Hello March

Photos from the garden, perhaps hinting at autumn.

Today it is heading past 24C and we have sub-tropical air wafting over us, so the humidity is up again.

From flower to fruit

A short photo essay of my neighbour’s apple tree, as seen from my garden.

Spring 2014 until yesterday……..almost eating time.

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Hawkes Bay in early August

The eldest member of the family has a birthday in early August and we made the journey to Hawkes Bay to spend some time visiting and to share a special lunch out with him.

The weather was a total contrast shifting from a very warm day to a very cold, wet day the next. The winter light made photography tricky but delivered some interesting photos despite the glare and the gloom.

And amidst the gloom there were vibrant colours glowing.

A gift of 100 apples

We are totally spoilt for choice in New Zealand when it comes to choosing apples to eat nowadays.

This morning a gift of 100 Kanzi apples arrived on our doorstep. They are fresh off trees in Hawkes Bay.

The Kanzi is a new variety of apple, combining the Braeburn and the Royal Gala apples. I love both of these varieties, which are quite different.

Both are very juicy apples and crisp eating apples when fresh. The Braeburn has a sharper quality in taste, compared with the Royal gala which is sweeter and quite perfumed.

I have tried one of the Kanzi’s and have found the Braeburn qualities predominate but every so often I was pleasantly surprised with a bite full of sweet Royal Gala speaking of summer weather.

Apparently Kanzi’s cook well too but I think we will eat these delicious treats fresh from the refrigerator.

Prompts

Over the weekend I saw this suggestion for encouraging writers to write. Begin sentences with “I write of”. Here are some of my sentences from today:

I write of nature because it contains so much beauty, power, rhythm and a space for me from the pressing things of life.

I write of things quirky because I have a sense of humour and a curiosity that enjoys such things.

I write of the ordinary and the good to offer a balance against the glitz, hype and unpleasant that occurs in our world.

I write of the ordinary and good because I know the value that both offer to me and to others.

I write of simple traditions such as cooking for others, writing letters, gardening, knitting, singing in a group, walking, spending time with people we love and connect with.

I write of books simply because I love books.

I write of books because they have helped me in a myriad of ways throughout my life.

What do you write of?

Another prompt I found was over at http://concernedwithstory.wordpress.com was to write beginning with “Right now….”

So for me today, Monday 25th July 2011:

Right now I am very grateful for heating, warm clothing and warm food on such a cold day.

Right now I can see the birds enjoying the apples I have hung for them for winter food.

Right now I am pleased to have paid the bills and grateful for having the money to pay them.

Right now I am wondering if my cat will increase his food intake.

Right now I am processing the information I received about a family member who served in WW2.

Right now I am thinking a lot about resilience and the notes I made this afternoon.

Right now I am pleased to have fixed the errors in the socks I am knitting my grandson.

Right now I have meal preparation to do so I am off to begin that:-)

When I ran self awareness groups I would use a “Right now” exercise at the beginning of the session to help clear the immediate, scattered stuff that was “on top” for participants. Once this happened, focus was easier for everyone in the group.

Writing “right now” sentences offers me similar but different clearing, focus and more.

I’d be interested in your discoveries from writing some “Right Now” sentences.

Feeding the birds

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.

Chinese Proverb

Today winter has really struck with gale force, bitterly cold south easterlies and driving rain showers. Over the past few weeks I have been tying apples to a kowhai tree to provide some winter food for the small Silvereyes or Waxeyes that live in and around the garden.

They are amazing to watch as they hang on to the apple or string and cleverly peck the soft flesh from the gap made by my apple corer. At times they virtually disappear within the apple once they have removed a good portion of the fruit.

So here are a couple of photos. Firstly of the new red delicious apple waiting to be enjoyed.

Then the hollowed out remains of the apples.

And finally for those of you who are not familiar with NZ Silvereyes here it is.