From my kitchen window…

As we near the end of 2019 we have slowed right down to enjoy the last few days. How lucky are we to be in this happy place!!!! I looked up while doing the dishes recently to this scene, and it filled me with joy 🙂

Jigsaws, reading, hanging out, going for walks are all helping us to rejuvenate for the new year ahead!

Pica and Vida quite exhausted by all the activity of late, are taking some time out too 🙂

The chicks are almost ready to go outside and join the big hens , though are quite at home inside as you can see!

Diane ,(the white hen), has been secretive lately and I suspected she was broody. Sure enough I discovered her sitting on a nest in the bush with 12 eggs under her! Poor her, it is all in vain ,so I took them ,away, much to her dismay. One of the chicks I am pretty sure is a Roo, so in a few months she can sit on fertile eggs and it will be more fruitful. She will be a good Mama 🙂

Just before Christmas my brother, (Nigel), came down from Auckland for the day ,(work related), and we took him to the airport. As we were leaving I noticed my bag was missing. Bit of a panic as a lot of important things in my bag. As we drove home Rich phoned my phone a couple of times, it went straight to voicemail, then as we were deciding what best to do, his phone rang. It was the supermarket in town where we had picked up Nigel, I had left my purse on the ground beside the car and had driven off ,(clearly my mind is not what it used to be 🙂 ). Some kind person had discovered it, and taken it to the help desk. Restores your faith in humanity things like this happening!!

Our vege garden is coming along nicely, still need to put up the fence and lay bark, but all the plants are growing well. We got 9000L of water delivered, then of course it has rained on and off ever since! Means though the garden has not needed watering, and our 20 000L tank is at a very healthy level 🙂

We have even had our first produce!!!!!

Luca and I were in the Mall in the city just before Christmas, and it is usual for Luca to go off on his own, do his things and us to rendezvous at a particular point and time. I went off and did what I needed to do, which included moving the car, (I was in a timed spot), and went to pick him up, only to discover him not there!!!!!

This was unusual, as he is always really good at the meet ups. I was worried, I knew he would be really upset that we had missed each other. I found a security guard and asked if there was a PA system, there was not, and I was reminded of the fact I was in NZ by the guards very casual approach to it all, pretty much saying, he will turn up. In other places we have lived, it would have evoked quite different response!!

After an hour of searching I was getting more and more anxious, I knew by this point he would be in quite a state!

Then I found him!

He was sitting on the bonnet of our car, saw me, burst into tears and fell into my arms. Turns out he had misheard my meet up instructions, had quite a time finding the car, (as of course I had moved it), the car alarm had gone off and he could not stop it. No one around had helped him, and he thought the absolute worse had happened to me, my poor baby!

Was quite the end to the day, we drove home debriefing all the way! It has not put him off being independent, but I know it has made him listen better to meet up instructions, and more than that, he knows he can cope if he needs to, and that he made sensible decisions, (finding and waiting by the car), when things don’t go as planned. Still we could have done without it 🙂

Then it was CHRISTMAS!

We had a wonderful, happy day, filled with good food….

Celebration…..

Time together…

and of course gift opening 🙂

We all agreed it was the most relaxing, happy Christmas yet, we even fitted in a stroll at the end of the day when the weather cleared, to walk off all the extra food! 🙂

We got Luca a trampoline for Xmas. A second hand one that came up well after a really good clean. Luca and Rich put it together and it has been used every day since…

2020 is 4 days away, as we head into the new decade, we are looking forward to new adventures, seeing where our path leads, and wishing everyone a happy and fun filled year!