Enjoying the bubbles and beer...

Kristie, Tracey, Chris, Maya, Sophy, Mhairi and Jackie
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Deck crew...

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Now the fun starts!

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Early on - the sun is out, we've got our Pimms - all is right with the world!

Cake baker extraordinaire!

Cake baker extraordinaire! (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Mhairi and the fab cake she made for me - chocolate honey cake. Everyone LOVED it!!

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Couldn't have done it without these guys - and Owen taking the photo!

Tracey & me

Tracey & me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

All frocked up and waiting for the guests to arrive...

And then there were two...

On June 3rd Tracey arrived for her big UK adventure :-).

First up was a ride on the London Eye and then a stroll around the streets of London in my attempt to get her an idea of how London is laid out. Not sure how well it worked out, but we had a lovely time strolling around!

I also saw the new Battle of Britain memorial on the Embankment which I hadn't seen before. I think I have a thing for war memorials, but I found it very moving.

Street art on Tate Modern

Street art on Tate Modern (1)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic street art on the walls of the Tate

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

In full on sight-seeing mode!

Battle of Britain memorial

Battle of Britain memorial (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey in the pod

Tracey in the pod
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

With Westminster and Big Ben behind her...

A wedding in Paradise

Oh ok then - Virgin Gorda to be exact...

I headed off to Tortola - which involved a flight to Antigua, then a small plane to Tortola. Waiting for a taxi at Tortola I met two of the other wedding guests from London so we shared a taxi to our hotel where we met up with Kristie and her family. We had a night in Tortola and then headed off the next day to Virgin Gorda where we were going to be based for the wedding.

The week panned out like this:

Thursday: To Virgin Gorda: Settled in to the Villas (I was in Villa Del Sole - and being the first to arrive it meant that I had the pick of the rooms!). It was up the hill from the other villas, but we had a lovely view out over the ocean.
Friday: Kristie and John laid on two sailboats for us, and we had a day sailing and snorkelling around Virgin Gorda. The theme was 'Pirates' - unsuprisingly given where we were! Absolutely beautiful. Highlight for me was seeing a sea turtle while snorkelling - absolutely amazing!
Saturday: Spent getting Caribbean Wind ready for the wedding (5pm), then attending the wedding! Then having a fantastic party, ending up in the swimming pool, and generally having a fab time.
Sunday: Very quiet day as everyone recovered from their excesses of the night before... And I got my back fried by the sun as I floated in the sea for ages trying to feel like a human being again...
Monday: A trip to The Baths - a stunning part of the coast, with great snorkelling and swimming (like everywhere else on the island).
Tuesday: Everybody headed off. I had a night in Antigua, which while beautiful just wasn't a patch on Virgin Gorda...

Highlights: Spending a week with a fantastic bunch of people who were all so much fun and so friendly. Going to somewhere that looked like it was straight out of a travel magazine - not my usual travel destination at all! Seeing Kristie and John get married - a beautiful, simple ceremony on the beach, the sunsets. So lovely.

I really really really want to go back...

Some photos below, but more on Flickr (as always)

The Girls on the last night

The Girls on the last night (3)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Devil's Bay, The Baths, Virgin Gorda

Devil's Bay, The Baths, Virgin Gorda (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And this beach...

Marina Cay - Pirate Day

Marina Cay - Pirate Day
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Heading to Marina Cay on the sailing 'Pirate Day' to pick up the last few guests. Look at that water!!

John & Kristie during the ceremony

John & Kristie during the ceremony
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Sunset from Villa del Sole

Sunset from Villa del Sole (4)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Says it all really!

Beach life

Beach life
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me in the process of getting my back fried...

Party planning

So before we could have the main event on June 7th, the party planning committee had to get together one last time to test the BBQ's (and build it in Julia's case!), test out the lighting etc.

And generally just sit around and have yet another lovely evening at Simon's place! Some photos below, and more on my Flickr account...

The planning paid off - Owen worked out how to best operate the gas BBQ!

The proud owner - success at last!

The proud owner
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

It took a wee bit longer than the 20mins it said it would take in the instructions...

Now where does this bit go...

Busy building (3)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Simon checking on the chefs...

Simon checking on the chefs...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Does this really make any sense?

In a knitting shop the other day (which has opened up down the road from one of EY's offices), they were selling Organic Sheeps wool...

Now really - isn't that just pandering to white middle class PC-ness?? Does it really make a difference to the wool depending on whether the grass is organic or not...

And it wasn't cheap either!

