Arya The Rescue Dog's YouTube

 Hi all, 

All is good here. Arya's YouTube channel is up and running nicely now so I'm back here for a catch-up. 

I had another mole removed recently and thankfully there is no evidence of melanoma this time. Phew! 

It's cold here in New Zealand at the moment and we've had stormy weather and lots of rain. 

That's all from me for today.  Here's a pic to make you smile. 

Here's Arya's latest video

This post has been shared with Saturday Critters

Have a great weekend.

Love KB

x

 

 

Arya The Rescue Dog Prepares For Winter

 After a not-so-great summer, it's starting to turn colder here in New Zealand. Whitesnake takes Arya for a walk each morning but she really needs a coat when it's cold and wet. I mentioned this to my lovely neighbour and she gave me a couple of coats that her dog has grown out of. They're a little too big but will definitely do the job while we find something more suitable. 

Arya's YouTube Channel has been active for a week and she's already received over 100 views. Obviously, we're not the only people who think she's a cutie. Check her out below if you are interested. 

This post has been shared with Saturday's Critters. 

Have a great weekend,

Love KB

xxx

Real Estate Highs and Lows

As I mentioned in my previous post, Whitesnake and I decided to sell our home last year. Our real estate agent organised what is know in New Zealand as a caravan, to come through our home for a visit. Basically, this means all the agents from his company come through the house at the same time for a viewing of the property, before it goes to the market for sale.

Later on the same day, our agent informed us that one of the agents would like to make an offer on the house before it went on the market and if we accepted his offer, we would not be charged marketing costs. He made us a great offer and we were happy to save a little money on costs so we accepted it. We signed an agreement and were thrilled that we sold our home without the hassle of open homes, etc. A little while later, our agent phoned us to let us know he had been fired. We were shocked and extremely concerned. Apparently, he had been warned several times not to sell a house, without showing it to the market first. His manager called to apologise and set up a meeting to explain.

A couple of days later, the manager met with us and again was very apologetic. He explained that if the house had gone to the market, we would have received a lot more money than we had sold it for. So the agent that bought the house got a bargain but we had lost a significant amount of money. Thankfully, he didn't charge us the rather large seller's fee so in the end, we actually saved about the same amount we were short on the sale. We were happy with the result.

I must say I learned a lot from the experience. My gut feeling at the time had been that something wasn't quite right but Whitesnake and I had been offered a deal we thought at the time, we would be crazy to refuse. I now rely much more on my gut feeling and am not as naïve to believe everybody is as trustworthy as I am. 

More about our journey soon.

Love KB

xxx

Time for a big change

 Hi all,

Just over a year ago, Whitesnake and I decided to sell our house and move from Auckland to The Bay of Plenty. 

It wasn't a decision we took lightly. Whitesnake's side of the family live in Australia and my parents live about a three hour drive away in The Bay of Plenty. My parents are retired now and Whitesnake and his family suffered the devastating loss of a brother. Unfortunately, due to covid, we were unable to travel to Australia to attend Whitesnake's brother's funeral or visit my parents in their retirement village. As you can image, this took quite a toll on us. 

So, out of curiosity, Whitesnake organised a house appraisal from out local real estate agent and to our surprise, the value of our house had more than doubled since we purchased it about eight years ago. That was all the encouragement we needed to put our house on the market.   

More about our journey soon.

Love KB

xxx

Spooky sky

The terrible Australian bush fires recently affected our sky in New Zealand. I took this photo at 2pm, no filter.

Photo source: KB

Sharing with Our World Tuesday

A beautiful morning in Weymouth

Whitesnake and I have decided to spend some time exploring our neighbourhood. We've lived in South Auckland for years but haven't visited as many local places as we would like. It's spring time here in New Zealand and quite wet recently so as soon as there was a sunny day, we hoped in the car and drove a short 10 minutes to Weymouth. A beach, some benches and a walkway awaited. Definitely will be visiting again.

Photo sources: KB

Sharing with Our World Tuesday. 

Love KB

x  

A Mixed Bag

Our Weather has been a mixed bag this week...Sharing with Skywatch 

Photo source: Pixabay

This week we met out new GP and she's gong to be a good fit for us. Whitesnake and I had our blood tested and all is looking good. That's always great news.

Nothing else to report for this week but looking forward to Easter and my birthday over the next couple of weeks.

Have a great weekend!

Love KB
x

Catching Up With KB

There's been a lot happening since the last time I blogged...

Let's begin with a beautiful sky to share with Skywatch 

Photo sources: KB

Whitesnake and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary with delicious home made burgers. Whitesnake made the bread too! He's such a wonderful husband. 

Haircut for me

My parents came for a visit and stayed overnight. A good time was had by all.

I think that's everything. Have a great week.

Love KB

x

 

Life Goes On

A week after the devastating terror attacks, I've been trying to stay busy. 

A year after my detached retina surgery and all went well at the optometrist. Eye is still looking healthy, no cataract as yet and I'm getting new glasses in a couple of weeks. 

My eye a year ago 

Earlier in the week, I was featured on Poets United website. 

I'll leave you with an evening SkyWatch. 

Photo source: KB

Remember to tell the people you love how much they mean to you as often as possible. You never know when the last time you see them will be. 

See you next week

Love KB
x

One of New Zealand's Darkest Days

My heart goes out to the victims and families of this vicious attack. Whitesnake and I are safe but still in shock as nothing like this has ever happened here before. One of the great things I always loved about NZ was that I believed it was a safe place to live, I guess things won't be the same now.

