Scrapbooking with Techniques

Today in Auckland

Well it is Sunday afternoon so it is Saturday middle of the night in the UK however our clocks went back last night and the other day the UK clocks went forwards so NOW we are 11 hours apart with NZ being ahead of the UK.

My time here (3 weeks) has flown by but has been fraught with knee pain...however having exhausted the chiropractor I went to see the GP (whom i now love) because she gave me magic tablets....yes only 3 days of tablets and I AM pain-free .......................God bless medication! Yesteray we went to watch two grandsons play rugby in two different venues....very clever, we almost managed to be in two places at once....Sadly NO BRAWN around as Noah plays in the under 10s See picture on the left.

Gabriel is playing in the under 11 who are supposed to weigh no more than 65 kg and Gabe only weighs about 46 kg.....they played a game against Papatoetoe pronounced papa..toe E... and some of those kids were HUGE well overweight...apparently what they do is get someone else to weigh in for them..... they knocked some of our boys for six and dragged them down the field....

THIS IS GABRIEL ON THE PITCH.....a normal healthy lad.... and below is some pics of the others.....Gabriel actually mounted one islander one and clung on his back...riding him like a horse as a tackle....

Gabriel and Adam needing a large drink....

I should be doing the iRoning but it is too hot....

am having problems trying to place pictures in the correct place, can anyone tell me how...

FASCINATING AIDA - Cheap Flights

NZ Scrapping

I thought having stayed in LA for a week I wouldn't suffer with the jet lag but tonight is the first night I haven't fallen asleep at some ridiculous hour...followed by getting up stupidly early...it has also taken my kidneys time to get over the jet lag....

I arrived in Auckland at 07:05 hrs kiwi time to be met by all the family and this time they were punctual...lol, much to my relief. 12+ hours on a plane is not my idea of heaven..i did manage however to sleep for about six hours so I guess I shouldn't complain.

I arrived at SCRAPHOLICS in Howick about 9.30 am to collect the kit I had ordered from the UK. The kit was being sold to raise funds for the CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE APPEAL..for $25 about 12 pounds 50 p in UK dosh. The picture is of my niece Lorraine and her husband Leigh with their gorgeous children, William, Eleanor and Annaliese...

so why not contact Scrapholics NZ via google and get the kit, it is for a good cause and we can see how many different layouts come from it.

Bye for now and keep safe.

PS. no earthquakes in Auckland only too many blooming hills, makes walking painful!!

Los Angeles

I arrived in Los Angeles on the 3rd March after 11+ hours flight plus two additional hours sitting on the plane before it took off, why, i don't know why. We boarded early which I thought was a good sign but then sat on the runway for two hours....in the end leaving half an hour late. I got my upgrade thanks to my lovely nephew Richard who works for Virgin, larger seats, leather ones, more leg room....spoilt.

at 2.30 pm USA time (8 hours behind Greenwich meantime) we arrived in LAX...got off the plane easily but then stood for an hour while immigration took everyone's fingerprints and photo....great. It took ages...picked up my bags and staggered out to find Stanley waiting for me. As agreed he was standing in a red shirt with THE SIGN...Lyn. I didn't feel particularly jet lagged.

We drove for say 40 minutes or so and arrived at 309 Nancy Way to meet his wife Mary. Stanley and Mary are in their 70s and get up about 5 am...i did say i don't do that time of the morning but....anyway the first two nights i crashed anyway and was up early. As I settle in then maybe i will not be able to get up so blooming early....it is now 10;10 PM and they have gone to bed as they have been up for HOURS.

I suppose I should explain that Stanley Charles is a distant relative, from what I can gather from the family tree he is my mother's half uncle's son, so i guess he is my mother's half cousin. Anyway we met on Ancestry as we were both looking for information about Thomas Collingwood Chown of which there are two of them. The eldest TC Chown is my Gt. Grandfather and he is also Stanley's Gt GT grandfather. TC Chown junior is Stan's gt. grandfather. enough of that it will only confuse you.

