grr, I tried to paste the code in to show you *my* result, and it won’t work. It is BROKEN. I’ll have to wait until my resident geek comes back and see if he can make it go.
Also! breaking news, fresh in! crossing to live feed now …
I finished an exam this morning and emailed it off to be marked. It was *hard*. I have to confess that half way through I thought why on earth am I doing this, when I left school I swore I’d never ever do any exams every again, but never mind, it was eye opening and made me think about my coaching practice. Always a good thing. I am always researching and talking to other coaches and reflecting on what I do, but a written exam has a way of cutting to the chase, so to speak!
Last but not least, here is a picture of the latest addition for you. Now, seriously, on record so you can all mock and point if I ever go back on my words …. no more pets. NO MORE PETS!
Gotta love that waggy tail!
- The newest addition
Filed under: Photos
Late this evening we heard a strange crunching noise coming from outside.
It is still very hot here and all the windows are open. We looked at each other, and then went to the window to see what it was. There, with its greedy snout stuck in the dogs bowl, was the biggest, fattest hedgehog we’ve ever seen. He must be the grandfather of all hedgehogs, he’s enormous!
He’s been here before, but he’s usually a bit timorous. Another night we heard our Big! Savage! Dog! barking (he’s a miniature fox terrier crossed with something really, really hairy) as if a horde of burglars were scaling the walls, but when we investigated it was this hedgehog. Frozen stiff with fear. I don’t know who was the more scared – the dog or the hedgehog :p
This time however, hunger must have got the better of him, and he was chowing down in a big way. Even the camera flash didn’t stop him!
Filed under: Photos
No, not the Guns’n'Roses song … although I really like that one. This is a pic for you, of the rose which was nearly decimated just before we moved into our house. The previous owners had done a massive overhaul of the garden – which was achieved using a chainsaw and not much else. So when we moved in, there was almost no garden to be seen. This poor rose was only a twig or two, with only one brave bloom the first year.
So this pic is four years later – it’s taken a while to recover. 
Filed under: Photos
Now tell me honestly, is New Zealand not the most beautiful country in the world, the solar system, or the universe??
And lastly, here is a picture I took from the window of the Auckland apartment. You can see the Sky Tower in the background, and the waterfront is to your right.
Filed under: Photos
Here are a couple of photos : I don’t know the name of the rose. 
The view is from one of the Auckland apartment windows. 
Ok have patience with me, because I really like growing things and I had to show you some of what’s going on in the garden!
“Sally Homes” is a rose 
my ex husband gave me for a birthday present. She’s gone berserk now despite having been moved three times and is way over my head. Even though I chop most of *her* head off every season.
“4th of July” is a rose
I planted for someone who’s died, and “Beautiful” is a plant my mother in law gave me about three years ago. I’ve never been able to get it to flower 
but now at last -! 
So the lesson from THAT is, don’t give up. Keep feeding, keep watering and paying attention, and things will happen in the end 
… from the daughter.
In the weekend I trimmed a few shrubs (nothing scientific, just the hedge trimmers) and when I’d finished, I left them out on the patio with a few other tools. This afternoon after work, the daughter vanished for a while. I should have been suspicious, it was very quiet … anyway, she comes to get me and makes me walk outside with my hands over my eyes.
“Surprise!!”
She’d taken to my camellia tree with the trimmers, and carved a smiley face to surprise me.
Here’s the picture I promised you yesterday – the daughters birthday presents. They are quite young, and the blue one is a girl. The green one of course is a boy, so I might be a BudgieGrandma in a year or so :p
