October/November

There he his ! 'Ricardo L'artiste!' Standing beside a real crowd-puller. Nearly sold it too... The event was the annual Auckland East Arts exhibition @ Mission Bay, AKL. We arrived early, set up camp & spent an entertaining day amongst artists & buff young men testing out their Touch rugby skills. (Pikkies only of artists allowed...)

Richard's works. The 2 to the right sold.

OK, so here's the raised vege garden...a work in progress. The wood comes from a 'special' source... Now witness the results approx a month later...

The stage where it's 'slow down! Can't eat fast enough!!' Had to hump the topsoil up from the front yard in buckets cos the brand new wheelbarrow punctured itself in the tyre. Can't remember how much soil...a lot! Took a couple of days. There are beautiful little broccoli heads in amongst the vast foliage in the foreground.

Off to Matarangi we go again. Managed to score a beaut weekend of Summer. Found this wandering bushman on the Ridge track walk....

Well, thought I'd nabbed him, but....
Out from the bush & Ridge track to the Bluff road which takes you past this lovely sight...(no, the pikkie ABOVE this writing, sillies!)

Sunset at Matarangi (Bluff end)...warm water waiting to be swum in...

Well, another hard out R&R time for R.....spot the photographer...duh!

So endeth another month and now we launch into Christmas month. Oh my, how it's all gone so fast (yes, sayin it again!) R has paintings up for sale in an art shop in the local mall. The portfolio is building....more, more, faster, faster! We want you to be famous NOW! Summer is well on & building. Bring on the swims, BBQ's, festive food (incl veges!) family time & fun! Time to really impress all the Homestays ( a number of them in our various families now, we have 2...) with how we 'do' Summer/Christmas, Kiwi-style....

sydney oct 10

That bird again!

Be Quiet won't you!! How dare you point that thing at me!

Would you believe the birds are at it again!

Our Thrushy friend here (and we think maybe the blackbird out front) has returned to the same nest under the eaves for a second go! I didn't know they did that. I'd been telling Penny that they build a new nest every year so that parasites and things are not passed on. I assume then that seeing that it's the same year it doesn't count. It's a bit of a blow to say the least to feel that we have to creep around our own patio to avoid disturbing the bird! I can't believe we're doing this, it must be the age thing when the family has left and we start to anthropomorphise creatures. Fortunately, as time passes, it seems more unlikely that the fledglings will take off while I'm away in Sydney as there doesn't seem to be any signs of chicks yet. So Earl and I aren't looking forward to the kitty litter and the supervised walks in the garden at the critical time. At least the young ones have disappeared into the world and are not still flying around the garden like low flying heavily laden cargo planes with no one at the controls.

Speaking of kitty litter reminds me that now Earl has it in mind that the new raised garden is open for use as a new loo for him. I know he's very neat at this but nevertheless I now have to put netting over it, hopefully we won't see a progressive digging up of the lettuces like what happened with the strawberry plants last year which might have been blamed on the blackbirds who can really move dirt while they find their favourite food bugs. everything seems to be growing like mad at the moment.

As things turned out we were able to have our first barbecue of the year without having to tiptoe around out there. David and Linda stayed overnight before flying out to Malaysia for a holiday and here we are getting it to go! A great evening was had by all. No wind (well not much) for a change although not really sitting about outside weather.

and look who turned up at the end to see if there was anything left! Noisy Earl!

Now D and L have wended their way back to New Plymouth and we are left with the next wave of Asian home-stays, we have one Chinese and I guess a Korean will arrive shortly. But more of that later.

September Spring Fiesta feast etc

Of course no year is complete without the annual family & friend's get together...some of the usual suspects plus a few extras! NB: These fellas are not to be trusted...innocent though they may well appear...partners in adventuring...

A chilled out very pleasant evening....

Nice lid Dude...

Always room in the kitchen...no party complete without gathering there...

Let there be cake! Happens that the following day was R's b'day & Father's day...handy. See y'all 2011, same place approx same time!

Oh wet September...with a sunny twist

So...the fledgling thrushes are well gone from the nest. The Big Wet came & hung round for a few weeks & the result was a rather soggy garden..

Despite the wet, plants blossomed & oranges matured. Project raised Vege Garden is in progress! Note: the sleepers found their way to 115 from the Treatment Plant...handy & just the right dimensions.

Visitors arrived & catchups were to be had.. (a record 4 hour spa according to Richard.) Didn't notice...obviously much to chat about with a VERY dear friend (known each other for 34 yrs & counting) & civilised partaking...

A sunny interval in Matarangi. The hour's walk to the Kuaotunu Store is rewarded & famous for it's cheap & HUGE icecreams. These are single ones!

