The days activities and Tamahere Eventide Gully Garden

Monday, I went for a walk with Mum first thing in the morning and then I had acupuncture again at 9.30 am; 22 needles in my shoulders, back, hips and calf muscles of which 10 or 12 had electric pulses running through them. It is the weirdest feeling I have ever had, however, the instant improvement I get, is amazing. The Chinese lady doing it said that not everyone responds as I do. She was rather horrified at the tightness of my calf muscles today and said they were too inflamed for her to massage or do cupping on (for which I am eternally grateful).

After that it was back to Mum and Dad's for lunch and then Mum and I headed into town to post mail, do banking and get books for her great grandchildren, my grand-daughters and great nephew, for me to take back to Aussie with me for their Xmas presents.

I then went to Te Awamutu to pick up Hollie, another of my grand-daughters and take her home, where I helped her start sorting out clothes to take to Aussie with her, she is coming home with me for a couple of weeks. Here she is looking grumpy because I'm taking a photo of her, she isn't a fan of having her photo taken. While there, I folded all their washing, a nice surprise for my daughter when she gets home.

Back at "the village" I decided to go for a quick walk around the Gully Garden. The residents, well, some of them, maintain and develop the gully garden. Pete and I got married nearly 4 years ago at the Village and had some of our photos taken down in this garden. It is not a "garden" of flowers, but of native trees and ferns. While down there I heard a Tui call, fantails and lots of other birds as well as lamb baaing away across the stream somewhere. It is so peaceful. I also met one of the gentlemen who 'work' down the gully doing all the drains. I chatted away to him and he told me, when I asked that the gentleman who does most of the planting is 92 and the one who maintains the little waterwheel is 94! When I asked if there were any younger ones coming along to take over when they were unable to, he replied "yes, me". I asked him how old he was and he told me 84, I swear he didn't look a day over 75. He told me he loves pottering away down there, digging drains and widening and smoothing out the paths. His aim is to make the paths wide enough for two people to walk arm in arm beside each other as "that's how lots of the elderly like to walk", (his quote, not mine).

Lots of little pathways around the gully

Enjoyed sitting on a seat looking out across the gully to this Claret Ash

NZ Kauri with cones on!

One of the many seats dotted around for the residents to sit on for a rest

The view from the seat above

A fern "koru" unfurling

Another quiet, shady sitting area

Pete and I had some of our wedding photos taken on this bridge, the water wasn't so high then

Reflective pond

Cabbage tree in flower

I also took a couple of photos of the gardens around the "village". The gardens were pruning the Lonicera Nitada 'balls' today and I had to have a little chuckle at how they had left this one.

Love 'his' mowhawk.

This rose is growing along the side of one of the villas - I'm pretty sure it's Wedding Day.

Some of the residents choose to plant and maintain their own gardens, others are happy to leave it up to the gardeners. Those that do their own have lots of colour, the others are all 'easy care' shrubs.  

Then it was off to have dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's with them and their three son's, all in their 20's and all living back at home at the moment. One has returned from Brisbane to complete his Engineering degree, the other completed his Police training this year and has yet to go back flatting and the third, well, he just likes living at home. All the boys are hard workers and do their share around the house and with the meals.  

I'm off back home tomorrow and by the look of the weather forecast, returning to rain. Hollie is not impressed as she was looking forward to lying on the beach every day. Oh well, we'll have to find other things to do. 

2 comments family, Gardening, leisure

Flowers from my Cromwell Holiday

Granny Bonnets - they can be a bit weedy

I have been pleasantly surprised to discover the botanical names of the shrubs and flowers we have seen leaping back into my mind. I worked in horticulture for 18 years at a plant propagation and retail garden centre nursery up in Te Awamutu and finished there in 2008. I have forgotten quite a few tree names, but I reckon they'd come back quickly if I worked in the horticultural field again.  I am envious of all Rhododendrons, Azalea Mollis and other cold loving plants that can be grown down here, plants I certainly couldn't grow healthily on the Sunshine Coast.

