Kia Ora

November has been a quiet month for us with the routine of work, gardening and walkies.

Peter stepped down as President of the Hamilton Bonsai Club after 3½ years to allow someone else to have a go and give him a break from organising everything. His job has also changed a bit. Now he is working closely with the sales team working on putting together network specifications and 5 year plans for server replacements rather than fixing broken stuff.

The strawberries are going well - we're picking (and eating) about 1.5kg per day. Ann has been busy making yummy ice cream from some of the surplus (she has also made pineapple ice cream from fresh pineapple). Next on the list is strawberry jam and strawberry syrup.

Ann has been taking her students out to visit local places of interest. She has to visit the places beforehand to assess the health and safety aspects of each venue so the four of us went to Taitua Arboretum one Sunday afternoon to check it out. The arboretum is about 25 minutes drive away on the outskirts of Hamilton.

The arboretum is about 8 acres of woodland with paths wandering through the groves of trees.
	There are also a few open areas with large boulders for doggies to play 'King of the Castle' on.
They even have a stone circle. Looks can be very deceptive - the boulders are all about the same size (or smaller) as your average bean bag.
	The sign at the entrance said to allow 90 minutes for a walk - Jaz preferred to pull Ann round the paths at great speed running from one side of the path to the other and trying to get under the fencing into the paddocks with the cattle. It took us less than 50 minutes to complete the walk!
All round the arboretum there were chooks and ducks wandering about. Jaz and Maxie tended to ignore them but at one point Maxie was straining at the leash to chase a few ducks sitting at the waters edge just out of reach.

We've spent a few evenings getting ready for our annual bonsai weekend workshop with Nobuyuki Kajiwara. This year we have three people staying over with us. There will be 10-12 people each day at the workshops and 8 people at the Saturday evening BBQ.

Ann's school held an Art/Enviro evening last week to highlight work the staff and students have been doing on enviromental things, including recycling, and there was also an art auction to raise funds for the school. Ann made up three small bonsai which were auctioned off.

This year our Christmas photo took two days to take. Jaz and Maxie would not sit still and look in the right direction long enough for us to get a good photo.