No I'm not being lazy...

I just haven't been doing very much lately as I'm saving my pennies for my holiday, closely followed by the arrival of Tracey :-).

So this week I'm off to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for my friend's wedding - very excited!!

The wedding is on the beach next Saturday at Mahoe Bay - followed by the reception at the Carribean Wind Villa. Which is also where I'm staying :-).

So expect (hopefully), many fantastic photos upon my return...

Err... that would be the great flood of Tooley Street

Further to my post below check out some of the photos and a clip from youTube here. I've also read that 7m litres of water gushed out...

No wonder my office was shut!

Bonus!

So apparently they were doing some work on the water mains around my place of work over the weekend, and managed to burst a big one. Leading to flooding of my office. Leading to us not being allowed in today.

And sadly as my laptop was at work I (along with several hundred other people no doubt) got to have a bonus day off work! Can't argue with that :-). Especially as I'd had Friday off as well so got a 4 day weekend - bril!

Sadly they think we'll be able to go back in tomorrow...

More film recommendations...

So on Friday after the ceremony I ended up going to see Son of Rambow - which was just fantastic. Tells the story of two boys who try to recreate Rambo - very well done, and very funny. Some of the stunt scenes had me laughing out loud - a tad embarrassing when there were only 6 of us in the cinema! So I would definitely recommend that if you need to come out of the cinema with a smile on your face and feeling that life is pretty good.

Tonight I've just been to see Shine A Light - I'm not a huge Rolling Stones fan so I wasn't sure why I said I'd go, but it was fantastic. We saw it at the IMAX, which was a bit like being at the gig - a full on aural experience! And boy - can Mick Jagger move those hips!! Definitely one for some of my older siblings/extended family...

ANZAC Day

I took today off work for a couple of reasons - it had been a while since I'd been to the wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph, I haven't had a holiday since I did the West Highland Way last year, and I thought it would be nice to go again for Mum & Dad.

We've been having real April weather here - some sun and lots of showers, but today was lovely in the morning. I got to Whitehall quite early so was in time to get a poppy (from the NZ RSA which I thought was a nice touch), as well as an order of service - I often seem to have missed those in the past. It was a lovely ceremony - very simple. The troops march in, wreaths are layed, the Last Post is played, a few prayers, the National Anthems and that is it. I really noticed this year that the number of men and women who would have been in WW2 is greatly reduced from when I first went years ago. There were not many people who looked like ex-service people this year. But the crowd wasn't a bad size - and the NZ anthem had a few people singing it so it wasn't just me there...

Afterwards I went and laid my flowers for Dad and Mum - they look a bit pathetic next to the wreaths, but I'm really pleased I did it. Some photos below, but more on my Flickr site as well.

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them".

Wreaths + my flowers...

Wreaths + my flowers...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Saluting the national anthems

Saluting the national anthems
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Cenotaph with wreaths

Cenotaph with wreaths
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A hint of summer

Bit of a red letter day today - was wearing a short sleeved top around the office, and even sat outside after work for a glass of wine.

Summer may be coming after all!

Fantastic Peter Doig

So on Sunday I toddled off to see the Peter Doig exhibition with Mhairi and Nicola - as usual just squeaking in before it closes...

Absolutely loved it! Very supernatural quality to a lot of his paintings - I found them really eerie and quite scary some of them. Was sorely tempted to buy the catalogue (which is unusual for me), but I'll wait until I've been paid and go back and get it when I can afford it!

But just stunning paintings - and obviously appealed to the horror fan in me :-).

Portishead - so NOT a disappointment!

On Thursday it was off to Brixton Academy to see Portishead - who have finally released their third album, 12 years after their last one!

We were upstairs (which meant we got to sit down) which was great (especially for my pregnant friend!). And they were really really good. The lead singer is apparently really shy - I had thought she was being a cool rock chick by standing with her back to the crowd for a long time when they first came on, but that wasn't the reason. She also has an amazing voice, but unlike Hollie Smith, the band didn't drown it out and it was just fantastic. Their new stuff worked well too I thought. This review is from their Manchester gig, but it could equally have been the one we saw.

It made sitting through the torturous support band worthwhile - some truly awful band playing what sounded like Eastern European gypsy music. And we were there for almost all of it - it was enough to drive a severely hung over person to drink!!

Hollie Smith and camels...

Mhairi, me and her friend KT went off to see Hollie Smith at a club in West London. We met at the Grand Union pub for dinner beforehand. As we approached it, Mhairi told me they were famous for their pies... given that I have a bit of a pie fetish at the moment that was very exciting!

