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!

Crackling of a Day

About 40 minutes from home, again heading inland is Patoa Farm, which is the pig farm owned by Josie (cousin) and Steve Sterne, in conjunction with another couple. This is where Paul (Anna's husband) is ops manager, and Michael Lawrence (Anna's Dad) is HR Manager. It is a big operation, about 50 staff, 30,000 pigs, and provides approx 10% of NZ's pork. Today I went up to see Anna, and picked a great day, as they have a staff bbq once a month, and the menu is crackling good! As you can see they lead a pretty laid back life, hence the end result quite delicious! I have visited this farm quite a few times, and there is plenty to love, the pigs wallowing in the forest, or the paddocks, just strolling around, but Southern Alps as the background, pretty spectacular and the friendly disposition of those that work there! and yes before any of you say it, I need to get a job..... but this is so much more fun! Duchess

Mid Winter Christmas - A Snapshot

It was a lovely evening of family, friends, fabulous food which was shared and prepared by all, a bit of mid winter antics, but most of all it was about being together, everything I wish for the Vicarage to be! (She was a very happy home). We were especially happy to welcome Tanya from Sydney, Natalia from Wellington, Nicola from Tauranga and Kirsten from Auckland. A collection of pics from the Happy Crew AND SO TO BED

My First Snow in the Mighty South

Well the first week of June has brought an array of surprises, the biggest being the first snow fall at the Vicarage, and what a fall it was. The significance was three pronged. Firstly it was a few hours later than the rest of Canterbury. It was predicted by 'the weather gurus', however when I woke on Wednesday morning, I was not woken to the pristine view of snow out my window, but by the phone of other Cantabrian relatives with 'isnt is gorgeous? dont you love it? have you started taking photos yet?' My reply to the 20 odd phonecalls and similar amount of texts before midday was IT ISN'T SNOWING HERE, to which I heard disbelief. I was feeling a little cheated with only sleet and rain. However about 3sh it kicked in, great big flakes like candy floss, and I was in the perfect place to appreciate it. Secondly, it snowed into the evening, but on Thursday morning, the sun shone, and made the snow sparkle and picture perfect. Cautiously I dressed to kill, an absolute knockout (just cant work out why a farmer has swept me off my feet) head to toe wool, quite sheep like, camera in hand and ventured out for those pics. Although the snow covered church and garden are the classic photos, and just gorgeous, a little photographic licence, I really enjoyed these ones around the village. However, thirdly, and gladly for me it had gone in 24 hours, no worry about nasty ice and broken trees etc, like so many other areas, who even today still had snow/ice in some areas. I guess it comes from being reasonably close to the sea, my own little micro climate, I like that idea! My second week has been pretty cool too, but more of that next time The Duchess