Monday 19 November 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND - (is overdue).

HOW MANY WEEKS TO CHRISTMAS? Yep it is down to countdown now and I think I have now worked out which way is up.... on the other hand, that maybe be a maybe.

The gardens have been having to take a good second place as the last weeks have been all about kittens and my life not being helped by my not knowing the dates either Mum was due to have them.

Tara's 2 x day old kittens




The kittens have been born and their arrival dates determined neither cat was mated to the Cattery Ragdoll stud, but instead by our Charles du Bon Accord who decided to do the transition from boy to man and became the dad for both litters.

Meg's 6 x kittens are 4 weeks old on the 22nd - Burmese x Bengal in the main and Tara's 5 x kittens - Siamese x Bengal are just 2 days old.




Unfortunately Meg got mastitis but it was caught before it got too bad; even then it was emergency dash by water-taxi over to the vet on Saturday morning with a follow-up visit again very early Monday morning. Outcome: Meg now looking a whole lot better and I am supplement feeding her kittens with special milk, 4 x a day. I thought you may like some pics.


I hear someone coming!

Is that the food lady?


It's the food lady!!!
Me first !




Can I get a 2nd helping?

Monday 1 October 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND - 1st OCTOBER

SPRING IS UNDERWAY and the news has to be all about flowers now and finally the gardens have got to the stage that they are starting to do their own thing and I am only here to stop it getting out of hand and to keep the lawns mown so as to show the flowers off.

The magic carpet of spring bulbs goes through it's colour palette all too quickly. The Clivia are clumping up quickly now they are established and every flower is pouring out its individual perfume - hard on my sinuses, but hey it's worth it. Here are some recent photographs, starting with a colour change series of the bulbs - but missed catching the daffodils which start it off. There was also supposed to be a photograph of the minute flower of the native Kanuka tree which covers this Island  which has the strongest, sweetest perfume of all - but this site says I have loaded enough photographs,so I'll put it in comments.

The daffodils have finished
The gold freesias comes first then the orange spraxias


Now the blues and purples enter
Crowding out the border of blue grape hyacinths lining the path

Hard to photograph the Clivia owing to too much luminance



This orchid escaped through fence into stored garden pots area

Saturday 1 September 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

IT HAS BEEN A PRETTY GOOD WINTER OUT HERE BUT still with enough rain to stop me from walking as far as I would like to.
Showing part of Bay
There are no stairs to Bay


Beautiful Lady's Bay, an all weather safe swimming beach, managed by the Department of Conservation, looks like it is going to be inaccessible again this summer for the Island tourists ( and me) since a storm took out the stairs to it four years ago.

Tractors use the walking paths through the park often making them impassable, so I left the sunlit path


and  took a detour through the dark forest of pines, lit everywhere with the pillows of luxurious moss  snuggling up to trunks or rambling through the pine tree litter.


then walked on around the remains of this huge Pinaster Pine



and on to the remains of an old farmhouse where all that reminds it was there is the old water tank. Even the doorstep, that was there a couple of years ago has disappeared into the small heap of bricks being covered by pine needles. But the  young Redwood up behind is growing into a handsome tree from being so sheltered from sea storms by the surrounding pines.















And back home where the first blossom has appeared on the new little peach tree. Maybe it will be this week that they'll patch the road to the wharf so I'm not scared to use the car after we have rain?


Saturday 28 July 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

WARNING -  GRANDMOTHER PICS. the last month has been focused around my youngest daughter's twins - now 6 weeks old as of last Tuesday.
New borns at only a day old
The girls are now 6 week old babies - Isla on left 

Sister Jodi is the photographer here
Emily is thinking - 

Saturday 14 July 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND



OFTEN IT IS THE SMALLEST THINGS THAT CAN GIVE THE MOST INTENSE PLEASURE



The crowd of Spring daffodils are now just lifting their golden buds out of the lawn, another week and they will open. In the meanwhile though, out from my kitchen window I see a single yellow jonquil flower which appeared from the hedge a couple of weeks ago. A continuing spot of intense yellow reminding me of the simplicity of the art of Japanese Ikebana.













