A day 'up Central'

It's been a dreary, grey summer so far, we've had the heat pump going for a couple of days now and last night I even turned the electric blanket on for a while. But on the day we decided to go 'up Central' for a day trip and to get some stone fruit fresh from the orchards it was a lovely warm blue sky day.

We decided to do the buying first as it wasn't quite lunch time when we arrived in Ettrick, the start of orchard country as far as we're concerned. We bought most of our fruit from the orchard below. It is ripening up beautifully and it's so much nicer when it's come straight from the trees, missing that cold storage stage.

We stopped at another couple of places and bought what we wanted - apricots, peaches, plums and cherries. The cherries are beautiful, juicy, sweet and full of flavour. Yum :) Once upon a time we bought enough to share with the family but for various reasons they are now able to get their own. Several families were grabbing buckets to go and pick their own cherries, we didn't. 

And then it was back to Roxborough for lunch. We managed to get a table, luckily. We had arrived just as the lunchtime rush started. It's still summer school holidays so quite a few holiday makers around. We had a 'discussion' as to where to eat as there was a new place next door but the tried and true won out and I'm pleased it did as there was a friend I hadn't seen for about a year sitting at the adjacent table. We had a short catchup as she was leaving :)

On the way home I thought the river looked lovely, on a good day it's a lovely teal colour but we were on the main highway so I didn't want to stop to take a photo. We thought we could pull in at Millers Flat across the river and take one, so that's what we did. The colour is not so deep as the clouds were staring to come over but this is a photo taken, very quickly, from the car window when we stopped on the bridge.

The bridge is a very narrow one way and as we stopped for a photoshoot a big truck pulled up at the other end. Hence the quick shot. But I like it. And we didn't want an argument with an irate truck driver :)

And this is one of a small inlet I walked to. The river was running very high and swiftly and I know they had opened the gates at the dam to release some of the water a few days earlier.

As we headed home the clouds were building up again. We've had a lot of thunderstorms this summer but these were not thunder clouds. This is about quarter an hour from home, Lake Waihola, the longest stretch in my opinion, those last few miles. 

And no trip to Central is complete without a stop for an ice cream at Milton. Very quickly eaten as they are so large they melt before you can get them finished, I got a smaller one this time - child size and it was plenty big enough.

And that's it for this week. 

Keep well and comfortable,

blessings, 

Diana

A mixed bag

It was time to vote in the local body elections this past weekend. So we filled out our forms and got them in the orange bin by Friday afternoon. I've just checked the provisional results and not one of my preferred candidates got through. Disappointing but we have a new look council and I've done my civic duty. 

(And I'm pleased to say that the 200 hundred year old vampire from Florida never made it either. Yes, someone did promote themself this way and probably received votes. Florida, would you care to take him back? We have enough idiots of our own.)

Last week I had a visit to the optometrist in their rooms in the city. If I'd waited to get an appointment out here it would have meant another month or so. I'm pleased to say not much has changed and all I have to do is wait for word from the hospital for a cataract op. I won't be holding my breath with the current state of our health system though. Oh the joys of getting older :)

It was a really lovely day, a teaser for summer, with temps in the mid 20's. It almost felt like we were back in Aussie. We decided to go to the Village Green for lunch but when we got there everyone seemed to have had the same idea and it was full. We were almost home by then, the Village Green is only one suburb over, so we just went home anyway and made tomato and cheese sandwiches. We enjoyed them. Then I sat outside with a book for a while - in the sun with just a slight warm breeze.

Jacqui and Steve were on their way through to Central Otago on Thursday and stopped off at Lake Waihola for a break. Jacqui took this photo of a black swan with her three cygnets. You can see it wasn't the brightest of days and the water was choppy. A lot of black swans make their home there and are considered a pest. They're quite lovely to look at though, well I think so anyway.

The shops are starting to put their Christmas decorations out and I saw these outside a gift shop one day, guarding the doorway. They're not little Santa's but the Nordic gnome or goblin which I think is cute. Depending on which country you're in they have a different name - in Norway I believe it is Nisse. But don't quote me :)

And just because I can, here's a sign I saw one day whilst I was out and about. It made me grin, cos that's me down to a 't' :)

And that's all from me today.

Until next time, 

blessings,

 Diana 

Lunch at the lake

It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we decided to take a sandwich and flask and have lunch at Lake Waihola.

There were not a lot of people there, much to our surprise, just one or two families about. More around at the boating, waterskiing area than at the swimming area where we were. Once more I missed an opportunity to go for a swim. The water wasn't too cold and not a lot of people. And we had a little bay to ourselves :) A really pleasant  spot to sit, eat and watch families enjoying the day.

There were the usual gulls hanging about looking for a free lunch.

This is a black billed gull and is only found in New Zealand.

Quite a pretty bird I think.

Over the track from where we were was the camping ground.

You can see it over the fence here. Quite a small one but just 20 minutes out of the city so you don't have to drive too far

to feel like you have escaped the madding crowd.

We stayed a couple of hours and then decided to take the scenic route home so set off over the hill and out to the coast road. This was the view looking back at the lake.

We drove home with native flax and toetoe on one side of the road and the Pacific Ocean on the other. The plan  was to stop and buy an ice cream but at $3.50 each (a rip off price) we decided to wait until we got home and have a free one :)

Another lovely outing on a lovely southern summers day.

Diana

Celebrating double figures

This week my middle grandson reached double digits.

Jack turned 10.

 And what better way to celebrate than to head 

down to the lake with a couple of friends, 

a picnic lunch 

and a birthday cake.

The boys had a lot of fun, 

Jacks Mum and Dad have a mate who owns an inflatable dinghy

with an outboard motor

and he came down and took them for rides around the lake. 

The boys that is, not Mum and Dad. Then while he relaxed with the adults the boys had a go at paddling, rowing or whatever it was they were trying to do. Sometimes paddling and rowing was happening at the same time. They went in circles quite a bit, but no-one cared, they were having fun.

And of course they were taken out to the pontoon and enjoyed mucking around on that. As boys do.

When they came back to shore some older boys took it over, 

young teenagers, who when they saw some bikini clad girls not far away began doing push ups and generally showing off.

 Quite funny really as it was 2 of my grand daughters they were trying to impress and getting nowhere. We all had a bit of a chuckle because the girls hadn't even noticed them - or so they say.

Anyway, I digress. 

There was plenty for the boys to do both in the lake,

and on the shore at the playground.

At the end of the day after finally rounding them up,

(it's amazing how hard it is to round up five 

young lads when they are having fun 

and don't really want to be rounded up)

 they all went happily, or not, home to their parents.

Some were a little sunburnt too, I think, 

even though the adults were diligent with the sunscreen.

All in all it was a fun way of celebrating the big 10.

Wishing you all some fun and

sunshine in the days ahead.

Diana