Last of the Summer flowers

These are Japanese Anenomes in three different shades, white, pale pink and a semi double in a darker pink.

They have a beautiful simplicity.

Farewell to Summer

I have been away again at our beach.

Summer has slipped away and left in its place this moody, foggy, misty, rainy landscape. Its not really cold yet but we have certainly moved into a different weather pattern.

No children swimming or paddling, no one on wave skis, just a few surfers in wet suits looking like cold seals in the waves. And the occasional fisherman with his surf rod cast out into the sea. And an empty bucket! No fish biting.

Our Indian summer is over.

Letters from my Father - written 1940-45

These are some extracts from some of my Father's letters home when he was stationed in the Middle East during the Second World War.

"The first few weeks were the worst. I know a good many times I felt like giving way to tears, I used to go and sit by myself a lot and think that was the worst thing I could do."

“The chaps who came over with me are holding a reunion in Cairo on Wednesday – two years in Egypt. I always thought reunions were happy events but I fail to see what we have to be happy about but I guess we are ‘sand happy’ by now so it won’t matter that much. Really a chap should dress up in black and go there crying because we have lost something dear to us – about 10 years of our lives – but still I suppose worry won’t win the war will it.”

“I must thank you for all the lovely parcels you have sent me I will never forget them as long as I live I can tell you. Things at home worry me a lot now. Since I have had malaria I can’t sleep like I used to and you remember how I could do that don’t you. In all ways my health isn’t as good as it was. The treatment they gave me is severe and it upset my stomach and really it hasn’t been the same since but I hope it gets better soon. So not being able to sleep too good I often lay awake and its then my thoughts turn to troubles at home. "

A Tribute to the ANZAC Kiwis

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
we will remember them.

ANZAC Day - 25th April

On 25 April each year Australians and New Zealanders commemorate their war dead.

ANZAC Day honours the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who died during the almost-suicidal landings at Gallipoli in the Dardanelles.

The part that New Zealand and Australian servicemen and women have played in other conflicts on distant shores is also remembered on ANZAC Day.

Gallipoli was the World War I campaign which forged Australian and New Zealand troops into ANZACs. The Gallipoli Peninsula assault was intended to give the British Navy command of the Turkish-held Dardanelles.

The New Zealand Expeditionary Force which left New Zealand in October 1914 combined with their Australian counterparts to form the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Along with some British units they mounted the amphibious expedition.

The Gallipoli assault through Anzac Cove began on 25 April 1915, ended some eight months later as a saga of errors and horrors - the planners making the errors and the men enduring the horrors.

NZ Embassy.

Kiwifruit harvest

Some photos of the fruit in bins on the hard stand area at the orchard, being stacked and loaded onto the truck, processing at the packhouse, and in the green boxes ready to be shipped to Europe next week.
Hopefully on the shelves at the supermarkets in a months time!

Kiwifruit - rejects

Bet you have never seen a kiwifruit this shape on the shelves of your supermarket?

More kiwifruit picking photos tomorrow.

Norfolk Pine

These trees are Norfolk Pines. They are a native tree from Norfolk Island, a small Pacific island off the coast of Australia and New Zealand.




I love their symmetry - they are quite spectacular along the foreshore of many beaches in New Zealand. In one of my photos you can see them along the front of the park, interspaced with Pohutukawa trees. No matter how hard the wind blows they always retain their simple symmetrical shape.

There are other interesting facts about Norfolk Pines that are not widely known. In the mid 1800's when the missionaries were sailing from England to New Zealand they usually stopped in Australia for supplies of sugar, flour etc. They also picked up seedlings of local plants and by then the Norfolk Pine had made its way to the Australian mainland so they were then transported to New Zealand.

They were planted around many of the mission stations that were sited near the coast. There were several reasons for this - the tree is quite unlike any native tree that grows here, it is fast growing, and when sited on the coast it quickly grows and stands out on the skyline, marking the sites of the stations for travelers arriving by sailing ship into the harbour. In Tauranga, at The Elms, the huge Norfolk Pines planted in 1835 by Archdeacon Brown became known as 'The Sentinels'.

Another reason - on a young tree the top branches form a cross.

Rangiwewehi

This one is for Chrissy!

Cabbage Tree - Ti Rakau

This is one of my favourite native trees - the Cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), often found on roadsides and in swampy places through out New Zealand.

It can grow up to 15 m tall, first as a single stem then branches out to have many crowns.
It has attractive bunches of creamy white flowers in the spring.

Cabbage trees were a valuable food source for the Maori people and sometimes the early settlers, and the new shoots bear a resemblance in taste to cabbbage hence the name!

Where's our Food!

Pied shags (a type of cormorant) waiting for tasty morsels to swim by.

My Morning Walk- a dedication

Its is seven years ago this month (April 2001) since we lived through a parents nightmare - a child on the other side of the world seriously ill.

Within 36 hours of hearing the news I was on a plane heading to California where our child (number 3) was living and working.

It was an extremely traumatic and stressful time for all of us. My husband arrived for 10 days to give support during the operation and hospital stay and I stayed on to help with convalescence. There were complications, another operation was needed, and the recovery was slow and far from straight forward.

I had to negotiate my way around a totally foreign health system, cope with medical terminology, numerous doctors and specialists appointments, and drive on the wrong side of the road!!

Hair. raising.

