Kia ora,
Peter was given a voucher for a meal at Paddock to Plate in Hamilton as a thank you for the help he has given to Wai Taiko drummers over the years so we went for a meal there at the beginning of the month.
We hosted our annual bonsai workshop weekend on the 3rd and 4th. The Saturday was full on with a lot of visitors and plenty of work on the trees. We finished it off with a BBQ. Sunday was much quieter but still plenty of work on trees. Everyone had a good time and several of our newer members went away after learning a lot about bonsai.
Ann had her first dental check up since the beginning of Covid – and only needed one small filling. Peter said his teeth were fine and he didn’t need a check up. A week later he was eating some crisps and one of his crowns fell out!
At the December bonsai club Christmas meeting we were both honoured to receive life memberships of the club.
Sox did a credible ‘superman’ impression one afternoon – complete with ‘cape’. She was relaxing on the sofa when a noise outside excited her somewhat. She sailed through the flyscreen at the speed of light ripping a hole in it and taking the whole thing with her across the garden!
We had this Huhu bug try and crash the girls’ bedroom one evening (aka the laundry). It’s a NZ native and over 5cm long. The adults only live for about two weeks and the large white grubs are edible (if you dare).
Peter had a number of items for his railway on Christmas Day from Ann and the girls, as well as a book, some dried fruit and Turkish Delight.
Sox wanted to help Peter unwrap his Christmas present.
Ann was very happy with her 10 books.
The girls had beef chews for Christmas – although the wrapping paper almost defeated Honey.
The weather came to the party and the rains stopped, the ground dried up and the sun came out. It got so hot that Honey crawled under the nandina bushes for some shade.
Peter and Sox have clocked up over 3700km on their daily walks this year. That’s just over 2½ times the distance from Lands End to John O’Groats or just under 1¼ times the walk from Bluff to Cape Reinga (NZ’s most Southerly and Northerly points). Ann and Honey have walked a lot less but chatted to so many people and explored thousands of interesting smells!