Just over a month from the shortest day and the winter woes are setting in….lack of vitamin D from sunshine after a summer of wind and rain sees the kiwis desperately planning their winter escapes…yours truly among those desperately seeking summer! Roll back….
March found us rugging up inbetween downpours to at least get outdoors! Gardens were drowned and replanted only to be drowned again!
A road trip (solo) to Wanganui and Masterton to celebrate my wonderful in-laws (Carters) wedding anniversary – 1000k round trip in three days…culminating in a visit to the doctor on the way home with a swollen neck…which began a chain reaction of medical appointments, surgery and recovery as the bullfrog look (swelling) subsides! Meanwhile my brother was due to visit in March but cancelled due to surgery on the other side of the world! He too is recovering well! So life, work and daily activities continued…
Babysitting the grand baby and grand fur baby…one fussy eater and one who eats anything! The fur baby managed to swallow broken glass and after emergency surgery, lots of $$$$, and a 12 inch wound, clawed his way back to this world!
Meanwhile the rain continued, and a watery St Patrick’s day found Thelma and Louise come out of mothballs to entertain the locals!
Roll on April, Easter…. And more wet days, however Anzac Day threw us a (pleasant) curveball and produced a cool, crisp, rainless 5am start as we (the locals) gathered on the waterfront to listen to the Dawn service in my Small, but loud, boom box and watch the sun rise over Sugarloaf Island (an annual event since lockdowns)
As there is not much to do in the rain when you live in a beachside wonderland, with easterlies and twisters blowing you inside out, Lex, Trudi and I decided a de clutter was appropriate…gearing up for a car boot sale (which was cancelled due to weather conditions) we rallied round and had a garage sale, then loaded up the rest and took two carloads to a windy market on the Northshore! An early morning followed by chasing flying clothes around the car park – but relatively lucrative and returned with only a small carload, now donated to the Charity shop!
Meanwhile, Russell Rose and Mary Rose found a moment to bloom between being stripped bare of leaves and Petals! (With the wind and rain)..now it is time for their winter haircut. The rest of the garden has fed the snails and slugs as the come out in force when it rains and without the aid of chemicals, I have spent all summer feeding the bugs!
So now we look forward to a winter of soups, thermals, umbrellas and terrible driving conditions…except we have some exciting times ahead as we look forward to visits from overseas family, and winter escapes!
All who wander are not Lost girls 