So I had to have the mini-pie platter - a mini-fish pie, a mini-vege pie, a mini chicken pie (very nice - I don't normally like chicken pies) and a MINI-CAMEL pie!! Oh - and chips. Just to top off the healthy meal... And in case you're wondering the camel pie was rather nice. Although very rich - I'm not sure I could have done a whole one...

Hollie Smith herself was somewhat disappointing - she has such an amazing voice, but her band was too loud. The drummer especially was very annoying and overpowering. So it wasn't as good as we had been hoping.

Although I did notice that Kiwi boys seem to have finally updated their style - there was a real dearth of rugby shirts with turned up collars which was good to see!

London Marathon, Mile 18, April 13th 2008

London Marathon, Mile 18, April 13th 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Marathon running in the cold...

So on Sunday 13th Julia and I headed into town to watch the London Marathon again. Bit different from last year - where we'd been sweltering in temps of 24 deg, this time it was about 9 or 10. Freezing!

We found a spot by mile 18, but rather annoyingly missed our fastest friend Sam (who finished just under 3.5 hours), and I saw the back of another friend, Julia spotted a friend she hadn't realised was doing it, and the other two people I wanted to see I missed completely!

But it was still good fun, although we didn't stay out too long - too cold for us! We retired to a pub to have lunch and proceeded to sit through more heavy showers and hailstorms! Rather the runners than me...

And its snowing!!

Woke up this morning to the following views from my flat window... Crazy climate - no snow all winter, then a few flakes a couple of weeks ago and now this. And given that we had temps in London of around 14-16 deg during the week...

But I love it! It is sooooo pretty :-)

Garden under snow... April 2008

Garden under snow... April 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Blossoms under snow... April 2008

Blossoms under snow... April 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A few snaps...

Yesterday Nicola and I went to see the Vanity Fair exhibition on at the National Portrait Gallery - which was great. I quite often buy the mag so it was interesting to see some of the photos 'in the flesh' as it were.

After that we lunched then wandered around many shops - and Nicola showed me some really rather cool streets off the beaten track which I'd never found before. But it was rainy and cold and busy so our enthusiasm for shopping diminished as the day went on...

Henry Moore at Kew Gardens

Last Monday Julia and I went to Kew to see the Henry Moore sculptures which have been on display at Kew since September but which finished yesterday.

It was a freezing day, and in between the snow and sleet showers we wandered around and looked at the sculptures which I thought were fantastic. I did wish I had managed to go on a sunny day as I think they would have looked even better in brilliant sunshine.

But they still took my breath away - a couple of snaps here, and more in my Flickr account...

Large Upright Internal/External Form

Large Upright Internal/External Form
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

One of my absolute faves.

Double Oval

Double Oval
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

These were also very cool - hard to get a photo of them without someone's body parts in it though :-(

Glory of Snow

Glory of Snow
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic alpine flowers which made the grass look blue (as you can see!).

From South to North to South again...

via many transport means...

Shanks' pony
Train to Vauxhall, tube to Highbury & Islington, train from H&I to Homerton to collect a very swollen faced Maya from the hospital, back on the train to H&I, then tube to Vauxhall, then train to Wimbledon, then taxi to Maya's flat, then bus back to Wimbledon to get the train back to Surbs. Leaving poor old Maya to crawl into bed and feel very sorry for herself...

Oh - and its about 4 deg outside and I managed to be caught outside in two hail storms and one snow shower...

Gotta love this country - we have a really mild winter with no snow, when it gets to Easter and a 4 day weekend the temperature plummets and now we might get snow!

Birthdays!

Its been a week dominated by birthdays - Wednesday I was out to help Jackie celebrate her birthday at Lowlander. I'd never been before but it was a great wee cafe - definitely one I'll be going back to. We all had a lovely evening and I had a lovely bowl of Moules with Frites. Very nice!

Thursday it was off out to Rasa to help Julia celebrate her birthday. Another lovely evening - although I felt a bit sorry for the table sat behind ours... And the meal was absolutely delicious as well!

And still 3 days left of Easter - I love long weekends!

Firsts...

So in the last month I went to a podiatrist for the first time - where I learnt that I walk funny, and should be using innersoles... I'd been having 'toe issues' so thought I should get them checked out.

And today, after doing something horrendous to my neck on Saturday morning I paid my first visit to an Osteopath! Who did lots of moving my head and neck around, and it does seem to be a bit better. I think it was getting there anyhow, but it was nice to have it checked out - and I could really feel the bit that was unhappy when he zeroed in on it!

