In order from left to right – Georgie, Bella, Macey, and Poppie.
We had a “house full” of people for Christmas day – and briefly during the afternoon a “couch full” of dogs. Thanks to my dog wranglers for organising this shot.
Together for Christmas
Category Archives: Wellington
2014 – the year that was
It was a fun old year at our place. As always there seemed to be a lot happening but when I look back at the photos we’ve taken, our trip in August and those puppies – well Bella mainly – seem to dominate.
-
- Rosie sitting on her bench in the garden
-
- Wellington City across the harbour
-
- Mount Victoria across Evans Bay
-
- Our two at home
-
- How not to park a 356 – paint missing and dented
-
- The most photogenic house in Nelson
-
- We decided to paint the house – one of these colours …
-
- … then endured weeks of this
-
- Jean’s lap in demand
-
- Coming home from work to this … Bella!
-
- Bella fascinated by a bug
-
- 911 in parking garage at work
-
- Rosie with Poppie and Bella enjoying the afternoon sun
-
- Jean baking up a storm
-
- Poppie in front of our fire in a wintery July
-
- The girls out walking in the UK
-
- Neil and Jayne’s back yard on a sunny English summers evening
-
- Relaxing at Hotel Eden Roc in Positano
-
- You can build almost anywhere in Positano
-
- Restaurant Bruno in Positano – the road is thrown in at no extra cost
-
- Noto’s sun coloured streets at dusk
-
- Noto Cathedral, Sicily
-
- Sunset over Sant’ Agostino, Sicily
-
- A cliche of a rental car – Fiat 500 cabriolet
-
- The real Fiat 500
-
- Market day in Ortega, Sicily
-
- Sicilian parking – not by me I have to say
-
- Sicilian sunset
-
- The impressive pool at our villa in Sicily
-
- Relaxing in the evening – Sicily
-
- The Torre al Mangia in Siena
-
- Hotel Relais Vignale in Chianti
-
- The view on our walk from carpark to Campo
-
- The morning view from our Tuscan hotel balcony
-
- Jean in Rome
-
- On the terrace at La Pergola in Rome
-
- Bella looking innocent
-
- Summer’s arrival in Wellington
-
- Bella stuck in the bath
A big holiday thank you
As the holiday season comes to its inevitable end, the team at our place want to thank all our friends and family for a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Whether it was spending time together in Wellington on Christmas Day or catching up in Auckland for a few days, it was a great holiday break. Thank you all.
As they say in Italy – Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo.
Puppie sleepover
Last weekend was a big one for Poppie and Bella – they had two friends sleepover.
Macey and Georgie came to stay and for two days our house was a sea of moving Bichons. Wherever you looked there was a pair, or three, or four dogs playing, eating, sleeping or barking at the gate.
It was great fun for all involved and Sunday night our girls slept well, completely exhausted.
-
- Spot the Bichon
-
- Dinner time
-
- Play time
Bats out for Phillip Hughes
I’m a cricket fan. In fact I’m sitting watching the Black Caps play Pakistan as I write this and waiting for Kayne Williamson to score his double century – hopefully.
And as a show of support for the late Phil Hughes, today, the bat was out.
And now we are four
On Saturday we said goodbye to Rosie. Old age has been catching up with Rosie for the last few months – after all she was 18 years old – and we finally had to let her go.
When Rosie was young she was one of 5 cats in the household – don’t ask how that happened – and she was always the one to be picked on. But since 2011 she has been the queen of Kainui Road and has enjoyed the run of the house, the back yard and the neighbours.
She will be missed.
-
- Rosie sitting on her bench in the garden
-
- Going grey is just part of getting old
-
- A favourite spot – warm concrete after a day in the sun
-
- Rosie with Poppie and Bella enjoying the afternoon sun
It feels like summer
Last weekend felt a little like summer. After weeks of changeable weather it felt like things were calming down and warming up.
Ideal for an al fresco breakfast in the back yard in your PJs.
Puppy memories
Two weeks ago my iMac’s hard drive “spat the dummy” and required replacing. Apple were fantastic and covered the cost of the replacement drive and I was left to restore my files from backup.
Yes, as I’ve said before – always back stuff up because every hard drive will fail at some point and it would be tragic to lose photos and movies and all the other stuff that we accumulate on computers these days.
As I was looking through my restored movie files I came across one of Bella as a very young puppy making her first journey down the stairs at home – just to get to Poppie and jump all over her.
I’ve posted this movie before but I think it deserves another airing.
Happiness is a warm lap
One of the great things about being home is time with our girls – even when they both want to be on Jean’s lap at once.
And then home
We arrived back in New Zealand earlier in the week after 4 fabulous weeks away. We were greeted by warm spring weather (which has now turned back to winter) and two very happy puppies who, after an initial frenzied greeting, proceeded to ignore us just to make a point.
The last few days have been spent recovering from jet lag and unpacking – as well as returning to work because, let’s face it, the holiday has to be paid for somehow.
There are still a number of posts to write covering such things as our dinner at the 3 Michelin Star restaurant La Pergola in Rome, some thoughts on modern air travel, how purchasing a laptop case on Via Condotti in Rome can turn into something much more and the temptation of Hong Kong duty free shopping.
I’ll post these over the next few days – just as soon as I write them.
Let’s talk Sicily
Mt Etna erupting with Catania behind in 2001 – courtesy of photographer Carsten Peter
What do you know about Sicily? Probably more than we do.
The furthest south we have ever been in Italy is the Amalfi Coast just south of Naples. But not this trip because this trip we are spending a week in Sicily – the island known for Mt Etna and the Cosa Nostra.
We fly into Catania which lies in the shadow of Mt Etna (which is still classified as an active volcano). From there we drive south for 2 hours to Noto where a villa and our friends Gill, Andre, Josh and Jordan are waiting.
We have a week to discover our corner of Sicily. What should we do? Where should we go? Make us an offer we can’t refuse.
One step closer to Italy
Over the weekend we took the first steps towards Italy. Our suitcases came out of the cupboard and we started to think about packing. For me that involved a lot of T-shirts and shorts and not much else.
For Jean it began closer to the ground. Darling, you’re packing how many pairs of shoes?
And then winter arrived
Gallery
This gallery contains 2 photos.
After an incredibly mild start to winter we were brought back to reality as a southerly front straight from Antarctica arrived in Wellington. Think six degrees, biting wind, hail and driving rain. The only place for any sane person (or dog) … Continue reading
The calm of a winter morning
Our weekends usually start well after the sun has come up – but not last Saturday. Sister Tina has been staying with us for the last few days and she was catching a flight at 8:30am. This meant the house was awake early on a July winter morning which was windless and warm.
After farewelling Tina we enjoyed a coffee on the deck watching the dawn slowly arrive across the harbour.
Bella meets our bath
Little Bella has never really been fascinated with our bath – up until this evening when she jumped in. Luckily the bath was empty but even then she discovered that jumping in the bath is a lot less scary than jumping out.
So she sat there, and sat there, and sat there until she was finally rescued. But not before the obligatory photo had been taken.
Toscanakiwi 
