I've been thinking today that the most important thing that you need if you are wanting to sort your "head" out ,is to slow down .Modern life is soo fast and full that it's nearly impossible to see what's going on around you ,rather like travelling on a bullet train and only being able to focus on the distance ,and besides you don't get aromas of life unless you are going slow !My favourite at the moment is the Balsam poplars ,they smell like the cosmetic counter at the Farmers !

Now who can guess what these little red critters are ? the other little critters are my 3 day old chickens !

Ultra quiet day in Cambrian today, had pancakes with myself this morning ! But next week's shaping up to be a cracker , lets hope we get some fine weather .

Retirement party preparations

WOW. I'm feeling great ,between Richard the WWOOFer and myself we have got soo much done in the last 10 days ,I might even take the w/e off ! All the bonfires are burnt,take that council ! firewood gathered and cut ,garden rotary hoed ,beer bottled and made, 40 trees planted ,window fixed etc etc etc ,nothing like having a strong WWOOFer around to get you working .
Alexandra Blossom Festival tomorrow ,I'm helping on the environmental society stall,last year it snowed 6inches of snow in Cambrian ,I hope that tomorrow is better !
Michael Von Pein wants to know what Zimmer frame races are ,I would have thought that Mr Zimmer CAME from Hamburg !!

Tree surgery

Evening all,,,,,cracker of a day today ,Richards last day so I worked him hard ,had a little bonfire in the middle of the merry-go-round ,had to be VERY careful as the grass is quite dry and the wind was getting up .Gave the old willow a bit of a spruce up ,should have taken a" before" photo. Have made a start on the bonfire for my retirement party ! might need the fire engine in attendance for that one ,remember it's on Sat April 10th ,all welcome ,there will be Zimmer-frame races around the pond !! It's been a cold old day right around NZ ,so I hope that you are warm and snug at home ....cheers

Preparations for summer

Talk about crazy weather ,we've had everything from sunshine to snow in the last couple of days ,but overall the feeling of spring is overwhelming .You can't walk past the MacKenzie crib without being bowled over with the scent of the Balsams ,and the "lane" is now smelling of golden flowering currant and ordinary flowering currant ,in fact the scents of spring are all around us ,and I love it !Finished planting and protecting all this seasons new trees ,so here's hoping that they do well .Bottled 40l of beer yesterday and made another 20 ,let the sun shine on [but not too soon]. The little red flowers are Fritillarias ,gorgeous little things and they are slowly multiplying.

Sunny Sunday

How is it possible that one person can so enjoy a day from first getting up to crawling into bed ,enjoy his work [a loose use of the word],his company ,his visitors ,his dinner [cooked by the company]and all his surroundings ,it just seems a little greedy ,especially the pancakes ,kiwifruit ,maple syrup and whipped cream ! I hope that you all had as nice a day .To top it off I spoke to my Mother twice ,she has a new lease on life !

SPROING

What a magical day ...hard frost ...full sunshine ,I had to battle with the domestic demon to stay inside long enough to bake some biscuits ,so essential in this lifestyle.
Meanwhile Richard dug half a dozen holes and pruned a couple of rowan trees and then I ejected myself from the house and planted the trees .The property is nearly chokka now ,and if only half of them grow then it will still be a full canopy in 30 yrs !![he says hopefully]
I waded cautiously into the pond to unblock the fountain but misjudged the bottom and fell over !!!! it is lucky that the neighbours don't live too close ! The spring is just brimming full of new life and promise ,I love every minute of it .

Plantings

Plenty of trees to plant at the moment ,fortunately I have a strapping young Englishman here to help me ,he goes by the name of Richard and is building a house truck in Timaru. He's a good worker,which is fortunate as some of the holes are quite tough,more tomorrow .The picture is of him burning the last of the rubbish off the" rest area"in anticipation of lots of visitors over the summer ! good night .
PS if any of you come across this wild looking man [squinting into the sun] then look after him ,he's a top guy ,last seen heading for Chch in his van .

Population explosion

"Evening all".....How fickle can the weather be ,yesterday we were getting blown off the map ,and today there was hardly a breath of wind ,just enough to dry the washing. .Can you imagine yesterday ,the temp. was about 28degrees and the wind [at Becks] was at least 60kph,one certainly knew that one was alive ! However today has been just the reverse ,sunshine all day ,it seemed to pull the visitors out of the ether ,I was initially a little horrified to see a HUGE bus at my front gate and immediately hid away ,but on hearing my name called out by a neighbour I had to front up .It was a very pleasant group of school kids from Chch doing the railtrail [they obviously got a little lost to end up in Cambrian ],anyway we had a nice little chat about the village whilst the bus driver rearranged my front lawn .Go for it Kids !!!
A couple of ladies from Papakura popped in to discuss Antons attitude to the windfarms,and check the woods ,and then to top it off my Shepherds flat neighbours cycled by for a cuppa .So you can see I've had a pretty hard day !! but I DID do the washing ,baked some bread and planted a little Mirbeck oak ,talked as much as usual,and am now quite knackered !! " good night"

What a social whirl in Cambrian today .Neighbours for breakfast [pancakes of course]
Then 40 odd people had a bar-b-q lunch at the school ,The Rutherford family indulging in some glorious spring nostalgia ,great to see .Then I was visited by world famous in Alex photographer Donald Lamont [he with the rat under his nose] and we proceeded to put the world to right over a glass of stout [low alcohol of course].
Now following on the theme of "Feel good stories" or should that be "FELT good stories" to go with my felt hats ? anyway here's one that I heard today .

