I finally got a holiday this year, if for only 4 days but still, yippee!  We headed for the hills to walk and read and jigsaw and roast marshmallows and walk some more and eat some more and generally chill out in-between walking and reading and, well, you get the picture. However, little did we know the surprises awaiting us in the hills, because if we did, surprise would have been the wrong word to use.

When we arrived we lit the fire because it was cold and those marshmallows weren’t going to roast themselves. So we walked, ate, played cards and did the roasting thing and went to bed. Woke the next day to snow!   Freak bit of weather came up and settled in. So there was only one thing for it, a walk/continuous snowfight to the top of the spur, pitched battle and back again. Warm up, eat, repeat. It was fun.

The last time Diana and Sev were up at the bach they had nothing but snow, and they called on the snow gods so Louie (Sev’s friend) and I wouldn’t miss out. That was so kind of them.

It snowed again for part of that night leaving a new dusting for the morning to glow as the sun came out, shining and melting. This made for a good walk up at Arthurs Pass, if slightly precarious as snow plummeted from the trees, hitting us at irregular intervals.  Alas avalanche warning stopped us going too far, but we did get to make a snowman part way up.

Finally the last day was a big change again, down to tee-shirts as we cleaned up the place and played at the river.

Dogs and snow are so much fun.

Snowman time.

More photos in flickr on the right.

Before the wonders of warm weather came upon us, it was Diana’s birthday so we went out to something we hadn’t seen for ages, the ballet. I know Diana likes the ballet but I still haven’t worked out why I do, but I do. Sometimes I’ll be sitting there thinking ‘Those guys are really prancing about like silly little girls’ and then they’ll lift a girl or spin 50 times in the air before coming down, and you’ll think ‘Ok, that reasonably impressive’. And then the girls will come out with their costumes and the light display, and it is quite amazing.

The other thing I do like about them is that they are normally unremittingly tragic, or at least this one was . This one being ‘La Sylphide’. Day before a wedding, man falls for an other woman, or really a nymph, follows this with accidentally insulting an evil witch and then things start going wrong. Death ensues as the ballet comes to an end for main character. A good bit of tragedy, what fun.

I’ve been very quiet lately, but with spring coming early, I’ve managed to get out and do a lot of things inside, such as this blog.

As a family, we’ve managed to read and go to each Harry Potter book and movie, so off to the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Next Movie.  As with all, I really enjoyed the quality of English actors they manage to attract. It was not as tense as some of the the other HP movies, but having just seen District 9, it may suffer in the tension comparison. Still fun though.

If you haven’t managed to get to the movie, I’ve attached the whole thing below, enjoy.

A rather too accurate breakdown of advertising by gender.

Severin is moving through the belts and now is up to Blue. Lots of sequences of moves and fighting people and bags. Some of the people held their own, but the bag got beaten to a pulp. Poor bag but Yeah Sev!

Haven’t seen anything recently that has inspired me to want to write about, then saw two last weekend.

The first was Let the Right One In. A Swedish vampire film what was not scary but wasn’t without it’s horror. Very atmospheric and very cold. It has a tenderness that makes it hard to  know which side you are on. The two child actors are very good, and everyone just revolves around them. Very different, very interesting.

The other movie, strikingly different, was Dean Spanley. An Edwardian film, lots of talking and very witty. Insane idea for a movie (or short novel by Lord Dunsany that it was based on) about a man who is transported back to a past life as a dog when drinking a particularly expensive wine. That was all I knew about the film when I saw it, and didn’t exactly inspire me to see it. But what fun it was. Very well acted by the small but excellent cast. But it not without it’s pathos which gives it a nice bit of depth. For a nice, happy, sad and amusing watch, very recommended.

This is probably all over the net, but it’s really good. I got most of the jokes, but did need a fervent England supporter to get the rest .

p.s. got to love the white board

Severin wanted me to blog about his last game, which was the first game where the after game analysis was all positive, there was nothing to pull him up on. He did have a brilliant game. Moved to the ball quickly and decisively, controlled it beautifully, work rate very good, passes and interplay were spot on, and lots of good shots against a great keeper. He scored 2 of their 4 goals. He still has room for improvement, but if he keeps on in this way, I’m going to have to get a lot more picky in my analysis to keep his head from expanding too much .

The cursed thing is that after a great start to my indoor comeback, things have gone down hill since. My ankle is holding up, but my foot is very sore, limping off the field sore. I’ve rested it a couple of games, but am now a bit hesitant, so not playing so well. Semi final for Div 1 this Thursday so will have to do a lot better, otherwise I’ll have Severin critiquing me, eek!

Why post this, well it just a …