No blog is complete without some scenery....only @ Matarangi/Rings Beach. Watch this space for R's painting of this...

Nesting time Sept 2010

Well we've had an interesting time with not one but two birds nests at our house. the front had a nest of blackbirds. this was up in the palm tree out of the front windows but hard to see. the back one was up under the eaves at the top of the Hoya right above the kitchen window.
We were never sure but there was at least 2 blackbirds and really surprisingly 4 thrushes. as you can imagine everyday we were watching the proceedings from eggs to chicks as if it was some really exciting serial. I was a bit dubious from the start because Earl old as he is is quite a star hunter. How to get around the fledging was a bit of a problem for me. the antics of the thrushes was quite something to see especially toward the end of nesting when they jockeyed for position and stood on the edge of the nest in turns stretching their tiny wings. from the start mum thrush got used to us and after a few days didn't fly away when we opened the back door. soon just eyed us suspiciously as we passed. however we felt like we were intruding in our own home and started using the other doors out into the garden.
looking at the weather forecast and their antics, I picked Sunday or Monday for launch. Pen said later because they hardly had any tails and very small wings, true but they looked ever so gung ho! I bought some kitty litter and banned the cats from going out on Sunday esp as we were out to church in the morning. We realised that with no activity out front suddenly the blackbird nest was empty!! i reckon they flew away on Friday just before the rainy period. Left with absolutely no sign.. very crafty mum. The noise coming out of a tree in the park adjacent in the next days was probably a sign of their boisterousness!
Back to the thrushes. no movement on Sunday, that is to say no flying although it was a puzzle how they all managed to stay in the nest treading on one another, perching on the edge and stretching and celebrating when Mum or Dad appeared like shuttles, often one sat waiting with worms till the other had fed and left. Pen pointed out to me how mum dealt with the poo problem, eating some and carting the rest away!
Monday am, had to go to the Airport to pick up a friend back from a cruise in Croatia. Pen was at work. Plane was scheduled 45 mins late and even later. Finally returned at lunchtime to see what I thought was a little beak poking out of the nest, sometimes they have a sort of snooze and settle down. I let Earl out for a supervised garden poke around and as soon as we got to the steps at the side of the house he was off! Shouting to him I was able to pick him up while he exchanged looks with one of the fledglings! Carrying him inside I then tried to pick up the bird. he was a bit quick and tried hiding in the ornamental grasses before getting stuck in the fence holes. Managed to ease him through into the park. Then decided to check out the nest. Totally empty. wandered around into the park where I had posted the bird to see mother Thrush and finally, totally camoflaged, was the tiny bird which as I shepherded it up to the bushes could barely make it off the ground!
Couldnt find any of the others, I assumed it was the runt of the litter and the others had flown. Let Earl out, together we looked (actually he did) under the house, I sometimes open the underside door so he can have a check, he loves it and emerges with cobwebs! walked around and Lo and behold he finds a bird hidden in the corner where the Bizzy lizzies have taken over. Calling Earl again, he got the hump and sat under the stacked garden chairs while I grasped a motionless bird and poked it under the hedge joining the Park. Was that another or the first just hopped back around the corner I suspected not the same bird? Anyway the sun was out and so I took the opportunity to garden.
Weeding the bizzy lizzies what do I see but another!! Stood its ground giving me the beady eye look! So that was most likely No.3! went and took a photo and weeded somewhere else while Earl sunbathed by the door.
I became aware of a very piercing series of peeps and before I could decide where it was coming from, another appeared, taking flight from a pot plant into the hedge. I sneakily watched it later hopping on its enormously long legs into the Bizzy lizzies which must have been the original rendez vous target for all.
Left them to it. Earl got bored and went indoors. Kept the catflap closed overnight again and this morning went around the garden swishing all the plants with a stick to flush out any birds. At last nothing. All gone. Swept up the kitty litter now all over the laundry and downloaded the pics. here they are (well a few).

David S's 60th weekend

There he is! (The dude on the left actually) DVS 60, not out. Think RL is 'having a word'...

Les Girls - PML, Pip, LGS & friend Margo. Cheers DVS!

Speech over, now the important cake cutting part....A Hummingbird one. Totally yum.

So here we are, the Lawtys & Soulsbys, sans some family members who are 'offshore.'

Vintage friendship....it's all about the quality. ('Mainlanders' of course!) AND a surprise visitor which made it all the more special.

The bros, aka Sam & Charlie....(in order to lean on your shoulder & keep you in 'check'...)

Sunday morning walk along the beachfront. A brisk August day.

No pikkie complete without the resident gardener/birthday man. Bit of a contrast to Oman!