NO FEET.

"No Feet" has been visiting Doug for about 6 years.  She was visiting while Doug's former wife was alive.  He assures me that it is the same bird and that she is female.

Sometimes she disappears for a couple of months.  Apparently, when she first came she was in a sorry state and was very skinny but, over the years she has fattened up.  Doug always had trouble feeding her without the  others diving down and taking the food he gave her.  Yesterday he noticed, for the first time,  that she was chasing the other birds away.

PURPLE KUMARA

I recently posted when we tried purple kumara for the first time and it made a very interesting looking mash.

Since then I have made an easy frittata with the purple kumara, feta cheese and a sprinkling of cheddar on the top.  We had this for lunch today with a salad of lettuce, grated carrot, orange segments, avocado and tomatoe.  Unfortunately, at this stage only the lettuce was home grown the rest coming from the Growers Market.  

It was delicious.

PARANUI FALLS

On Monday our walk for people with Parkinson's Disease was one we have done previously but not for a long time.  It was quite a difficult walk, not long but very steep and often slippery and one had to hold onto trees and pull oneself up in places.  A friend told me that new steps had been put in so we tried it again.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.  We started at the same point as the walk to the Whangarei Falls and followed that track for a short way before turning off through A.H.  Reed Park itself.

This is the small stream that makes the Falls.

And to make it even better the forecast rain held off until after our walk.

KUMARA

We eat a lot of kumara (sweet potatoe) which I buy at the weekly Growers' Market.  I usually have the Red Kumara which has a creamy white flesh.  I use this in soups, roasted and in a mash with potatoe.  

This week the stall where I buy my kumara was running out of these most common kumara so I bought some purple kumara which, on the outside, looked similar.  When I peeled them I found that they were very different.  

Yesterday I fried some cubed with potatoe which we had with baked flounder.  Today I did a mash with potatoe which we ate with a lamb stew and broccoli.  Most unusual but very tasty.

It was voted a hit though and this will be the meal when we have family around for Doug's birthday tomorrow.

SCULPTUREUM 4

After wandering through the indoor collection one goes through a door to find oneself in a large enclosed courtyard with yet more sculptures in various mediums.  

The whole place is amazing and we will definitely be going back.  There are two large sheds full of more sculptures yet to be displayed but, even without that, it would be well worth another visit.

SCULPTUREUM 3

After spending some time on the outside collection we went indoors to view more artworks

This chandelier was massive.  It was bought in America and the deal was that the vendor arranged for installation which meant that they had to pay for airfares out to New Zealand as well as installation and that alone came to $250,000.

My favourite piece was the goat made from cutlery.  Its coat was the tines of the forks.