PRE CHRISTMAS MARKET

Woke about 5 a.m. as usual for this time of year and got straight up and out to the Growers' Market to beat the crowds.

It was pleasant.  We bought everything on my list but, as we were half way home, Doug said we didn't get bananas.  We had bought a few at the supermarket yesterday but they are not nearly as nice so we turned off at the next intersection and went back to the Market where it was starting to get busy.  

Altogether we bought watercress, avocados, tomatoes (ours are growing but a fair way off yet), red onions, delicious peaches, beetroot and beans as we are not picking quite enough just yet as well as the bananas.  We did not plan on buying any plants but a couple jumped into my arms on the way  to the car, a Lavatera and a Campanula.

Legs of lamb were on special yesterday in the supermarket so I slow roasted one today while I wrapped the great-granddaughters' presents.

A good day and a fairly lazy one.

UPDATE UNUSUAL PLANT

 Watering the garden a few minutes ago and suddenly realised I was watering a baby thrush in a small bush. By the time I got my phone he had moved but not very far. Just as well pusscat was fast asleep. Not enough room to get closer for a better shot.

This morning, first thing, he was back in the bush.

READING LIST.

This morning the blogs in my Reading List are many years old (eight or nine in some cases, possibly more).  I haven't been able to get back far enough to current blogs.  Is anyone else having this problem and is there any way to correct it.

A GOOD DAY

 Today we drove across town to meet new Great Granddaughter.  We also met up with the baby's big sister, Miss 2 year old and cousin, another Miss 2 year old and her mother. The 2 year olds had just had their weekly swimming lesson and we joined them for brunch at a nearby Cafe.

Doug and I both had a delicious Roast Lamb toasted sandwich.  We must do this more often.

PARKINSON WALK MORNING TEA AND CHRISTMAS TREE

In the end there were only 14 walkers for morning tea here yesterday and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

One of the things we did last week was to put up and decorate the Christmas tree.  I have lots of decorations going back years.  I used to buy something new each year.  This year I decided to go minimalist and just used the lovely pewter ornaments my cousin sends each year.  They come from Nova Scotia.  

I am so pleased with it I have decided to go through my Christmas decorations and donate a lot to a charity shop.  A few special ones may still be added to the tree.

It always amazes me how seasons change so quickly.  With the beginning of December we suddenly have summer.  

While 28 degrees Celsius is not hot in a lot of places it is plenty hot enough for me.  

GETTING BUSIER

With Christmas coming at the start of summer here in the Southern Hemisphere things tend to get busy at this time of year and we have had an extremely busy week.  Onn Monday we had  a lovely out of town walk around Lake Waro and the rocks next to the lake with caffeine fix at a nearby cafe.  I only took one photo of one of the rocks. 

Apart from that we (mainly Doug) have been installing irrigation systems and I got the overseas Christmas mail ready. 

On Wednesday we both had podiatry appointments and while Doug had his appointment I walked the 1.25 km. to the Post Shop to post the mail. The posting seemed to take forever and Doug came and picked me up 

A month or so ago my brother did a blog post about the supermarket loyalty scheme in Brighton,  Sussex and I have been meaning to do one about the schemes here. They have recently changed and after posting the mail we did an extra large supermarket shop to take advantage of the current special offer.  This meant that on Thursday I cooked a large Moroccan style stew which I froze in portions the following day.  Also on Thursday we celebrated the arrival of great-granddaughter # 5 (all living here in Whangarei).   

On top of this a fair amount of gardening has been done, I have been in the garden by 6.30 or 7 a.m. every day.  It is a good growing season so there has been lots to do.  

On Saturday it was the Growers' Market as usual and then at 1 p.m. we went to the Whangarei Dance Academy's show called "Decades"  Eldest great-granddaughter (9 years old) was performing and granddaughter told me the ages ranged from 3 to 18 years old. (Doing a rough calculation from a photo there were about 160 people involved in the show).  There were three performances in the 340 seat Theatre and we were blown away by the standard.  It was such a professional show.  The show finished at about 4 p.m. so it was a very late lunch yesterday.  

Today has been busy getting tables and chairs moved and ready for our pre-Christmas get-together for the Parkinson  Walking Group and making a batch of 18 mini ham and kumara frittatas as part of my contribution to the food.

CHRISTMAS CARD

We received our first Christmas card of the season today.  It was from a cousin in Toronto but I see it was made in England. Isn't it lovely.

GARDEN DISCOVERY DAY 2

We had just two more gardens to view today with showers forecast.   The first was a 20 minute drive north, and as the brochure stated it was a 3.5 acre garden, originally a clay paddock and was seven years old.  It was made by two avid gardeners who both work full time.  The hard landscaping was all rocks found on the property.  The showers held off.

This was our favourite garden.

We then drove back towards home to visit a 2 acre garden that we had visited before but were keen to see again.  Unfortunately, it started to rain before we got there so it was a quick visit.  One bonus was that the Garden Club selling plants decided to sell them all for $1.00 so that they didn't have to take them back home.  I had a $5.00 note so bought five - 2 geraniums, chives and 2 petunias.  

The rain made it difficult to take photos so just the one.

QUARRY GARDENS GARDEN DISCOVERY

The Quarry Gardens Garden Discovery is on this weekend.  I think it is their main fundraiser.  There are eleven gardens of various sizes.  We visited six today.  Two that are further out we have been to previously and skipped and two we plan to visit tomorrow. The other is the Quarry Gardens itself which we visited recently.

The first five photos were from a small garden that backs onto some bush.

The next three photos were from a lovely large garden we had visited before and it was interesting to see how it had grown.

The next photos were from a lovely garden on the Harbour's edge.  It was actually the first garden we visited and Doug took the photos.

This bottom photo is of part of a wonderful mosaic wall in a bathroom of the first house.  I took the photo with my phone and could not get far enough back to get the whole wall.

We really enjoyed the day out.  There were a couple of very short showers but otherwise it was a lovely fine day.  

IRIS

Occasionally Doug's eldest daughter gets given plants and often passes them on to us.

One last year was a rhizome with a bit of leaf.  A lovely surprise last week when it flowered for the first time.

I think there were a few of them that I planted around the garden so look forward to more of them flowering.

QUARRY GARDENS (DOUG'S PHOTOS)

Doug's youngest grandson (27 years old) came for lunch today and sorted my problem with getting Doug's photos from his camera to my laptop (something to do with Microsoft).

So here are Doug's photos, much better than the ones from my phone.

We sat under a shelter at the far side of the lake and a Swallow kept flying around waiting for us to move so that he/she could come to the nest.  He landed on a rock briefly.