Leaving on a Jet Plane

 I love travelling.

Blame my parents for putting that bug into me! Well, they did move me to Kuwait 2 days before my 7th birthday, and we have been travelling ever since. Ok, maybe not as much now as when I was younger. Something to do with how nowadays I have to find the money to pay for all the flights. I love being on a plane and enjoy it even more when I am on my own, although I would love to have someone to share it with.

So, here I go, a much-needed trip to England to visit family and friends and complete some international parkruns. Yes, you read that right, I am going to England to complete parkruns.

My travel companion's aka Bozz and Grey

When travelling many years ago, someone asked if I had a companion? Someone to inspire pictures and memories with. Not a human one but a soft toy kind? That then led to said companions being collected. Bozz has been to the UK a few times since 2001 when he joined the family, think he has been to Australia too.

As for Grey, well he was fostered from my youngest son. There is a huge story behind me having Grey now and one day I will write it down, but for now, he is with me.

The food was not bad either, although the first leg of the flight was direct out of Auckland, so all the food was local from New Zealand, can't go too wrong there.

Otherwise, the flight was your typical night flight. Lots of people sleeping and luckily for me, the people who were meant to be sat next to me moved just before take-off, so I gained an extra seat for the whole 16-hour flight.

Writing a Blog

 The thing with writing a blog is that is does indeed take time.

Sometimes you have space and the ability to upload a picture, and a post gets created and posted, other times, there is life going on and nothing gets sorted. In the case of a holiday then it can be difficult to post, especially when you are in a land far away from home with your normal creature comforts, like your own computer.

All the following posts, till the middle of September will have been written well after the fact, more likely it will be October before they are all successfully completed and posted. However, to keep the flow of the dates etc then when I post them, I will ensure I use the correct date for when it happened. This will allow the memories to be accurate when looking back through in years to come

That is because tomorrow I fly to the UK for a 4-week holiday, on my own. And when I return, we fly to Rarotonga as a family 2 days later for 10 days. Obviously, I am not taking a computer with me to the UK, and I won't have the access to post as I go along, but I will be collecting memories as I go and will be eager to write about them when I return.

The suitcase is packed; I am all excited and Alex is ready to drive me to the airport in the morning.

Bon Voyage

Jigsaw 11 - Quilt and Sew

 The main jigsaw company here in New Zealand always seem to do a series of jigsaw puzzles. Usually, 4 in the series and all very similar. This was one that I had seen advertised a few years ago and when the opportunity arose to obtain this one, I jumped at it

It had the odd moment of colour challenge but overall, I always knew it would be easy to complete

Jigsaw 10 - Pumpkin Farm

 This one was always going to be a challenge due to the consistent colour throughout the picture. I am trying to push myself away from ones that are easy looking with heaps of colour. This one was definitely one of those.

It took a bit to do, but I got there.

Jigsaw 9 - Alchemy

 I got asked by a colleague to house sit and look after their dog.

They just happened to have a jigsaw on the go, and you know how much I love jigsaws, so I couldn't help but finish it. They did agree to this, so I didn't ruin anything for them!

It was a fun one to do with lots of little sections, not too difficult but several pieces the same colours!

Here is number 9 for the year

I had never done a jigsaw by this brand before - eeBoo

They were nice pieces to fit together and good colouring.

Walkies

 Due to work, then walking Toby means some early mornings.

I can do early mornings; they are no longer difficult to do since menopause hit several years ago. But they go along much better if I have had my chai latte. So, a quick mix together and into a travel mug and off we go for our morning walk.

Dog Sitting

 A colleague has asked me to house sit and dog sit. As I currently live alone, then I don't mind where I stay as it is only me to worry about. The family all drive so dinner can still happen, it just means that they drive out to where I am.

So let me introduce Toby, a beautiful playful puppy (!!) who is loving life and pushing boundaries when he can!

He loves going for a walk and the countryside is beautiful around here so there are some gorgeous sunsets.

I definitely think he takes me for a walk rather than the other way round!