By the back door a seedling Cape Gooseberry appeared in the tub of Italian parsley. I never got around to weeding it out and it continued to grow its long lanky arms. Now, here it is winter and I just wait for the day the next fruit will be ripe. The burst of intense flavour in the mouth is just about too much for the mind to absorb or comprehend.
 


















And the  4 week old twin granddaughters give a continuing intense pleasure all of their own. So much perfection in such a small package!  I continue to be amazed.  And then, later again,  

there is the other moment of magic when the two girls are asleep at the same time. Emily is on the left and  Isla is on the right.

Saturday 7 July 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

 I LOVE GETTING FREE USEFUL STUFF by belonging to, and using, the loyalty card for FLYBUYS.  I have been with FLYBUYS for maybe about 30 years??? and it's amazing how much I have received for free....phones, a slow cooker, covered frypan, microwaves, magazine subscriptions, kitchen whiz-stick, a couple of breadmakers, Christmas gifts...the list goes on.

This week it was picking up a free food dehydrator and I have spend the weekend playing with it. But I am sure there are some 'tricks' to getting the most out of it. Seems such a lot of fuss, and putting up with that endless noise (!!!!) to only get such a small bag of dried fruit at the end of the process.


On the plus side - the end taste is amazing, I had thought the fruit may loose its flavour instead of concentrating it. I tried out a sample mixture:  apple - that was the quickest time, next quickest was the rock melon but the persimmon and the banana circles seemed to take foreverrrrrrr. I have sealed them in a lock-seal plastic bag. Is this the best way to keep them fresh?

I think I'll take the unit outside to the studio when I do the next batch of fruit..

Any comments and helpful hints gratefully received.

Sunday 1 July 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

Those are multi-coloured freesias starting to come up through the conifer ground cover.
NO FLOWERS AROUND AT THE MOMENT BUT there are always the bromeliads to add the bright spots to the dark green winter gardens until the bulbs start their display in another month. My sister, Diana Holt, though, who is an enthusiastic hybridiser of  Bromeliads, and who has just returned from an international conference  in USA on them, would not say these were the best examples and colours available. But Bromeliads really appreciate poor soil, poor feeding, and very little care as long as they can get some sun - therefore an all-round excellent Island plant for me.

Saturday 23 June 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

NOW WE HAVE PASSED THE SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR, our real winter starts.

On the Island the temperatures are up to 3*C warmer than just across the water on the Mainland, today in the morning it was 8*C outside, now it's 12*C , not cold by other people's standards, but even then I feel the cold and it seems to creep into my bones and they take ages to thaw out again.

The thermostat controlled oil filled fin-heater I had been using was just not quite keeping me warm enough and the choice came three years ago of having to decide between replacing the broken wood-fired fire or getting a heat-pump. After pluses and minuses I decided on a heat pump.

The trick of heat-pumps is to keep them running 24 hours a day and rely on the thermostat to do its thing. ( A thought that makes most people shudder). I turn it on as soon as it gets cold, around the end of April, beginning of May and at first the pump is working hard. Then the walls, furnishings, books, clothes in the wardrobes etc. warm up and the heat-pump  just tops up the air temperature. I keep the temperature at 18*C when I go to bed and bring it back up to 21*C when I get up in the morning.This is now its third winter and the house, which is not insulated, has stayed cosy.

But there were other things to learn about owning a heat-pump. The 2nd year the electricity account increased to the same cost as running the oil-filled  fin-heater. Oh! I found out I need to regularly wash its air-filter screen. My neighbour Phil showed me how to do it this past summer and I was surprised how clogged up it was and easy it was to clean -  and now, in comparison to last year, I am only paying on average $50 a month more than my summer electricity account. To compensate for the electricity used to run the household water pressure controlled pump, summer and winter I do only turn on my hot water every 2nd daythough and then only to heat the water back up to temperature again, and I only use the oven occasionally, using the covered frypan as the alternative.



Enjoying the sunshine on top of washing machine

Saturday 16 June 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

BEING AN ALL FEMALE HOUSEHOLD, except for Charles the cat, the energy around the home can get a bit wishy-washy. But a day of some testosterone input and the energy is revitalised
So many things that really needed attending to by someone other than me was starting to turn into a list.

