giggles at some of the shots I take. I don't usually share my private joy with anyone, but I had to tonight.


After DMC over shared with Tyler and I last week, I think the only ones laughing at this image will be ourselves. Bracing himself ...


MAC Prems won, but Tamatea definitely bought it.
Highlight of the game, and inspirational, was Uncle Porky who had a son playing for Tamatea,kept it real cheering for his blood team, MAC.
That's loyalty.
All Blacks killed France 30-0.
Note to self: Don't say yes to babysitting when the All Blacks have a game that night.

Dead cat.

To The Reid & Henry Houses,
I accidentally ran over a cat tonight outside The Reid's house, by the morning it could be outside the Henry's house. Hopefully Uncle Stan scrapes it off the road, like he usually does, before either of you guys rise tomorrow. I also hope it didn't belong to Darrell or Zaia.
Kind Regards,
The Shultz House.

To The Te Ahu House,
Heard you had a cat and I may have run over it tonight. It didn't look both ways before crossing the road. Sorry for your loss. Hope it wasn't ... Hopes*.
Sincerely,
The Shultz House.

Didn't have my camera to take a photo. Totally would've though.
* their daughter.

Te Awanga surf.

Earthquakes during the week made for a good swell at Te Awanga yesterday. Jeston was so excited, he couldn't wait for his friends to arrive and one asked him to wait so he could help zip his suit up, alas, the man is like a child when it comes to the ocean and had already paddled out by the time they arrived.
Just an opinion. Body boarders are the rejects of surfers. I don't know why he didn't take his normal board out.

There were alot of dudes out.

.. and another photographer who had an 800mm lens.
I need one of those.

Heading out again.

Vecci & Hubba.

Ran in to an aquaintance while there.
Dion, who I did not know was a surfer.

Bishop Luke heading back out.

Jeston.

Bayden.

They had to be freezing their cajones off yesterday.

Why I love rugby.

Our Poppa, S.T Reid
That is why.
I see everyone in Pop, especially my cousins Terry, Everard, Daniel and my brother Jeston.
I also see my Mum and my uncles.
It's the high cheek bones.






Hope he's teaching Larry the rules of rugby up there .. pretty sure it's a qualification for the Celestial Kingdom.

Imbreds of the South Pacific.

If you take my street, as an example, there are 41 houses on it.
Houses 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39 and 40 are relations - as in, go back a few generations and we share the same great-great grandparents.

Here's another example.
My next door neighbors on both sides, their grandmothers were sisters. Those two sisters are first cousins to my grandmother. A house over, heading south, is an Uncle who's Dad is first cousins with the two neighbors grandmothers and my grandmother. Head back towards the chapel and you have a cousin who's grandmother is first cousins with my grandmother. Right next door to her is my first cousin - his dad and my mum are siblings. Two houses behind him is my mother, next door to my mother is my grandmother and behind her is my brother.

Imbreds isn't the right word because most of us married outside of the square (some of us didn't, so the hills have some eyes), but it's kinda nice that we're all here. It takes a funeral around here to know who your extended family are and it's pretty interesting thinking, 'I almost dated that guy and we, unknowingly, have the same great grandparents'.

I shudder to imagine the state of the gene pool had man not invented airplanes and boats.

... and I hear helicopters out. It's hovering over a house that none of my family reside in, thankfully, and hovering so low it can be one or two reasons.
Looking for drugs or flying a helicopter practise.

Clarry's chair.

I suggested we move the chair out and bring the matching one to the couch back in.

She protested.
It's ok Hubba-Lush, I probably couldn't do it anyway.

Bye Max.

After 4 years, I said goodbye to Max today.
It was bittersweet.
Bitter because of sentimental reasons, sweet because his transmission was going and that's on top of the half-assed alternator.
I met Vecci at the car yard when I went to go see a 2004 Max replacement.
Oh, how I love her.

Hubba wants Max back.
"Vecci is dumb" she says.

.. and I just figured out the little box thingy that I thought was the door opener and locker remote was a 2nd key.

For Sister: Get a Vecci!!

Finding Bigfoot calls.

NZ X-Factor.

I don't know how long NZ's X-Factor has been on, but I've watched it maybe 4 times in total. The most recent was lastnight. The show doesn't, at all, portray NZs best talent. One of Tylers friends auditioned in January and didn't make it through. She can sing.

My biggest peeve comes from Stan Walker. He's kinda the Paula Abdul of the bunch. His comments make me cringe because he struggles to put an intelligent sentence together and tends to repeat the phrase, "Oh I just love you, you're awesome". That kinda isn't enough when it's competition and I'd call his comments an easy cop out if they weren't reused so much. Don't even get me started on his bad grammar.

And the current contestants?
Not star quality. A blunt knife ricocheting off of a  set of jamaican steel drums is star quality compared to the amatuers on NZs X-Factor.

Let's just stick to rugby New Zealand .. that's where our talent is.

8 years ago.

8 years ago I got on a plane from Los Angeles and flew home. The whole week prior Aunty Hop had been back and forth to the Doctors. Whenever I rang home, which was every day for, up to that point, 5 years, she would always answer and talk for a while before handing the phone to Aunty Marva.

It was the longest plane ride I had ever taken despite it being a 13 hour flight, because I knew what I was coming home to.

I landed in Auckland at 5am, my sister there to meet me. I had a plane out of Auckland to Napier at 7am. I got home just after 8.30am and she was on a hospital bed in the lounge. She could not communicate at all and all I could do was cry to see her that way. She died just after lunch that afternoon surrounded by us. After that experience, I told myself I didn't want to see someone take their last breath ever again. This is where I'm appreciative that Aunty Marva spared me from that and that Larry knew how I felt about it and they both died, sadly on their own, but sparing me from having those memories of them as my last.

8 years.
Miss you every day.
Still listen real hard to hear your infamous whistles.

The Weekend

Korean style Bulgogi for lunch.

Ngawi's real birthday is today, so we had volcano cake & cupcakes.


Hubba at rugby yesterday.


Rugby.
First snow of the season on the Ruahines.

Brothers E Grade (High School juniors) team played Lindesfarne yesterday and lost, but the ref commended them on their progress through-out the season and their great sportsmanship for carrying off an opponent after he was injured. That's a win in my book.

This guy!

MAC reserves played Hastings.

They played well ..

.. and won.

MAC Prems also played Hastings (Prems).

The first half was average.

The second half made my heart race. In the last minute ... the score is 20-18 to MAC. Hastings ball. The ref awards a penalty to Hastings from the 10 metre line in front of the posts, an easy 3 points. He tells the Hastings kicker to take his time, there's a minute left in the game. The kicker takes his sweet time. I look at the faces of the MAC players, in particular the coach and lock (same person). Devastation. Too easy a kick to miss and it's a team they should beat. I closed my eyes quickly ..... seriously, "Dear Heavenly Father ...."
Hastings kicker goes to kick the ball and before his foot hits the ball, the wind blows and the ball falls forward off of the kicking tee.
It was my OMG moment of the year.

Well done MAC.
Tamatea next week.

Forgot to mention All Blacks won their game last night, but you knew that before the haka right?