Creating – Page 59 – helenthura.com

February 22, 2007

The Man

It is pretty well known in these parts that my grandfather (herein after referred to as Grandad) is the coolest man around. He walks the walk, speaks the speak and has the ladies to the left and right sighing as he walks past and he is also a bit of a comedian as well.

Now imagine Grandad looking oh so suave in a cream shirt and trousers with his signature blue hat on a beach surrounded by a group of adoring fans.

This is the man of the ~~hour~~century, throwing back a glass of bubbly at the beach at Raglan. See that man to the right, looking down at the sand? That is the undercover NZ police officer who was in charge of Grandad’s security detail. You can’t take him out anywhere in public these days without a security detail.

When he is spotted by various grandchildren/children with bubbly in hand after a certain grandchild who very much adores her grandfather squeals something along the lines of “look, Grandad has a glass of bubbly”, the paparazzi set their focus on him and the adoring fans look on in admiration.

I had ladies coming up to me left, right and centre at the reception asking me “Is that your grandfather? I was chatting to him before, he is pretty cool. I wish my grandfather was like him”. Ok so I might have made that last little bit up but I am sure people think that after meeting Grandad. He is Grandad after all. In the end, the girls and guys just couldn’t give him a little space and he had to leave the reception with his entourage shortly after the gifts were opened.

This is a photo of one lady who had a chat to Grandad at the reception. The lady is Michelle, of course (you know, the bride) checking in with her new grandfather in law, making sure that he wasn’t been crowded by all the fans wanting autographs and that security was looking after his wants and needs. The pressures of having such a high profile celebrity at the reception. You’ld almost think Shane Warne was at the reception or something…

February 21, 2007

On the beach.

“How many photos did you take Helen?” asks any number of assorted relatives.
“Aw you know, just a few” I reply.

Out of that just a few photos I took during the wedding itself, this photo is without a doubt my favourite, both emotionally and technically. I just feel quite strong about it. The beach, the people, the composition, the feeling. This is the wedding. This is Shawn and Michelle on their day that they shared with 60 odd people who traveled from not only within Kiwi Land but England and Australia to be at Raglan for the wedding on the beach.

February 20, 2007February 20, 2007

Landed.

Well I got back from Kiwi Land this morning, I have caught up on some of my emails, had a shower, unpacked a bit and had a quiet look at my photos. I am about to have a nap since I have to go to work tonight and since I woke up this morning at 1:30am Brissie time I would be buggered at work without a nap.

Here is one photo from the weekend which shows the groom’s side of the family. Looking at my photos I don’t think there was one taken of both the families together. The Stephenson’s are on the left, the Howie’s are on the right with Shawn and Michelle in the middle.

It really was a gorgeous wedding. Low key, laid back and a lot of fun. It was a wedding that was very much an illustration of who Shawn and Michelle are. Anyway of course there are more photos to come 🙂

February 13, 2007

In my garden

One day I’m going to make me a big big star. Well I already am but only a few people realise that at the moment.

A large handful of years ago (2001) I used to have a little veggie patch. It wasn’t a big producer but I still enjoyed my little patch of soil except the snails and other bugs probably liked it more than I did. They saw it as very much their own little salad bar. At around this time I was listening to The Lion Sleeps Tonight a lot. For some reason or the other I decided to change the lyrics round a bit to suit the snails who saw my garden as a salad bar.

A-wimoweh etc

In my garden
My growing garden
The snails eat my peas
In my garden
The quiet garden
The snails eat my peas

A-wimoweh etc

Near the peas
The dying peas
The snails make their way
Near the peas
The dying peas
The snails eat their feast

A-wimoweh etc

Hush my garden
Don’t fear my garden
The snails will sleep tonight
Hush my garden
Don’t die my darlings
The snails will be gone

A-wimoweh etc

I remember rushing out to Mum as I decided on better words to suit rhythmic patterns and singing to her the most recent version of “In my garden”. I was changing a few things round on my desk the other day and found the piece of paper that it was printed on and thought why not post it 🙂 Though it also means that I think that a large number of my recent posts have been musically based.

