NEWS FROM THE ISLAND - April 2019

A WET DAY IN APRIL and the mind returns back to the kitchen, for I feel cold and I am wanting something yummy to eat.

For my birthday daughter Kay sent over a box of mixed groceries and fruit - what a welcome gift because it includes things I pass on as being an unneeded luxury. Not much now left - a few apples and a red pumpkin-type vegetable. Time to transform them into dinner.
Counting calories, I thought at first pumpkin soup followed by stewed apples, but it seemed a shame to not elevate the ingredients into something rather special. ( also it took forever to cut just a slice out of the pumpkin as wrists not strong enough to really attack it - scoring and re-scoring until finally I could break through ). Into the  hollowed out space went salt, black pepper, a good knob of margarine instead of butter, a little bit of water instead of white wine, piece of garlic, piece of root ginger, a little cinnamon and then popped back the wedge I had cut out and into the oven to bake. Zilch to no calories according to Weightwatchers so it had to be decadent Apple Crumble to follow! Think Americans call it Brown Betty instead?

That is what I call a perfect wet day in April dinner, and easy to take off the little bit of burnt edge to the Apple Crumble.

pumpkin ready to add ingrdients

Apple Crumble has desicated coconut this time added to topping.

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND - last day of January

SUDDENLY ALL IS STILL - the kittens as of last Saturday, after 3 months of being my top priority, are now all grown and as of last Saturday, have new hands to clean, feed, hold, pat and love them and my little house is very, very quiet; it is mid-summer and HOT. The lawns wait to be mowed, but they are going to have wait longer for a cooler day and some motivation from me.. The last hedge to finish cutting has a paper wasp nest deep in it somewhere and I have already been stung as a warning to back-off ( by the way straight cloudy ammonia for wasp stings , vinegar for bee strings, neat bleach ( Janola)  for white-tail spider bites). Otherwise all the things I have promised to do are now done and it's time for me to think of summer and what to do with all my freedom - as a start I've read 3 books already - lol.

today is a cooler day.

Kittens have now gone to new homes

The mumma cats choose outside on the deck

The dog chose the fan

The monarch butterfly caterpillars I'm raising just keep on chewing

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?

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