What's been happening

March is almost over! Wow. Thought I'd drop in some pictures to let you know what's been happening.

We took Kien bowling. He's been asking and asking and we've been putting him off, so it was about time we followed through. I didn't know how he knew about bowling and thought it was something he had watched. Then when we got to Metrolanes in the city he said he was here the last time he went bowling. We thought he was making it up, but I had forgotten that he went with the folks from school holiday programme - so he wasn't just telling stories again hehehehe.

We've finished up cricket for the season - well actually we are away for the final 2 games and when we come back we are hoping to make it to prize-giving. It has been a great season. Kien has really enjoyed it (for the most part).

We've been harvesting strawberries from the garden. Season is over so we are getting stragglers, but anything is good.

It's also been raining so much! The garden enjoys the soaking, as does the Venus Fly Trap. I hope it will be alright while we are away. We've been really looking after this plant since our last one shrivelled up and died through lack of watering.

Speaking of the weather, in the weekend there was finally a break from the rain so I got Kien on his bike and down to the park for some much needed running around.

Wednesday night we took off - destination LA. Sunday is the marathon!

This is the enclosed "outside" area of the Air New Zealand Koru lounge.

Landed in LAX yesterday to relive Wednesday all over again.

Raining when it's blooming

I can't seem to shake whatever it is going on inside my head at the moment. I feel sad, yes. The loss of my friend a couple of weeks back has affected me more than I anticipated, if that makes any sense. As if one can put a meter on the level of sadness one is supposed to feel depending on...what? I don't know what. Silly, really. It just feels silly.

I drove down to Raetihi last Wednesday with a couple of ladies for the funeral. The service was beautiful; very intimate and warm despite the number of attendees. We threw flowers on her grave, and then went back to the lodge for a cuppa and a chat with the family before making the 4 and a 1/2 hour drive home. Since then I've felt exhausted. I've not been sleeping well, and my mind and body feels restless. I feel silly, and I keep wondering when I'm going to grow up, or at least grow out of the scattered restlessness that festers in my mind and makes me question everything. The theory of everything. I don't have the capacity for it.

Another Tuesday, another day off to spend time with my son, and of course Mothers' guilt sets in as I can't motivate myself to do anything. So he's on the iPad, and I'm willing myself to get off the couch to take him somewhere. Anywhere. Outside.

In between the part rain, part cloudy, part sunny, and the humidity, I take a glimpse at my garden. It's in full bloom. Everything is flowering. Plants you definitely don't want to be flowering are flowering. It makes for a beautiful display though, even the weeds on the lawn.















Here is our lone chrysalis, still waiting to transform on our very well eaten swan plant. All the other caterpillars marched off one by one, disappearing into the garden somewhere never to be seen again.



Strawberries are still coming on, much to Kien's delight. Looking at this picture I realised I should have set the aperture a little higher so the perfect little budding flower in the background was more in focus. But then again, I specifically wanted to show this flower, shedding its petals and revealing the fruit of its labour. And the imperfect surrounding leaves, well that's just life, isn't it.







So back to my little guy, who has also been restless in the middle of the night; flinging himself all over the bed, waking himself up and moaning and groaning in his dreams. I should take him somewhere, even for a quick walk up the road.



Or maybe the supermarket to get some treats for us both. Yes, I think that's a good plan.

In the garden

It's past spring, but not yet consistently warm enough to call it summer in my mind. It doesn't matter; the chill is definitely out of the air, the days are much longer, the smell of BBQs are all around the neighbourhood, and the garden is in full production! I've got seedlings on the window sill, and finally the winter crop are looking the way they are supposed to look. I've been a busy bee out there in the back, and Jef has been equally busy in the front - but in a more technical capacity. So here's what the garden looks like in December 2015.

My red cabbages have finally formed into more than just random leaves. I've also been harvesting celery and love it in practically anything that lends itself to having that radishy spicy flavour permeating through.



My other winter vegetables also look the way they are supposed to - broccoli that has a head and not just leaves, brussel sprouts with actually nodules sprouting out from the stem, and carrots that don't look anaemic.







The silverbeet are sweet and tender, and the garlic companioning with my herbs are making me look like I'm a pro at this gardening thing.





As for my summer produce - they are just beautiful.






Speaking of beautiful, I decided to do some potted colour this year, and planted them with my lavender. My pots are so pretty and make me smile every time I look outside.



Then there's the window sill. I've seeded bok choy, cos lettuce, coriander, more carrots, and the kumara is ready to be chopped and planted this weekend.









Auckland in the summertime is fabulous! I can't wait to try my hand at foraging.

Tales from the garden

The days are definitely getting longer, and even though we've had some very cold days and nights this winter I haven't thought it insufferable. I've wanted to drag my family on a quick and tropical excursion somewhere, but Jef and I have been so busy at work that it has been a little difficult to get away. All the grand plans of sunbathing one weekend and then going to the snow another weekend has fallen by the wayside. Hey, winter ain't over just yet. One more cold snap might send me over the edge!

This morning I looked out into the garden to find that it has come to life. I haven't been paying that much attention, so to discover that the bulbs and seedlings I'd haphazardly thrown into the ground in autumn is now in bloom. Just before school I grabbed my gumboots, a camera and a Kien and went outside for a closer look.

Freesias popping out next to my cauliflowers. I think that sweet smell is synonymous with spring.

I'm usually not a lilic fan, but here's an exception.

For the purposes of eating it doesn't look like my cabbages are doing so well, but ornamentally I think they are superb.

Calendula, another one of my favourite plants for the garden. Not only do they sport beautiful sunshine colours for the vegetable patch, they also brighten up any salad bowl with their peppery tangy taste. Oh, and bees love them too! I've got these plants scattered all over the place.

I was surprised to find (much to Kien's delight) the strawberry patch already starting to fruit. I've propagated a whole bunch of runners ready for planting when it gets a bit warmer.

We are now seeing these beauties shining through in my roadside berm garden. I buried some bulbs in amongst the Russian kale out there, and since that garden gets the morning sun I'm guessing that's why I'm seeing the daffodils flowering well before the ones out the back.

The most disappointing performer this winter was this variety of chrysanthemum. I guess they didn't stand much of a change going in as tiny seedings right at the end of autumn. They got really leggy and didn't bush out at all, so they didn't produce enough flowers for me to dry and make tea.

This is Kien trying to make a run for it so he didn't have to go to school. The wood has swelled in the fence so its a little stuck at times. That doesn't deter this kid any.