Today is Pancake Tuesday(Shrove Tuesday). Matthew and I had pancakes for lunch. mmm yummy. Sunday night I roasted a duck for tea, though this duck must’ve been a duck on a severe diet as it was pretty meatless. Luckily I made heaps of roast veggies to go with it, which were perfectly roasted in duck fat and tasted like heaven. For dessert we had a Blueberry Sourcream cake that I made from a recipe which was in a BBC Good Food magazine a couple of years ago. The cake didn’t just taste like heaven, it was heaven. I should take a photo of a slice before it is all eaten (there is only two slices left).

I am going to get my hair cut this arvo before work 🙂

February 11, 2007February 21, 2007

All you need is love Beatles

So last night was The Beatles tribute gig and it was a fantastic night out. There was myself, Clare and four of her ~~convicts, followers, converts,~~ friends.

11 bands, a full house, 2 and a half hours, one small super sweaty room, one great cause, 200+ songs in The Beatles catalouge. One rocking night. We had fun guessing which songs would be done by the various bands. It was a great format with the bands doing between one and five songs each with most doing three or four, super quick changeover between sets (always a bonus) and of course a great cause in Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). Since there is talk of doing a similar format later this year with a different artist and charity, it will be great to see who will be the focus of the next tribute.

I don’t have photos from all the bands who played but I do from six of the eleven.

Hot Liquid Sex.
These girls were glam. The drummer had pearls on. I don’t think we need to go further.

Ace
How rocking is this Beatles shirt? Last night was alllll about The Beatles shirts.
ace 1

The Blood Poets
This guy stood on my foot later in the night, I went ouch, he said sorry, it was all fine.

Kristy London and The Other Halves
Kristy was a total treat.

Emma Dean
Again another total treat. Probably the main attraction for Clare and I last night and she didn’t disappoint.

Glasshouse
These guys were big organisers of the night or came with the idea and as the second last band they had the floor bouncing as they channeled as much Beatles vibe as they could with a rip-roaring cover of A Hard Day’s Night

Tyrone Noonan finished the night and was a treat pulling out the tin whistle, as was Tara Simmons who opened the night in a cello trio, 26 who also had a large string section, Asa Broomhall who shined in his one song and The Gin Club who also gave all they had to the night.

It was such a fantabulous night. Lots and lots of singing along 🙂

January 28, 2007January 28, 2007

Vegemite Gelato

Australia + Italy = Vegemite Gelato. Just for the Australia Day weekend. Just for the sake of it and the fact that someone in a kitchen said why not?

The colour was a lot lighter than I expected but I guess that is because not everyone likes their Vegemite as thick as I do and therefore not a lot of Vegemite is used in the process.

The taste was totally not what I expected. That also I guess comes back to the above statement that I will every so often grab a teaspoonful of Vegemite and lick it off the spoon when I feel like it.

My first tasting note is that it tastes like salted nuts as the first taste is quite nutty and you are left with a salty aftertaste.
My second tasting I started to notice how it tastes like a dark ale. I guess that would be the yeast extract part of the Vegemite coming though.

This isn’t Vegemite Gelato it is Pub Gelato! Beer and nuts in Gelato.

I managed to talk Mum into tasting a little, little bit of it and her comment was that very first taste you get is Vegemite. I then went for the itty bitty spoonfuls and you really do taste straight out Vegemite then.

🙂 I am more of spoonful girl though so I am eating a spoonful of Gelato and chasing it with a Vegemite lick. Now it tastes just like I imagined.

I am quite surprised that the Courier Mail did not have an article about it and instead I found out about via Slashfood and the Sydney Morning Herald. When I first saw it on Slashfood I thought for sure it would be in Melbourne or Sydney. I nearly dropped off my chair when I read Brisbane in the article.

Gelateria Cremona, I hope you have Vegemite Gelato next Australia Day as I will be back 🙂

Mum and I went up to a friends property for Australia Day for a bit of tree planting. The whole team which was probably easily 20 adults plus kids built tracks, planted 500 trees, cleared Lantana and other weeds. Mum and I each ended up with a mattock which we swung and swung and swung some more digging holes for the kids to come behind us and plant the native trees in. It was a nice day out “on the land” and we were given a very impressive spread for morning tea and lunch.