Shelly Bay

Wings Over Wairarapa

In the neighbourhood

We went to Pickle for dinner last night with Charlie's mum, and to be totally honest I have mixed feelings about the place. The atmosphere was great; I love the ceiling of pickle jars, the flower arrangements and miss-matched chairs. The drinks menu was also great; we had Six Barrel Soda and Rekorderlig cider. To start we ordered barbeque fries with aoli, and sliders which were delicious and affordable (3 pulled pork with tomato salsa and 3 ham, cheese and pineapple for $20). We were off to a good start, with fries wrapped in a newspaper cone and presented in block of wood, and the sliders on smaller slabs of wood.

But we each chose a large plate to share for dinner (smoked salmon, potato and chive salad; roast chicken, basil pesto and tomato salad; 57°c skirt steak, iceberg salad and condensed milk dressing) and I found them rather lacklustre - no outstanding flavours that Charlie and I would struggle to recreate at home (that's saying something) and little attention to presentation. I'd heard a lot of great things about their quirky dishes, so perhaps we were too conservative with our choices. The staff were friendly, but a little disorganised - we were served by several different people throughout the meal, and asked for our initial drinks order twice.

Overall, it was a nice evening out. I'd definitely go there again for a cider and sliders (and wouldn't mind trying the sausages and something from the sweets menu) but we probably wouldn't bother again for a dinner.

Now, when is Mt Vic Chippery opening?

Turtle

This afternoon I got two hours done on a new tattoo! This adorable little turtle that Char/Nursey at Dr Morse Inc had drawn up randomly and I haddd to have. Charlie really wanted it too but he said he'd pay for it as my early Christmas present. The best. He's on the frontish of my left arm, above my elbow ditch. Inner arm definitely hurts a lot more than outer arm did, but as usual it's staying still that's the worst part for me. So restless. Although I was quite impressed by how much Tinkture's product Rapture helped in relaxing my legs and other arm. I might write more tattooey stuff after my next session in a few weeks but wanted to show you how he's coming along so far.

I'm off to enjoy the sun at a barbeque. Have a great weekend!

Brighter than the Moon, Moon, Moon

An Olympic gold medal ceremony was held in Auckland this evening so shot putter Valerie Adams could finally get her well deserved medal. Here in Wellington we were treated to a fireworks show, the first that's been held since we moved into our home with a view and now I am super duper excited for Guy Fawkes Night! Wallace was a little alarmed by the boomin', particularly when our neighbours joined in with a few sparklers of their own, but coped way better than I expected considering his crippling fear of the vacuum cleaner. Here's a couple of photos I snapped from our window.

Reeling with the Feeling

I had to delete a bunch of photos from my SD card recently.

A set for The Hobbit in Miramar. This was clearly visible from the road, so I figure it's okay to post.

Out of focus but I like this photo of my sister anyway.

Dad driving.

 My parents' neighbours.

Vapour trail and sunset.

Wallace deep in thought.

Awkward farm lean. Not quite as casual as I'd envisaged.

This last photo was taken by my friend Sarah, who I've mentioned several times on my blog. We originally met because we both have autoimmune diseases. She runs the Super Young Arthritis of New Zealand Facebook page, and is going to be on Close Up tomorrow night (Thursday, 6 September). Make sure you tune in if you're in New Zealand and would like to learn a bit more about how people cope living with conditions similar to mine.

Fireworks

Petone Winter Carnival fireworks across the harbour this evening.

Wintry

Time Capsules

I think most teenage girls keep diaries of some description. During my early years at college (high school) I had several Winnie the Pooh spiral bound notebooks in which I would over-analyse petty dramas. How fun was puberty?! I don't know how old I'll have to be before I can look back through those pages without groaning and cringing.

In 2004 I copied a couple of other friends, and replaced those notebooks with page-a-day printed diaries, up until 2008. It's something I think I'll resume next year, because while there are still many embarrassing entries, they're more of a scrapbook of each year. There's the occasional wordy rant, but mostly the pages are covered with photos, tickets, and letters. A school friend's damaged print from photography class, prompts from a first year charades game, an article on Heath Ledger's death.

Battle

Upper Plain