Spring….

The rest of July and August disappeared in a bit of a blur and here we are into September already! On the 6th of September we have been in Tui Cottage 3 years, it is hard to believe! The fruit trees are beginning to blossom, so pretty and there is such an optimistic feel in the air.

My asparagus has started to sprout, this year should be a full harvest, I planted them the year we moved in, can’t wait, delicious!

Rich left for Canada in the end on the 19th of July. He was supposed to leave on the 13th but we all got sick (not covid), and he was unable to fly until he recovered. We had tried to “isolate him” from us ,(Luca and I got it first), but there is really no hope in this small space, even with the separate beds. Pica insisted on squeezing in to comfort 🙂

I made up huge batches of soup which got us through those miserable days when we were all felt terrible

We played board games and cards when we started to feel better, and slowly but surely came right.

Luca and I having got it first, recovered first. I was at my brothers house and tripped, lord it hurt! Terrible timing, weight bearing was an issue but strapping firmly has helped and only now, it is feeling like it is almost right. Such a stupid thing to do, I still don’t really know what happened, just ended up on the floor!

Rich was finally well enough to fly on the 19th. The day before, there was some terrible weather and my brothers roof started to lift, trying to get a tradie at the moment, without weeks of waiting, is impossible,so Rich and I climbed up and hammered it down, thank goodness we did, as the weather only got much worse the following week. Rich managed to fly out in between storms thankfully.

Luca started school again, with Rich away he and I drew up a schedule of things he would do before and after school as my days are long at work, I leave in the dark and get home in the dark at this time of year.

He really stepped up and had everything sorted by the time I got home and we fell into a new routine. The weather continued to rage, there were slips and turmoil all around us, at one point our road was closed as a huge slip covered the road, I still had to get to work which meant driving extra miles to get around the slips which made days even longer. Our property stood strong and there was no damage for us, but many had huge flooding and people were evacuated from their homes as the rivers reached their peak and overflowed. It was a tough few weeks in more ways than one!

The deck Rich had built was such a wonderful thing to have when everything around was so soggy!

Then things started to come right, the weather cleared and peace resumed on our harbour….

Then Rich came home! As much as we all knew him being with Jen was absolutely where he must be, we are a tight little unit and he was missed a lot, we were all so happy to be together again!

With Canada very fresh in Rich’s mind, there was an ice hockey game on in our local rink, he, my brother, Luca and Ted went along, they had fun, I think they will be going to more games 🙂

We then had a wonderful few days weather wise and hit the beach. It does not matter how many times we go, the spectacular beauty never ceases to hit me and instantly we all relax. To have it mere minutes from our home makes us incredibly privileged.

Rich took these panoramic images below, they are very cool and capture well how incredible this place is…

Back at home Rich has started work on the deck covering, which will go over the alfresco eating area which the sliding door will open onto from inside..

By next post it will be done, Rich as usual has produced an amazing space for us.

The chooks are VERY fond of the deck too, but we are dissuading them as leave lovely little poop piles everywhere, so they hang out next to it. Their egg production is in full force and I can start my little bartering system up again. I am hoping to have more luck with chicks again this year…

Yesterday Rich and I met with the builder. We now have the consent from the council but there are of course more issues to work through. We are still on track to start in the summer, but it is a frustrating and very stressful time getting this done. We want the shell built by others to meet council requirements and then we, (really Rich), can work on it bit by bit inside. This is the only way to keep within budget, the prices are astronomical and continue to climb each month. There is absolutely no way we could do any of this without Rich’s ability to build like he does.

Today is a mixed bag weather wise, one minute lovely the next horrible. Ted and Luca are chilling, Rich is about to make his signature pizza and I am catching up on things I have been putting off for too long, the list it seems, is never ending 🙂

Tomorrow is Fathers Day in NZ, I have booked us into one of our favourite places for a late lunch early dinner. The day belongs to my incredible husband, who Luca is so lucky to have as his Dada. We love him so much xx