Sherrie's ball was a great success and she looked a picture. Preparations began at 16:30 with Lewen arriving to do her hair. A few panicky moments wondering whether the styling would turn out OK, whether the "frizz" would be "un-frizzed" and whether it could all be finished in time.
She looked fantastic!
Into the car and off to the venue. As we arrived we noted that the ball goers were Being dropped off at the entrance, celebrity red carpet style; and that about 50 parents and gossip mongers had lined the entrance to the venue to ogle the lovely young ladies.
Cars pulled up under the building's overhang and the ball goers emerged to "oohs and aahs" and the flashes of cameras.
A nice touch, though nerve racking for Sherrie. Took her all of a few seconds to transition the 20 metres from the the car to the building. The official photographer snapped quickly, the result of which should be interesting.
That was that! All the preparation was now out of sight and we could only wonder what the venue was like and whether she would enjoy the occasion? I drove off feeling dissatisfied at not being more a part of this; and a little unnerved knowing that there would be more and more occasions in which I would not participate as she moves into adulthood.
(pics to follow)
More realisations this weekend! My soccer days are over, or at least my more committed and competitive soccer days. I hold on to the hope that a less combative environment may provide another season or three, but the recovery time is too long and Sundays / Mondays are too uncomfortable. The lower back pain is now a factor after every game. We have three games left in the season and I will be opting to warm the bench as much as possible for the remainder of the season. Summer is approaching and I will need to give some thought to whether I play cricket, another of my favorites which causes me much discomfort. I may simply return to the golf course and satisfy my hunger for challenge on the lovely courses we have around the region.
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On a different note; I need to sing the praises of Mark Shuttleworth. His commitment to open source software, that is user friendly and an alternative to Microsoft, has resulted in Ubuntu. User friendly and full functioned. Installs out of the box and works a treat. I now run Ubuntu on all my home PC's and, believe this, not one rebuild, not one virus, not one system crash!
Best of all is that our main home PC is a simple Pentium 3, 450MHz machine with only 256MB of RAM and runs like a dream. When I consider that I explore the internet a lot and have 3 teenage children, the fact I have not yet had any virus issues is amazing. It was a constant battle when we were running Microsoft XP with the added expense of all the anti virus and firewall applications and the frustrating effect it had on performance. My laptop, though a little challenged with limited memory, does a solid job of providing me mobile computing and I get in excess of 3 hours battery life on a machine that was made around the 2000 or 2001 mark! The other plus of course is that being able to effectively use older equipment means I am able to buy well specced PC's (P3, 800MHz, 256MB memory and 20 - 40 GB Hard drive) for $30 and recently purchased 2 x used 17 inch monitors for the princely sum of $20.
Next on the list is a wireless router so that the PC's in the children's rooms will be effective tools and I am considering having a bash at setting up an Ubuntu Server / Firewall / Gateway machine. Keeps me out of trouble!
and what of New Zealand?
We continue to be completely satisfied with our new lives! The kids are blossoming and I notice that Sherrie is very aware of the opportunities presented. She is hell bent on her architecture / design career and will, I expect, be the first Vatble with a degree, even though he father has ambitions . . .
Winter has been really mild and there is a sense that spring is almost upon us! We have 2 days of wind and crappy wet stuff followed by 5 to 10 days of a summer'y kind of winter. T-shirt days, when family's walk on the beach in slip-slops and children almost think of a dip in the gentle ocean. When we consider entertaining on the veranda; cheese, biscuits, good wine and good friends.
Lastly, as we approach Wellington, my furniture building has been a success. A desk and a book-case-come-dresser for Meghan, Multi-function desk-come-drawing board for Sherrie, an entrance hall table and umbrella box, and a quick knock-up coffee and side tables. Next on the list is a Desk for Travis and a picnic table for downstairs. Will post a pic when the painting is finally done! Love building the stuff, hate painting them! Maybe should get the kids involved in finishing their furniture?!
Till the next blog . . . .