Hello to all our website visitors - welcome on board.

Well, daylight saving has kicked in and I have entered my 'weird world' as always happens at this time. I feel constantly tired, hungry at all the wrong times, can't sleep well and just topsy-turvy in general. I'll be back to normal in a few days no doubt.

Easter has been and gone and we have Gracie home for her mid-semester break and Kirsty on holiday too. Lovely to see the girls back together and they are enjoying working with Kirsty's horse, Baxter. Today they are clipping him in readiness for his first hunt of the season tomorrow. Unfortunately, Gracie had a bit of a relapse in her last week of uni but now seems to be getting her energy back and even went for a run yesterday.

We took Colin's Mum over to Mount Maunganui on Sunday and had a lovely walk around The Mount and a picnic lunch on the beach. It took us over half an hour to find a park as the Jazz Festival was on. I was keen to go and have a look and listen, but the crowds put us off so we just watched the surfers instead!

I am on a break from The Two Tarts at the moment, which is just as well as The Lofthouse has been very busy and needing my attention. Our next series starts at the end of May just after Colin and I get back from our holiday in Rarotonga. We are very excited to be going back as our last trip there was so fabulous. This time we have rented a house right on the beach so I am picturing ourselves, cocktails in hand, just stepping onto the sand to watch the sunset. And then ..... I know, I know, it's a tough life ..... we are going back to Raro in June!! Our Raro friends, John and Rachel from Makayla Palms www.makaylapalms.com (the gorgeous place we stayed last time round) are taking a wee holiday and have asked Colin and I to go over and cover for them for a couple of weeks. It took us a couple of minutes to mull that one over!!

Our dear friends, Alan & Clare, have returned from a wonderful cruise out of Capetown, South Africa. We caught up with them the other night at Workmans Cafe in Matamata (the food was good, the company and atmosphere was exceptional) and they were telling us that they had made friends on the ship with Larry & Margaret Dickenson from Canada. Now Clare knows that I am a bit of a foodie, so told me about Margaret's website www.margaretssenseofoccasion.com This lady has some fantastic recipes on there, so I urge you to have a look when you get time. I have made the Coconut Cream Kaffir Lime Shrimp, but I used NZ scallops instead of shrimp and added a squirt of lime juice and fish sauce. It was sooooo good. I can't wait to try a few more from there .... so many recipes, so little time!

No books or movies to recommend wholeheartedly this month. We did go to Avatar and enjoyed the special effects in 3D, but wouldn't rave about it. We rented the DVD of My Sister's Keeper and I was bitterly disappointed .... any of you that have read the book and then watched the movie will know what I mean!

That's it for now. Make sure you come and see us here at The Lofthouse sometime. No matter what the season is, it is a great place to run away to.

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." Lucille Ball.