Birthday Boy

Monday 24th February
Today is Jamie’s 30th birthday! I can hardly believe that thirty years have passed since I first held him in my arms and he looked up at me with his beautiful blue eyes. I remember being surprised, because such was my inexperience with babies that I didn’t realise that they could open their eyes straight after being born; I thought that they would have their eyes closed for the first few days. I fell in love with him straight away and have remained so ever since. How fantastic that we have been been able to spend his 30th birthday with him here in New Zealand.
I fulfilled a long held dream in the morning by going for a swim in the St Clair outdoor swimming pool. It was closed for the winter during our last trip to New Zealand. As I expected it was a delightful experience and after my swim I had brunch at the poolside café with James and Jamie. We watched the surfers in the bay.
Jamie then drove us to the Orokonui bird sanctuary which was tremendous; such a beautiful setting of trees, paths and clearings with amazing (and exceedingly noisy!) birds in all of the trees and drinking sugar water from the bird feeders. We saw tui, bellbirds, fantails, kereru (big New Zealand pigeons) and also wee lizards called skinks. We had coffee in the spacious and airy visitors’ centre.
Back at Jamie’s house we got ready for a birthday dinner at No. 7 Balmac, with a group of Jamie’s friends. What lovely friends he has. We had a very special evening and the food was delicious.