WHANGAREI HEADS ART TRAIL

We have had a wonderful weekend.  On Saturday we did the Whangarei Heads Art Trail.  I just checked here and it is six years since we did it.  

There are a lot of talented people here.  We hadn't intended buying anything but ended up with several small items including:

some pottery flowers for our garden,

 some more for a birthday present

 a nice little painting of a fantail for an anniversary present

a lovely little vase.  We were told that it was not fired in the usual way but wrapped with leaves etc and then placed in a bonfire.  Apparently the decoration is random.  I have photographed both sides.

A nice Maori Kete made by an English lady.  The handles go right around the bag to make it extra strong.  Ideal for the market.  Doug can remember his grandmother making one of these each time they went to gather shellfish.

There were a few that we didn't have time for on Saturday so went back on Sunday when I bought this glass jewellery.

THE TOWN BASIN

Another lovely autumn day and we had to go into town so went on down to the Town Basin to purchase a map for the upcoming Art Trail.  While we were there we had a couple of ice creams and sat and people and cloud watched.  It is School Holidays and, although it doesn't show in the photos, it was actually very busy.

We had a short stroll to buy a couple of items and passed one of the many murals around the town.

then back to the car next to the playground.

RED CHERRY GUAVA

We have been very pleased with our fruit crops this year, in fact we have been very pleased with all our crops.

We have a large quantity of stewed peaches and raw tomatoes in the freezer.  The blackberry and raspberry plants (one of each) that we bought last year gave us far more fruit than we ever imagined.  Now we are just starting to pick our Cherry Guava (also known as the Strawberry Guava among other names).

This photo was taken about a week ago and we have been picking a few every day.  Just enough to keep us going.  The lemons and mandarins are not ripe yet. 

The winter vegie plants are coming along nicely and the blueberry bush that was in a sorry state when we were given it is looking good.

The nights are getting colder and days are about 20 degrees C.

HELENSVILLE

Doug lived in Helensville from the age of 5 until he moved to Whangarei ten years ago.  On Tuesday we decided to go for a drive as it was a lovely day.  It was the first time he has been back since he moved here and he noticed quite a bit of change.  Mainly businesses closed and replaced by fast food outlets but that seems to be happening everywhere.

The railway had been shut down before he moved and there is  just one goods train a day,

Our first port of call was the doctors' surgery and the lady he wanted to see was there and thrilled to see him.  We then called at a couple of houses and no-one was home so we went to the cafe at the railway station and had an enjoyable lunch and cup of tea.

After that we had a short walk in the town centre and phoned the first lady we had missed and she had returned home so we drove out to see her and have a look at her garden.

We then went back to see if Doug's next-door neighbour was now home and she and her daughter arrived just as we did.  We were lucky as she had been in hospital a few weeks ago so we would have missed her.  

They had recognised Doug as he got out of the car and were so pleased to see him.  She told me that "I have a good one", but I already know that.

It was a lovely day out and we don't intend to leave it as long before our next visit.

PROGRESS

Yesterday, we did more work on the front (flower) garden.  At the back of the garden is an area of very tall astroemeria and I spent the morning pulling out the dead stems.  While I did this Doug weeded the garden and started to spread the mulch.  

These photos were taken at lunch time yesterday.  We were unable to do any more as we were going to neighbours for afternoon tea and then, after feeding the animals, out for dinner at Alzheimers (roast pork followed by mini pavlovas with mixed berries).

MULCHING

Although we had the vegetable beds ready for the new seedlings it was a different matter with the flower garden.

The large cosmos were still there, in fact some of them were only just starting to flower although they had grown so large they were startling to split.  The trunks on them would have been about 4 - 5 cms at the base.  We have just had a satisfactory morning removing them ready to plant the seedlings.

When Max and I were on our 5 acre property we had a lovely heavy duty petrol shredder which could deal with quite large branches but we left it behind when we moved.  When we got settled here I bought an electric AL-KO shredder/mulcher.  I know Max thought it would be useless but it actually works very well.  It is obviously not intended for anything large but it mulched the cosmos with no problem.  Doug cut the plants down and  I mulched them.

This is the result - two wheelbarrows full of lovely mulch.

There is still more work to do to get the garden bed ready but we have done the hard part.

FIRST FIRE OF THE YEAR

It has been wet for a few days now and has drizzled all afternoon so it is quite cool and damp - I think the temperature is about 20C but it feels cooler.  It doesn't take much for me to decide to light the fire so that is what I have done.  Looking forward to a nice snug night in.

Kim thinks that it was a great idea

While I lit the fire Doug poached a couple of eggs each.  I had mine with Worcestershire sauce as usual.