Carterton Information Centre

I do, I really do just LOVE my job!!  You know the week started with a great night out at the Copthorne with some gorgeous friends, a glass of bubbles and a good speaker at the Bubbles & Inspiration….the naughty girls went out for a ciggy (NOT ME!! *rolls her eyes angelically*)  and then horror of horrors as the night wore on and they pulled names from the hat (literally) with some fabulous prizes such as face packs and a pair of fingerless gloves from our own Lorraine Hall, they pulled out a gorgeous chocolate house from Jude (at Remax)…and I thought……nah, that’s no good for me!!  and of course…….I WON it! lol

I was determined not to eat the thing but spent the entire night thinking about it and having to eat alternative chocolate supplies in order not to…but I managed to take the house to the Event Centre the next morning.  Of course being Thursday today it is WELL gone but it was fantastic to be able to contribute to other people’s bad habits!

I found out that one of our managers literally consumes chocolate wholesale (think he ate two walls! lol) and he’s as skinny as a rake.

Today…..well, finally managed to corner and duke it out with the June roster although it was a close call.  We have a number of new volunteers and they are charging up to the plate to provide a great service to us all.  Lorraine took the St Marks Lady’s Guild through on a guided tour yesterday and was presented with a home baked slice/cake…..I can’t say exactly what it was cos I got there too late!

I also managed to find out where somebody had tidied my cranberries in the kitchen today, listened to a librarian sing his phrases for Blood Brothers, chair danced with another librarian instead of having an afternoon tea break and found the day just swooped by.

I think the new Jane Kellahan art exhibition must be inspiring us!!

Ok, well better close down and on to my next little project – watching Linda O’D do some baby massage – what could be more therapeutic than that.

If you didn’t manage to see this when it was on exhibition here – then have a look at Pukaha Mt Bruce – I hear some of them may have flown the coop to explore the wildlife sanctuary and who could blame them.

Such beautiful weather in our region at present, the sheep from the foyer (originally from the Unfleeced exhibition) are only here until the end of the week – so if you haven’t seen them or bid on them, make sure you get down to us by the end of the week.  Remember kids – the DVDs need to be in for the 20th of April as well. 

An interesting experience having the auditorium used for an auction last week – brought in a whole lot of locals I hadn’t seen  before and hopefully they’ll be back again for something else. 

We also have an extremely good book here at present – hot off the press by Ali Foster & Viv Walker called The Eels under Anzac Bridge.  Honestly, what a wonderful gift for someone in the family or overseas if you have nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc.  Already going into it’s second printing so get a copy asap.

I want to share that due to one of my recent ‘impulsive’ offers to help a friend with her Easter preparations and then taking it on myself to invite another person in to her house, my poor friend then took the bait and also invited her two neighbours to assist.  This was all in aid of a POLISH Easter – It was years since I had made pierogi in bulk but I remembered the fun and chatter as we all sat and worked in the kitchen.  Well, it was JUST as great as I had remembered it – if not even more fun as five of us women sat and rolled the little rounds of dough, cut them out and then put yummy fillings in them and pinched them off (well, I did – the others were more professional and used forks! )  We did get to eat some of our endeavours though and it was such a really wonderful way to spend the night it reminded me  of a day last year when several of us went down and picked fruit (including figs, apples, grapes and walnuts) from a friend’s garden in Greytown.  It’s such fun to do it in groups.

In fact – I think they are waiting for me to come up with the next activity – but I am going to start the old Daffodil Diva group up again as so many of us are either on our own or have partners/husbands who don’t want to do the things we are interested in like attending the French Fair or going to the movies that really appeal.  So I am going to start up an email tree and if any of you out there want to be on it, then everyone will have each others email and phone contacts so if there is something out there you really, really want to go to but don’t want to go on your own, you can just post out an email to ask if someone else is interested in going — and make up a twosome, threesome…..or larger group.

The King St Art workshop was on today and everyone made the coolest little boxes – wish I had Tuesday’s off!!!

Just thought I must let you guys know – walked into Sew Carterton today and saw the most fabulous Alpaca hats ($24)  and gloves ($24)……and then spotted the genuine pashmina scarves in glorious colours beside them for $18.  What a BARGAIN. 

There are TWO places left on the QUILTING class that they have coming up too.  The tutor is award winning quilter Adrienne Nelson and starts on Saturday April 14th.  If you want some more information then call 06 379 5423 or 027 446 8846

Well, it’s an amazing space – the new event centre, that is.  We have been so enjoying it, I haven’t gotten around to updating all you guys out there.

We had the Project Mangatarere steering group in today and of course you all probably know that there is a public meeting on Tuesday 14th December at the new event centre from 7.30pm till 9pm.  If you want to attend then give Jill Greathead a call. 

Got my tranzcript (tranzit tours) newsletter this week – if you want to read it, just come in and ask me for a copy.  Anyway, there are some really good trips coming up and one which particularly appealed to me called The Wild Side of Pongaroa!  It’s jolly full and there is a wait list *sigh*.  It’s an entire days outing involving a trip up the Whangaehu Valley passing Alfredton and Tiraumea enroute to Pongaroa.  There is a centre of Horse Psychology at Wild Side Farm and lunch is at Pongaroa hotel and the entire day is at a cost of $60!!  I hope they put on another trip to this one.

Of course there’s heaps more that they offer – including Riverdance The Farewell Tour, the Nutcracker on Ice, El Caballo Blanco and stuff right into next year including Boutique Art Tours!!

Christmas is fast approaching (you can almost hear me screaming silently) but there are some gorgeous pieces of jewellery in our cabinet now made by one of the library staff…….and really awesome wooden bowls and bits by 3 local guys so call in if you’re stuck and we’ll help you out.