A busy day

I've had quite a productive day, even if has all involved feijoas. I promise not to go on about them too much in the future but decided that I may as well show you what I've been up to today.

First of all a bucketful went outside the gate, this photo was after half of them were taken. I leave a notice on the local fb fruit and vege swap page and let people just take them. It seems to work. 

After I'd done the usual daily chores like bedmaking and dishes and such I decided to get cracking on the fruit sitting around the kitchen. So I ended up stewing about two and a half kilo less one chopped cupful. I know, it doesn't look very appetising in this state does it :)

The cupful of chopped fruit was made into a feijoa loaf. I have a pot luck lunch after church tomorrow so thought I'd try it out on the congregation :)

It looks okay. Bob and I might try a slice each for supper and if it's not okay I'll duck into the supermarket on the way and pick up a pottle of cherry tomatoes. 

And for the two and a half kilo and all the work it takes to prepare them I ended up with these two small containers. As I've said before they are very labour intensive for little return - but I hate seeing food go to waste. 

I don't intend to repeat the day tomorrow :) but seeing as we're only a couple of weeks into a six week season I'll have to keep on top of them. Bob's taken them down to his audiologist and Vanessa, youngest daughter, took a big grocery bagful around her clients and gave them all some. They've also been put in a couple of workplace staff rooms. 

That's about as exciting as life has been lately but that's okay, I'm not complaining. Dull is good occasionally.

And on that note I'll finish.

Until next time,

Diana

Tuesday 4 - On Holiday

 On Holiday

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...

Summertime means travel time for many people.

Let's talk about travel and holidays.

1. Will you be traveling this summer at all?

We rarely go away in summer now the kids are grown up and have their own families. Christmas happens in summer here and the grandkids tend to go to their parents homes and so that's where we go. And they mostly live in Dunedin just a few minutes away. In the past we did tenting and then caravan holidays at camping grounds with the kids. They were a lot of fun.

2. Will there be day trips in store for you? visits to the beach, evenings out:?

Maybe, who knows, it's still a wee way off. I'm hoping we might head north for a few days about the end of July or beginning of August though but that's still to be decided. And it will still be quite cool but lately their temperatures have been averaging 7 or 8 degrees warmer than us so we'd enjoy that.

3. Do you eat out more in summer... do you go for ice cream or treats more?

We go for day trips occasionally, often go out for an ice cream, Outram is a favourite place for that as it is only about 10 to 15 minute's drive away. We sit there and eat it and then take a leisurely trip home around the plain. We don't eat out a lot, we sometimes go to a cafe for lunch and probably yes, more so in summer.

4. What is your favorite place to visit and what is the most exotic place you've been to?

My favourite place to visit is wherever the kids are, big ones and little ones. Even my brothers and sisters are kids, they're all younger than me :) I love visiting family. We've been to Australia, which is like us but not the same :) I've been to Fiji when I was a teenager and loved it. Bob and I thought we might go over several years ago only to wake up the day after we'd decided to discover there had been a military coup! And we went to Japan for Aaron's wedding. That was probably the most exotic place we've been. The culture was so totally different to anything we were used to, the cities were so clean, no graffiti, the people were very friendly and we felt very welcome wherever we went.

But it's winter here so summer holidays are just a dream at the moment. Instead we're eating stodgy comfort food and hunkering down and keeping warm. 

And here's the link if you'd like to join in. Tuesday 4

Keep well until next time,

blessings,

Diana

A day in the life of a feijoa

Some of you have asked about feijoas and how I use them so I thought I'd do  silly little post and show you 'a day in the life' of any feijoa that is silly enough to land on my side of the boundary fence :)

Here is a bunch of feijoa hanging over our side of the fence. Not quite ready to drop yet but with a little bit of wind some of them will soon go.

We collect and bring them in and they go in the fruit bowl, on the bench and in icecream pottles while they wait to be sorted. The very small ones go straight into the green recycling bin. I can't be bothered with trying to do  anything with them.

The large ones we distribute around family and friends and wherever else they are wanted. I'll probably leave some in a community roadside pantry or two as well. These ones are cut and ready to eat. I never grew up eating them and so I think they are an acquired taste. People tend to love or hate them. Bob is not a fan.

