Kia ora and welcome to our first posting of 2022.
Peter and Sox had a very quiet early morning walk up the mountain on January 1st with beautiful weather.
We had our traditional lunch with Sandra and Marshall to celebrate the New Year (it’s too much effort to stay up till midnight on New Years Eve these days). It was so hot outside that we ended up indoors with the air con running. Even Honey and Sox wanted to be inside in the cool.
Peter took Honey in to Te Awamutu early one morning to drop off the mower for servicing and do a bit of shopping whilst Ann enjoyed a nice long walk with Sox.
The summer flowers are in full bloom – Sox and Peter see this when they go upriver on their morning walk.
We both had our eyes tested and got new specs (very similar styles to our old ones). That cost us both an arm and a leg each. Can’t wait until we’re 65 and qualify for the NZ Gold Card – we’ll be able to get lots of discounts then!
Around 7pm on Saturday 15th we were settling down to dinner when we heard a number of loud booms coming from outside. They continued for several minutes but we couldn’t see anything unusual. Turns out they were sonic booms caused by pressure waves originating from the volcano Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai erupting in Tonga over 2000 km away!
Ann was on cat and chook feeding duty for a few days whilst our neighbours, Bev and Tom, had a few days at their bach. Honey was happy to help – so long as the chooks kept their distance. She couldn’t understand why there was no-one home though!
With the warm and humid weather we’ve got into a routine of walking from around 7.30, then watering the trees and working in the garden till lunchtime. The afternoon is spent reading or working inside (with the occasional afternoon snooze). The girls have found a good shady spot in the garden to chill out.
When Peter drives away in the Ute without Sox she’s not a happy girl and will wait patiently by the gate for him to return (at least until she’s distracted by Honey woofing at something).
With lockdowns we hadn’t seen Azaria and Carolien for over 6 months so we had a lovely morning tea visit and catch-up.
We managed two volunteer shifts each at the Hamilton Gardens before Omicron arrived, the country went into Red Level of the Protection Framework and they were closed again!
Although we have two water tanks because we’ve had no significant rain since early December we had to organise a delivery of water. According to the long range forecast by NIWA we’re going to have a hotter and more humid summer so we’ve already booked a second water delivery!
We held a committee meeting for the bonsai club on the 29th. A lot of planning of activities for the year – now we have to hope we can actually run them.
Sox loves to find different ‘hiding’ places for her afternoon snooze.
