Eleven O'clock and All's Quiet

The dishwasher is quietly (well, rather noisily actually but it doesn't create the right ambience for the post) purring away in the background as I listen to Elgar's Sea Pictures (Just for a change I'm listening to Della Jones instead of the definitive Dame Janet Baker recording from, I think, 1965 or was it 1968?  It was a long time ago anyway.) and take stock of the week that's just passed.  One way and another the 44 days 19 hours and 50 mins that have gone by since I landed in Napier have been some of the busiest at a stretch in this country that I can recall since the first time I came here in 2005.  And the last week has seen the busiest of those 44 days.  It's been  wonderful but I'm now looking forward to a quiet week in the run up to the Christmas weekend.

Today I woke with a start rather late at 0722.  Within a few seconds I was up and the kettle was on.  I was due out at 8am with Wendy and Martin to the Farmers Market in Hastings.  The odd thing about getting up so rapidly was that I had absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the dream that I'd woken from except to know that it was deeply unpleasant.  Perhaps that's why in the past I remembered so very few dreams because at one time I always rose within a few seconds of waking.  Now I often turn over and doze for a while.

The weather for the Farmers Market was cold but the rain had stopped for which we were truly thankful.  Unfortunately a combination of time spent actually looking and buying and the miserable weather meant that I took only a handful of photos.

Superb smoked fish - that's a couple of meals catered for.

A huge selection of artisan breads.  I didn't need bread today.

There's nothing better than carrots with their tops on and organic carrots are one of the few organic foods where I can taste a difference.

Note the wheelbarrow on the extreme left of the picture.  The clever ones were shopping with a wheelbarrow.  We had to make four trips back to the car.

All in all it was a successful morning and I think it may well be the start of a trend.  What I had not realised, because I'm never in Napier on a Saturday morning 'cos I play croquet then, is that there is a Farmers Market in the centre of Napier on a Saturday morning.

We got home around midday and I set about preparing a buffet for friends from Napier who had visited me in Scotland last year and The Family - a total of 12 to be fed. 

After a really wonderful, relaxed evening catching up everyone left and I'm now writing this and musing on how lucky I am.  Not only have I had a fabulous day, week and month but, given my propensity to over-cater I will probably have nothing to cook for the next four days anyway.

So now it's time for an early night - I should make bed before 1230!   Life's pretty good.

Wall Paintings: Hastings

The more I see wall paintings all over the place in New Zealand the more I want to photograph them for posterity. I think they are wonderful (and hope they don't put Marcel off enjoying the Blog). See Ashurst Wall Paintings.

Wall Art

One of the big stores in the centre of Hastings has a large blank wall facing a public area. So they have painted two large murals on it.

Wonderful Bark

A month or so ago I was in Hastings with Mo and walked down a street near the centre which was (and still is) lined with London Plane Trees. This posting has been waiting in the wings but I couldn't resist showing the bark and a tree today because I was reading the entry in CJ's Blog Pensby et al for Monday 17 March and the last topic mentioned was a London Plane Tree. The seasonal differences is rather obvious!

A Bakery in Hastings City Centre

In the centre of Hastings there is an award-winning bakery.

The Dentist, Hastings and a Day Out

I was up at 0600 this morning to go to visit Martin at 0845 in his Dentist capacity. The practice is in Hastings, half an hours drive from here.

June had decided to come over from Napier to see some art galleries in Hastings and Havelock North so we were to meet, see the galleries and have some lunch. June forgot that she had a hair appointment at 1300 so we saw only two galleries. I was not tempted by anything I saw in either gallery (thank heavens!). But I did spend some time after June had departed taking photos.

After I got home I decided that the late afternoon was so beautiful I would drive with the bike to Ahuriri and cycle round the port and take photos. It was both enjoyable and productive. I'll post the results soon.

Martin had brought fish and chips for dinner so that saved me making spag bollocks as planned. After some emails and blogging I went back to Wendy and Martin's to watch the very last and final episode of Green Wing - a zany spoof hospital drama in which one of the characters was Wendy and my Director in Comhairle nan Eilean so we just had to watch it.

The only blot on an otherwise Good Day was my blood test result. The PSA level climbs slowly but inexorably upwards. But, hey, there's planty of croquet seasons to be played so wotthehellarchiewotthehell.