Tilly is a novelist

Our Tilly is a very creative girl.  Just recently she got busy with the paper and sellotape and made her own book.  And as a blank book is clearly in need of a story, she sat down and wrote one.  Ladies and gentlemen, we present:

Help we need a title!  If you can't think of a title for your book, then this is what you call it.  Genius.

Reuben is a chip off the old block

I'm afraid this latest video of Semple Burdekin antics has been hanging around for over a month,

What we have been eating recently 2

Number 2 in a very occasional series… I took the photos for this blog post and started writing it in September 2013.  But then - gaargh! - I lost the recipe and only discovered one that was as good as the original yesterday.  It's been tested and approved by Reuben and Tilly, so here you go:

Ruth Burdekin came to stay with us recently for a few days and brought some awesome cookie cutters with her, plus the cookie dough.  Cue a baking session with plenty of child appeal:

What's so good about these biscuits then?  Prepare to marvel at...

Only in NZ? Parliament discusses the colour of the PM's pubic hair!

Well. Since moving here, we've occasionally raised eyebrows at some of the stuff that comes out of the mouths of our elected representatives.  There was the time, for example, when Prime Minister John Key supposedly referred to David Beckham as 'thick as bat sh*t'.  'Don't think they'd say that in Westminster', we mutter.

Yesterday, it was John Key himself who was under discussion - or rather, the colour of the Prime Minister's hair and the all-important question: is it completely natural?  No it isn't, said opposition politician Winston Peters, who wanted to know: 'Why don't the curtains match the carpet?'

Apparently he was referring to an apparent difference in shade between the hair on the top of the PM's head and his sideburns, but that's not how it was understood in Parliament.  You can read the full story here.

No pain, no gain

Hope you're not reading this over breakfast folks because this delightful specimen:

really is Dave's toenail and as you can see it is clearly not attached to his toe.  However, it was lost in a good cause, which was the attainment of this:

Dave is officially Excellent

Picture the scene: last Wednesday evening, the events centre under the cupola of the Auckland Museum.  360º views over the city and Waitemata Harbour. Wine, canapés, expectant groups of guests seated at round tables.  A hush falls as the presenter fumbles with a envelope: 'And the winner of the award for Clinical Excellence is……. David Semple and team!'  And the crowd went wild!!

It's not quite the Oscars, but it's close! 

Little Bo Peep...

… has found her sheep.  At the garden centre, last Thursday actually.

There you are!