Oh the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

The little weather pixie for today is saying it's sunny, and he's right, but it's brrrrrrr cold. Last night we had snow down to Stratford (312m above sea level according to Wikipedia) so we definitely got snow too (we're about another 50m up). Of course Jacky and Jade had to go out and dance around in the flurries. Yes - that's them in their pjs and dressing gowns. The white speck bits are the snowflakes and as you can see - a fair amount had fallen to accumulate on the ground.

This morning I took a few snaps of the mountain (Opie is rugged up warmly in the foreground) - yes it's that time of the year when you get snow on the mountain scenes. We never get sick of seeing the mountain in all of its various moods so I hope that holds for you too. I loved the cloud that hovered and shaded some of the snow fields in these pictures.


Apart from that not much has been happening - Samantha had her 20th birthday a weekend ago (16 May), Jacky has begun work at Hawera hospital on a casual basis, and a new horse (aforementioned Opie) has arrived and one gone (Midas) - are you keeping up? Apart from that it's been fairly quiet.

Dad sent us a care package recently with a DVD of cartoons and the kiwi movie "Second Hand Wedding'. I must admit I wouldn't have seen this unless dad had sent it. I'm always a bit wary of the wedding movie. Let's see - off the top of my head/no goggling involved I can think of The Wedding Singer, The Wedding Planner, the Father of the Bride franchise, Greek weddings, Aussie weddings, Samoan weddings and now NZ weddings. The format is fine I guess, but it's a bit of a cliche - the trials and tribulations of the bride, family tensions etc etc etc. But Second Hand Wedding is good. It rang try in a real kiwiana way (as much as 'The Castle' rings true for Australiana). It's certainly no masterpiece but the ending (of course it's the actual wedding that climaxes the film) blindsided me and I felt myself getting involved emotionally with the characters. Quite a neat feat that for a filmmaker. Worth a peek, especially if you want a looksee at what makes us kiwis kiwis.