My friends elderly mother ,a lovely woman ,was in the early stages of dementia and was in the habit of ringing her daughter daily ,unfortunately she had the wrong number programmed, missing by one digit. The unknown woman who answered rapidly realized what was going on and held a conversation with her ,EACH TIME she rang,this went on for a few months . I thought that this was a very charitable thing to do for a failing old lady .

Good luck story.

"Evening all"...another pleasant day in Cambrian ,a couple of trees planted out and many cups of teas with neighbours ,here ! Off out now to socialize with the wild population of the valley ,well at least Don McKenzie ,but here's a little "good luck story " sent to me by a WWOOFer from a couple of years ago .

Okay, there is another thing which I wanted to tell you. You were asking for feel good stories and I'll have one for you.

When Sandra and I were hitchhiking north of auckland (almost 4 years ago) there was this guy, Keith, who gave us a ride. He was taking us to Auckland, we were talking about what we were doing, what we were going to do and as we came close to Auckland (he was living in Northshore) it had become quite late, so he asked us if we wanted to stay the night at his place. We happily agreed and half an hour later we had tea with him and his wife. During this period of our travels through NZ we were looking for jobs and as it turned out, Keith was the owner of a saw-mill (well, that was quite a long time before we met you) and he would offer us a job. It was Thursday evening, work would start Monday. Then he told us, he and his wife would go to their bach at the beach the next morning and return on Sunday evening. Sandra and I should stay at their house, visit Auckland and tell them on Sunday what we think about the jobs...So, they gave us the keys for their house and left it to us - two complete strangers from germany (taking germanys history into account probably not the nicest people on earth) - for three whole days! I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find a person in Germany who'd have done the same. Of course we took the jobs, when they came back on Sunday (and Keith told us later he wouldn't have thought that we'd take them, but still let us stay in his house...)

The people that make stories like yours and mine possible are the main reason why I fell in love with your country. You should remember that your blessed living in a country where people trust total strangers and get rewarded for it.

Cheers, Marc

Come-on anyone else got a story ?     cheers ...Bob

Spring blossom

" Evening all" ....I'm developing this theory that if you lie in bed too long in the morning listening to "Morning report " or "morning repeat"then you will rapidly become depressed ,and the only cure is to be strong and jump out of bed and run onto the front lawn and face the day .Then voila! life is beautiful ! I did that this morning, but I actually drove to Alexandra, and it was magical ,the weeping willows are unbelievable .In fact the new spring colours in the willows ,throw in a few blossom trees a clear blue sky and one could be in heaven .Cam did that trip for 5yrs might be therapeutic.
Anyone out there like to draw cartoons ? here's an original one done by Johnny Appleseed ,A famous WWOOFer,get back to me if you know anyone ......cheers

Bed time

No sun today ....but lots of action ...mind you the action doesn't start from hour one ! It takes me a good couple of hours to get revved up in the morning ,a slow walk around the woods first ,some reading with a coffee ,sweep the place clean with a glance ,clear the decks....and then out into it ,getting faster and faster until I collapse about 6,revive myself with a home-brew and then enjoy the evening .Lifes tough in the country !!
Anyway I've included a photo of a "bare-rooted "tree ,for those not familiar with them ,you have to buy them in lots of 10 and they are generally sold to nurseries,but they are a lot less expensive than potted ones ,the next shot is them all bedded down ,I went out to see that they were all ok ,on the way in I checked out that the chooks were happily bedded down in their tree and finally came inside to see" who was bedded down in my bed " alas like Goldilocks it was just bare !

smell the violets

Very occasionally ,when it's warm and still,you can smell the violets ..and I did today ,I am trying to get them established in the woods across by the lodge .The snowdrops are starting to wane,they're still there but don't hit you in the eye so much ,probably because the greenery of the bluebells is starting to take over ,in the meantime the daffodils will put on their show ,always something happening ,
A couple more photos from yesterday ,of the Ida Valley Hotel ,we had friends living here when Manu was about 18mts old !it's a massive mud-brick building .I remember coming home from a New Years party there and getting back to StBathans in the SNOW

New seasons trees .

The local store [30km away] phoned this morning to tell me that my new seasons trees had arrived from Nelson ,so my good neighbour David ran me across to pick them up ,we did a little "Tiki Touring" on the way and visited the old Ida Valley Railway hotel ,those of you who have done the rail trail may recall it,but we also passed this fantastic little farm building ,sadly being neglected .The first picture is of Davids toilet , a bit cold on a frosty night !! The railway hotel is now just a holiday house ,but looks to be in reasonable condition .
Well I don't have to guess what I will be doing for the next few days !!

Sunset on the Hawkduns

Very quiet day today ...I've mulched half the little trees with straw, and got the two water rams going for the season ,that must be an indicator that Spring is surely here .
Each day just before sunset the sun shines through a gap in the hills and hits the Hawkdun range ,it can be VERY dramatic ,but you have to be quick and I'm still learning how to best set the camera !