Recent random moments

We had a pretty decent frost earlier this week.  I forget that this was common during winter when I was a kid in Oregon.  One difference is that we had ice scrappers to scrap off our windshields.. here we use hot water to melt the ice off our windscreens.

Then one day en route to work I found myself following another walking commuter who was carrying tons of stuff just like me.  I found myself wishing that I had long hair and could braid it up into a ring of colour around my head like her.  One day I want to be able to dress like this for work...

I did get to make pizza Friday night with girls who are likely to have no problem dressing in colours and layers when they grow up.  My pizza helpers decided to make one pizza 'half omnivore and half carnivore'  both sides were delicious.  

Today there was no work.. it was a very very quiet day.  Not exactly what I wanted, but there were some great moments of gardening.  I know that it all might be for naught between the birds, frosts, and potential moves, but it feels good to be laying down roots and hopes, even if very short terms ones.

Views from now

At nights we often walk up to eat with our neighbors or at least have a cup of tea or borrow an ingredient for our dinner.


Often the neighbors' horses are near by and our chickens are most social. They race to us whenever we open the door... if you are wearing gum boots they are extra excited.


My mornings are about rowing. If you are wondering why I have little time to hang out, it is because I am exhausted by the end of the work day and I race in regattas every weekend at the moment. Some nights I run up hills of sand or steps.

Gardening

A couple days ago we had another hail storm. Rarely can you capture percipitation on film, but this time it was easy:

Today we went out to more closely investigate how the garden fared. Traveler took a very thoughtful approach, occasionally lifting up leaves from the broad-leafed plants that had huge holes right through them from the hail.

I decided to take a lazy approach. I am so sore from rowing that I can't really do much useful in the garden, so I went out and took a quasi nap in the garden.

I did get a bit of weeding done and then took my mustard green weeds to the goats kids.

Bury a dream, hope for a new one

We LOVE limes, but have a hard time getting our hands on them here sometimes.

So we decided to plant a lime tree. Our wonderful neighbors offered to cut down a few scrub trees to create a sunny wind-protected space for it. And when our neighbor gets an idea in his head, it happens - NOW.

So chain saws were produced and trees were felled.

The goats had a party with all the branches!

Garden time

Today we started on our garden. Well Traveler and my father did heaps of prep work creating raised beds out of some freebie wood.  Our neighbor had bought a truck of compost and a pile of horse manure had been accumulating near our designated garden area.

Today's main task was to transport the material down to the raised bed.  


This wasn't so much back-breaking labor as tricky. The ground was saturated from recent rains and the clay based soil turned quickly into a mud slide. It was more like steering a heavy sled with rubber boot skis than pushing a wheelbarrow. Going up was tricky because we had already started creating earthen steps to help walking. These may be good when finished for walking up and down, but they just made the wheelbarrow lurch a bit.



We also spread the dirt even, put up some wind breaking fence mesh, and was given a starter set of plants.




We'll keep the plants inside for a bit - it is winter here after all. If the cold southerly winds didn't give that away this weekend, the moon being out before dinner certainly hints at what season we're in.

Otari Wilton Bush

Last weekend we join up with a group of other immigrants to enjoy the Otari-Wilton Garden. It is a lovely place dedicated to native plants and trees.

We had a picnic and quite a few kids were playing on the grassy hill nearby


Then we walked through the regenerating bush/forest.

In this free public garden there is even a 400 year old Rimu tree.

The stream also was a highlight for the kids to play in.


Its pretty nice that this is only a 15 minute bus ride from downtown and a 20 minute walk from our house. We ended up walking back after our lovely afternoon. Here is a bit of what we saw..

some lovely stainglass...


the wellington sewer drains..

and most intriguing of all...


if you look closely the firemen have placed their boots and all on the sidewalk so they can run and jump into them. I am pretty sure that they were on duty and had just gone out to play cricket with the radio on in case of a fire call. Everything was set up so they could just jump in and go and when we walked by the Karori fire station the garage was empty. I guess its better to be out getting exercise than just sitting around the TV waiting for a call. Don't know if this would be allowed in the states, but seems fine to me:)

Botanical Garden

During the summer months, free concerts are offered at the Botanical Gardens. They light the place up too during the concerts.

I really enjoy spending time there, and the concerts draw lots of people of all ages. Kids love the playground (within ear shot of the music) and the cable car. Adults seem to enjoy picnics and relaxing. Those that want to chat during the concert can move into the trees a bit, and still hear the music in the background. And the preschool set seem to love these spotlights that are computer controlled to drift along the sidewalk. Even with my kid experience, I was surprised what a hit these lights are with kids running and jumping on the lights, only to run and jump again and again and again while their parents chill nearby, chatting away. I love that there are tons of little pathways through out the place and I feel safe walking, even once it gets dark, during the concerts.




Here is an example of the fiddle ferns you see here.

 
And we both enjoyed checking out this spiral tree