Solar dried

I know it's almost summer when I spend most of a Saturday running backwards and forwards to our washing line. There is usually at least one cat showing off by running up the washing posts. A wide girth is no deterrent to Mango in spite of his 8kgs fight with gravitational pull. He does like to help, which includes stealing pegs and jumping in the laundry basket on top of the newly dried clothes. This season has me humming "I'm going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line". I have no idea where I learned that song, but I can manage a few verses between laundry and line.

Mango always enjoys perfunctory roll around in the wood shed, which is less about marking his territory and more about scratching his neck on wood chips. He is currently having late night meetings with a beautiful stray cat who I believe he has fallen for. He is a complete failure protecting the homestead. We may as well roll out a welcome mat for all waifs and strays.

The plum tree is looking a lot bushier than last year, so, blackbirds and kereru permitting, we should have a bumper crop this year.

And the verandah awaits visitors, teapots and lazy weekends with library books. And love struck ginger toms and their sleek amber eyed companions!!!

Dances with wolves

I love the fact that even in middle age, you can experience "firsts" in life.

Today was full of them.

A delightful Jersey calf decided she would befriend me and proceeded to lick my shoes. They have never had a warm wash like this before, and the cats will be puzzled by the new smell on the shoes in the hallway. Here is Honey. Honey by name and Honey by nature.

I was also laughed at by a pilgrim goose called Lydia. She is an amazing bird with a lovely wobbly goosey undercarriage, all the better to be comfortable laying eggs, two of which she donated to me. I believe goose eggs are perfect for cakes. What a lovely thought!

And finally there was a stroll to the edge of the farm with three fluffy companions, with a combined age of around 80. It was a gentle Sunday constitutional, less "Dances with Wolves", and more "Waddles with Donkeys".

A perfect afternoon with grateful thanks to the family who hosted us.

Linus has a brother

Today has been a "snuggle up on the kitchen sofa day" for all of us. There is still a winter bite so we are taking all opportunities to snooze in front of the fire, me especially as I have a bad chest infection.

Our big lad is very protective of his blue blanket. It was the first item of warmth my husband gave him when he showed up as a kitten in the middle of a freezing winter three years ago. It had belonged to our dearly departed cat Otto, and was therefore bequeathed to his successor.

Wherever the blue blanket goes, Mango goes!

Trying hard to Spring

One minute the paddock is a bog, the next minute it is glorious blustery sunshine and in the distance lambs cry their first breath.

The tuis continue their "dust ups" in the ornamental cherries. Last year there was a minivan full of them, this year, two coach loads arrived. They are demolishing four trees as I type this. I have just been screwing my neck into very awkward positions trying to photograph their antics. The photo here was taken a split second before the bird dive bombed me as I was on the flight path to an intruding bird. My hair style was almost changed from left parting to right parting!

The cats are slowly emerging from duvet hibernation, but in the case of our ginger boy, there is no evidence of winter starvation around his corpulent tum. For good reason is he known as "Mega Chops"

And happily it looks like we should have a good crop of plums from the tree at the front gate. Last year it blossomed a bit half heartedly.

Culinary firsts

I have always wanted to "tackle" Portuguese tarts, and had a recipe sat on my desk for over a year, but have been somewhat afraid of making my own custard. Hmm, I wonder if that's where the expression "Cowardy Custard" comes from?

But yesterday I nominated as Tart Day (goodness that sounds risqué!), and these were the result.

Thanks to my lovely neighbour's chickens for the deliciously fresh eggs, they were truly scrumptious.

The difference of a few minutes

Screaming sawdust or what goes around comes around.

I was a great fan of The Waltons TV show as a kid growing up. I loved all the homely tales and was fascinated by "Pa's" wood business in the hills. Today, I got to see a wood splitter up close and personal, in our field.

Our neighbour decided reluctantly to take down three massive macrocarpas along his driveway which also borders our paddock. He had to take part of the paddock fence down, and when the trees were felled I think we were all a bit overawed by the size of the trunks. The rationale was that it was better they were taken down under controlled conditions than fell down in a storm, as happened to another neighbour a few years back.

The wood splitter is a huge noisy beast, but is making transportation of the lumber much easier by slicing it into long planks on site. The bonus for us is we get a pile of wood out of it, the offcuts for our fire for next winter.

Coincidentally another local friend was chatting with us today about building some storage boxes out of wood offcuts, so we offered him some which have been sitting in our garage for 5 years since our house was renovated. So we receive wood, and we give away wood. There should be a verb to cover this series of actions. I suppose "Paying it For Wood" covers it!