An update from our Prime Minister

New Zealand's darkest day

Yet I have nothing to say

Anger trapped inside

Emotions I try to hide

Numerous countries I have roamed

But New Zealand, she's my home

Her freedom and her safety

You will never take from me!

My poem has been shared with Poetry Pantry

Thank you all for the love and support you have sent  New Zealand during this devastating time.


Love KB
x

Another Beautiful Day In South Auckland

 I'm loving the weather this week; sunshine but not too hot. It's also been an expensive week as Whitesnake needed a trip to the dentist. That's all from me today, have a great weekend and I'll see you next week.

Photo source: KB

This photo has been shared with SkyWatch Friday

 

Valentine's Day

Hi everyone,

Whitesnake and I celebrate Valentine's Day every year. All relationships have ups and downs but I do believe that since we have been together, most days for us are like our version of Valentine's Day.

After we enjoyed a sleep in, our neighbour popped in for coffee and a chat. Whitesnake and I prepared home made pizza together and spent most of the evening watching Game of Thrones. My husband is a huge fan of Game of Thrones but I'm watching it for the first time. I used to laugh when Whitesnake watched the show because every time I walked into the room, there was either bare breasts or fighting so I didn't believe it would be my cup of tea. I'm actually enjoying GOT (which we have started watching from the beginning) and looking forward to reading the books soon.

A relaxing day at home together is our perfect Valentine's Day. Did you celebrate?


Below is a photo taken from our back door which I have shared with SkyWatch 
and Our World Tuesday 

Photo sourec: KB

Have a great weekend.

Love KB
x

Happy Waitangi Day, New Zealand

A fun week for me so far...

Monday was my second to last CBT session with my therapist. Loved it and will write about it in detail on my health and wellness blog at a later stage.

Wednesday was Waitangi Day, a public holiday in New Zealand. Whitesnake and I spent the day relaxing at home as it was a hot day. Actually we've enjoyed several hot days recently but thankfully today, the rain is falling and watering our vegetables and garden.

Here's a photo I took on Waitangi Day, which I am sharing with Skywatch Friday.

Photo Source: KB

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again soon.

Love KB
xx

Rescued Hens

These little beauties used to live in cages until our lovely neighbours adopted them. The girls look so much healthier than when they were first brought home. Hubby and I feed them when our neighbours travel. This morning, they were waiting at the gate for us.  I love the clucking noise they make when they hear us coming and the fresh eggs are delicious.

Photo source: KB

This post has been shared with Saturday Critters

Love KB
x

Happy Anniversary Day, Auckland

Hi my friends,

Whitesnake and I are enjoying a relaxing long weekend as Auckland celebrates Anniversary Day. The actual Auckland Anniversary Day is tomorrow - 29th January,  but today is a public holiday so Auckland can enjoy a long weekend. 

Auckland Harbour - Photo Source KB

I've been thankful to have the day off every year since I moved to New Zealand, without really knowing much about it . As I moved here in 1984, I decided it was long overdue that I  I learned about what I was celebrating. So here goes...

Explorer and first governor of New Zealand - William Hobson arrived in New Zealand in 1840 and signed a treaty with the Maori people, which led to New Zealand becoming a new British colony. Hobson founded Auckland later the same year and named it the capital of New Zealand. A small regatta was held in Auckland that year and by the following year, the regatta and Auckland Anniversary Day, (the date Hobson first spotted New Zealand) was established. 

Apparently,  'the regatta is the largest one-day event of its kind in the world and is the central attraction of Auckland Anniversary Day.'  I found very interesting as I live in Auckland and don't remember hearing anything about this large event but Goggle informs me of these facts, so it must be true! 

So instead of attending the regatta with our fellow Aucklanders, Whitesnake and I made our own fun. Drinks, home made pizza and laughs were shared with a friend on Friday night.  I knew I'd had a fabulous night the following morning when it took me a few seconds to remember how to drive my car.

Last night didn't go as well, I drank too much wine and yelled at my husband for no reason. My husband is the kindest, most generous. loving person on the planet so as you can imagine, I'm feeling incredibly guilty and have vowed to never drink the evil red wine again.  

I intend to spend the rest of the long weekend grovelling, relaxing and NOT touching a drop of red wine. 

Happy Anniversary Day, Auckland!

Love KB

x

Shared with Our World Tuesday

SkyWatch - A Beautiful Day In South Auckland

Photo source: KB

This post has been shared with Skywatch 

Love KB

xxx

Skywatch

Photo source: KB

This post has been shared with Skywatch 

Love KB

xxx

Skywatch

I haven't anything to report today so I decided to share a sky shot instead. 

Photo source: KB

This post has been shared with Skywatch 

Love KB

xxx

Community Pantry

Look what we discovered while we were taking a walk this morning; a community pantry. Available for the community to drop off food for the less fortunate to collect as needed. Hubby and I dropped off an item we had left over from a Christmas hamper. A wonderful idea. 

Photo source: KB

Kai is the Maori word for food - feed

 Love KB

x

Shared with Our World Tuesday

Summer Not Found

This week in New Zealand we have experienced thunder, lightening, heavy rain, hail, strong winds and sunshine. It's difficult to believe that it's a couple of weeks until summer time. 

Photo source: KB

Photo source: Twitter

This post has been shared with Skywatch 

Love KB

xxx