Her hot-spot love for me is strong. This freeze-frame moment can't be wrong (J Geils band)

Wie geht's?

Our brother-in-law, Gavin O'Neill, recently gave Jacky this exquisitely ornate picture frame (with no picture inside).

That created a dilly of a pickle for us. 

We wanted/needed something special in such a great frame. 

We tried a number of water colour and oil paintings, even a wedding photo of my mum and dad, but Jacky wasn't content.

Instead, she mentioned jokingly a few times that a photo I took of her once upon a time at The Victoria and Albert Museum, would look cool.

The idea at the V&A was that you stepped behind a frame and it would reproduce a kind of Victorian era image in the style of Julia Margaret Cameron which you could then photograph. 

Here are our efforts:  

As a joke I printed off my picture of Jacky and stuck it in the said frame.

And it looks terrific! It immediately reminds us of that great trip to London's V&A as well.

So it's a keeper!

Love and peace - Wozza

No time for a gentle rain, no time for my watch and chain (The Guess Who)

Photo by Kyle Head on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Jacky and I spent Sunday and Monday in New Plymouth this week. We were there, with a number of Jacky's whanau, for the funeral of Gavin O'Neill's mother (Gavin being our brother-in-law).

It was a lovely celebration of Ruth May O'Neill's life which included a lot of music. That's not unusual at a funeral but Ruth was a singer who performed with her sisters (The Bond Sisters) and later with choral groups in New Plymouth, so there was more music than normal and that was really cool.

While in New Plymouth, Gavin gave Jacky a tapestry and a heavy ornate frame and I borrowed an autobiography written by Gavin's brother, Paul. It is a short but powerful record of his life.

Paul, who passed away a couple of years ago from cancer, was the same age as me and he also loved music (curiously he never mentions his mother's musical background in his autobiography). Apart from that though, we have/had very different backgrounds.

A few thoughts having read it:

• It was a great way of understanding Gavin's background and personality (now I know where all the wisecracks come from).
• Writing an autobiography should be a task that everyone undertakes before they shuffle off this mortal coil.
• Life is short. 

Love and peace (rest in peace Paul, Danny, Terry, Allen, Ruth)

- 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

Remember if you must, this is just a Christmas song (Jethro Tull)

Wie geht's?

Christmas 2011. Where were you?

If you are part of the Brian Smith whanau, including as it does the O'Neill, Purdy, Dix families, then you were most likely on Waiheke Island unwrapping presents and enjoying Jacky's trifle.

Returning for the festive season of 2011, Jacky and I were back from Al Ain briefly to enjoy a New Zealand summer break.

Being in Waiheke and close to Auckland, we met up with Keegan and Adam, plus I had a reunion with my buddy, Greg, and a visit to Marbecks in the Queen's Arcade before we had to return to the Middle East.

The christmas celebrations on Waiheke included great views, tuis in the trees, excellent company and the aforementioned trifle (Brian cleaned up the bowl).

The end.

Love and peace - Wozza

Up in the morning and out to school (Chuck Berry)

Rambling Man (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 10 part 5)

Adam (and Jacky) homeward bound via Kuala Lumpur

Across the road from The Grand was a letting agency. They had a three bed flat about to come on the market in Victoria Road - just off the Broadway.

As soon as I walked into the nearly refurbished semi detached I fell in love with the place. It was wonderful and saved my bacon.

Three bedrooms meant Samantha and Jade shared a room, Adam was next to us. We headed off in our newly bought car (from a local dodgy dealer) to buy some furniture and settled in to our new life.

Fanfa, aka 'cheeky face', at KJS, tie askew

Adam had a job at the pet shop but was still missing home and friends. Jade Samantha and I started at King John School.

We bought their uniform and worried for them, particularly Jade. She had been at a very small rural primary school in Cambridge. Now she was in a brand new uniform at a thousand plus pupil English comprehensive! She was also still sick. Somehow, she survived!

The girls first day at King John School was memorable. Very quickly they saw that their proper use of uniform and Nu Zild accents made them stand out like flashing neon!! They had to adjust quickly to avoid more bullying, uniform became skanked up, Essex girl makeup became a thing for Samantha, classes were very different, lunch was had in a dining hall, and....they thrived, making some tight friends along the way.

The O'Neills with Lewis, SWMBO and Adam

It wasn't long before the girls felt like me - it was a school, a home and a life which we could embrace and love.

For Jacky it was still a struggle and it would never feel right. It took a long time before work in London Hospitals as an agency nurse for Pulse would start. We were a long way from Keegan and her family. She wasn't happy. For Adam it was even worse. He couldn't stay, that became very clear. Jacky would take Adam back to NZ, buy him a car, find somewhere for him to live, and start him at Waikato University. That was all hard for her to do on her own. Somehow she did it all!

O'Neills, SWMBO and Adam at Nana Pat's place in Nu Plimf

The day they left was traumatic for the girls and me. We left them at Heathrow's departure lounge and headed home along the M25. I had that horrible empty feeling in my stomach the whole way and Jade cried non stop for hours. When we got home she ran to Adam's bedroom, fell on his bed and continued to cry!

While Jacky got Adam settled we did our best to survive (we had to ring Jacky in NZ to help us cook a roast chicken which turned out spectacularly badly!).

Finn

When Jacky returned to the UK we had, for us, a long period of normalcy from 2005 to 2006 . The girls and I went to a school we loved, Jacky picked up work in St Thomas', St Marys' and a number of other London hospitals, Jade had Charlie - a hamster, we got Finn, a little Irish terrior. I did my NPQH which is a qualification for headship in the UK and eyed up possible jobs in Scotland and England. But we were now a long way from Keegan, Jacky's family AND Adam.

Love and peace - Wozza