Wandering Down Memory Lane

My second home- 'home away from home' when i was a child ♥

Last night I spent an evening wandering down memory lane with my sister.  We had a next door neighbour (our 1st ever "2nd mum") whom had a holiday house way up north and we were allowed to use it.  25 or so years later we spent a very late night remembering the fun we had there as girls.  We would love to revisit some time and make contact with our 2nd mum too :)    

It was far more overgrown in those days.  I also think the driveway has been shifted over a bit and our beloved oak tree that we use to climb in has been chopped down.  It is in a far prettier state these days - probably because it is more than just a holiday house now for some blessed people.

In our memories we still can enter The House With The Purple Door (it had a solid wooden purple painted door in those days) and see the long, book case with the wonderful BIG shells on it.  You could hear the sound of the sea when you put them to your ear. 

As you walked further along the hallway you would come to the kitchen.  It had a toaster with sides that you would fold out to see if your toast was cooked yet.  I learnt to make cups of tea here, pretending to be a waitress for my parents.  I also learnt to tell the time.  I remember writing a letter to our 2nd mum (she spent some time overseas) all though the letter there were references to the time :).    

Turning you would come to the tiny tight dining table and chairs.  Here I would draw geometrical lined drawings and colour them in.  They would join all the art our 2nd Mum had everywhere in the house (she was an artist) :)  I can still remember choosing to have my 10th birthday here :)  

Turning again there was a very wide opening into the lounge.  It had 2 beds which also doubled as sofas with dark purple candlewick bedspreads on them.  In the corner was a wonderful writing bureau with a cover that rolled down over part of it.  

If one retraces ones steps down the hallway they would find 2 bedrooms on one side of it.  The one nearest the kitchen was where my sister and I would sleep.  The bed bases were made of huge wooden packing cases topped with a mattress.  In the main bedroom there was an old singer sewing machine.    

There was a laundry and shower room in a long shed out the back of the house and even further back was an outhouse complete with heaps of wetas LOL.  Behind all this was Uncle Albert - a scarecrow we made with our fathers help :)  I will have to dig out some photos of him :)  

The front of house had a deck and I would play with my dolls here or play "schools".  I would line up chessmen on the chessboard and pretend it was 2 classrooms with the Queens as the teachers :)  I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and often played "schools" with my toys.  

Often we would take dinner and go to the local beach (Te Arai Point) in the evenings :)  This is a painting done by our 2nd mum done of the beach in more recent years (we found it online).

Kea Sleep Over

This weekend Daniel and I went to a Kea Sleep over.  This was my first as a leader :)  Daniel and I got there a bit early as I wanted to help set up.  After everyone arrived we all (17 Keas, 5 leaders, a couple of scouts and several parent helpers) all went for a short walk down to "bay"

It actually is bigger than it looks.  We took the kayaks and had turns in them :)  I LOVE Kayaks :)

Then it was back to the scout hall for dinner, games and a dvd :)

Sunday

We were all surprised that the Keas slept in til 645 :) Might have helped that it was the finish of daylight saving.  There was 2 highlights for me today 

I got to row in a big boat.  This was a brand new experience for me :)  One of the things I like about scouting is these opportunities.  I rowed with 3 other men and several Keas where in the boat too, having a ride.  I wasnt very good but it was my first time and the coxswain (a scout, helped me a bit with lots of helpful advice).  I was on a buzz when I got off for about 1/2 an hour :)

The other highlight came right at the end of the "camp" when we were able to present one of the leaders of the hosting group with a special book my Keas leader and I have been working on for the last several weeks.

This lady is retiring after 30 years in scouting (mainly the Kea zone).  We made her a scrapbook of memories :)  This afternoon she became a Honorary Lifetime Member of Waiapu zone.  Quite a few other leaders from other groups came to see her :)  

It was an excellent weekend for her to finish her scouting days :)  An excellent weekend full of fun :)

Hopefully there will be more photos to come sometime soon :)  Right now Im off to bed :)  

Keas Tonight

Tonight I as the new leader had to plan and run the program for the night.  I was also assessed by 2 leaders high up in Scouts

waiting to start the night 

they march in and do the Kea yell 

"egg" and spoon race

then we had a race where they had to hold a leaf on their hand
they decided it was too easy inside so we went outside

 

then we went bacxk inside for one last race
where they had to hold a piece of newspaper between their backs

after the games we made camp fire cookies

 

I invited the assessors to take part :)

next we made bubble snakes 

Our last game for the night involved L O N G straws and ping pong balls which my co leader had gotten some weeks  earlier

to finish the night we did the usual ending ceremony

The assessors said Ill make an excellent leader and one of the keas reckoned it was a very fun night :)