Life's a beach

I took our youngest out for a photo session recently, we got to the local beach. It is in an area known as New Brighton, and is about as warm as the "old" Brighton in the UK! Especially at this time of year, but owing to it being on the east coast we get easterly winds that cut right through you. Even in summer. The guy in the photo above seemed oblivious to the seagulls, and didn't seem to be eating anything to attract them either. Maybe he was in their spot?
A father and his kids ventured out tho', I bet he got an earbashing when he took those shivering kids home!
This chap stopped by, in the back ground is an area of Christchurch called Sumner. Again, it is a beachy settelement and quite pricey but they have a lovely old theatre there. I recall being taken to see "Lassie Come Home" at that theatre with my older brother. My grandmother washed my hair and plaited it, then when it dried she combed out the plaits and gave me two pony tails tied with pink satin ribbons. I must have looked like Lassie!
This is the Brighton Pier, as it looks now. The link willt ake you to what it used to look like and give a bit of history. Out at the very end you can see down into the water and see all the fish. People go fishing there but there was some talk of prohibiting that owing to the mess the fishers left behind. It looked like the Council have provided better cleaning facilities instead.

There is quite a strong surfing community at this beach too, but they were too far down the beach from where we were taking photos to get any good shots! But bring your board if you're heading this way.

I have to say that even on the cold blustery days, I love a good walk on the beach. Don't you?

And now for your complete and utter amusement...this guy wasn't on the beach at all. I'm not sure he was even on the planet!

Tuesday Tipple

AH, sorry for those allergic to Cointreau but this drink is really a reflection on how chilly it has been the past few mornings! The great thing about a killer frost is the wonderful sunny day we get as a result, so I'm not altogther complaining.

So, for an ICEBERG you will need:

30ml cointreau
30ml gin (mother's ruin! actually, thats a great song by Kirsty Macoll)
1/4 lime
sparkling wine
5 drops of blue curacao
1 cup of ice

Pour the cointreau (I always do a quick pre-test of cointreau to make sure it hasn't gone off), gin and juice from the lime into a blender with the ice and blend, blend, blend.
Pour into a chilled glass (even tho' I love the look of this cocktail glass pictured they are hard to hold, especially after the third cocktail...apparently), top with sparkling wine and drizzle the blue curacao on top.

Crank the stereo up, and sing along...cos perhaps this is what happens if you have one too many!

Following on from the statue

Sgt Henry James NICHOLAS VC MM - in an earlier post I introduced you briefly to Sgt Nicholas whose statue my daughter and took an interest in. The statue is in the inner city where we live.

Owen very kindly took off on a research of his own and found the final resting place of Sgt Nicholas in France.

The young Sgt was the sole "winner" of the Victoria Cross from the World War 1. As it turns out, as a young child he lived not too far away from where I live now with my family. Henry (Harry to his friends) had an older brother who was also in WW1, he was wounded in Gallipoli and returned to NZ for discharge. Another brother, Ernest went to war as a 20 year old and saw service in Egypt and France. Henry also had 4 sisters and an adopted brother.

It also transpires (I love that word, don't you!) that Sgt Nicholas was killed in action as a result of a German patrol returning from a "reccie" and basically blundered into Sgt Nicholas' post. In a brief exchange of fire most of the German's were killed and the sole New Zealand casualty was Sgt Nicholas. He died approximately 200 yards east of the northern bridge, Beaudignies.

Sgt Nicholas was originally buried in the French Cemetary on Route de Capelle at Beaudignies on 25 October 1918. Four days later, 29 October 1918, his body was exhumed and he was reburied with full military honours in the Vertigneul Chruchyard near Romeries (Nord).

He has nieces still living here in Christchurch and they were able to assist with the booklet written about him.

Update

Newsflash!

The guy I referred to in an earlier post has been found guilty of MURDER. Yes!
Let's all sing along to this.....

Tuesday Tipple

Because it is cold here I am having Gluhwein tonight! You can make this with cider too but tonight we're going to use the following:-

1 bottle of red wine (if you have any left after the weekend, that is!)
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 slices of lemon
2 slices of orange
1 cinnamon stick

Warm all the ingredients in a saucepan until very hot. (DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT test this using a metal spoon...your tongue will not thank you) and be careful not to boil the mixture (no wasting of the alcohol please).

Serve in a heated glass, or bucket, if you can't be bothered getting up and refilling your glass too often. I find this works best when you have someone running about pandering to you!

The things you see on a sunny Saturday

We went back to the Art Centre on Saturday, it was sunny and the day begged for a coffee and some fudge! Some of the craft work for sale, above, is felt. I loved that hat!
You can buy mirrors (can you spot me??)
Here is an example of the different art - the old buildings and a new sculpture....
And a bit of colour with the chairs.
I know, I'm being a bit naughty but hey, this photo just had to be shot!