Friday 4th March, Stanley and Mary took me to Santa Anita Race Course outside LA. it is a rather nice building in the art deco style. We went to the restaurant and had lunch and bet on the gigis....i won the first two races, lost the third, won the fourth of which I made about $20 profit...i also got another winner but didn't actually do a bet, so 4 winners out of 5 races was pretty good.

We went down to the paddock to see the horses and I took photos of which I would say two are really good the others ok. Anyway those two were satisfactory to me and I will upload them when i get on my own computer. Am sitting using Stanleys' Apple Mac and can't get my pictures on today.

Following my tradition of having a McDonalds in every city or country i go to how fortunate it is that there is one about 8 minutes walk away and i can get wifi there. Hence breakfast today was a sausage biscuit (yummy) so I could get on free wifi as stanley doesnt have wireless. the sausage biscuit biscuit bit is rather like a crispy scone and i must say was yummy.

It would seem that McDonalds senior coffee costing 55c (yes being aged i get cheaper coffee, sounds good to me) is going to be a daily routine whilst I am in USA.

Today Saturday i was taken to the penthouse restaurant in Santa Monica and we lunched and had a marvellous view of the ocean, sand and hills leading to Malibu. Unfortunately the walk on the beach didn't happen which I was a bit disappointed about but hey it doesn't matter.

Weekend in Sussex

As my brother is off to Australia for six weeks and I will have left for NZ by the time he gets back i thought i had better come and see him...as it will be the autumn before we see each other again.

arrived last night, having spent nearly 3 hours on the road for a journey that usually takes between 1 and 2 hours....if i didn't have to go over the dartford tunnel it would have been quicker....that is my excuse.

Actually it didn't take too long to get over the bridge even though it was Friday evening, the reason perhaps that it took longer than normal is because.....

muggins went wrong on the roadways......i have driven this route 100s of times but this time for some reason i missed a turning and ended up in Bewbush in Sussex and then had to negotiate my way back to the A24.

Having got to West Chiltington I missed the turning into John's road, well it was dark, and his road is an unmade lane...so i think i should be forgiven.

Saturday morning i went to Worthing library to try and get information about my old school which closed in 1966 - i think i left in 1964/5 so it didn't close because of me and my antics. Managed to get some paper cuttings and a picture of the school for my scrapbooking project then walked to Broadwater where I had parked the car. I was too mean to try and park and pay exorbitant parking fees it was blooming freezing Sussex anyway a 25 minute walk did me good, mind you it was blooming freezing.

Quiet night in tonight....they have been gallivanting out a lot and so a log fire, some wine and a nice meal......sounds good to me.

made a mistake in the last one about Amsterdam

can't find how to edit it, everytime I hit edit it won't let me edit the blooming thing...

well here we are, me pointing to my name... and the three of us, wet and COLD....

Amsterdam January 2011

last weekend i went to Amsterdam with my 13 year old grandson and 30 something year old son, Robert. It was WET, COLD AND WINDY but I suppose one can't expect much else in January. Who came up with the idea of going in January - oh me...silly me.

Yes this is a CLOG. a bit big for me but you could sit in it.

We had a good time though but the euros don't go far do they.

This was going to be a bonding weekend before I go away for a few months, (no not prison - how can you think that of me)...no I am going to visit my daughter in New Zealand, going from winter here to Autum there! again not the best planning. On the way I am going to stay in Los Angeles for a week with a cousin whom I have never met....hope he and his wife like me. Back to talking about Amsterdam.......

Ryan was rather interested in the red light district and the ladies in the windows! says he is going back when he is 16....however his mother didn't agree to that...I wonder why.

We did some cultural things like visit the Van Gogh museum...not sure that I like his pictures that much, one or two but i prefer Leonardo and Rembrandt. Not that I know much about art, but you do know what you like don't you.

They even had sign up with my name on it....

We also went to the Anne Frank House...very moving and I was close to tears, the vibes were still there.