A rose peaking over the top of a rock wall, covered in a vine

Valerian - has seeded itself along roadsides

Another gorgeous rose

Peony - they come in amazing colours

Rose of some name

Elderberry - Sambucus nigra

Wisteria - isn't it beautiful

Hawthorn - I've seen these in white, light pink and this dark pink

Russel lupin

Russel lupin

I wish I was going to be here long enough to collect buckets of Elderberry flowers and make Elderberry Champagne. I've read about it, but never seen anywhere where there were enough flowers to have a go. Then, when the berries set, Elderberry Jelly.  I used to grow Granny Bonnets in my garden in Hamilton - I do like them, but unless you cut the flowers off before they set and drop their seed, you are digging them out for years to come. They're good in a wild flower area, where they can seed happily. I grew Russel Lupins too and you can get quite a few different colours, but the above are the main too. Unfortunately they have become a weed along the southern rivers, although they do look very pretty when driving over the bridges that span the "braided" river beds and seeing these as far as the eye can see up and down the river.  Personally, I would not grow Valerian, it "runs" and is quite hard to eradicate from a home garden. Down here, Pete thought it looked lovely growing along the roadsides - another introduced plant gone rogue.

Viburnum plicatum 'Rosacea' 

Out at Glenorchy we stopped to use the toilet and get a bottle of water. I found these Viburnum Plicatum Rosacea - they are delightful. Not the easiest to grow from cuttings, but very rewarding when you do manage to.  I used to wish I had a shady stream flowing through my section so I could grow a variety of hostas. Alas, I had to make do with a shady corner and use lots of slug bait, otherwise all I got was holey leaves. I do so miss Rhododendrons. Every year at the nursery we'd propagate them and grow them on to sell in our retail garden centre. It was really too humid in the Waikato for them, and they often got attacked by Thrip, a nasty little sap sucking insect that lived on the underside of the leaves, turning them silver as they sucked the sap out. 

Hosta

Rhodos

 On our drive up the Remarkables (named that because they are only one of two mountain ranges that run North/South) and all around Queenstown, a bright yellow can be seen. At first, from a distance we thought it was the dreaded Gorse, but no, it is Broom, Cytisus. Here, once again, an introduced species as become a weed, a very pretty looking weed, but a week, none-the-less. I much prefer the pink and red varieties of broom in the home garden. They don't seed as readily and I like their colour better.  Hawthorn is also spreading on the lower slopes of the ranges/hills/mountains along with a 'wild rose'. In areas through the Kawarau Gorge and up on the Crown Range, Wilding Pine seedlings are being killed, as they are spreading rapidly and killing out the native tussock grasses, which our native geckos and other insects need to survive. I believe, the wild rose should also be sprayed out, as it is spreading rapidly and in a few years, people will not be able to walk through those areas without being "thorned" to bits.

Broom, Cytisus sp

Hawthorn - a very pale pink seedling

I have really really enjoyed seeing not only native Corokias, Coprosmas and tussock grasses in gardens and growing in their natural environment on the mountainsides but also seeing all the exotic varieties in home gardens - they give such a colourful display. It does make me a little homesick.  I hope you enjoy seeing these photos as much as I did taking them.

1 comment Gardening, Holiday, leisure

Snapshot of my week

I spent the first three days of the week looking after one or the other, or both of my grand daughters. Monday I had Tamara, who has discovered she can stand up in the middle of the room and is very proud of herself. This new skill has necessitated "baby proofing" of my house. Unfortunately I can't move the microwave to a height she can't reach, so may have to get a couple of baby gates to stop her getting into the kitchen. Doesn't she look pleased with herself. Yesterday, at her home, she was pushing along a little trolley while walking. It won't be long before she is running everywhere and this Gran will have to be on her toes then and get the eyes in the back of the head in working order again.

On Tuesday I had both of the girls while my son went 'kite surfing' in the rain and wind. He had a marvellous time, I can't say I did as Tamara (the littlest) is cutting teeth and would not be put down or have a sleep. Gran's patience's was tested severely and I resorted to putting Annika in front of a animated kids movie (naughty Gran) so I could walk and rock Tamara. Tamara did love the eggy banana pancakes I made her for her lunch though. Simply mash a banana, add some cinnamon, whisk up two eggs, mix the two together and cook. She plowed through two of the three I made.

