In My Shoes: Blowing a gale...

...is what the weather's been doing here in Westport all day today! Especially this evening, the wind has really picked up, ew. But we're nice and warm inside by the fire, with kitties on our laps. In fact not long ago i have not one, but TWO kitties on my lap, so i really was quite cosy. Though I'm not a fan of the kitties getting all up in my face (that's rapper speak, just FYI). Jo lets them sleep right up near his face, but i can't stand it (sorry kitties. no offence or anything. but ew, no thanks).

The weather has taken what i call a turn for the worse these last few days - it's been overcast, rainy, windy...typical west coast weather I'm told. Hopefully it will pass next week!! Everyone around me has a cold, but so far i haven't caught it - which makes me wary, because it means it will probably hit me with a vengeance right before we're due to fly out of here, which in turn means i will be unjustly persecuted by fellow passengers on our plane who will think i have swine flu.

Since we last spoke, dear readers (because i like to believe i have dear readers anxiously waiting for my next update, though of course i do not), we've has a few adventures - we travelled down the coast to Greymouth, and up the coast to Nelson.

Greymouth, as the name suggests, is very grey - almost drab, I'm sorry to say, though of course the bad weather didn't help it's cause. Still, it's a pretty large town, so we looked in plenty of stores that they don't have here in Westport, such as The Warehouse. The Warehouse is kind of like an all purpose store, sells clothes, movies, books, hardware, plants, food...it seems to be Jo and Matthew's favourite place to visit, as no matter where we go, if there is a Warehouse then we have to stop so we can all wander aimlessly down it's isles and buy things we don't really need, like cheap DVDs. Greymouth also has a coveted McDonald's, coveted because its the only one on the West Coast, so we stopped in (for the children of course). The drive to Greymouth is quite pretty though, a very lush and dramatic landscape.

Nelson is altogether a nicer town to visit - but it's over three hours drive away, and most of that is winding roads, enough to make even me a little green around the gills, and i don't get car sick much. But there is a nice cathedral, and we went to the flea markets they have on there on a Saturday morning, and some second hand books stores that i got lost in of course, but came away with a very good biography of the Kennedy women which i look forward to reading. There are also lots of cafes to eat at, so we went to an Italian one for lunch and i had spinach and ricotta cannelloni, yum.

We stopped in at Jo and Matthew's old primary school (they grew up in Nelson in fact), to play some basketball, and i must say i took some totally awesome action shots with Jo's totally awesome camera. On the way home we went through Montueka which is famous for its apple orchards.

We've also been watching plenty of movies - Music and Lyrics with the delectable Hugh Grant, and a Jim Carrey double feature with Liar, Liar (one of my all time favourites) and Man on the Moon, which was very good.

Tonight we had Matthew, Rochelle and the kids here for dinner - Jo's mum made an absolutely delicious split pea and bacon soup, and chocolate cake and cranberry and apple crumble for dessert - so I'm stuffed, and yet strangely peckish. Why is that? Jacob was insistent on "playing rough" tonight, so a rousing game of Kung Fu Panda took place, with Lauren on the fringes, wanting to be involved, but wary of the repercussions of doing so. In the end she settled on watching a zoo program with me on the television. Jo has also found an old mask which he now wears all the time, insisting that he is developing a pseudo-personality known only as...The Mask. I have a feeling he'll be joining us everywhere from now on.

So that's that, and here are some pictures: