Gardens and Bikes...

Last weekend I was having a chat with a friend of mine from Invercargill, New Zealand.  To those that do not know the city of Invercargill, it is quite special, truly New Zealand and pretty much at the bottom of the country.  Gorgeous gardens, great shopping, very very friendly people and they serve up really really good food.  Anyway, she was asking about Doha and I was trying to describe some of the gardens to her.  This post is for Val.  Some of the gardens in our compound and the bikes that are so important to its life-blood.

18 months into my retirement...

I am 18 months into my chosen retirement and I am only just beginning to feel like I am getting myself and the household organised enough.  Organisation is key as there is just too much to fit into the day - whoever said that there is not a lot to do?!!!  Who is scared of retirement because they would not know what to do?  Definitely not me!

My two largest time commitments are with Teagan's school and the Girl Guiding association.  It was only just last night that I realised that on a Thursday (including travel and some preparation), four and a half hours disappears with Guiding!  A Wednesday is little better with school reading (including kid pick-up etc).  But what value and last night I had a little Rainbow (same as Pippins) and little Beaver cooking their dinner over a charcoal fire - bliss!

I have also managed to increase my labour requirements in the home for two main reasons: (1)  I will not have a house cleaner as I am not working and (2)  I keep our food to "low processed".  Essentially keeping our "lives more simple".  In the mornings I pack a breakfast for Teagan, morning snack for her, lunch for her and a lunch for Ross.  The contents of which are mostly all home made (jam included). Last week Teagan complained about her lunch as it was not normal.  I enquired as to what "normal" is and it seems that it is the food that you buy at the shops and it comes in packets.  We then let her buy herself a "packet" treat last week - it was thrown out as she didn't like it!!


And of course there is always the finance which at times explodes my greying hair.  A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to co-ordinate the three properties we have and the repairs/maintenance for all, I could have nearly repainted the brick house and rebricked the plaster house.  But thankfully I had a small reward as I spent time following a Comcom investigation into some dubious marketing by Carter Holt Harvey (one of our properties having some of the mislabelled timber in the roof).  Thankfully those that had contributed and followed we had a small but not insignificant payout.  Having the time to work on this does pay true dividends.

A final benefit of being home based is the energy that can be put into efficiency.  This efficiency comes in many forms.  My current best is the iPhone 4s that I have sourced via the USA costing a mere fraction of the cost of the same phone ex. Europe or Qatar.  But by far the best is the home.  The three of us get to be together and right now our favourite time is the weekend evenings by the charcoal fire with Teagan sound asleep on the swinging couch as we read over the coals - is that not true bliss!

 

Doha for the holidays....

Yep...we stayed home this school break.  And why?  Three reasons; saving annual leave for Ross, keeping life "more simple" for Teagan, and finally saving up the money to spend on an extended Christmas holiday.  During the holidays here, the airport is the busiest place imaginable as hordes of people leave to travel around Asia and Europe.  Doha is incredibly close to many destinations and in many cases is a single flight away.  Within four to seven hours you can be somewhere so different from anywhere else, the opportunities are extreme.  Our plan was to explore Doha and to eat out a little and generally just be around home and keeping a simple life.  Of course, that was the plan until....

I ended up with a small shell-fish embedded in my knee and a large toe so blackened and swollen that the couch and TV screen option became preferable.....(mind you, I did re-network our, TV, PS3, VPN and internet links.....now we have no delays in our TV watching)

I shall not go into the details of how One should not carry a child over slippery rocks at night.....as it is rather silly...but don't do it!

Back to some holiday photos: in this range we enjoy three dinners out, a deluge of rain and some very simple food with New Zealand honey and Vegemite....

A new car carrier...what a girl must have!

Got to have a good play with my Dad..he loves cars!

My new Grandma, Aunty Marilyn and Mum dress!

Good toys and good company

Direct view of the Eid holiday fireworks - La Veranda restaurant

Some ice cream please?

It rained and it rained so Insung and I played and played

If you are not wet enough, add in some hose water

A lot of rain

Sharing the pushing

Some decent bread, central otago honey and of course Vegemite

Huh .... how did Mum find out that I do this?

A view over the Corniche from the Intercontinental

Stacking jacks and blocks at dinner

Steel drum entertainment

Feed dog...

My feed dog decided to take a break.  It happened very slowly as my sewing became more and more tortuous.  I struggled through a layered circle skirt, a gathered dancing skirt and then finally half-way through finishing off Teagan's gorgeous smocked frock (created mostly by my Mum and SIL), the dog went to sleep.  It was a nightmare I had been anticipating. My sewing machine - Janome MemoryCraft 400 - has been with me for nigh on 17 years and was bought when I had little money but it was the best I could possibly afford and it hurt!  That said, I have had no need to upgrade at all.  Then this!  So I explored a fix, surely it could be done?

Yes, the sewing machine repair and supply shop of the century was waiting to greet me with a super cheap repair bill of circa NZD35!

Enroute to the fixit shop slowing down to view the local teens out for a morning joy ride

Walking to the Singer shop

The Mr Fixit shop

Fixited

Mr Fixit

Mr "I Will Not Let You Carry That Yourself"

Driving home via the National Museum of Islamic Art

Past the dows

And not far off home around the Corniche towards West Bay and Dafna