The smaller ones I stew and freeze and pull them out to use with my cereal or in warm winter puddings. I have made a feijoa loaf once or twice as well which is quite nice. Someone asked me last season how I cooked them and I don't think I replied so here you are. I cut them in half as above and scoop out the flesh, put in a saucepan and cover with water. Sweeten if you like, I do. Bring to boiling point, remove immediately  from heat and leave to stew in their own juice. And that's it. Nothing complicated. Nothing added except sweetner of your own liking.

And into a container to freeze once they are cool.

When I've finished what I need, they are quite labour intensive when you have a lot to process, and when family and friends start refusing them I put them out by the gate in a bucket for people to take. I've already had one young fellow ask at the gate if they were going out this year. He's coming back this week sometime to check :)

*****

A little bit of information about the feijoa courtesy of Wikipedia.

Feijoa sellowiana (or pineapple guava),. It is the only species in the genus Feijoa. It is native mainly to the highlands of Colombia, southern Brazil and the hills of northeast Uruguay, but it can also be found in eastern Paraguay and northern Argentina.^{[5][6]: 114} It is known as quirina (lusitanized from the Kaingang: kanê kriyne^[a])^[6]: 111 or as feijoa, pronounced fay-ho-uh^[b] in Spanish-speaking countries of South America, ^[7][8] and fee-jo-uh^[c] in the United States and New Zealand.^[9][10] The Kaingang are a tribe indigenous to southern Brazil.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, 1–7 metres (3.3–23.0 ft) in height.^[11] The oblong leaves are about 5 cm (2.0 in) long, dark green on the upper side and white underneath. The flowers have five whitish petals which are puffy, possibly filled with some gas. There are about 25 dark red stamens projecting from the centre.^[12]

*****

And that is all for the moment. I hope you enjoyed this wee post :)

Keep well, 

blessings,

Diana

Tuesday 4

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...

Let's talk about your week okay?

1. Is anything interesting on TV this week?  What will you be watching?

We quite enjoy The Brokenwood Mysteries. A New Zealand  programme so we understand the humour, it's a comedy/drama and now into it's tenth year. Each episode usually features a well known New Zealand actor as a guest star. Other than that I enjoy Thursday night when Jacqui and I chat on the phone while watching The Great British Sewing Bee. We try to pick the winner in each catergory and critique the outfits :) Friday nights is also relaxing with The Repair Shop. I love some of the stories that go with the items brought in and find myself grinning widely when the owner sees it restored. 

2. Any books on your horizon right now? What will you be reading?

I'm reading a couple of books at the moment. One is by Jonathan Cahn - The Dragon's Prophecy. Very thought provoking and I'm only able to read small sections at a time. The other book is Gaylene's Take by Gaylene Preston. I went to school with Gaylene and she was the principal speaker at the dinner when I went over to our school reunion. She is a film maker and her book is interesting. Her style is very chatty which makes it an easy read. And it helps to know some of the places and names she mentions. I'm enjoying it.

3. What's been on the menu lately?  Any new recipes caught your eye?

I've seen a couple on YouTube that I like the look of. I liked the look of some easy bread and berry puddings, comfort food because it is winter. But I'm not a cook and so simple and quick are what I like. Last night we had mince pie with potatoes and mixed vegetables. More comfort food :)

4. Who will you spend time with this week?

Later today I'm going to visit my friend in the rest home. Jacqui has been doing some clothing repairs for her so I'll take them in. And I'll deliver a parcel for our newest addition to the family to his grandmother.

Earlier in the weekend we went to see Arlo who turned seven. He's into all things army at the moment so we gave him a little tank with toy soldiers. And later in the day he went to the circus. Lucky boy, the circus arriving in time for his birthday. Here he is with his Dad.

Here is the link if you would like to join us this week.  Tuesday 4

 

And that is about all for this week.

blessings to all,

Diana

A drive through history

Kay messaged me while I was on holiday and I never picked her message up. I guess I was preoccupied with reunion stuff. So she repeated it when I got home, sure I'd get it this time. She was inviting me on a bus tour of the Taieri Plain. When she never got a reply a second time she invited another friend instead. About five minutes later, she said, I replied that yes I'd love to come. Oh, was there going to be enough seats? She checked and yes, happily we were all able to go.

And so on Saturday afternoon we embarked on 'A Historical Tour of the Taieri Plain'. The bus was full and we had Chris commentating. No time for small talk, her commentary was comprehensive.

