Washed out expedition

l"Evening all", Last Sat. was fine ,today ,Monday was spectacular ,but yesterday ,the day of our Autumn expedition into the hills ,it litterally hosed down and washed us out of the mountains .However ,a nice hot wine ,a bit of Stones green ginger and a pot-luck dinner ,set us right again .
Snow on the tops this morning !!! WWOOFer and I spent part of the day dividing and spreading autumn crocuses,should be a picture in 2 or 3 yrs .The autumn colours are just starting to come into their own ,photos tomorrow.

Fungi fun

Evening all , this has been the wettest Feb/March on record ,and to prove it the fungi have been popping up all over the show ,I won't beat you up with the stinkhorns again but todays speciman is a magnificent young Amanita Muscaria,can you believe the redness of this thing ,just growing out the back by the trampoline .Tomorrow I'll photograph some shaggy inkcaps !
I have a young lady WWOOFer from Shanghai at the moment ,she's lived in Auckland for 6yrs and done computer science for three of them .What do you reckon I asked her first ?? have you got any brothers and sisters ....DUH.....anyway she's good value and we are having great discussions on China .
This must be the best year ever for tree growth ,I just cant believe how much ,just hoping that the autumn will be as spectacular .

Guilt

I'm racked with guilt [whatever that means],how can one live in paradise yet still listen to the radio and read the newspaper [the ODT of course ] it's just not fair .Who still believes in a just and loving god ?? well she must be taking a holiday at the moment .I hadn't even come to terms with the Sept quake ,no loss of life ,when along comes the Feb one with lots .To top it off we now have the tragedy in Japan ,utter chaos ,a little bit of chaos in the middle east an oil spill of gigantic proportions in the gulf of Mexico ,what next .
How am I expected to enjoy the abundance of rowan berries ,the golden hue of the maple leaves ,the miracle of the autumn crocuses just popping out of nowhere ,a fresh trout for dinner last night ,good company ,the sound of thirty quail all launching themselves at the same time ,the frustrated voice of my mother saying "I'm bloody awful !" Well I do !! because that's my lot ,but I think of all those in less pleasant circumstances and if I could have you here to share it with me ,I WOULD.
So love to you all ....come and visit if you are stressed ..slow down ....Bob

Dunedin Visit

I've just got back from Dunedin ,visiting the boys .My car played up so I got an extra couple of nights .They are both well and happy ,and working hard in their respective fields ,we had a great walk around the botanic gardens on Sat afternoon ,they really are an arboreal treasure .[even if their coffee isn't !!!!!] The Cambrian Valley is looking beautiful,as green as green with just a hint of autumn to come .As nice as Dunedin was ,I still felt rapt driving back into the valley and looking forward to checking out all the little trees tomorrow .....cheers

Vintage visit .

For someone who is not particularly interested in cars I found this particular group to be most interesting .I fair knackered myself riding home from Antons on my bike,into a head wind !!, to see if they had stopped at my place .Who said Cambrian is a quiet little village ??