Wednesday I took Annika for the morning/early afternoon, while Bernie took Tamara for her big OT appointment. Annika was a bit distracted at swimming today - she is a real water girl and would much rather be playing than waiting for her turn and listening to Tyson.  On the way home we called in at the supermarket to get choc chips to make biscuits with and visited the bakery for a little party pie. I love the expression on Annika's face as she eats the pie, she couldn't wait for it to cool down enough. Then we did some baking, well Gran did while Annika ate the mixture. I left the room to do something for only a minute or two and when I came back I could have sworn there was more chocolate chip mixture in the bowl than what was there on my return. Sure enough, I found a little container in the study room with uncooked mixture in it - Annika and I shared this later.

Wednesday night I stayed at my Aunts, she is away in NZ, so thought I'd better go up and check on her place after all the rain and wind we have been having. Her balcony, which looks out over the estuary and out to sea has been getting a soaking, however, at least all the plants were well watered. 

Thursday, I lazed around for the morning reading a book, then had a blissfully painful massage in an attempt to loosen up all my very tight muscles, which have been causing me quite a bit of pain - I didn't even go to the gym or do any exercise all week, they've been that bad. The massage certainly helped and I woke on Friday morning feeling like a new person. 

Friday was 'get outside' day, as it actually stopped raining and the sun came out. The lawns got mown, I hand weeded all the graveled area's around the back of the house, planted seeds, dug in some compost to the vegetable garden and then could hardly move. So much for my massage, I think I undid all the good work. 

Before weeding

After weeding

Capsicums, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, chard

 Beerwah had it's annual Street Party from 4 to 9.30, so I met Bernie and the girls there and we wandered around for a couple of hours. Annika met up with a little friend of hers and they danced madly, as only children can, not caring about the crowds of people watching them, to a youngish man singing Johnny Cash. Their antics put smiles on many people's faces and a few other little girls joined them. Once I had helped Bernie load them into the car and sent them home I met up with a friend and we had a quiet drink before heading home ourselves. 

All in all, I had a good, productive week and the time flew by.

2 comments family, Gardening, leisure

Saturday

I'm not sure whether to count this as my first day of "freedom" from paid work or wait until Monday, as I always have the weekends off anyway. No matter, my day started bright and early with a walk up Mt Beerberrum - I really don't like walking this one, even though it is only about 700 m's to the top, it is soooo steep. At least this time I made it up without stopping. I did walk backwards for a few metres several times - to relieve my Achilles and get my breath back.  It is an overcast and grey day today, which made for a much cooler climb, but not such a great view from the top. Three of the glasshouse mountains, Beerwah, Tibrogargan and Coonowrin.

Coonowrin

Beerwah

Tibrogargan

Then it was to the gym for a group class, today doing "flows", using firstly a viper and then a weight plate. It certainly got the brain thinking as well as the sweat rolling. After that I had breakfast at the Tapa's Bar next door, Mrs Browns, bacon, egg and avocado - delicious.  My intention was to then go home, have a shower, head to the local fruit and vegetable barn, call in and see the grandkids and then spend the rest of the day chilling in front of SBS on Demand on my TV. 

But no. I did get home, but then decided I needed to clean all the old vegetables out of the fridge and feed them to the worm farm, which led to being outside and deciding to start clearing out the vegetable garden, now that we've had some rain and the soil is actually soft enough for me to dig. Out came the old beef steak type tomatoes, picked all the cherry type that were ripe - which meant I had to go outside the fence to get all those growing on the road side of the fence. I cut back the perennial basil, pulled out the old spring onions that had gone to flower, turned over the soil and was very happy to see lots of worms.

Purple King self seeded beans growing up through the cherry tomato

On the road side of the fence

Self sown basil. 

I cut some of the fig tree back about 5 weeks ago, just as it was starting to push out new growth. It has gone mad, loving the hot weather and the bit of rain we have had. I probably should have cut back all the stems, but oh well, next winter I will do them all. Hoping for a good crop of figs, which I will have to bag to stop the fruit fly and birds getting. 

Half cut back perennial basil. I did cut it all back hard.

Only 1/3 left to dig over 

So that's it for me today, other than folding washing, hanging more out on the line, buying fruit and vegetables and seeing the little girls on the way home. I'm having an early night after my 5.15am start. 

