There is change in the air…
Brace yourselves this is going to be a long one, it has been so long since I posted, so lots to catch up on!!!!
We have not long got back from holidaying in Naseby and St Bathans, The shot above is Rich jumping into the amazingly deep and clear Blue Lake, crazy man, but I love him 🙂
March is almost over and the weeks have been flying by. Fall is in the air and I feel change is too. We had a wonderful holiday. We had been trying to get there for a while, but had been hindered but one thing or another. Central Otago is steeped in history and that is evident everywhere you go, also the beauty of the landscape is unsurpassed, each time we are there we discover more, and always love our time there.
We hiked, biked, swam, dined in the old gold miners pub and quirky cafe and generally had an amazing time, it had been far too long since we got away on this type of break. No wifi meant, lots of reading, board games and croquet, it was bliss!!!!
Pica loved those croquet balls!!!
I love to see my husband in total relax mode…
The trails were amazing and swimming spots perfect!
Yep that is Luca in both up and below shots
Pica joined Rich and Luca and is in there somewhere diving for rocks.
These building have stood the test of time and little villages like these are being revitalized. The cottages are quintessentially early European settlement homes and are kept beautifully.
I like the old stone ones the best, made from the rocks found in the area.
Luca made friends, it started with 3…
….then quickly escalated!
I love this shot of Rich and Luca deep in conversation strolling along, warms my heart ❤️
The place we stayed was simple but perfect..
Some reminders of “the old country”….
You have to wonder at what this tree has witnessed as it was planted and grew along the main street of the village (that is Rich under it).
We all came home happy and relaxed, Pica absolutely exhausted and spent the next 2 days like this
but she loved every second of it 🙂
February and March was so busy, filled with all sorts of happening…
Luca had some massive dental work done and as we expected had braces reapplied . We had anticipated this would happen, but still he could have done without it, it meant 4 molars had to come out to make room for his wisdom teeth to all be pulled together by the braces. The extraction was done under local and gas. That was QUITE the experience poor kid, he handled it so well, we were proud of him.
It did mean however he was on a liquid diet for a few days while things healed. He has so little in the way of body fat that fluid was just not enough. We got a frantic call one day from school as he passed out and they could not keep him upright, luckily Rich happened to be close by and despite his protests, we kept him home until he could eat solids again. Now he is right back into the routine of braces and all is fine, but it was a tough couple of weeks!
We have had some massive landscaping done around here for the farm fencing, a lot of heavy equipment needed…
The chooks very happy with the earthworks!!!!
Loving the end result, sheep and pigs are on order and Rich is working on the shelter space….
The harvest season has been plentiful, the fruit and citrus trees doing exceptionally well this year…
Baking has been a must! 🙂
I love these old plates so much! A colleague gave me a precious pile of them a few years ago, they are beautiful, perfect for placing baking on for eating!
Another exciting first for Tui Cottage is our first harvest of honey!!!!! Years I have wanted to have bees and to be able to do this and finally have achieved it…
I am pretty proud of my little worker bees!!!
Some of my long term patients have taken to dropping off veges and preserves for me. It is so sweet of them, I find all their advice on growing invaluable and we have ongoing discussions each season of what we are planting. These was left sitting on my desk recently, I have no idea which patient, but I am sure I will find out in time.
The Fall is here and with it the dramatic jumps between gorgeous hot days and then chilly ones. It does not take me or Pica much to want a fire, so any slight drop on it goes 🙂
Some wine in front of the roaring fire out waiting for me when I get home on a chilly evening, lovely 🙂
It is Good Friday evening here, about 9pm, very dark night out there. Luca and his friends are outside on the property exploring. It is a perfect night time environment for adventure with the old graveyard next door, we can hear them out over there somewhere!
Tomorrow was are hosting an Easter Egg Hunt/BBQ and I have told the kids they are going to be woken to sort out the egg hunt for the little ones that are coming, let’s see how that goes. In Canada we used to hold Egg Hunting parties for Luca and his friends, complete chaos of course, but such happy times. Luca was reminiscing last night about them. Rich has done a great job of getting all the supplies together for the one tomorrow.
Next week Luca is off to Aoraki (Mt Cook) with his geography class to camp, climb and study it. So very cool, it is a such a majestic, special place! He is so excited about it and has been looking forward to the trip for 2 years! The kids have to sort it all themselves, including taking all their food and doing all their own cooking. We are leaving it to Luca to sort with his friends, a good learning experience in more ways than one 🙂
He then only has a week and the first term is done and he is off for 2 weeks.
So Happy Easter everyone, my Kakabeak is flowering again just in time for the occasion, until next time….