Oh - and he did acupuncture on it as well so that was another first as well!

Exploring the world of Skype

I have finally downloaded Skype - after a bit of encouragement from Eryn! My technology master (aka Mhairi) has been using it for ages (of course - where she goes I follow - eventually...), and it looks fab.

Free Skype to Skype calls (and video calls - which Eryn and I are going to check out), plus it has an instant messaging function as well which looks pretty cool. So I'm strongly encouraging people to download it - or let me know if you are on it already. Even if we can't video call (or even normal call), we can instant message each other!

Films still going well...

Went to see 'There Will Be Blood' last weekend which I thought was just fantastic. Should have got the best film Oscar in my opinion, even though I did also think 'No Country for Old Men' was good as well...

Photographer extraordinaire...

Well sort of...

I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Schmap.com saying one of my photos from my Flickr account had been shortlisted for their new Memphis online guide, and today I heard it had been included!

No money involved - just the kudos really. But if you look at the Memphis guide its one of the photos of the Rum Boogie Cafe - feeling smugly pleased with myself really...

Interesting as well as I hadn't come across these guides before but they have one for Salzburg so will have to check it out for mine and Tracey's upcoming adventure!

I have been doing stuff....

Just have been being a bit slack about updating the blog to reflect it. But read on...

I'm at home at the mo - suffering from/fighting off cold number 2 for this winter which is a bit of a drag. I'm hoping this day under the duvet will enable me to fight it off. I'm sure its cos we haven't had a particularly cold winter - so the germs are multiplying and mutating...

My two favourite nieces...

OK - I only have two anyhow.... but they are still my favourite nieces...

Maya and Lucy in Opotiki, February 2008








(with thanks to Marilyn for posting the pic on her blog. If it wasn't for you I'd never see pictures of the Abrahams! Maurie's bike pics don't count...)

So what is a Black Hole exactly?

Sadly I'm none the wiser, despite going to the Black Holes show at the Planetarium on Saturday... My poor wee brain just struggled with all of the too big concepts for it... But it was great - narrated by Liam Neeson, fantastic visually, and I can now throw around words like wormholes (and others which I can't quite remember right now...) with confidence.

Then we (being Jackie and Mhairi) met Nicola, who took us to the fantastic Greenwich Union for lunch - delish food and great beer - and not bad puddings either!

Then we wandered around Greenwich Market for a wee while - which I love. But it was sooooo cold I made sure we headed off home before the sun went down cos I wanted to be home in the warmth before that happened!

Nicola has a birthday...

Which involved a double celebration - a quick drink after work on the actual day (Waitangi Day - if only she was a NZer...) and then the following Saturday we trooped off to Guanabara for a very enjoyable evening of sort of Brazilian music, some food, some Brazilian beer, and a great display of Capoeira.

I wore my 'date top' - so named for the unlikely event that I do ever go on a date, but I did get several compliments (from my friends I hasten to add) on it which was nice!

Musically...

Not much - but I did go and see The Hours who were great. They have been one of my fave bands for a while - so much so that their CD formed part of Thomas' very late 21st birthday present!

But it was a good gig to start the year on - next up is Band of Horses (who I'm fully expecting to be fantastic), and Hot Chip - which is a late show at Brixton so I'm a bit nervous about that!

First walk of 2008

Was undertaken by me, Julia, Craig and Kevin on February 2nd. Borough Green to Sevenoaks - 9.5miles.

Not a particularly outstanding walk scenery wise - we never really felt like we were that far away from anyone else, but it was a lovely day weatherwise, we had a great lunch at yet another fantastic country pub, and as it was quite short we were home quite early!

Although we did pass some quite fantastically posh houses and stables - oh how the other half live....

There are some photos on Flickr - which seems to be down at the mo so I can't blog them. Do take a look tho.

A film-ic life

I've been making a real attempt to get to the movies and actually see the films that I want to, instead of just saying 'Oh I want to see that' and then ending up watching it on DVD when it comes out.

So... Recently I've seen:

• 'Sweeney Todd' which I thought was fab. Another great Tim Burton film.
• 'In the Valley of Elah' - also fab. Tommy Lee Jones was great - and it just told the story in such an understated way. Made me think.
  