This week in Christchurch we are waiting for the jury decision in yet another murder case. I say murder but the "perp" says it was manslaughter becasue the young lady "provoked him". This guy was a tutor at the university attended by the victim. Rightly or wrongly she became his girlfriend in what appears to be a rather fraught relationship. he was and is much older than the young girl, just 23 in death. He stabbed her with a knife he just happened to have in his bag. He mutilated her body. The police counted 216 stab wounds. I hope he gets the book thrown at him. This guy has not shown the remotest glimmer of remorse. In fact he has said that he has had time to get over it and appeared to suggest everyone else should too. This man (and I use that term loosely) is one person who should be locked up and never see the light of day.

In the interim, while I sit here with my knitting and waiting for the decision, a bit of Curtis Mayfield I think to calm my jangled nerves. PLUS this should have been posted on Saturday, and this is my Saturday Song! If you pop over to Louciao at Decollete you will know the importance of the Saturday Song.

Friday

Our local Art Centre is made up of old buildings and this rather charming bird bath. Well, it is meant ot be a decorative pool really but more often than not you see the seagulls and sparrows splashing about or just cruising the surface. I think it's really pretty, don't you?

When we traveled down South for the Oyster festival, we went past this honesty box selling Southland Swedes. They taste best boiled up then mashed with lots of pepper and butter. How do you like your Swedes? (Keep it seemly, Louciao and http://magiclanternshowen.blogspot.com/Owen) This is me, one or two years back, about to throw a snow ball at the photographer. I had a mean left chuck! I have had a good week, thought you'd all like to know that. And guess what, the sun is shining. I have seen Blue Sky all day. I am truly blessed.
AND LOOK WHATELSE! Blogger let me add a music clip. Oh, and the earthquake wasn't bad enough to spill any of my drinks, thanks for asking!

Tuesday Tipple

Why did the Mexican throw his wife off the bridge? Te keel 'er.

This weeks Tipple is Tequila based (which may or may not explain the awful joke above); it is known as an Ole

30ml of tequila
30 ml Lena banana liqueur
7 ml Blue Curacao
ice

Pour the tequila and banana liqueur into a mixing glass filled with ice, stir then strain into serving glass. Something nice and tall and champagne-like would be my recommendation!
Drop the blue curacao through the centre of the cocktail to achieve a two-tone effect. The blue curacao will sink becasue it is heavier than the other ingredients.

Don't blame me if you get a headache attempting this one, it took me about 4 glasses to get the hang of the "drop" method! Natuarally one should not waste the ingredients so if at first you don't succeed (like a budgie with no teeth) then drink it anyway and start again!

The things you find on a cold wet Sunday

I thought it was a bit early in the year for ducklings to arrive but this mother duck had 7 of them. Here they are trying to all have a bath in the same tiny puddle, perhaps they should have gone to the cemetary in my last post - no shortage of water there. However these ducks were out waddling by the river Avon which runs through our city. It has astrong current round this particular part however.

If you click on this photo to make it bigger (ah if only everything was that easy!!) you will see Ms Duck and her family waddling up to the River Punters. For a mere $20 per adult and $10 per child they could have had an hour of fun on the river, saving their wee waddley legs. The mother duck actually let us get quite close to her and the family, my daughter was thrilled.

Further along we found this statue, photo of which blogger has kindly put in the wrong place and is steadfastly refusing to shift. So, you get his story first, this young man had the misfortune to die 19 days before the Armistace, but somewhere in France he lyes in a grave yard.

The statue is quite good, and there was hardly any bird poo on him at all which I think is rather a nice touch of respect. Has anyone ever seen his Other resting Place? Does anyone know anything more about him? He looks rather handsome in his statued state. Those leggings must have taken ages to put on, not to mention keep up!

For some reason, blogger is also refusing to upload music clips from YouTube. If youo have any advice on that I'd be pleased to hear it. In the meantime, click on here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUsUigWw19A

Look what I found

I took my youngest scone grabber for a drive on Sunday. It was cold and grey and as we were waiting at the traffic lights we saw these birds...probably waiting for something to crap on!
However, since it has been so manky weather-wise here, we carried on to a cemetary near to where I work and no, I don't work at a hospital and this is not where doctors leave their mistakes!
This is one of the older cemetaries in Christchurch, it has actually been spilt in half by a motor way which runs through it. We found a few delapidated graves but this one took my fancy....you can see it has been raining here for what feels like forever! I also found a grave belonging to a guy who used to be in our Parliament but more on that later.....

Time for a drink, I think

Now then, it's been awhile since we had a quick drinks catch up...so come on in, kick off your sad faces and embibe.

My buzz this week is a Yellow Bird. To be honest, I have seen stuff all sunshine in recent weeks that I'm going about with a face like two buckets banging together.

So, get yourself an old fashioned glass (and accomplished booze hags 'n' hounds will know what I mean there and if you don't just grab a glass for gawds sake...)
In a shaker, add
30ml Bacardi
22ml Galliano
22ml Cointreau (surely one of the best liqueurs this side of the black stump)
22ml fresh lime juice
ice

Shake it all about (hokey tokey like) then pour into your glass. Voila!

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel all better all ready! Now then, where's that other glass.......