Another sunny summer Sunday almost done and dusted and I am whacked after spending three hours in the pool, playing volleyball/waterpolo with Miss 9.4 and Niece G and scooping out a gazillion pohutakawa tree flower stamens. Yes, we do have a cover, but those pesky stamens drift down during the day when it's off. Damn them! Damn those pesky stamens!
In other news and happenings, last night we attended a barbecue at Bachelor Dave's up the end of the road (a return invite for the last two parties he attended at ours) and we learned that a) he's very fussy about hygiene b) thinks it's very important to microwave chicken nibbles before barbecuing them so nobody drops dead from salmonella poisoning c) he loves houseplants, particularly draconias d) had nice cafe curtins in his kitchen window e) makes a mean Pina Colada but, bizarrely f) he loves thrash metal and has a CD collection full of earbruising and deeply scary bands such as Slipknot, Megadeath and Korn.
Not the sort of music to romance the ladeez with, a mission that Bachelor Dave dedicates a great deal of time and effort to, with a considerable lack of success (cannot think why...)
There was also murmuring from the male guests that a love of houseplants and his knack at making Pina Coladas may suggest that Dave is less masculine that he should be, but I just reckon he's just a bloke who's deeply in touch with his feminine side - either that or the gayest straight man I've ever met.
As well as exhausting myself swimming and barbecuing, I have been reclining on the sofa on the verandah (all verandahs should have one) reading magazines I've taken out from the library, as opposed to my normal practice of spending half my spare cash on buying them - all part of my budgeting regime to recover from a Christmas bank balance blow-out.
This week's selection includes O (I'm intrigued by the ads in this one and I love the gorgeous things in "The O List"), Vanity Fair (all the bewdiful people!) and D-Photo, New Zealand's rather amateurish effort at a photography magazine which made me fondly reminisce for my favourite (and very expensive, imported from the UK) Digital Camera and Practical Photography.
Next week? Paper and Card Products Digest, Organic Turnip Growers' Gazette and Trainspotting Today, that is if nobody's taken them all out before me...
In other news and happenings, last night we attended a barbecue at Bachelor Dave's up the end of the road (a return invite for the last two parties he attended at ours) and we learned that a) he's very fussy about hygiene b) thinks it's very important to microwave chicken nibbles before barbecuing them so nobody drops dead from salmonella poisoning c) he loves houseplants, particularly draconias d) had nice cafe curtins in his kitchen window e) makes a mean Pina Colada but, bizarrely f) he loves thrash metal and has a CD collection full of earbruising and deeply scary bands such as Slipknot, Megadeath and Korn.
Not the sort of music to romance the ladeez with, a mission that Bachelor Dave dedicates a great deal of time and effort to, with a considerable lack of success (cannot think why...)
There was also murmuring from the male guests that a love of houseplants and his knack at making Pina Coladas may suggest that Dave is less masculine that he should be, but I just reckon he's just a bloke who's deeply in touch with his feminine side - either that or the gayest straight man I've ever met.
As well as exhausting myself swimming and barbecuing, I have been reclining on the sofa on the verandah (all verandahs should have one) reading magazines I've taken out from the library, as opposed to my normal practice of spending half my spare cash on buying them - all part of my budgeting regime to recover from a Christmas bank balance blow-out.
This week's selection includes O (I'm intrigued by the ads in this one and I love the gorgeous things in "The O List"), Vanity Fair (all the bewdiful people!) and D-Photo, New Zealand's rather amateurish effort at a photography magazine which made me fondly reminisce for my favourite (and very expensive, imported from the UK) Digital Camera and Practical Photography.
Next week? Paper and Card Products Digest, Organic Turnip Growers' Gazette and Trainspotting Today, that is if nobody's taken them all out before me...