Basically the tour was a history of the Presbyterian presence in the area, and really quite interesting, even for those of a different persuasion like me. Otago was settled in the main by Scottish Presbyterians. We saw quite a few of the old homes and churches, or sites, that had been built way back in the 1800's. One of the homes was Woodside Manor, first known as The Poplars. Built in 1848 originally it had large gardens in front of the house but now it is just a grassed area. I was sitting on the aisle so couldn't get decent photo's but the Poplars is below.

A bit further around the plain we stopped at the North Taieri Presbyterian church for a comfort stop and to have a walk around. Built in 1867 it is the oldest surviving church on the Taieri Plain. It is a small plain church and to be honest I find it quite boring. I suppose that is good, nothing to detract from worship :) But it does have a lovely (fairly modern) stained glass window. We were given a short talk by the caretaker and then were able to have a walk around the grounds and manse garden. Services are still held every Sunday and because it is rural it is often used for day retreats.

Just as the talk ended my hearing aid batteries decided to die! And just to make matters worse I'd changed handbags over that morning so I could put my gloves and woolly hat in but forgot to change over the spare batteries. Luckily for me this was about 20 minutes from the end of the tour so not too bad. The tour was finished off with a soup and scone tea. I was just going to go home but Kay decided she would drive me over to get new batteries so that I could join everyone in further fellowship over tea. So that's what we did.

At tea Chris gave us all a little booklet of the tour, with photo's of most of the historic buildings we'd seen, that she'd taken the trouble to make up. The tour was in aid of the East Taieri Presbyterian church building renovation fundraiser. 

An interesting fun fact about the ET church is that when it was built the weight of the roof started pushing the walls out. The walls were strengthened with buttresses on the outside and tie rods on the inside. So today, 120 years later, it is still above current earthquake requirements.

It was a pleasant way to spend what was not a very nice day, overcast and a bit cool. We were all in our winter woollies.

With that I'll finish.

Keep well,

blessings,

Diana

Enjoying Greymouth

At the end of my last post we were at the railway station awaiting the shuttle through to Christchurch. The train is a once a day trip - Christchurch to Greymouth and back about an hour later. And far too expensive for us ordinary folk. So we caught the shuttle bus and it was comfortable enough with very congenial company. People chatted and shared food and one man loaned a blanket to someone who was not dressed warmly enough. 

But before we left there were things to do and places to see.

I went back to the school gates and took a photo and a close up of the poppies that had been crafted and attached to the gates on ANZAC Day.

On ANZAC Day Sis and I met up with our cousin and after lunch we went up to the cemetery at Karoro and put flowers on our grandparents grave and a poppy on Grandad's war plaque. It was nice to see the gravesite looking so good especially with there being no family living there now.

    

From the cemetery we took a short trip to the Karoro beach, it is a stony beach, no sand, and the stones polish up beautifully. We went fossicking - looking for greenstone or pounamu and we found some stones with a green tinge but I doubt it was the pure stuff. We did pick up some pebbles for the Aussies to take home though. Some are such pretty colours.

Karoro beach, you can see the Southern Alps in the far distance and on a good day can pick out Aorangi Mount Cook.

Lorraine and Peter fossicking. There was a lady and her children fossicking as well, she had a hammer and chisel to break stones open, we just spat on ours to see the colour :)

Another day Peter invited Lorraine and I to go to the Mawhera Pa with him. The pa is built on the site of the original Maori settlement, which surprised me as I had always thought it was about a half mile further up the river. So after lunch at one of the local cafes we went on an immersive learning adventure. It was well worth the money and time spent, a world class attraction I would think. I was really impressed with the quality of the exhibits. Below is a collage of some of the interior, small individual storytelling pods, small theatres showing movies/animations of life on the pa and the environs and a larger than life model of a Maori chief. Just some of the delights in this amazing cultural centre.

I think it was that same day that we went to the railway station and bought tee shirts for the kids, well I bought tee shirts I don't know what anyone else bought. And then i told the other two to follow me. They indulged me and were pleased they did as I was showing them the pounamu boulder at the end of the platform. It's enormous and one of several scattered around the town. 

 Another night we had dinner at the hotel next to the motel. It was nice to go and have a proper meal after cooking scrap meals at the motel and we spent a very pleasant hour or so just chatting about our respective families and having a proper catchup.

Occasionally Lorraine and I did our own thing when Peter was away touristing :) One day we took a bit of a walk along the flood wall of the Grey River but although it looks like a nice sunny day a cold wind blows down the valley and it wasn't very pleasant. You can see looking upriver that there were grey clouds and although it didn't rain it was cold. 

Then we went and had brunch at a little place just up from the quay. 

