Family Archives - Maggie Le Page

Summer Holidays In Godzone

Sorry I’ve been missing in action for so long. If you follow me on Facebook you’ll know it’s been summer holidays down here in New Zealand. And with two kids home from school . . . well, family comes first during December and January.

We holidayed in the west and top of the South Island this year, and hopefully these snaps will give you an idea of why New Zealand is often referred to as Godzone. I fell in love with my beautiful homeland all over again #feelingblessed

This is the magnificent Hokitika Gorge, on the rugged West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Isn’t the scenery stunning? It really is a slice of paradise. It was well worth the five minute bush walk from the carpark. #nofilter (As for the sandflies . . . well, they’re stunning in a whole different way :/ ) Read More…

What Next?

Dear God

Thank you for the house sale (massive clean-up), and the house purchase (massive box-up), and the birthday party for Miss Four (massive mess-up), and the car purchase (massive stress-up), and the BIG fat mortgage/insurance/etc paperwork (massive loan-up), and the winter ills (massive health-down) . . . but did you have to give them all to me in the one little fortnight?

Love from Maggie xx

Kids And Their Priorities

Master Nine: What if there’s a fire in our house, Mum?

Me: We get out. Fast.

Master Nine: Would there be time to get a few little things first?

Me: No. Get out. Fast. (Thinking OMG WHAT???!)

Master Nine: Does fire burn everything? Even metal?

Me: Pretty much. It melts metal.

House Shifts and Other Sucky Stuff

Sometimes I have the strongest feeling someone upstairs is laughing at me. They’re hanging about, devising crisis after crisis to throw at me, just for kicks. Then they watch me doing my headless chicken routine. Their latest idea: let’s make her shift house with only a week’s notice. What, she’s coping? Hmm. Let’s throw in a sick kid as well. And work that is critical and can’t be delegated or put off. Mwah-ah-ah. Cackle. Snort.

Thanks, cosmos. Thanks a blinkin’ lot.
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That Pre-Christmas Madness

Last weekend I had two glorious days of uninterrupted writing with Carla, my writing buddy (waves madly). We hid out in a holiday home near Queenstown, and did nothing but write. Oh, and drink the odd creativity-enhancing beverage.

Just as well, because it’s been absolute bedlam ever since; pre-Christmas madness with a capital M. And I’m left wondering, as I do every year, why we allow ourselves to get caught up in it all. The desperate stampede for just one more gift, the frenzied supermarket bun-fights, the manic Christmas Eve wrapping routine . . . And, as we do every year, Beloved and I swear we’ll be finished in time to enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve wine. (Yeah, right.) If only our kids knew the half of what goes into the magic of Christmas . . .