4 comments family, Fitness, Gardening, leisure

Saturday Chore Day

 Saturdays are usually quite busy for me. I not only go to a class at the gym at 8.15 but try and get all my chores done around the house and garden so that Sunday can be a more leisurely day. I go to Plus Fitness in Beerwah. The crew there are so friendly and helpful and have become like another family. 

 From the gym I went to the community gardens and weeded then gave them a really good water. I picked salad leaves and dug up a sweet potato that gave up its hiding spot by sprouting shoots.  I picked a few beans too and think I'll pull them out now as they really haven't done that well and don't have any more flowers coming on them.



As you can see from the photo above, which I took while stopped at the traffic lights on my way home just after 10 am, it was already 32 degrees. Yikes and I still had the lawns to mow and garden to weed at home.  As soon as I got home, I took a rolled pork shoulder out of the freezer and put it in the slow cooker with fresh sage, thyme and fennel to cook slowly all day. Then it was chopping up vegetables and putting them in the oven to roast, enough to last me a few days with the pork.

I picked three different types of lettuce leaves, spinach, rainbow silverbeet, beetroot leaves and some young tender bean leaves to use as salad greens. I also picked a couple of zucchini and a beetroot..




Once everything was either in the oven, slow cooker or soaking in cold water in the sink, I quickly ran the little vacuum cleaner over the kitchen floor and then gave it a mop, before heading outside to the lawns and garden.  I love my little vacuum cleaner as it is so handy for just spot cleaning. When I'm doing the whole house, I drag the big vacuum out of the hall cupboard.  The little fella just sits plugged in, in the main entrance way (not the best spot for it, but so handy for the kitchen) and it reminds the kids to use it, which is a real bonus.

I had to get my stepson to move our motorbike for me, as it was blocking the lawn mower in the shed and I didn't want to attempt to move the bike, too big and heavy for me.  Unfortunately, he didn't offer to do the lawns - oh well, dreams are free :) As you can see the lawn is rather dead, so I was really mowing off the seed heads and giving it a tidy up, as opposed to mowing grass.

I picked the last of the beefsteak type tomatoes and all the cherry type that were ripe or nearly ripe. There are lots more of them to come. Then I cut back the beefsteak in the tub, leaving the new shoots that are coming up from low on the main stem and shifted the tub back into the shade. I might get another crop off them, if I give them a good feed, some extra compost and mulch. Worth a try.

I picked the first of the banana passion fruit to ripen. I wasn't as big or as sweet as I remember them from my childhood. I think that is probably because the "soil" the plant is growing in is subsoil and we have had no rain to speak of for nearly 3 months. Still, I did enjoy it. 

I did a bit of work on my worm farm. I noticed piles of worms in the bucket that sits under the tap, so I tipped them and the bucket content back into the farm and turned the food scraps and worms over a bit. The mixture was very wet, so I added some of the shredded paper from work through it. Then I decided to lift the top level off and take the next level off as well and swap them around. I want all the worms to move out of what is now the top level - the first level I used when I started the farm, so I can use all the castings. That level is very wet too, so I won't be watering it for a while and I'll leave the lid off during the day, to encourage them to move down into level two. 

Then I went around to see my grand-daughters and have a bit of down time before starting the next round of meal prep for tomorrow. Little Tamara has improved so much over the past week, after being so sick. She is nearly back to her cheeky self. She is pulling herself up on everything. The neonatal pediatricians want her to crawl as long as possible, but it doesn't look like that will be happening. Annika was inside in the air conditioning and came out every now and again to see what we were up to and play "shops" with me. I had to be the shop keeper and sell her her toys for invisible money which she very seriously counted out into my hand. Gotta love kids imagination. 

Back home and took the pork out of the slow cooker and pulled it to bits with two forks, making 'pulled pork', of which I had some with 3 cups of the roast vegetables. I made a salad to take with me tomorrow from all my "leaves" from the community garden, and cut up cucumber and capsicum, 'strung' a handful of snow peas and put some of my cherry toms in containers. I'll add 90 gms of pork to the salad tomorrow morning when it's cooled down and also take 45 gm of smoked salmon for a snack - but more about that tomorrow. 

How can I not love this beautiful little face? 

1 comment family, Fitness, Gardening