It's a family affair (Sly and the Family Stone)

Wie geht's?

Part two of some recent snaps from the whanau get together at Maple Grove, Palmerston North and Wellington. Special times with a special bunch of people. Warning - super cute geekids ahead!

Love and peace - WNP

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Wie geht's?

News and communication is pretty instantaneous these days.

I went for a walk around the adjacent sports park at lunchtime yesterday (it's a frequent thing on nice weather days and a great way to clear the head), came back and went to the staff room for lunch where they were talking about a big earthquake in Melbourne; sent a quick message to Adam on the family chat and got an instant reply that he and his wife were shaken up but otherwise fine.

Great feeling knowing that instantly. Otherwise Jacky and I would have worried until we heard some reassuring news.

I'm very thankful for that aspect of the phone and modern technology.

It also allows me to keep in touch with friends like Noel Forth.

My recent Goo Goo G'Joob blog post reminded me of a time when I was about 18 (still a schoolboy) and Noel asked me to pick up a record for him (he still lives in Adelaide): The Radha Krsna Temple London album on Apple Records (pictured above).

He gave me an address in Ponsonby and I drove there after school on a Friday afternoon. It was a fairly grungy student flat, bottom floor of an old house - this is around 1976 so Ponsonby was still a run down part of central Auckland at that time.

A bearded young guy wearing sandals, I presumed a drug crazed University student, answered the door, invited me in and went to a pile of records stacked in an old beer crate. I grabbed the record, and beat a quick retreat before he and his drug crazed friends abducted me, shaved my head, and forced me to smoke some illicit substance or pop a pill that would alter my consciousness for ever (I'd read about this sort of thing and Paul McCartney had indicated his reticence for drug taking in that he might end up in a state that he couldn't return from). Oh my!

I have an active imagination!

I guess that's why I remember this isolated incident from the late seventies so vividly.

I asked Noel for details around how he knew the record was there and he couldn't remember anything about it at all!! Laugh out loud!

Love and peace - Wozza

If you ain't got the do re mi boys you ain't got the do re mi (Woody Guthrie)

Wie geht's?

Adam and Ashleigh have arrived at Maple Grove, as have Jade and Asher for a rare mini family reunion.

It hasn't been a catch up as such because the Sunday zooms keep us all up to date, more a 'remember when...' and a chance to play Monopoly Deal - a card based game without the board and dice of the real Monopoly game.

It's been fun, lots of good natured banter and ribbing. Honours were shared amongst us with Ashleigh cleaning us all out in the last game last night.

Board games/ card games have always been great for family times. Having some time to enjoy our adult children (and Ashleigh, Asher) is very precious.

Love and peace - WNP

Trigger (Trigger) and he pulled the fastest milkcart in the west (Benny Hill)

Trigger looks big here, but he only comes up to my waist.

Wie geht's?

Covid-19 lockdowns have had one very positive spin-off for our family: the weekly family zooms that we started a year ago (thanks to Adam's suggestion) during our alert level 3 and 4 lockdowns have continued long after the alert levels returned to 2 and then 1. And they are still going strong.

So, each Sunday evening Jade and Asher (in Palmerston North), Samantha (in LA or SF with Jesse),  Keegan (in Shanghai) and Adam and Ashleigh (in Melbourne) have joined up with Jacky and me (in Takapau) for a weekly catch up.

It's been great, and has certainly brought our far-flung little band of Purdettes a lot closer together, figuratively speaking.

Hot topic this weekend was Trigger - the little pony that Jacky and I have bought for Asher, nearly 2, to ride.

Trigger naturally suffers from little man syndrome

He's certainly got personality!

See - I told you - comes up to my waist, just!

On the search for more apples!

The kids maintain this is another très subtle attempt to interest her children/grand-children in horses, but Jacky disputes this. Natch. 

Wherever the truth may lie, Jacky has plans to find a cart for Trigger to pull around so that he can pay his way while Asher and I pick up pine cones for Trigger to pull back to the barn.

That should be a hoot! I can't wait.

Love and peace - Wozza

I want to get back to my city by the bay Ooh, Ooh (Journey)

Samantha always knows where the camera is!

Wie geht's?

This post is our final stop in the return to 2007 and our first trip to San Francisco.

In the wash up after the wedding dances we went to the zoo, the Hard Rock Cafe, a diner with everyone to watch the Golden State Warriors, and then it was back to New Zealand, leaving our hearts in San Francisco!

The sisters cutting a rug

Watching the Golden State Warriors

Jade was there! True fact!

Love and peace - Wozza

When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay I want to be there in my city, Ooh, Ooh (Journey)

The stage is set

Wie geht's?

And so to the wedding of 2007 - Jesse Rowbotham and Samantha Purdy in Marin County at Jesse's mum's stunning place with views of Mount Tamalpais and the bay.

Americans have some different traditions when it comes to weddings, such as a pre Wedding get together called a Rehearsal Dinner. Of course, I thought this meant a rehearsal of the wedding - who stands/sits where, who says what and so on. Nope.

Instead, both sides of the family mix and mingle over drinks and a meal in a semi-formal fashion. An ice-breaker, really.

Then it was the wedding in the beautiful Californian sunshine at Cathy and Dan Kennedy's house. First - pre-wedding drinks by the pool.

And, finally, on to the post wedding photos.

Next post - post wedding knees up and wash up of the SF trip.

Love and peace - Wozza