Just for those who love flowers

Today's blog is just for those who love spring flowers. Below is a walk around my garden currently bursting into bloom. In the basket I picked one of each colour (11) of the current flowering rhododendruns. The roses are a real delight as Susan (my green fingered cousin) dug up and replanted all the roses in the new rose garden and as you can see they are doing well. we have a wedding at our church tomorrow, so these are the flowers in the church and then in and around the my street

North Canterbury on Show

Well, what a week it has been. I have been looking forward to this week for some time. This time of year see a lot of the local towns having their annual A&P shows. There just is nothing more country than the rural AMP shows, and I was not disappointed with our own Amberley A&P show yesterday. From point to point, hoof to plate, chop the block, highland dancing, and of course parading your favourite lamb. In church this morning, 3 little girls, 4 - 7 years old showed off their winning ribbons/sashes they received from their pet lambs - proud - just too good. But this story ends there, it starts on Thursday with the FAMOUS Culvedern Fete, just about an hour inland from Amberley. Anna and I had been planning our trip for sometime. Her great friend Stacey came down from the Waikato, and with one of her local gorgeous friends Kate, the 4 of us set off for a day at the Fete.

The fete is held on a farm, but it has now been running for some years, and is a slick machine. Buses come up from Chch, and there are paddocks of parked cars. I reckon there is about 2,000 people there within the first hour. The stalls are all manned by cheerful people who generally know heaps about what they are selling. There is no landfill, just generally good quality options for those Christmas presents or just to cheer oneself up for the onslaught of Christmas. In the centre are various food, coffee, wine of course the famous Pimms tent, with some lovely jazz playing and lots of tables under the trees.

We took our own picnic, which we had in the carpark looking up at the mountains, gee life is hard in the country! We all bought a variety of goods, from hats (as you can see) for Anna and I through to snazzy tops for the girls and some Christmas presents. We left happy and chatty, having had a terrific day together....and that was Thursday. Friday we were supposed to go to Art in the Garden, but time and energy needed preserving. Friday evening I had the girls for dinner, starting with a chocolate martini, a 3 course dinner, and a barrel of laughs, mainly at my expense I think!

A couple of us had a fairly late night, and another couple of us had a really late night! So the A&P Show on Saturday was a little more of a struggle than originally thought, especially as Anna's very excited children wanted rides and treats all at the same time. It was a lovely day, and the Show lived up to all its promises, from the best flowers, best baking, best jams, just the best everything really, and a loads of proud happy people just enjoying each other's company, checking out new farm bike options, and children running wild between the ferris wheel and the candy floss stand. All in all a great 3 days, thank goodness Sunday is a day of rest. The Duchess

Half way through Spring

Well with the laptop on my knee I can type again for 2 hands, albeit not quite the same speed as before. My shoulder is coming along well, with regular physio and exercise. I have spent 3 weeks in Chch with family and 3 weeks at home with various family and friends staying to help out, in particular in the kitchen. It has been like a wonderful holiday of catching up with people, but them visiting me instead of me travelling. Like all holidays, it must end and now I need to concentrate on the recoup, getting work and back into the local community. I drove for the first time today which was a little dodgy but will rip round the village every day to get it sorted.

The garden is looking wonderful, the blossoms and flowers, I just had no idea what treasures have been hiding throughout the winter.

It is now a week or so since I started this blog,so being a long weekend, and having done my token amount of weeding, I feel I should finish this. As you probably know I am now manager of the local farmers market (Waipara Valley Farmers Market) which is great fun, and of course, where my heart lies. I have a million ideas, but need to focus on the 7 hours a week I am paid rather than the 24/7 time I spend thinking and dreaming about it.

As with all things local, the people are terrific, genuine and it has a great community feel. As for me, 4 hours walking around talking to so many different people, locals, tourists and anybody! It is such a joy! As you would expect I dont think I come home with much cash, just cant help buying the produce! Anyhow will sign off now as there will be plenty more to talk about in the coming weeks. The Duchess

A little peek of Spring

I have been a little slack on the blog of late, but not for lack of activity, just distracted. This time in two weeks, I will be unable to type at the same speed as I can today, due to my impending shoulder operation (rotator cuff to be precise), so will then be a one armed paper hanger for at least a couple of months. Patience has never been a great virtue of mine, so no doubt I could be a bit grumpy, imagine the texting, oh dear! But on the bright side there is always shopping and walking, yeah! I will be staying in Chch with cousin Susan for the first two weeks, and then take it from there. I havent told Molly and Charlie they are off to the cattery, maybe I will leave a note on the kitchen table, particularly as I accidentally shut C in the linen cupboard this morning, not a regular haunt of his as obviously there is no food there! Later I found him staking out the garden...

