a nice cosy day in

  Well we've had our first decent dump of snow for several years and it was really quite lovely. I know in other parts of the world snow is an every winter occurrence, but not here. We might get a light dusting that disappears as quickly as it comes, but to have snow that actually lies on the ground and disrupts the city only happens every few years. We see it on the top of Maungatua, and around the

Silverpeaks, and we feel the effects of it in the wind chill other winters. 

Anyway, on Sunday night the forecast wasn't good, snow down to 200 metres, which is us. As dusk fell there was a light dusting on the lawn and on the bushes, nothing settled on the road. The wind blew a gale and the snow kept falling, the temperature kept dropping as the evening went on and the heat pump was turned way up high, - we, the GKB and me,  don't like being cold!

On Monday morning the GKB got up at his usual time, which is 3 or 4 hours earlier than me, to get ready for work. Turned on the radio to find that the roads were closed and that everyone was being asked to stay at home unless it was essential to travel. So that was him home for the day. We live on a plain and are surrounded by hills and the roads were closed.  So we decided to settle in for a nice, cosy day in, keeping warm, watching the telly and drinking warm drinks. How silly can you be? How silly could I be? I knew it was my day off and the GKB was home and the roads were closed, what I forgot was that if we couldn't go out others couldn't come in! Therefore some of the people where I work were stuck at home. On the other side of the hill. Lunch time the phone goes. Diana can you come into work, K can't get here. Yes, I can come in I said, no, I don't want to I thought. But I went in, it's the sort of industry where you need a full team on every shift. That was the end of a relaxing day off.

A couple of teenage boys built a snowman in the gardens between the units and the residents thought he was a beauty. I came out of work that evening and the wind had stopped. It was lovely and still - the sky was clear and the stars were all twinkling and I found it surprisingly mild. I just loved it.

Unlike youngest grandson who just hated it. He is 5 and bawled his eyes out and told his mother he was going to get a blanket and lie on the couch and watch videos all day! And he did.

pretty good advice -

Recently I've been reading a book by Robert H. Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral called 'Tough times never last, but tough people do!'.  He is a possibility thinker/preacher.  About 2/3rds of the way through I came across the following poem by Edgar A. Guest:

 Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you are trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must - but don't you quit!

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -

You might succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out -

the silver tint of the clouds of doubt -

And you can never tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit -

It's when things get worse that you mustn't quit!

I think it's pretty good advice, don't you? 



cats... and even more cats...



Claude

 I seem to have acquired some additional furry friends in recent weeks. Well actually Claude seems to have invited some of his mates around to sunbathe at our place. In the summer we have the occasional feline use the passage between our front door and the back door to make its way from one side of the property to the other but I have not seen them just socialising as they have been this month.

I went out the front door a couple of weeks ago and was confronted by a large black and white cat curled up, very comfortably thankyou, in the GKB's deck chair on the front steps  - Claude was stretched out on the concrete just in front of him, both making the most of the warm winter sun. They both just looked at me rather lazily as if I was in the wrong place - and don't disturb us please! So I retreated and left them to it.

A couple of days later I went out to hang washing on the line and there, on top of the wheelie bin, was a large grey persian soaking up the
sun. Not a silly place to be, lovely fine day, warm plastic lid on the bin, and I'm alright jack. He just dared me to move him as well, but I didn't blame him for making the most of a good thing, if I was a cat I'd probably have done the same.

And that same day a wee calico/tabby cat was around in my pebble garden, lying on the stones, out of the breeze and just enjoying the warmth of the day. Oh for the life of a cat (just occasionally), they eat and  drink when they want, come and go when they want and please themselves about anything they do.

So even though we have had a volcanic ash cloud overhead from the south American eruption for much of  that time it is obviously not blocking out as much heat as I would have thought.

buds and blossom in winter

 A couple of pictures from round about of unseasonal buds and blossom - taken in the middle of the southern winter

pretty pink blossom



                                                                



fat magnolia buds



                                                       

pale pink camellia



camellia blooms and buds







taking the autumn air

Autumn is certainly here, the nights are drawing in and getting decidedly colder but the days are beautifully clear and calm, on the whole, with lovely blue skies and high white cloud. Sometimes there is a bit of a wind and today and yesterday the breeze was definitely coming off the snow on the mountains further inlands.

I decided to go for a wander yesterday over Wingatui way, through the track and down by the paddocks. I left it just a little late as the sun was getting low and was on the other side of the shelter belt, thus leaving me in the shade a bit of the time. That wasn't a problem really till I decided to turn around and come back and a bit of a breeze had come up, nipping the ears and the nose and causing just a little bit of ear ache, but that's what happens when you forget your hat. The shadows were getting long but there was still enough sun to make it quite a pleasant walk. It was so peaceful, a dog out walking with its human, just a wee Jack Russell having fun, were the only others I saw. No I tell a lie, there was a mum and dad out with their 2 kids, one on bike and another in a pushchair, all enjoying the autumn afternoon.

