somes island

We had a visitor from NYC recently and that gave us the excuse to finally go to Somes Island. I've rowed out to this island, and even around it once, but never actually set foot on it before. The impact of humans is very clear here, but it is a special way to get to see the harbour

Chickens and cooking with horses

****Chicken naming contest****

Our friend Linde has suggested a wonderful set of names for our chickens:

1. Bluecheese
2. Indigo
3. Cohiba
4. Corona
5.  Melanzane (eggplant)
6. Zenzero (ginger)

We now just have to pick which name best fits each bird! 

 Suggestions welcome!

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes I feed my chickens in the little red wagon out front.  


 It makes for good cooking entertainment for me


Sometimes they hop on the fence and look in while I am making breakfast

And yesterday the horses tried to do the same, but the glass angled window confused them

German Apple Breakfast

Today we feasted on bok choy pan fried with ginger, garlic, chilli, and soy sauce as a first course.  The second course was bread dipped in olive oil.  And finally we had German Apple Pancakes with greek yogurt.

$600 flights to NZ

As I wring my hands about the 2-3,000 dollar fares to travel to home for this summer, I see that for Americans to travel here for a taste of winter is pretty darn cheap:


http://www.airnewzealand.com/default.htm

Plus the exchange rate is such that everything is basically half off if you are buying in US dollars.

Alas, I am living a NZ dollar existence at the moment, but thought that with all the bad news in the American Economy the thought that a trip to New Zealand is cheaper than you think might be cheery news indeed!

Panel beating

Today I tried my hand at panel beating (i.e., body shop work as I think its called in the States).  I do not think the professional panel beaters need to fear my skill at this point... however I am quite proud of my attempt and had a blast doing it.  Next time Traveler dents the car, he should just hand me a mallet and wrench and I'll be so excited to get to do more panel beating I'll forget that typically dents are considered undesirable!

Before


After

And for Laura, who was present for my last car adventure, here are some photos of the process.

 

Unlike the other times we've removed tires, this time there was no cow

nor police escort,



so don't feel like you missed out too much!

Weekend photos

Market of food and colour


Writing my "This I Believe" essay for NPR


Dinner of dips, spreads, rice, and bread

Sunset off the deck


Wine with Linde and a bit of Lindy Hop!