Kia ora,
The first day of the month was the second day of the club workshop with Brendan. The following weekend we had our final club meeting of the year. Secret Santa, decorate a tree and a mini sales event. We managed to sell a few trees and Ann got 2nd place with her decorated Christmas bonsai tree.
Peter collected 46 wooden beer crates (empty unfortunately) from Hamilton Gardens for the bonsai club members to use.
Ann had Christmas morning tea with Marshall and Christine followed by a committee night out.
Ann finally got the spine MRI results which showed deterioration in her vertebrae and nerve root compromise. When her rheumatologist read the report he sent Ann straight to the emergency department to be checked out (clinic wait times are in the months at the moment). A seven hour wait in ED ended with the orthopaedic registrar checking Ann out but not able to find a reason for her lower leg pain. However he did refer her to the spinal clinic for further tests – with a wait time of months (sigh) and advice to rest and keep taking the pain relief. It’s a good thing we’re now retired.
Peter is still covering Ann’s fortnightly shift at the Gardens, plus doing his regular weekly one.
One of the villagers set up a Christmas game for kids and adults of finding all nine reindeer around the village. Sox and Honey both joined in!
Peter cut down a couple of trees with the help of Tom, one of our neighbours. Peter got busy with the chainsaw whilst Tom was in charge of the rope. When fully cut up the wood will be ready for firewood in 2026 or 2027.
We’ve been doing lots of summer pruning and feeding of bonsai this month.
Ann bought two bags of organic fertiliser for the bonsai. They were expensive but recommended as the best stuff for feeding bonsai. She put it into fertiliser baskets to prevent the birds from messing with it and we placed the baskets around all of our larger bonsai trees. A few days later we discovered dozens of empty baskets strewn all over the garden and, strangely, Sox began to do excessive poo’s on her walks with Peter! Very expensive treats for one dog! So we’re going back to inorganic slow release fertiliser for our trees. It’s much cheaper.
With the weather warming up Honey’s been getting more and more itchy and we had to resort to putting two socks on her paws to stop her chewing so much. On Christmas eve it got worse and there was little we could do until the vets reopened on 27th and she could have an anti-itch injection.
Christmas day was lovely and quiet for us. We walked the girls around the village and saw almost no-one. Then we bathed them both – Sox was bribed into the shower! Then we opened our presents.
A bonsai friend had given us gifts for each of the girls – but we don’t think they knew what to make of their teddies.
Santa brought plenty of reading for Ann and train stuff for Peter
Every year we do a family photo for our Christmas/new year message. It takes us time to get a reasonable photo (it took us 2 days a few years ago – both dogs were super naughty). This year was one of the easier sessions – with only one out-take!
Happy new year to you all – hope 2025 brings you everything you need.
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