Peter has finally managed to put the washing line up where the one pile of sand had been left.
With Autumn comes damp grass in the mornings, this means we have to dry the dog’s paws when they come in from the garden. Maxie just sits and calmly waits for her paws to be dried off but Jaz keeps on trying to break free.
Peter went to Wellington for another week long course. This left Ann to cook her own tea, fortunately she has now managed to make her own cheese toasties (just). Ann also had to take both dogs to Doggy school, this proved to be a trying time with Jaz and Maxie having a fight about a pig’s ear in the car afterwards and Maxie ending up with two scratches on her nose. When it came time to pick Peter up from the airport Maxie refused to let him out of her sight.
Ann has begun cooking !! Peter has been very brave in tasting her soups. So far she has made pumpkin, kumara and mushroom. Two of them are good and the third needs a bit of work to improve it. As we have a feijoa tree in the garden Ann had a go at making feijoa jam. This was not her best effort to date and the end result, although tasty, resembled toffee more than jam.
Maxie has been exercising her teeth again – first another of Peter’s shoes, then the cover off one of our futons. She also still thinks she’s a prisoner of Colditz and has found a new escape route through the (in Peter’s words) ‘she can’t get through now’ fence!!!
Jaz is still behaving beautifully – when both her grey cells work together (which isn’t often). The rest of the time she is very happy on Planet Jaz. Whilst out walking one evening she tried to chase a guinea pig which was in a cage on one of our routes– almost gave the poor thing a heart attack!
Lennie from the dog club has given us a Doggie treat recipe. The dogs love it but it makes Jaz fart. One day she ran into the study where Peter was working, farted, stank the whole room and ran out! Peter was not impressed!
When we get in from work we try to spend 10 – 15 minutes playing with the dogs. As Ann cannot throw the ball very far she now has a tennis racquet which allows her to hit the balls quite some distance for the dogs to chase. Maxie regularly jumps to catch the ball but Jaz can’t catch the ball for toffee.
Bruce, our next door neighbour, says Maxie is much better behaved now when he’s around – no barking and growling! Unfortuneately Maxie still goes berserk when she’s in the Ute and sees cows, some men, cyclists or little old ladies. Peter says he’s not buying a cow or a bike to allow Maxie to get used to them!
The Patave school website has been updated by Ann.
As we have a lot of gravel, bark and stone to get for the garden, we ordered a trailer. Peter managed to pick it up just before we flew back to the UK. The trailer has removable sides and a weatherproof cover for when we want to transport bonsai or suitcases. It also tips to allow us to drive the mower onto it when we take it in for servicing.
News from Home
Mark has been doing a few more days filming and has now applied for his Equity card. He also has more filming in the pipe line.
Alex had her first ballet recital. She loved wearing the blue eye shadow and make up. It was a recital for the entire Aurora Dance program where Alex attends.
Margaret and Liam got married at the end of the month. We wish them both good luck and happiness.
Ryan gave Margaret away and Claire and Mel were two of the Bridesmaids.