A little bit of seasoning

Our local village has a market on the third Saturday of every month in the community hall. I went for the first time this morning and was thrilled with the variety of stalls.

Outside you could buy home made cakes, home grown veggies and bedding plants, inside there were Devonshire teas, handcrafts, antique toy sellers and toy makers. There was also a lady selling her mother's salt and pepper pot collection. They were going for $3 a pair so I bought a couple for the coffee machine.....yes you did read that correctly. Seasoning cruets are definitely not fashionable any more, but as I told the lady selling them, "it's all in the marketing". I told her to sell them as cinnamon and chocolate powder dispensers for the coffeeholics.

Here are a few that were for sale when I arrived.

Cyclone Lusi

We are being told to expect very heavy rain and high winds on much of the N. Island over the weekend. A case of splicing the main brace and battening down the hatches. Sadly, it doesn't mean an end to the drought, as the land is so dried out and hard the water is more likely to run off it and flood areas rather than quench the soil. More issues for the poor farmers.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, I have just left a lamb bone for our neighbour's dog in their post box. It is my good doggy deed for the day.

Otto doesn't mind that I cherish creatures great and small; he got a fruit box to play with today.

Evening stroll

The rooks are cawing, the parrots are doing colourful and illegally low fly pasts, and myself and two cats went for a stroll. The buttercup came with us.....

Clerk of works

Both my husband and I are still recovering from the Auckland trip. Getting out into the garden and doing something physical has to be a good way to counteract the post traumatic stress of the traffic and driving. This morning I was ably assisted by our eldest cat. He isn't doing too well - he has had problems with his thyroid for six years, which has been controlled by medication. Now the medication is in worldwide short supply, so we are trying to "medicate" him with a restricted diet. I don't think it is working.

Anyhow, the two of us were out raking leaves this morning (a first for me, it is 20 years since I lived in a country with a real autumn).

The Mahoe trees are starting to blossom and there is a low frequency hum around the place with the bees.

Ah, I feel soooo much better!

Back from the Big Smoke

I am not a fan of cities, large or small. We are both back at Coneysthorpe after 4 days in Auckland. It was fantastic to see friends, but frankly, we both breathed a BIG sigh of relief as soon as we got back to our little piece of heaven in the Horowhenua. The cats were happy to see us, and the house had been lovingly cared for by our Dutch friends. There was even a pot of home made soup in the fridge to welcome us home.

We are so blessed in our friends. Thanks Lexie, Suzie, Kirsten, Elizabeth and Hans. And here is a view of the place that welcomed back home.

Happenings large and small

Last weekend we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with 25 friends, four fabulous cakes, Sauvignon Blanc and a partridge in a pear tree (OK, the last one is a fib!). We had lots of laughs together, and the comment of the day came from the husband of one of my workmates at my former job. About an hour before everyone arrived on a very hot afternoon, we had managed to rig up a big gazebo, which had been damaged in a storm last year, so was minus one of its legs. Its "stump" we attached to a nearby tree, and because there was no wind, it was working quite well. The said husband of my colleague has worked all his professional life with prosthetic limbs. He took one look at our gazebo and asked one question "Amputee?"

There have been lots of "mini-happenings" around the place as well. I lit my first ever fire yesterday in our huge wood burner. I only set off the smoke alarm once, and by the time my husband arrived home from work, I smelled like a bonfire, with "eau de pine cone". It gave the house the fragrance of a Russian Dacha, minus the banya in the back yard.

Actually, that's not such a bad idea!

Elderly cat was gurgling and making loud strange noises this morning. We thought "kitty cardiac arrest", it was more "mouse in the mouth and I can't speak". He put the critter down several times and promptly lost it. It is now hiding somewhere behind our library of Middle Eastern books, pretending to be a desert rat!

Tomorrow we are leaving the house in the care of Dutch friends for four days whilst we travel north for meetings and catch ups with friends. We are not sure what the cats will make of it, but I suspect the house will flourish under their ministrations.

Shy boy

Our youngest is shy and skittish. He is a real "mummy's boy", but whenever company arrives, he hides under the house or the nearest piece of furniture.

He does enjoy playtime at dusk though, so here is a rare photo of the minx sphynx lynx.