We had to wait until after 11am as Sis wanted whitebait, so whitebait we had. $16 each for a very big patty sandwiched between fresh white bread. It was delicious :)

That was pretty much it in Greymouth. It was great to visit our old home town. We went and looked for the houses we lived in but neither of them were there anymore. Even the hospital where we both worked and the nurses home we lived in have been knocked over and rebuilt - I suppose that's what happens after a major earthquake or two.

When we arrived in Christchurch I had about six hours before my flight down to Dunedin so we met up with our Christchurch cousins. Six girls, we sat and chatted for a couple of hours before the cafe closed. That was half the girl cousins, another six are scattered throughout Australia and New Zealand.

That's me at the back on the left. Look at all that white hair, lots of wisdom in that group :)

And now I think I should stop. I don't talk a lot but I seem to forget to stop when I'm writing. 

So, until next time, 

keep well and keep safe.

Diana 

Grey Main School reunion

We flew across the Alps just over a week ago, Sis and I, to our primary school's 150th reunion. There wasn't a lot of snow even though it had snowed a couple of times in the last couple of days. Our cousin was taking the train through and I thought he would have a spectacular trip with snow about but he said there was very little.

The weather was very kind to us and we had a day or so settling in and strolling around reminiscing. On Friday evening we had a meet and greet at a local restaurant attached to a brewery. It was a nice evening, with drinks and nibbles. I enjoyed it to an extent but was a bit disappointed that I never saw anyone from my class. Most people were in groups and Lorraine and I were by ourselves. I felt like we were a couple of little old ladies stuck in a corner. A couple of people came over and chatted, some came over and took the remaining chairs from our table but no-one invited us to join them. We stayed about an hour and then walked back to our motel. This photo was taken in front of a large picture of our old school entrance. Assemblies were held here until the hall was built. 

The restaurant is a nice place and pleasant to eat in and we ducked in one day as we were going past just to have a soft drink. 

Saturday was ANZAC Day and our intention was to be up in time to go to the Dawn Parade before going to the service at the school's old Memorial Gates. We slept in! But we made it in plenty of time for the school service and were shown to seats in the front because I have hearing problems, someone had remembered that from the evening before. School pupils attached poppies to the gates, one for each pupil who had perished in the two World Wars. It was quite a moving service with soldiers names, numbers and some personal details read out. This was mostly done by the pupils with one or two descendants reading as well.

When it was over, and we'd caught up with one or two people we walked over to the Cenotaph and then a block down to the RSA (Returned Services Association). Later we went to the cemetery and put poppies on Grandad's grave.

 

The afternoon saw us at the school, in a completely different place to where it had been before. Luckily our shuttle driver when we arrived was kind enough to do a short detour and showed us where it was, not far from the motel at all so we were able to walk. I met a girl outside who recognised me, she'd been friends with my best friend at school and so we hung around with her for the rest of the weekend. It was nice to have someone else to chat to and laugh with. We laughed a lot over the course of the weekend.

An ex teacher/principal (I'm not sure which) rang the old bell that had called us all to our lessons all those years ago. She was privileged - it was only the boys who were allowed to ring it back in the day. 

Then we were all sent around to the playground where the eldest ex pupil (96) cut the cake with help from the youngest pupil and one of the senior girls.

The delicious cake, it had been cut by the time I got to take a photo..

The junior Kapa Haka group entertained us...

...followed by the senior Kapa Haka group.

Afterwards afternoon tea was put on by the Parent Teacher Association and it was delicious. We also had an opportunity to wander through some of the classrooms, look at old photos and some old journals. There was a dinner on Saturday night but it was out of town so we didn't attend as we had no transport. No one had let us know there would be a shuttle until after we had registered. 

On Sunday we found ourselves back at the school for a delicious brunch. I only had the fruit and a cup of tea, oh and a piece of cake,  but I was cheeky and asked if I could have a croissant to take back to the motel for later. I was given two!  One of each of the different fillings :) So one for me and one for sis. There was hot food as well. They did a terrific job feeding us all. Farewells were said and all too soon it was all over.

A week after we arrived we were down at the railway station awaiting our shuttle through the mountains to Christchurch, the first leg of our trip home.

So, apart from a slight disappointment at the beginning of the celebrations I really enjoyed myself.

We also spent time with my cousin doing things but I think I've rabbited on enough for one post, that can wait for another day.

Keep well,

 look after yourself,

 until next time, 

Diana