(Not a great picture but definitely an “only in NZ” moment)

Yesterday I got to share the pétanque court with a pukeko who wanted to check out the jack, which is the little wooden ball you use as a target. He must have decided it wasn’t tasty, so he wandered off.

Scaffolding goes up so we can paint the house and the roof.

We had our annual neighborhood drinks this weekend, low-key this year but a fun chance to catch up with everybody. Last year we were forced indoors by the weather so it was nice to have a sunny day.

The kids are growing fast, especially young Luna, who is right at the top of the growth chart.

Are in full bloom and seem especially bright and beautiful this year. The one above we planted from seed during our first summer here. It’s lived in a series of pots till now.

And of course all those bits of flower have to go somewhere…

Two Birkenhead shops closing soon: the jewellery store that got robbed twice this year, and the little clothing boutique pictured above.

Neither was a great place in my view, although we had gotten a couple of repairs at the jewelers, but it’s still sad to see any business close down.

We saw the North Shore Male Choir put on a fine performance based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol the other week at St George Church in Takapuna.

We’d never run into this group, but apparently they put on quite a few shows each year since forever, including a Christmas program.

That’s Jacob Marley handing out chocolate coins to the members of the audience at the end. It was a fun show, with I’d say more than half the audience made up of friends and family of the choir.

We got there with about 10 minutes to spare, but the church was already full, so we had to make our way to seats right at the front and next to the pianist. Who had her left arm in a sling! Later in the show she got a big round of applause both for her virtuosity and her “show must go on” attitude. The choirmaster was so impressed that he had her repeat her big feature number, an arrangement of Carol of the Bells.

Last Christmas we bought ourselves some gift certificates for our local theatre, because they were offering a great discount. But we haven’t been to the movies much this year. So we still had a few dollars left and decided to just go.

We picked Jack Mimoun and the Secrets of Val Verde, a holdover from the recent French film festival. One review described it as “Indiana Jones meets Monty Python”. In fact, it wasn’t as sophisticated or subversive as Monty Python, so maybe “Indiana Jones meets Mr. Bean”?

Anyway, the movie was good for a laugh. But the best part was having the whole room to ourselves… it felt very luxurious!

Two signs caught my eye walking around town today…

On the search for a new vicar at All Saints Church. I don’t have anything to do with this church, but finding a new minister is always a lot of work.

And Jose’s Cantina has closed. Can’t say we’re too sorry to see them gone because we didn’t like their food all that much. But Aotearoa New Zealand needs more Mexican restaurants!!

This star jasmine is a favorite ground cover or low hedge around here. This time of year it is in full fragrant bloom, wonderful!

We’ve planted a couple but they’ve never done as well as this.

Our local kereru (wood pigeon) stopped by for a visit yesterday.

We got that decrepit birdhouse as part of the giant load of plants we bought soon after arriving, and the little samurai figures were found here in the yard.

Instead of doing a tree which takes up much of the room, this year Lee hung a bunch of the nicest ornaments in the front window.

It’s beautiful!

The pohutukawa trees are budding out. Soon the coasts and roadsides will be bright red with the brushy flowers.

A couple of weeks ago we went to see the NZ Sculpture Onshore exhibit at the old Ft. Takapuna site in Devonport. For about the price of a movie ticket we (and lots of other people) got to wander around the dozens and dozens of sculptures that had been installed outside and even in some of the WWII bunkers and tunnels.

Although we had a very nice time, and some of the art was pretty or made us go “hmm, that’s interesting / clever / striking”, I can’t say we were bowled over by any of it. The big pieces cost thousands, but even the gift shop pieces seemed really pricey somehow.

Here’s a few shots…

Stuck in traffic the other day behind a bus… grrr! My reaction to the stoppage was instant. But then, the bus’s kiwi-shaped engine vents made me smile and relax a bit. It’s not like I was in a particular hurry, so a few minutes in traffic wasn’t actually a big deal.