Kia Ora Everyone,

We started the month with a trip to Tauranga where Peter had been invited to give a demonstration by the local Bonsai Club. We had an enjoyable day and Peter's talk and critique of the workshop trees was well received.

The first couple of weeks in May have been quite warm - up until the 18th we only had to have the fire going once but a short cold snap put paid to that. It's now the end of the month and we have the fire on every night - mind you 1st June is the beginning of winter. The local weather burea (NIWA) have announced that this May was the warmest in 100 years.

The Rotary Club had their annual book fair and we did quite well - managed to get 20 books, 8 for Peter and 12 for Ann.

After years of very little activity there are suddenly three new houses being built on the land at the bottom of our section. There are still some sections with no sign of activity including the ones nearest to us.

Peter has been working on a new website for the New Zealand Bonsai Association www.bonsainz.com. The old website needed a revamp and the Association approached Peter to see if he could do it. Now they need to keep him informed of changes so he can keep it up to date.

We've dug up or transplanted about a dozen trees from the bonsai growing on bed and started planting a new hedge to create walkway round the paddock. We planted 50 native Kanuka trees (kunzia ericoides). These are small leaved with fragrant white / pink flowers which can cover the tree in summer.
	We've discovered mice in the compost heaps. Maxie spent the whole week-end on mouse watch. Don't tell her but the mice are no more thanks to some tasty bait blocks!
We bought a rugby ball and a football for Maxie to chase, only to discover Jaz playing with the rugby ball!
We're steadily eating the last of our veges. The red onions have gone, and most of the brown onions, spring onions, leeks and carrots have also been eaten. We still have a few pumpkins and Ann is making up lots of soup. This carrot, almost 2lbs, took some time to get through!

Peter and a couple of friends from the bonsai club went to a Pink Floyd tribute band concert in Hamilton which they thoroughly enjoyed, whilst Ann and the girls stayed at home and chilled in front of the fire with a large bar of chocolate (well Ann ate the chocolate whilst the dogs watched)!

The local council have put all the district's property details online, this includes aerial photos from early 2010. This is our little place