Wellington Weekend

I've recently spent a couple of days in Wellington, catching up with folk, and walking around the place; from the southern bays to the shops on Lambton Quay and the cemetery at Karori, it was a busy couple of days.


Una and Connor



The grave of Harry McNish (one of the explorer's on Shakelton's Endurance) is adorned with a bronze representation of Mrs Chippy - the cat who accompanied the exhibition. Despite the name, Mrs Chippy was discovered to be a male cat, but by then the name had stuck and the tiger-striped tabby retained the nickname.

 

Mrs Chippy

We were joined on our walk by this beautiful real-life version of Mrs Chippy who lives nearby and reportedly accompanies folk through the graveyard, stopping to be stroked and admired.

Nephew Adam with curious cat



Niece Rachel

At home with the Bakers...



Nephew Adam and the Weevil



Nephews Olaf and Adam



Week 25: Scary Poppins

My big sister visited for a week. It was lovely to see her as she lives so far away, or maybe it's me that does that. In between working and rehearsals, I managed to snatch a few hours with her for walks and conversation. The weather was pretty grim, but even the sun came to out to play as we walked round to Scorching Bay for brunch.

I call her scary sis - you can probably tell why from this photo (oh yes, and her name is Sarah). She frequently looked after my other sister's (The Weevil) children and said she felt like she was calling upon her inner Mary Poppins to entertain them. Here she is teaching nephew to play draughts.

Judging by the looks she has taught him too well and he has just captured her king or something.

She is equally at home nurturing a balloon...

...which frees the Weevil up to lavish some much appreciated attention on the cat.

Nephew had a birthday party, which of course involves a birthday cake. Peter Pan is all the rage at present, so Mummy Weevil made a pirate ship. Aunties helped out by making a giant crocodile (half the size of the ship - we're teaching them about perspective). Scary Poppins did all the hard work with the icing, while I just laughed a lot and made the clock.

There were black skies over Karori for the party, but once again, the sun was struggling through.