Sam's Birthday at Tablelands

This was actually a surprisingly uncommon sight over Christmas, so I decided to capture it on film when I saw it! Most of the time the computers were put away.

Andrew, Emily, Margaret and Sam

Sam Morrison celebrated his 20th birthday at Tablelands and to celebrate Rob took him for a spin in the Aston Martin.

Ben, Debs and Kate watch them take off - Debs looks deservedly nervous.

I LOVE the textiles in Liz's front sitting room - aren't they beautiful?

Sam and Josie goofing off before the birthday dinner.
I think this is a sweet photo of these three -
The girls helped Andrew light candles on the birthday cake. . .


On our last day at the beautiful farm we woke once again to barista coffees prepared by Tom, Hamish and Sam.
Here the injured enjoys his cuppa on the patio with the gang.
And sweet Holly dog has a quite moment without Morrison girls all over her!
Sam, Hamish and Ben.
Lots of pics of this crew on this post!!
Holly left in a tiny Mazda with three not so tiny boys - Tom, Ben and Hamish Howard. All over 6'2"!!

Boxing Day at Tablelands

Hamish Howard comes through the gate.

Rob in the foreground, Elliott at bat.

Meggie in the field.

Rob and Liz host an annual Boxing Day cricket match at the farm and for as long as he's known about it Dugald has looked forward to playing in it! The match started about 11:30 am, but before that there was a lot of stuff for the men to do including mowing the pitch, putting up a tent, putting up some fencing and whatnot. Meanwhile, those of us not involved in the set up had a lazy morning together.

Ellie hung out with Grandpa and Tom while Josie learned to knit from sweet Charlotte who took the time to teach her - thank you Charlotte!!


Finally the time came to start - these pictures are again a bit out of order, apologies, because the kids were actually at bat before the oldies, but these first few pics are of Katie fielding the ball and throwing it to Bella.


Julie and Liz brought out some parasols that were perfect for keeping sunburn at bay.
The cottage in the background and the hills were a beautiful backdrop to the events of the day.

That's Dugald on the far right.

Bella ready to bat -
Josie and Charlotte moved their knitting outside to watch the match.
Dugald and Lloyd hamming it up.
Dear Reuben got out and his cousin Hugh offered some comfort and support.
Hettie let Ellie try out her new camera.
The spectators - or at least some of them.
Poor Grandpa got hit in the leg and was sporting quite a lump - here he is with his brother John right after the injury. . .
And here with Kate and some ice for the rest of the match.
Hamish and Alex.
Lunch time - again another amazing meal!!

Ellie and Abbie, so sweet! They are second cousins.
Baby Mya, another second cousin.
I've never watched a cricket match before so this was a fantastic introduction! The weather was perfect, I was rooting for both teams and there was fabulous company and delicious refreshments. Dugald had a ball and was rather sore the next day - his arm from pitching and his leg from the massive bruise he has from being hit with the ball but it was worth it because the oldies won!

Christmas Day at Tablelands

We had an amazing Christmas at Rob and Liz's house in Martinborough. We opened our presents at home - thank you to all who sent something, the girls were thrilled - and then we headed over the hills to the farm for lunch.

We arrived to champagne from the biggest bottle I have ever seen - it took Tom and Rob to uncork it!
The entire weekend was full of amazing wines thanks to Rob's extensive collection and generosity.
Rob and Liz's neighbor, friend and managing director of Palliser Estates brought his cannon which we did indeed fire, twice!

The tables looked beautiful, there were so many of us that Liz set up a separate children's table for the 12 and under crowd.
The adults all made it into the dining room - which looked beautiful!
These photos are a bit out of order, I have so many that I got muddled up as I tried to upload them and unfortunately blogger doesn't make it easy for me to move them around. Here are some pre-lunch shots, there were so many people there that there is no way I got a shot of everyone, I'll upload a separate album somewhere else of the hundreds of photos I took, these are just a sample and completely unedited! A few of them are from Hettie's camera too - she took some great pictures!!

Liz, Kate and I in front of one of their newer artworks purchased from Hamish's gallery in Berlin.

There were some beautiful girls there - here are just a few, Izzy Howard, Maddie and Vita Morrison.
Hamish and Dugald
Rob, Roger and Ridd carving the turkey, pork and lamb.

Elliot popping his Christmas cracker and Ellie covering her ears at the kids' table.
Hettie and Ottilie at the adult table.
More amazing wine in big bottles, I believe this size is called a Jeroboam.
Kate and Rob making toasts.
After lunch lots of the children had a swim - Hettie and Ottilie went in wearing their clothes.


Meggie and Josie with Ottilie post swim.
Rob and Liz had set up tents on the lawn for the older kids - here the girls are just hanging out in front of their tent.
There were also rides in this:
Dessert - yum!

Finally, we attempted a group photo of Margaret and Hugh and their descendants. It wasn't easy!! Thankfully we had lots of photographers so hopefully someone got a good shot. You can click on the picture to see it larger.
I have SO many more photos - but blogger can only take so much with the uploading. We had an amazing time and I'll upload the pictures from the big Boxing Day cricket match soon. xx