Then one of my neighbours who does home-handyman stuff for the Island came in for the day.
* First, fix the leak in the roof,
* then: check rest of roof for any nails that had lifted etc and bang them back in,
* put back in place the rubber around an aluminium window,
* cut down three gum trees,
* cut down to hedge height an Oldhamii that after sulking for 10 years had suddenly gone crazy,
* then came the thoughtful-pruning of three shrubs and a climbing rose back to a couple of metres,
* clear up and neatly stack all the stuff he had cut down,
* to finish up by replacing the headlight bulbs to the Island car.
* Total ? 5 hours. It would have taken me weeks.

The energy in the air is left zinging!

Which seems to bring  both plus and minus.
Plus. My daughter's twins were born ( see pics on previous post ). And all doing great.
Minus. I tripped and face-planted myself rather badly. But fortunately I am a fast healer. (no pics!)


Plus. The last 3 days the sun has been out and a couple of my "to-do-really-soon" things, I have now got done.

Plus. It seems to easier to get things onto the Island, but can be a bit more of a mission getting stuff off again - one of these being the banana cartons the groceries are delivered in. They need breaking down  with a box-cutter/craft knife and packing up first before being loaded onto the boat. Being hard on the back I do put off doing it and the boxes pile up, and pile up, waiting.  Today they were done. Two days before this, it was the turn of the two hedges out the front of the house to be cut, ...the hedges at the back of the house next?
25 cartons packed in tightly


The native Kanuka makes a nice hedge

Wednesday 13 June 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

WE HAVE BEEN WAITING and waiting and finally they are here.

My daughter Kay and her partner Ian are proud parents again - this time to twin daughters, Emily and Isla, born yesterday morning the 11th June.

Today - Both babies are feeding well and each has her own individual appearance. Emily today had a full tummy and her eyes were heavy but my bright coloured scarf kept catching her eye. Isla  already has clear eyes just wanting to have a good look at me - ( think it was actually the light catching on my glasses, grin)



Kay  waiting ready to hatch

Ian waiting

And another with Isla

Kay + Isla - two half hours old

Ian with Emily at 2 half hours old


Emily two and half hours old
Emily a day old


A day old  - Isla on left Emily on right

Isla a day old

Friday 1 June 2018

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND


THE TRANSITION TIME between Autumn and Winter seems to always be a most disorganised time. The winter projects like knitting for the twins (due any moment now) or the sorting and writing up to be done from all the notes I took over summer - while yet there are Autumn projects that need doing, like yesterday: of that damned garden path I started back in Spring, some trees which need a heavy pruning, bulbs and vegetables waiting to be planted, and then some projects I know will probably now have to hold over to Spring because the "must-do-things" had to take precedence.

Now waiting for the colour to come from the winter bulbs

Kitten has made it to Dunedin
One "must-do",  being the kittens had to go to their new homes. That was an interesting exercise in coming across an unexpected variety in human character. (A very different overall exercise from when I bred designer kittens back when I was in my early twenties).These kittens have travelled far and wide, including the last boy who did the really big adventure, including travelling by Pet Bus, even on the Inter Island Ferry, down to Dunedin, which is at the bottom of New Zealand's South Island.










Now freed of the kittens I have my study back to myself, the dog Brie, Mother cat Tara and the two over-active teenagers Charles and Meg.

Tara found the perfect sunny spot
While Charles and Meg have the chair


And Brie takes the mat

And also I have enough spare time now to take a bit longer time over the  walk, I try to do daily, around the Island tracks and visiting the gardens, now mainly free of tourists, at Mansion House. There are spots of colour to brighten the day.

Out walking
Storage shed in Mansion House Park



Close-up of Clivia from South Africa
Purple Japanese Privet berries

The cafe is closed for the winter
Last of the autumn leaves

Though here is an example of a garden that was so thoughtfully planted and well maintained over summer it is continuing to give a glorious display of colour into the winter. An example also of how to have both a garden and wallabies without ring fencing their property.