Sophie O'Doom

That's fantastic! I love markets so much. Thank you! X

YES

There you are! That's a good looking camel. TBH all the animals are really beautiful...

😂

I'm loving these landscapes. And everything else. What a trip!

Julie Anne Genter accused of ‘raising voice’ at Taxpayers’ Union volunteers The Green MP say she had a “spirited” discussion with Taxpayers’ Union staff and volunteers. The union boss says it was more of a rant.

I see that The Post is continuing with its calculated strategy of trying to bully Green women out of politics.
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Thank you! It's special to me and I hope it fits in the window I want it for!

Me and the silly hound snuggling

My Halloween costume, a black dress with creepy broken doll makeup. I gave the neighbourhood kids lots of candy and freaked them out.

A photo of the roses exhibited and competing at the rose show, which was a thundering success, despite it being my first time as show secretary and not having any kind of manual on how to do it.

More of the exhibited roses at the show. We had more new entrants than ever before.

And a couple more

A stained glass window I made, showing the sun rising over the Eastern Hutt hills

My Auckland Metro rose, a lovely dream with a pale pink centre

My Claude Monet rose, stripes of pink and lemon.

My beautiful silly greyhound Bailey, in a very immodest pose on the sofa

Popping in to post a few highlights from a bit of a rough 2024. I try to focus on the positive. Here's the positive.

She's amazing!

Thanks, honey, we're hopeful that the surgery will fix a lot of things (hernia, with awful knock on symptoms) but in the meanwhile he's pretty miserable.

Thanks heaps, guys. There have definitely been good points, and the dog makes me laugh all the time!

Bailey needs some time and training before she can do play dates... she's very fresh out of the kennels. But so so keen to catch up. Love you and love to Mary xx

Thanks, darling x

Update... new awful boss, work imploded, quit my job, got a new one, and I start at the end of the month. Fostering a greyhound, dad's not been well, and generally everything is Big and kinda hard. But this too shall pass.

Had a lovely 90 minute call with my sister and niblings, messaged a lady fostering a hound in Upper Hutt, et an apricot, and am going to go to Mitre 10 for seedlings now - leafies to replace the silverbeet I'm harvesting for tonight's dinner, and hopefully perennials. Seeking light, in a dark time.

I cannot be out of work. I don't have the safety net I need to do that and keep my house. So I stay in my job til I find something new, and I pray that's soon. Sorry you're dealing with that - I hope it improves asap.

It's a fucking skip fire and I'm so disappointed. Love the place, love the work, love the people.

Thank you, darling x

Jobhunting. Looks like I'm going to have to take a demotion and decent pay cut based on what's out there. Lead and principal advisor level roles seem to want more than I have.

Safety, engagement, policy, and technical (not IT) writing skills and xp, wicked people skills... Hire me!

Daughter tells me she heard today that if you wear a band T-shirt (especially as a young woman) and a man says to you “name five of their songs”, the correct response is “name five women who trust you”, so I pass this on in case any of you need it

OMG so much has happened in the 'hood. Not all terrific, I'm afraid. But my Littles are still darling. And I am drowning in zucchini from my neighbour. Dogs always make me smile.

DOGS!!!!!

I've missed a bunch of people but have to remind myself to come in here. Yeah, I imagine you're seeing a bit of the fallout with hostile govt and vulnerable workers atm?

SUPER EXCITING INDEED! I have support, thanks.

I am an occasional lurker but it's hard to build the new habit of coming here instead of the other places that mostly suck.

SO keen to catch up! I resolved to do better at that and I seem to be managing it! But it does mean that my spare time fills up fast and then I get all limp and have to go have a lie-down. Woe, etc.

Life is weird and confusing. Today I found out some of the miserable and offensive detail of what's happening to my work this year, and got an unexpected and crushing diagnosis of advanced patellofemoral arthritis. I also scheduled an exciting visit to go meet greyhounds who need homes, but WTF.

5. Had my second, very mild, case of Covid in July and will be getting vax #6 in Jan.

You're such a sweetheart! I'm keeping them on sammiches because it's good to manage their expectations.