• 'No Country for Old Men' - new Coen brothers film. Another great TLJ performance - and looks like a sure bet for the Best Film Oscar.
• 'Control' - story of Ian Curtis from Joy Division (OK - that was on DVD at Kevin's, but he has a big tv and a great sound system so its like watching it at the movies anyhow...)

On my hit list are 'There Will Be Blood', 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' and the 'River Queen' - which is finally being released here!

Cushion Cover - 7 years in the making!

Cushion Cover - 7 years in the making!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

So after 7 years I've finally finished it! Just need to get it made into a cushion cover now...

But I have done other projects in the interim - including 2 cross-stitches and another tapestry...

But I'm pleased to have this one done!

Pretty Thames view, Jan 2008

Thames, Jan 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Photo from my stroll last Sunday from Surbiton to Richmond via the Tow Path - making the most of the rarely seen sun!

Looking towards Richmond, Jan 2008

Looking towards Richmond, Jan 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And another one...

The History Boys

Divya and I went to see The History Boys on Thursday night. Really good play, even though we were up in the Gods, so it was a bit like watching the top of their heads at time! But it was so well done that we forgot that we were so high up. And as the tickets were only £10 I can't complain!

I'm quite keen to watch the film as well, but I think I'll wait a while before doing that. The play is meant to be better.

The Lovely Lenny!

The Lovely Lenny!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Isn't he gorgeous?? First Lenny pic of 2008. How more handsome could he be??

Holding my position

For the second year in a row, Megan is the 17th most popular girls name. Still haven't climbed back up to the dizzying heights of 6th (2003), but I'm still in the top 20!

Proof can be found here.

Happy New Year!

2007 is on the way out...

And I'm sat in front of the TV watching the 'World's Strongest Man' - always been one of my fave tv programs at this time of year. So while I watch crazy men do ridiculous feats I'll update my blog with some of the things I've been doing over the last couple of weeks.

Apologies for sporadic-ness of blogging recently - I'm finding it difficult to get the energy together to do it. Hopefully this will improve as time goes on.

Christmas 2007

Was a very low key affair. Kevin let us use his house as he disappeared back up to Wem for Christmas, so me, Maya and Chris spent the day with a lot more space and better TV toys etc than we would have had if we'd spent it in my one bedroom flat!

Chris cooked us a lovely roast chicken, we opened our presents and then we just watched lots of TV...

Boxing Day we headed off for the second year in a row to Hampton Court to go ice skating. This year though I passed the skates over to Chris...

Maya and Chris and dinner

Maya and Chris and dinner
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me and Maya amongst the ruins of dinner!

Me and Maya amongst the ruins of dinner!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And here they come...

And here they come...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The ice before the skaters hit

The ice before the skaters hit
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

More photos

I've blogged a few more photos from Simon's dinner party a few weeks ago - courtesy of his friend Jenny.

Me modelling my new Phantom t-shirt

Me modelling my new Phantom t-shirt
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I bought this at Auckland Airport on my way back to the UK - I've always loved the Phantom so couldn't believe my luck!!

Cheers!

Cheers!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Us in the midst of having a lovely time!

Julia & Simon

Julia & Simon
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Love Is A Mix Tape

I've just finished reading the above book, by Rob Sheffield.

Absolutely brilliant.

Very very sad, but also just captures the whole power of music as well. And at times I felt like he was describing my life - which I'm sure many readers would think as well! I won't go through the storyline - you can read that on the Amazon link, but it really made me think about things - I seem to really be thinking about music in my life since Mum, and this book really reinforced that.

I remember sat in the front of the radio in the sunporch in Taupo, creating mix tapes from the radio. Listening to the Top 20 and taping the songs as they came on - always managing to get a bit of the announcer in as well!

Then going to university and music being one of the key connectors as I became friends with Raewyn. I always felt a bit of a fraud - she seemed so much cooler and into better music than me but I went along with it, figuring that I could bluff my way along. And 20 years later we're still friends :-). And so many of my other friends as well - even now I'm making new friends through a shared love of music and gig going...

And there is the whole magic of making mix tapes for people. I still have tapes that friends made me (Raewyn, Jonathan....) and we would have huge mixing sessions at Marlborough Street if there was going to be a party - although we would re-use old tapes there was always new music that needed to be added. And while creating a CD is the same principle I don't quite think it is quite the same...

And when Kevin and I first got together, it was music that was the common bond, we both made tapes for each other (him many more than me it has to be said...), and even now I still pick up so much new music from him. (And he lent me the book...)