There were horses in the paddocks naturally, as this is horse racing territory with stables and horse studs in the area. And there were also about a dozen or so sheep further along and in another paddock some young bulls lounging around. Still further down the track I came across a big black sheep with a young chocolate coloured alpaca for company...very cute.

I finally have a new pair of shoes for walking,  how long has it taken, almost 12 months. "Tone walkers" - they are supposed to build the muscle tone in your legs as you walk, and you can certainly feel them working the leg muscles when you are out and about. I've also been to physio for my back and she has given me all sorts of exercises that are not only helping my back but other parts of the body as well, all I have to do is remember to do them all and I have to confess I haven't done any for a day or two, but tomorrow is always another day.

of jonquils, roses and snow

Well it has finally happened - the first snowfall of the season. It is only on Maungatua and as far as I am concerned it needn't fall any lower, but it is there. So winter is not far away, I think this is still autumn but it is hard to tell. I have some of next springs bulbs up and flowering already, jonquils which will probably continue to flower all winter, and looking over the neighbours fence at us is a pretty pink rose with some buds beside it. I thought roses came out in the summer...oh well

I have been out in the garden, or what passes for a garden at my place, pulling out some weeds and old dead plants. About a month ago a tomato plant pushed its leaves and flowers up above the dahlias so we let it go to see how high it would grow - far too late for the plants to set any tomatoes of course. It got to a good height, about 4 foot, so we might try a real plant next next year. If something self sown, or sown by a little boy throwing what was left of his tomato into the dahlias, did that well it will be interesting to see what will happen when we put in some plants and lovingly tend them... haha

We have had some gale force winds in the last week and I ended up chasing the GKB's deck chair around the section and had to bring that and a couple of garden ornaments that hadn't found their way into the garden yet, inside and park them in the hallway for a day or so. While looking around the next day I found a solitary jonquil, very tenaciously clinging on to life while bent and growing horizontal to the ground. It is now residing in a little vase of it's own on my kitchen windowsill...a promise of summer to come.  

Central bunnies and Dunstan gold

I have just finished cleaning and tidying the room the 2 little boys use when they are here - for playing in, not sleeping. I found among other things, a bright red plate with what looked like someones science project growing in it, lurking under the couch. Anyway that is a job I have been putting off and it is now done - just looking at the mess was daunting, mainly toys scattered about amongst cushions and blankets but daunting all the same. It only took about 20 minutes when I finally got round to it.

What has this got to do with bunnies or gold you may ask? Well nothing really except that Easter has just been and gone and  I believe the Easter Bunny was very good to these two wee fellows :D) And Easter is a season of golden promise.

But we, the GKB and me, did happen to be in Central Otago when the big Easter bunny shoot was being judged in Alexandra and went to have a look at what all the fuss was about, not realizing really what we were walking into. We had wondered why we couldn't get a car park anywhere and had to park down a side street and could see a couple of marquees in the playing field so went to be nosy. Thousands (22,904 according to the paper) of bunnies lined up on the field waiting to be counted and judged. Probably hundreds of hares, lots of ferrets - I loved the creamy brown coats on some of them - six turkeys and a goat. And a little black rabbit ...

The presentations were being done as we walked through and a young bloke from Aussie was getting a bit of stick for not being able to understand proper English, but it was all in good fun and he got a prize for being the competitor who had travelled furthest to compete.

I know a few young blokes in Aussie who would probably love to make up a part of team sometime in the future, it's real man stuff, helps to keep the rabbit population under control in a small way. Oh did I mention there were also several dozen of those Aussie pest, the 'possum among the count?

And Dunstan Gold. Beautiful autumn colours on the poplar trees. I love these trees. Although close up they are not very inspiring to look at and you would probably never pick them for a landscaping project the wow factor in the autumn couldn't be any better. If you are lucky to see them en masse in the autumn, and if you are lucky enough to see them from above and from a distance they are the most glorious trees about. They turn bright golden before the leaves drop. To me they look like golden fingers stretching to the heavens and it is not hard to believe that God's creation is reaching up to Him in worship. Every branch is pointing skywards, each little baby branch is reaching skyward, the leaves all reach to the sky - absolutely beautiful.

Strangely this year, and I guess it has been such a funny season, some of the trees were bare of leaves at the top, were golden in the middle and still had some green growth at the bottom, but still lovely in a quirky way.

So that is my bunnies and gold story from my Easter break away in Cromwell in Central Otago. (An extra week would have been good, oh well...)