The Full Monty

Our new arrival is finally here - and it is amazing how much laughter a puppy can cause in a home. Despite the hard work and frequent frustration, little Monty is certainly a joy to have around. And you have to admit, Kees puppies are pretty darned cute - only a hard heart could resist this face......

Home Sweet Home

Goodbye Queenstown, Hello Melbourne. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, and especially to having my own pillow. I'll be spending some time this weekend downloading all my photos onto my computer at home, and once I can see them properly, I'll post some favourites over the next few weeks.

We spent Friday relaxing - the weather wasn't great, so we hung around town, played mini-golf (I kicked DH's butt at every hole!) and went to the bird sanctuary at Te Anua. On Friday we drove back to Queenstown. We bumped into one of the guys from the dive tour on the way, so we gave him a lift to Queenstown as well. We decided to take ourselves back to the Deer Park - it has the best views over the lake in both directions and the animals are a lot of fun. We saw some animals we had missed last week - like the Himalayan Thar, pictured below. Friday night, for our last evening in NZ, we were intending to have dinner at skyline, at the top of the Gondola ride over Queenstown. The weather turned nasty though, so we cancelled and had an amazing meal at 'Flame' instead.

This week is going to be a bit busy, as I have to get some work done before heading back to the grind in a week and a half, and next week we will have a new addition arriving - of the four footed variety. So, some puppy proofing to be done this week, and then I'm sure the last few days before school goes back will totally revolve around the little fluffball, so I had better get some work done (and some beads made - I'm thinking of a Glacier theme...) before he gets here.

Wrapping up Christmas

We had a lovely relaxed Christmas this year. More than usual, that's for sure, as we are generally hosting at least one meal for family. This year we were out visiting for lunch and dinner, so other than a day of baking on Christmas Eve, so I could take some mince pies and shortbread, there wasn't much to do. It was wonderful to spend Christmas morning with our nieces and see the oldest enjoying the whole process so much. I've never seen anyone get so excited (and so frustrated) having to wait to pull the cracker. It looks like we are in the final stages of organising to get a new Keeshond puppy. That was the easy part - the impossible job is going to be deciding on a second dog. We thought we might downsize for the second, rather than having 2 kees. But DH has his heart set on a Boston Terrier, while I'm open to other possibilities (and not all that keen on the whole 'they are so ugly they are cute' approach...). I'm leaning towards a Griffon Bruxellois but I'd need to learn a lot more about them. Actually, I know I really just want another Keeshond - the breeder has 2, do you think I can convince my other half to just take both? Either way, looks like we will have a little fluffball by the time I go back to work.

Saying Goodbye...

It's been a tough week. On Wednesday we lost our beautiful Merlin. It came totally out of the blue - one day he has a bit of a cough, then suddenly he is riddled with lung cancer. I was really hoping we would not have to go through this again for a couple of years, after losing Mystic just last year, and Misere.

I have been on the 'City Experience' with my year 9's all week. It's been exhausting, and stressful at times, but on the plus side, I've been too busy during the day, and too tired at night to really dwell on it. But we both keep forgetting momentarily, and getting up to let him outside, or keeping leftovers for him. I made pancakes last night, and they weren't very good - Merlin always had to have the first 'test' one out of the pan.

Merlin has been with us for almost our whole married life - he leaves a big hole in my heart.

The Big Fluffball after a brush.

Telling us off...

His favourite pose