Indian Summer

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Mary Oliver ,(American poet), died last year, but her words will live on, love her work!

We absolutely have not had the summer of last year, but we do seem to be having a little blitz right at the end of this one, the beach and hikes a priority on the weekends…

Surfer boy
Luca’s handy work

A couple of weekends ago we took one of Luca’s mates ,(Otis), and his family on a hike with us over the other side of Dunedin, an area we have not really explored much of, it was a perfect day for it!

They found an old hut (Luca, Fox and Otis)
Pica as usual a very happy girl
snack time always a favorite with the kids!

Then last weekend we headed over that way again, by ourselves this time. The hike was marked as a “difficult but rewarding one” and we soon discovered why..

Happy, if tired family 🙂
That is Brighton Beach in the distance
As we walked through the bush I noted to the boys the pig rooting, I saw fresh at the beginning and then walking further down they were older. I was saying how wild pigs here are very unpredictable, and you really want to avoid them, if they attacked you would not have much of a chance, so climb a tree if they came at you. Rich has just asked about how fresh the rootings were, and I was saying these ones are older, when we heard a great squeal and Pica was off! Yep one was on the track ahead of us, we thought we had lost Pica for sure, as the terrain so dense and steep. We called and called and started to walk back up thinking maybe she would go to where we came from, when she came running up the track ahead of us, exhausted and clearly OK, she obviously had got nowhere near the pig, phew! Needless to say we moved on quickly 🙂
It was obvious it was not a well used track and so lots of pushing through the bush was needed
Snack time for us all ……
The ocean a perfect blue today
Assessing the gorse bush scratches 🙂

On the home front Rich has been clearing and chopping up wood from our bush area for the coming winter, this hill we want to turn into a sitting area, it is quite the mission to clear but coming along nicely, more pics of this to come as he works through it. He has run into a bees nest at the top, so we are just working out how to move this without harming the bees…

The chooks are enjoying helping him out 🙂

The old shed is coming along, still a bit to do there, but looking way better….

Rich’s avocado trees have ALL sprouted and he is looking at re potting them, he is pretty excited about this!!!!!!

Luca has been very busy with school things as they lead up to camp next week…

He likes to work by his lamp light, the sheep picture was given to him by his Grandparents, and he has carried it around the world with us….

My work going well, my hours are long, the need is high, and getting higher, but I am able to work to my scope of practice in this public health position. Moving from the public sector, to a not for profit organization and within a primary care setting , is sitting better with me, ethically I feel less compromised. My focus on the determinants of health and how they affect population health are a priority of mine, and now the reality of my everyday, although the need overwhelming, it is work I am enjoying and somewhere I can help, (in a tiny way), make some progressive change. Although my last job held promise, I realized once there, the reality of being able to work to my scope in the way I wanted was years off, a good decade or two at least, I don’t have that amount of time 🙂 Although I have taken a pay cut with this move, they have given me a vehicle which is really helping us out, and helps to make up the shortfall…

Shiny isn’t it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have rarely driven a new car with all the bells and whistles and it makes me a bit nervous, but so very grateful for it!!!!!

So with very busy weeks for us all, we collapse onto the couch for some R&R in the evenings 🙂

The boys have started to pack for Monday when they head off to camp. This is the first time I have been away from Luca for so long, (2 nights is the record, that only happened for the first time last year, previously I had never spent a night away from him). Luca will be sleeping in a different building to Rich, and this is a first for him too, not having one of us right there is going to be a big change for him, as a family we are rarely parted, so will be a new experience for us all, can you tell I am a little apprehensive? 🙂

Watch this space……