Holmes Provincial News

Holmes Grandchildren @ Taieri Beach Christmas day 06
from left to right, Hunter, Ezra, Alicia, Paton, Ethan, Isla, Katya

Greetings to all! and so ends 2006. What was the highlight for you? I was asked this very thing and replied with "The arrival of Paton Holmes at Lawrence (now we are granparents to 7) and Geralds and my trip with my brother and sisters, Dean, Debbie & Jim, and Trina to Treasure Island in Fiji". The holiday was fab and makes us feel like it was a lo....ng time ago. Guess it was now really.

Our family are all well .

The Mosses in Arrowtown continue with the busyness of family life. Alicia 6, Katya nearly 5 and Ethan 3 all have the chicken pox at the moment.
All here for a holiday except Jase who has had to go back to work
Jase enjoys his work at Waitiri and has recently employed new staff, some poms and scots and so, many laughs and good staff relationships at back and front of house.

Lara is kept busy in her spare time with her fantastic scrapbooking. She has won awards and has had her work published in magazines and has earned places on design teams. Check out her blogspot under mosses above.
The Mosses and us spent a few days at the Spencers Taieri Beach crib over christmas, we had a nice time there; watching the kids on christmas morning; enjoyed an awesome lunch with Anna and Cam and Caleb and Cindy and their children of course.

Anna and Cam are preparing themselves for a big operation on Hunters hip on 4th feb. An Auckland surgeon is coming down to direct Mr Dunbar on this new technique which fixes it through the groin....ugh...sounds awful to me and poor wee Hunter. Apparently blood loss is an issue but hopefully it will enable him to be able to sit up properley and eventually walk.

Isla is a lovely old mother hen when it comes to Hunter although a delightfully mischievious little girl at all other times. She exasperates her parents and us many times!

Anna enjoys working in her lovely garden and was most upset recently when we had a huge localised hail dump which ruined many plants, stripped garden right out. Annas MS is quietly annoying in the background but never leaves completely. Anna puts up with inconveniences that no elso notices. Our prayer is such that we ask for a benign form of MS which is mild and infrequent.

Cam continues to sharemilk on the farm here with about 700 cows at the moment. This means that a lot of responsibilty is on him and Anna and means we don't have to deal with ACC and IRD so much which is great. They are self employed and own the farmlet they are on. Big responsibilities being self employed now.

Caleb and Cindy are working hard with Cindy at the National Bank and Caleb working for a farming contractor while he waits for an apprentiship to come through from Mclay Hulls (boat builder) in Milton. This will give him a good opportunity to do stuff he has enjoyed in his spare time till now. Their lovely boys Ezra and Paton are great kids. Ezra is 3 this coming year and Paton is 6 months old. Cindy has them in a new daycare centre when she works, I enjoy having them from time to time as well.

Gerald continues to be involved in calf rearing and tractor work on the farm as well as with Riverside Chapel eldership. He is keen for a trip later in the year and South America beckons him again, I am reticent but will go with him this time.

Gerald and Cam have been selected to go on a Take a Mate fishing trip via the Clutha Vets. They go to Stewart Island on the 10/11 th Feb and spend 2 days fishing off a catamaran with all food and accomodation paid for so will be nice to get some fresh fish and for them to meet other farmers from other areas.

I celebrated my 50th birthday last April and was nice to see friends and family from further up the country come down for it (thanks guys). One doesn't really enjoy facing 50 and beyond and I haven't done any of the self health changes I planned, but maybe this year.

I do as few casual shifts as possible at Queen Mary, preferring instead to spend time at home pottering in the garden and in my new glasshouse I got for christmas, tending to too many of my purebreed chooks, grandchildren, coffee, going to town with Anna, and of course Gerald who would prefer I pottered with him! We both have a bike which I at least have a spurt on from time to time, Geralds has remained in bits since he did the Rail Trail with Caleb last year.

Thats it for now until another time! Happy Summer to all.

Hope 2007 is all that you want it to be.

Love

Karen and Gerald