Holiday Mode

Just to let you know, I am home just for one night then going AWOL again for a week.

The weather this summer is just magic, beautiful sunny days and mostly with slightly cooler nights. I am off again to be with family.

Our days at the beach take on a rhythm - eat, sleep, swim, read, crosswords, sudoku, and chat.

With the family there we can forget the reading and sleeping and add on - washing, folding washing, playing with the babies, feeding babies, towing children in the wagon down to the beach, putting up the beach shade tent, paddling, collecting shells, eating ice creams. etc.

A lovely way to pass the lazy hazy days of summer doing the simple things of life..

Sir Ed and life

One of my favourite comments of Sir Edmund Hillary's is:

(I have had to paraphrase as I don't have it in front of me)

'For me the the most memorable moments have not been the great ones but the everyday ones - for what can surpass a tear when one departs, a smile on ones arrival and a trusting hand in yours'.

Yesterday I visited a friend - no one will cry when he goes, smile when he arrives and there is no trusting hand in his - never ever has been.

He has mental health issues, major health problems, and lives alone. Now he has been forced to move house and was struggling to pack.

I stayed to help and he was so very very grateful, I felt ashamed that I don't call around more often. I will go back today and help until the removal van arrives.

Life is a struggle for some.

Digging for Gold

I just love digging potatoes! With most other garden vegetables the results of your labour are visible but potatoes remain hidden under the ground until harvest. So I find it quite exciting (well we all find our excitement in different ways!)

I have grown three different varieties this year, an ordinary white variety called Rua, one with a pink skin and slightly yellowish flesh called Desiree, and the last one is a very unusual variety and also very old - Urenika (or sometimes called Tutaekuri which I won't translate as it rather rudely refers to what the potato bears a resemblance to).

Urenika is sometimes called Maori potato but this name is given to other NZ varieties of potato also. It has a very dark purple skin and when cut the flesh is also purple. This disappears a little when cooked. The tubers are long with many eyes and are hard to see when in the soil. The ones in the picture are probably a little immature as the usual shape is much more elongated.

It is a tasty potato when cooked. I like them roasted, when boiled they tend to be a bit floury. It apparently has many more times the antioxident levels of the modern white potato.

I have included some photos of the harvest. I just dig one or two roots at a time as we need them.

An Award

I have received this award from Candygirlflies (link is on my sidebar). I used to love those little flat lollies with messages on them. Haven't seen them for years!

Candy's blog is one of my daily visits, she is a wonderful wise lady with music at her fingertips and always has a meaningful and positive outlook on life! Thank you Candy for your kind words and that you take the time to communicate and offer the hand of friendship.

I would like to pass the award on to Tismee (her blog name is Squared Off) - we have only recently met but I am enjoying her company very much and visit her often.

And to Chrissy (Life on Manitoulin) who lives a busy and community involved life on a beautiful island.

Candy has also passed along this friendship award and, as she has done, I would like to pass it on to any readers who take the trouble to stop by.

Thank you.

"Waiting for our Fish"

Sharks

It seems to have been the summer of shark sightings all around the country.

Perhaps it is because the waters are warmer than usual. The experts tell us it is normal migratory behaviour. Every year the sharks do come to feed offshore but the water usually warms up later in the summer when most people are back at work and children back at school.

This year there have been a few close calls, a shark attacked and holed an inflatable boat with surf lifeguards on patrol. Luckily they made it safely back to shore, it didn't sink as only one section deflated.

News report:

"Swarms of up to 40 sharks have been sighted off the Coromandel coast over the holiday period as people swim only metres away, oblivious to the danger.

Helicopter pilot Steve Broadbent said he has seen sharks disturbingly close to swimmers on the sandbar between Matarangi Beach and Whangapoua Beach over the past two weeks.

"The heavy [shark] activity began just before Christmas. Some days we've seen up to 30 sharks but on the day the photo was taken [Sunday] we saw about 40," Mr Broadbent said.

"They're seasonal. I saw them two years ago in the same spot, but none last year at all. They're back in force this summer.

"We have seen quite a variety ... bronze whalers, hammerheads and I think makos. There were at least three species." - NZ Herald.

Not all sharks spotted are the 'dangerous' kind and shark experts hasten to tell us that sharks are usually more frightened of us. But Great Whites and Bronze Whalers are still scary and I certainly wouldn't hang around in the water if I saw one near me!

It is their territory after all and we are the invaders.

A sea misty early morning

I am back home from holiday, but only for a night or two, then will go back for some more lazy days in our bach.

We have had an amazing summer so far, with fine warm calm days. it is not always so during January, our most settled weather is often February and March.

These photos were taken during one of our early morning walks on the beach. There was a sea mist rolling in which is quite unusual. It gave an eerie atmosphere. The photos look better if you click on them and enlarge them.

Trees in Bloom

We have several large trees in full bloom in our street at the moment. Here are photos of two of them. The apricot coloured tree is a Chinese Silk tree (Albizia) which has its origins in Asia.

The tree with the purple flowers is a Jacaranda. Jacarandas are found all over the world, I think they originate from South America.

Both trees are spectacular in all their summer glory!

Sir Edmund Hillary 1919 - 2008

'It is not the mountains that we conquer but ourselves'

In memory of a great New Zealander.

'New Zealanders in years to come will remember the moment they heard of his passing.

They may always remember him as the man who conquered Mount Everest and for his laconic remark later that he and companion Tenzing Norgay had "knocked the bastard off".

They will remember another great adventuring feat, when he headed the first party to reach the South Pole by land since Captain Robert Scott five decades earlier.

But Hillary once said he would rather be remembered for his humanitarian work for the people of Nepal -- a people he loved and for whom he achieved so much.' NZ Press.

My oldest son - who has worked at a hospital in Nepal, once met Ed Hillary, my husband has also.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that this year is a wonderful one for you all and your family. I hope it brings peace, good health and happiness.

I am away now, probably for at least two weeks or longer, to our wee house by the beach. In NZ a beach house is known as a 'bach' - or if you live in the South Island - a 'crib'.

There will be lots of long walks on the beach - mostly in the mornings and evenings though. The UV rays here are very very strong and my skin already shows damage from years of over exposure, mostly as a child growing up on a farm.

In the heat of the day the bush (NZ term for forest) is a good place to go - there are some lovely bush walks not too far away.

I am taking lots of books to read, will also do some scrapbooking, and jigsaws. We also have some friends from neighbouring baches to catch up with.

It will be a quiet time, with some busy moments as friends and family stop by. Some may want to stay, and if there is no room inside the house there is always the garage!

A few years ago we built a garage, not to be used for vehicles, but as storage for beach gear (wagon, surf skiis, body boards, deck chairs, spare fridge etc). We also put in bathroom facilities so the garage doubles as a sleepout if we have too many guests. It is only suitable to used in the summer.

Bye...............................