Ann & Peter in New Zealand:

	Ann & Peter in New Zealand
	2012

Kia Ora and welcome to our news for September

The latest Red Cross book fair was a good one, 7 books for Peter and 16 for Ann. We had to go out and buy three more bookcases to fit all of Ann's books.

We're well into Spring with bulbs popping up all over the garden.
	There are some epiphytes (plants that live on other plants) in parts of the country but we don't think these white bluebells count. We found them growing happily in a fork of a tree ten feet up.
The village turned pink with blossoms but late frosts have hit some of our plants in the garden including the fuchsias and pomegranate.
	The cherry trees in the village look stunning at the moment - and the native Tui birds love the nectar.
The Annual Craft Fair in the village was on a warm sunny day - we took two hours to walk round all the stalls.
	Ann managed to find a couple of things for the garden. These wind wands look good in the gravel island. She also got a bird nectar feeder, fudge, coconut ice and wine (three bottles).

	Ann's school are having an art exhibition and all the students have been creating things for the school garden. Ann's class have been working on emotions and created their own wooden faces (well - the students designed the faces and Peter cut them out using slices of tree trunk)!
We've been finishing off the bonsai repotting and Ann found a field maple which had some very thick roots from where it was dug up a couple of years ago. A conventional handsaw did absolutely nothing so Peter found a quick way to root prune it.
	One of our next door neighbours (we have 5 altogether) has a St Bernard dog called Jack - he and Maxie do not get on so Peter has had to put up an extra fence to stop them having a go at each other. Whilst he was working in the hedge in SW3 (Stalag Woof 3 - the dog pound) Peter came across 8 (eight) of Ann's gardening gloves and what appears to be the remains of Peter's favourite woolly hat. Maxie is to blame! The spotty dog is innocent!
We've built some new vege beds and erected a frame for the kiwifruit vine. Where one of the old vege beds was there is now temporary staging for bonsai till the grass dies down then we'll gravel the area and put up permanent staging.

Jean and Tim came over for a meal - with a signed copy of Tim's book - you can see more of the book (and order one) at www.hamiltonsoftheworld.com