So last night, in the spirit of all successful colonisers, the New Zealand inhabitants of this small Kiwi enclave threw a party to celebrate the bloodless takeover of the apartment.
And once again, there was a point when I looked round our lounge and thought 'We're lucky, to know some truly excellent people'. I'm just hoping the neighbours didn't mind the many many conversations that floated down the stairwell ... as far as the third floor, or so I heard. We'll just have to invite the neighbours next time.
Last night we were light on kiwis (just 5 this time) but had friends from Belgium , America, Canada, Spain and Ecuador and I'm smiling this morning. At some point someone realised that more than a few of us had met via the internet. We had Alison and v-grrrl, Shannon with her myspace blog that I think you have to be a member of myspace to read (a pity because it's an interesting one). I met Helen and Heather via the NZIB, discovered online.
You know you know some good people when they arrive bearing food and gifts. The invitation read 'Please bring something to drink and we'll feed you' and many thanks to everyone for doing that but thank you also to those who walked in the took over the kitchen when I was caught running a little late with the preparation ... thank you to Raf for whipping up a delicious pasta sauce while I finished preparing for guests, and to Shannon and Alison for tidying the kitchen while I greeted guests, thank you to Cindy for what seemed like armloads of drinks and for her gift to little Miss Two. And thank you to Veronica and her family, who arrived with all kinds of unexpected treasures that delighted Miss Two and made her truly believe that the party was all about her, and to Dominique for the beautiful kete bag she brought me back from her recent stay in New Zealand. To Michelle for her famous Spinach dip ... I must get the receipe, it's stunning.
And people kept coming and I lost track of who came with what ... thank you to everyone for the food AND drinks but most of all thank you for coming. There's so much left over we should probably party again tonight.
Meanwhile I'm photographing a horse this afternoon ... he's being sold by a friend. It's still raining, let's see how that goes.
A delightful time at the Kiwi Villa. If the neighbors complain, say with heartfelt regret: "I DO love Americans but by God, they're a LOUD people, are they not?" This will engender much sympathetic eye-rolling and you will be absolved of guilt for excessive party noise.
ReplyDeleteSounds like so much fun! Sorry I missed it. xo
ReplyDeleteOh Veronica, you made us all laugh here ... as if we would do that. But it was a delightful time, wasn't it :) I do know some lovely people.
ReplyDeleteNext time Tara ... and we'll give you and David plenty of notice, maybe even work around you :)
Lovely. I think I need to move to Belgium. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh Christina! I'll let you know next time we're having a party and you just come on over :)
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