Kia ora and hello,
Most of the month was spent preparing for the bonsai club annual show which was held the weekend before Christmas. We spent a lot of time working on our trees – pruning, weeding, choosing stands and accent pieces, and sorting out a lot of paperwork (labels, care sheets, membership badges, membership forms and an update to the education display). Setup day started at 8.30 with the arrival of Steve with a hire truck. After that was filled, we started on Peter’s Ute, then the trailer, and finally Ann’s car.
Ann did another trip between home and Hamilton to collect more stuff and feed the girls. We arrived back at 6 pm before Peter went for fish and chips for us and our guests – Noel and Gordon.
Saturday was very busy at the show in the newly refurbished Pavilion. In total we provided 35 trees for the display.
Sunday was a much quieter day, and pack up was quicker too, although it was still 7 pm when we managed to sit down after doing a partial unload. Peter finished unloading the Ute and trailer and put everything away on Monday morning.
Peter cut down the nectarine tree in the paddock. After the first year it failed to produce any ripe fruit and was infected with peach leaf curl despite Ann’s attempts at prevention. At least we got some more firewood for 2025 out of it.
Peter’s knees have continued to cause him trouble, and x-rays show osteoarthritis in both of them so it’s a case of keep on taking the tablets.
We spent Christmas at home – first walking the girls early morning before it got too hot, then chilled with our new books – murder/thrillers for Ann and a Terry Pratchett biography for Peter.
After lunch Ann played with her new bonsai – a redwood group, and Peter installed his new loco and crew, carriage lighting, gravestones and buildings.
As you can see both girls were totally overwhelmed with excitement on Christmas Day – they got nothing – except the usual fuss and treats, and attention and treats, and food and treats (you get the picture)!
Our shift at the Hamilton Gardens on the 27th was very busy with well over 4000 people through the gardens that day and over 500,000 for the year.
The end of the month was a bit ‘damp’ – we had 40mm of rain on the 29th which finished filling our water tanks back up ready for the new year.
Sadly this month we lost Peter’s uncle, John Dawson, who passed away at the grand age of 88.
< November Jan 2024 >