Anyhow - I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this - but it was such a great book, and spoke to me in so many ways that I just wanted to try and put some of that down. I absolutely recommend it - but with tissues. I cried, I laughed and I've gone back to music that I haven't listened to for ages because of it.

I guess in some ways it has made me appreciate even more the love of music that Mum and my family have given me. I just can't imagine not having music to love and hate.

As always - any music recommendations always welcome!

And a bit of singing...

On December 15th, me, Simon, Nicola and Mhairi went to listen to Jackie sing with her choir - the Fulham & Hammersmith Choral Society.

The first half of the program was a performance of the A Sea Symphony, while the second half was some Christmas carols - aided and abetted by a bit of mulled wine and some mince pies... It was a lovely evening - and while singing the carols in the church where the concert was held, I almost felt Christmassy...

He's behind you...

So this year I went to see what I think is my first panto as well - I'm pretty sure I haven't been to one before!

Steve - a friend from work was playing Wishy Washy in Aladdin at the South London Theatre - and it was absolutely brilliant. Steve was just fantastic ("Wotcha Wishy Washy!!") and the audience participation was full on. Lots of booing and hissing when the baddie came on, a bit of singing along to Waterloo, lots of shouting 'Oh yes he will, oh no he won't, he's behind you...' type of stuff. I came out and my face was just aching from smiling and having had such a fun evening.

What a great tradition!!

And here is Steve on the left as Wishy Washy, with his 'Mother', Widow Twanky...

A wee round up...

Of the last week...

Sunrise in Surbiton

Sunrise in Surbiton, Dec 2007
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Its got really cold and frosty this week - very clear nights and days - this was the tail end of what was probably a stunning sunrise earlier this week...

A not so Golden film...

On Sunday Kevin and I went to see The Golden Compass which I had been very excited about seeing but it was a wee bit disappointing... Such a shame - the books are so fantastic and the film just didn't quite get it. Bits of it I liked, but on the whole it was just not as fab as it could have been.

And lyrics of another kind...

Saturday a group of us headed around to Simon's place for a dinner party - his kitchen extension was finished and he wanted to show it off.

Was it the copious bottles of bubbles, the lovely port Julia bought or the gorgeous damson plum vodka supplied by Nicola, but it wasn't long before we got the SingStar out... Even I sung!!

It was a great evening - as some of the photos prove :-). Fortunately I was taking them so there are no embarrassing shots of me.

Happy singers in between tunes...

Mhairi, Julia, Owen
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Mhairi, Julia and Owen relax while another tune is selected!

Who needs matches when you have a blowtorch?

Mhairi, Owen, Si
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Simon and Owen attempt a ballad - which works on Mhairi!

Getting ready for the go...

J, N, M, J
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Jackie, Nicola, Mhairi and Julia wait for the song to start.

Beware the random lyric...

I'm learning that there are songs I just shouldn't listen to when I'm in public - any old Neil Diamond (especially 'Cracklin' Rosie'), Kris Kristofferson, 'I Miss You' by The Hours... But its the random ones that hit you - the latest lyric came from 'Either Way' by The Twang - "She's the one thats always there, she's the one that always cares".

It really doesn't take much at the moment.

Roses in bloom, Taupo

Roses in bloom, Taupo
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Emailed to my by Tracey from her phone, so not too bad quality!

The Shields Whanau (by age)

The Shields Whanau (by age)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

L to R: Jonathan, Bruce Leigh, Adrian, Tracey, Eryn & Me.

The first time we'd ALL been together in 30 years - and the first time ever (as far as I can establish) that a photo of all 7 of us has been taken...

Come on - what are you waiting for?

Come on - what are you waiting for? (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Desperate to be chased....

Bacchus in black & white

Bacchus in black & white
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Bacchus with one of his fave toys - depending on his mood!

Hmm... Thats not a duck...

Hmm... Thats not a duck...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

"This looks like something I could be chasing... but its not a duck...? Looks sort of tasty tho"

Bacchus and Alex face off in Lake Taupo, November 2007

Things I have learnt over the last 5 weeks...

• My family are amazing. I sort of always knew that, but now I REALLY know it.
• My friends are also pretty amazing. Especially my 'Gatekeeper' Kevin - couldn't have managed without him.
• The healing power of a hug from people who love you can never be underestimated - be they friends or family.
• Acknowledgment is always better than silence.
• It is lovely to sit up drinking Scottish whisky with my family.
• Bacchus is a dog that has bat ears, behaves on the odd occasion like a cat, but is everything a dog should be...
  
• My self proclaimed 'Scrabble Queen' title may be under threat...