Happy Thursday

What can I say, today I had a day off from work, I am now working part time but finish my contract on the 25th February. I have been covering maternity leave for the last six months or so and cannot believe the time has flown so fast. I have been working for a lovely lady psychiatrist who is sooooooooooooo busy. However the job has been great and of course the extra dosh on top of my pension is wonderful. I am a bit worried though whether I will cope with being retired.

No doubt my wonderful daughter will keep me occupied as she is in her third year of uni in New ZEaland and the three grandsons will also keep me occupied.

Happy Thursday because I had Sue and Peter round to have lunch with me and we sat and talked and went through the scrapbooking albums for about 5 hours, thanks you two for a lovely relaxing afternoon....nice change from rushing around having to be somewhere.

The King[s Speech

I have just come back from the cinema to see COLIN FIRTH, (to me he is still Mr. Darcy) as King George VI...he was brilliant. I loved the whole film and Helena Bonham Carter was excellent as Q.E. Queen Mother.
Highly recommend this film, hope I can watch it again on the plane when I go to see the family in the antipodes...the flights are long enough to watch many films.
The trouble is I get bored on long flights, you can only watch so much t.v. or read x amount before you get tired of everything. I pray to SLEEP but it isn't always easy to sleep on planes...hopefully Virgin Atlantic will be kind to me and not book all the premium seats because.....my lovely nephew Richard works for Virgin and has arranged for me to be UPGRADED but only if there are seats available...so my dear friends start praying for me.

Oh What a Rainy Day

Well I guess it had to be rainy, after all we haven't had much rain lately only snow and ice! off to the Suffolk cottage today with the girls from the HIYA CROP, Jayne and Claire as Fabi can't make it - until Sunday with the cameras, anyone got a waterproof case for the Nikon I could borrow oh and some wellies.

I am determined to get Auntie Fairy to take a walk at Snape even if it is raining...If i mention the word walk she thinks I am swearing at her. I certainly need the exercise in order to get into training for my forthcoming trip to see Jo et al in NZ. Jo will insist on my walking through forests or up blooming volcanos or something.....so once the trip to Amsterdam is over next weekend I think it will have to be 3 milkshakes a day and have my mouth wired so that food can't find a way into the mouth.

if i manage to get any shots in the rain i will upload beautiful Suffolk...off now, see you later.

Did i say i didn't mind looking silly....well we found this CROWN and it felt only right that I should try it on.....







actually

















I think I look rather wistful in this one











perhaps I am wishing I was really a queen.....no not BOUDICA or Cartimandua....

Raghead aka Lyn

I went to Egypt in September and it was so blooming hot I decided I didn't mind if i looked a bit idiotic so I got our guide to make me a turban.....here it is...not very flattering however does that matter too much as long as I am comfortable!

2011 - New Year Resolution

New Year has come and gone and also thankfully Christmas. I am the original Bah Humbug...it is not that I am tight i do like giving presents etc. it is all the hype and consumerism I don't like so next year I am either going to holiday somewhere where they don't have Christmas OR probably more appropriately, I am going to offer to do some charity work with the homeless. On the other hand if my residency papers have arrived then I may just travel to New Zealand and spend Christmas and New Year in Australasia...far more pleasant than the northern hemisphere's climes.



So New Year resolutions - i am not going to bother because, they only seem to last for a very very short period of time before they get broken however, I have decided to try and become more of a writer hence the blogspot. Also when I go to visit the family overseas my intention is to keep a diary on the blogspot and upload photos, yes photos of ME, hopefully being silly. You can then all see what I am up to! (or not).



Do you know the older I get the more I like being silly....life is too short to take it too seriously, i just would like more people to be silly with! However Auntie Fairy (aka Jayne) and I manage with our friends Fabiana and Claire aka they Hiya Crop girls do manage to go away at weekends occasionally to scrapbook, eat too much, play with cameras, play being the operative word (in my case anyway) because the theory eludes me. I want to be the next best camera person but somehow I can never remember which button I should be using!



I will try and upload a couple of silly photos of me so you get a taste as and when I can find them on the computer to upload.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and may you all be blessed with good health and happiness.