Dear friends, new and old, have a wonderful Christmas.  Love, laugh and eat lots, and have a glass or two of something bubbly; I will be.  Take care. XXX

Today has been filled with many tears, and there will be many more of them to come. No matter how many times I experience grief, it still cuts as keenly as the first time. My darling Izzy,  faithful companion and constant shadow unexpectedly passed away last night. I've had 13 years with her, bringing her home on my lap as a tiny bundle of fluff from the farm where she was born. She was never destined to be a working dog and lived a very urban life and slept inside wherever she pleased.

Dearest Iz, I hope you enjoyed your time with us as much as I treasured having you. I'll miss your bark, and your black hair on everything, and your way of following me from room to room no matter what I was doing. Going for a walk will never be the same without your enthusiasm and company. Thank you my darling girl, and I'm so incredibly sad that we couldn't have had a few more years.

I'm eternally grateful for being blessed with some very thoughtful friends. Thank you Stella for the gorgeous flowers. My favourite 'vase', an old Agee preserving jar. The real vases are still packed away. The pest control people are coming on Wednesday to bomb the house as we've discovered lots of unwelcome visitors living here since our arrival, so I'm still living with boxes. Thursday will be a hive of activity as I'll finally be able to open my treasures and put them in their rightful places, and get the Christmas decorations out.

Until then I'll have to make do with the view from the front room, the Pohutukawa in flower. Not a bad compromise as it is our native Christmas tree. It reminds me of past Christmases spent walking along the beach, the trees humming with bees. Happy days...

This is a self imposed 5 minutes peace from packing boxes. The movers will be here at 8am tomorrow and we still have loads to do. I'm still decidedly zen but that all may change. Deep breaths...

If it's not becoming a wee bit obvious I am somewhat of a magpie, and I think it may be a genetic trait. These are old cards of another Great Aunt, Ruth this time. She held on to them for a life time and now I'm doing the same. They're not only interesting for the images that they've captured, but for the little snippets of life that are woven in their words. There are birthday greetings, little love letters from my G.Grandfather Will to my G. Grandmother, and postcards sent from another family member early last century from all over the world. It must have been a mammoth journey, sailing from the bottom of the world as he did. There is one that I'd love to find the time to research (top left corner). It is written in German and has a feldpost stamp on the back, dated 5th of June 1918. I don't know how this came to be in my Aunts possession but I know she was not the intended recipient. I really need to scan these before they become  more worn. Never enough time. Back to the packing...