Early August has seen the first signs of spring, in particuar my beautiful magnolia tree has burst into flower, it is quite spectacular.

Not only the magnolia (which is blooming like a star) but the first rhododendron has also appeared, and is a lovely cerise, hence deserves a mention.

I have managed to keep quite busy with my little jobs, 'driving miss daisy' type role, and cooking the odd meal for the local elderly! Not exactly going to put me in the Bill Gates bracket, however keeping the cat bowl full. Yesterday I took the most delightful 95yr lady, Enid into Chch for an appointment at St Georges Hosp. She was just lovely, and afterwards we had coffee and lunch at a cafe, on the way home she asked if I knew whether we would pass a jeweller as she wanted a new watch, stating whether she dies in 3 months (highly unlikely) or 3 years, she was going to buy a new watch! I have made some new best friends, meet Hugo, a Welsh cardigan corgi, who with his brother lives on my friends, John and Jan's olive grove, and is a great guide when one is on the wander.

The pile of olives, is alas, the result of the early snow we had in June, and subsequent frosts, so the whole crop was ruined. Jan also has a wonderful natural soap buiness, Hancock's Excelsior Soap, which she makes from the olive oil from their Grove, and a number of other local products go into these soaps. My young cousins are all getting into the natural products and are Jan's newest customers. I now keep a small selection at the Vicarage for visitors needing gifts. You can see more on www.hancockssoap.com My month has also seen plenty of visits to ballet, both Olivia and Emma (4) are enjoying ballet, with a number of other 4 year olds, all dressed in pink, and just one of the best 1/2 hour periods of the week.

This together with the Harwarden school musical, featuring Oscar (a lead in the Crusaders jersey) Luke and Jackson, made for a wonderful day out. The show was called Money Matters, and the children took us through a series of how life would be if only money mattered, and the music started with Abba Money, money money and ended with John Lennon's Imagine!

Well folks that is all for now, look forward to the one fingered blogs next time up. The Duchess

A Mid Winter Visitor

Another fabulous friend has visited this week and we went on some little local outings. The first one was on the inland road to Oxford, small village NZ, home of the famous Jo Seager (Easy Peasy). It was a lovely drive through the back roads. Oxford is an interesting wee town, Jo Seager has put it on the map and a few of the locals have opened stores to enjoy the rewards of the many visitors to the Cafe/Cook School. For me personally it was a lot of what we saw regularly at Millys, from the good to the bad, and what my friend Kirsten, would call landfill. Also there was a small art gallery, currently displaying a wonderful array of beautifully weaved merino scarves, as you can see a great array of colours. I had heard many mixed reports about Jo's cafe, but we opted to have lunch there, after all we had driven all that way! The food was good, a little overpriced, not great ambience or staff. I couldn't imagine myself returning to Oxford unless I received a request from another guest.

The next day we went a little further North and inland to Hanmer Springs for lunch. We left home on a fairly chilly morning, but were quite unprepared for the freezing temps we struck in Culveden (about 1/2 way) where we stopped to check out a new deli, the local store and best of all The Red Door Cafe, where a blazing fire and hot chocolate awaited us. I laughed out loud, when desperate to go to the loo, I discovered it was outside, Cobi, was trying to warm the bottom of her boots in the fire, apparently she couldn't feel her feet. Anyway warmed up we managed a little retail therapy, Cobi more than self any Miss Moneypennies reading this, and headed West. As you can see by the photos it was a glorious day and the scenery spectacular. Hanmer is an Alpine resort famous for its Hot Springs, so visiting during school holidays was not the smartest idea, we gave the pools a miss, which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact we would have had to strip and redress in very cold conditions! Found a bit more retail therapy for 'the visitor' and then lunch at the Power House, the recommended local cafe, very good! Home again for a cracker Kidney and Silverbeet dish out of the latest Cuisine, I love having visitors to stay!