I was there for 12 weeks in all.

Late in 2000 I had met, quite by chance, some American tourists who were visiting our city. When we talked we discovered that they lived in the same suburb as Number three! The world is indeed a small place.

As they were leaving, the woman gave me her card and said that if I was ever in their neighbourhood, or if my child needed help, to call her. Little did I realise that only a few months later I would be seeing her again.

A few days after my arrival I did call her, and she lived literally five minutes walk away from our apartment. I was invited around to her house, and she invited me to join her walking group. Most mornings at 7am she would be outside to meet me and we joined the group for our walk along the beach path. They followed a pathway along a beautiful Californian beach, sometimes there were dolphins playing out in the waves.

As I walked, I walked and talked away my stress.

They helped me negotiate and understand their health systems, gave me support when things were not so good and included me in their every day life. I went off to a book club meeting, farmers markets, breakfasts on the pier, luncheons, and participated in general hilarity as we all piled into a vintage convertible car for a photo shoot. I was introduced to margaritas and mexican food.

Slowly my child improved, made a good recovery and was able to resume work. I was made redundant and able to return home.

I will never ever forget those American people who opened their lives to me, a virtual stranger. I can't thank them enough.

We still keep in touch and I visited them again a year later, this time in happier circumstances.

This post is dedicated to them - I think of them often as I go on my morning walk and wish they could walk along with me.

Baby foot

I bought this at a craft fair , it is meant to be a paper weight. It is so cute - the foot is the size of a baby's foot.

Flower for the day

This is a King Protea flower, complete with resident bee.

The flowers measure around 30cm (12 - 14 inches) across so are one of the largest in the garden. They are beautiful. Bees find them very attractive also and there are often lots of bees buried deep in the middle of the flowers.

My friend

Isn't he/she cute? I have just come inside after an hour or two out in the garden and felt that awful feeling when something is crawling around your neck.

It was this little traveller - a praying mantis. Probably a female actually as she looks as if she will soon be laying her egg case. It is a real nuisance when they lay their egg case inside the house, the curtains are a favourite place, as they leave a mark that is nigh on impossible to get out.

Treasures

Here are some more 'treasures' on the walls of our 'bach'. They are useful as well are decorative. Made of painted metal.

The birds are natives - a fantail and three pukekos, and the lizard is a green gecko.

Well known Kiwiana items

• All Blacks — national Rugby Union team.
• Black Singlet — worn by many farmers, shearers as well as representative athletes.
• Buzzy Bee — wooden child's toy.
• Chocolate fish — confection of marshmallow covered in chocolate, in the shape of a fish.
• Claytons — originally a non alcoholic spirit, advertised as The drink you have when you're not having a drink, that did not gain market acceptance; now refers to any form of inferior substitute. This term is primarily used among those generations old enough to remember the original drink.
• Edmonds 'Sure to Rise' Baking Powder, the distinctive Edmonds factory (demolished in the late 1980s), and the Edmonds Cookbook.
• Footrot Flats — popular cartoon strip by Murray Ball.
• Gumboots, calf length rubber boots (also known as the Wellington boot or wellie.)
• Hei-tiki — Māori neck pendant. Tourist variety in green plastic are the definitively tasteless depths of kiwiana.
• Jandals — beach footwear with a bit of sole but very little else. AKA flip-flops (USA), thongs (Australia).
• Kiwi — native bird; its stylised image or shape frequently appears on things associated with New Zealand.
• Kiwifruit — fruit from a vine originating in China but selectively bred by New Zealand horticulturalists to obtain egg-sized fruit with green or gold flesh. In New Zealand it was originally called "Chinese gooseberry".
• L&P — Lemon & Paeroa, a popular soft drink.
• Marmite - a dark and salty spread made from yeast extract, similar to Vegemite. New Zealand Marmite is distinct from British Marmite, in taste and recipe. Marmite is made in New Zealand, as opposed to Vegemite, which is made in Australia.(Much Debated, the packaging shows it as the other way around)
• Paua — the polished shell of the native paua (abalone) shellfish, turned into jewelery and souvenirs. Once considered kitsch, it is starting to regain its popularity.
• Pavlova — a light and fluffy meringue dessert named after the ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova
• Silver fern — native plant; its stylised image or shape is displayed by many of the national sports teams.
• Stubbies — a particular brand of walk shorts that were popular in the 70's. Always seemed to be a size too small for the wearer but were beloved by men from many walks of life.
• Tip-Top ice cream.
• Watties tomato sauce.

(List taken from Wikipedia.)

'Kiwiana'

Kiwiana - a definition (wikipedia)

Items of kiwiana are generally those which are either unique to or particularly common to New Zealand, particularly from the early and mid twentieth century. Although the term is sometimes used to describe any and all New Zealand icons, it is more commonly used to describe pop culture items such as toys or branded foods. A few more serious national icons have become kiwiana through heavy use in advertising and the souvenir industry. These include the kiwi and the hei-tiki. Kiwiana is generally seen as a form of kitsch.

These photos are of a few items that adorn the walls of our 'bach' (pronounced 'batch' - a beach house or holiday house).

They have a more Pacific Island theme perhaps than a NZ one as turtles are not generally found in our waters.

I made the large mosiac turtle - a little amateurish, one of my first attempts at mosiacs. But he looks good on the wall!