Jacaranda Trees

Yesterday was Sunday and I played Petanque on a glorious afternoon. We had a Yankee Tournament and a BBQ and then I played a few more ends. Very enjoyable.

On the way to Petanque I passed the Jacaranda Trees in Clive Square in the City. They make a wonderful display at this time of year.


I thought whilst I was doing this I'd also show you how the landscaping at the Cottage is getting on. Bit better than when I arrived although it's difficult to see from the photo just how much planting has been done.

Wet, Wet, Wet

No. It has nothing to do with a pop group or rock band (whatever Wet, Wet, Wet is). I had decided that this weekend would be a good time to give an update on the landscaping around the Cottage. However I hadn't imagined that the rain would have been so persistent. In fact it's the first real rain I've experienced since I arrived (I have seen the odd showerlet before but that's all).

Anyway, undeterred, I have photographed the front of the Cottage and the Paddock all of which have been seeded and (although it's not immediately obvious) had hundreds of plants planted. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in another couple of weeks.

The Landscaping Begins

When I think of the years and years it took me and a barrow and rake to move tens (how many tens I have no idea) of earth to landscape the garden at Tigh na Mara it makes one wonder why one did it that way and only used a small digger to move stuff towards the end of the project. A few days ago a Big Boys Toy came and moved many tens of tons of clay and topsoil and landscaped the area round the Cottage. It took a day.

Yesterday and today Wendy and Martin have been raking, sewing seeds, planting plants, putting in irrigation, putting back the paddock fence and working so hard to finish the area off. The change compared with the area as it was four days ago is almost unbelievable.

Hopefully by the end of the summer it will be unrecognisable.

Lessons and Big Toys

My day started at 0556 when a text arrived to tell me that a friend would not, as I had hoped, be coming to live on Lewis. Bummer.

By 0830 a large digger (of the earth moving type rather than a macho Australian) arrived to landscape round the Cottage.

I went to Croquet having made the serious error of leaving my mallet on the ground where I had put it when clearing the boot of The Handbag. Fortunately I wasn't playing in a competition because I had to play with a borrowed mallet. Then I had lessons in Association Croquet (the game that 'everyone' usually associated with Croquet) but without my own mallet practising the shots was rather pointless.

Then a quick visit to Esquires for a cheery greeting, coffee, a sandwich and a quick communications session.

Arrived at Petanque on time and played three games in time to get back to the Croquet Club to learn how to play with a seriously big lawnmower with which the Club's six lawns are mowed. A terrifyingly responsible job although I'm sure that after the first few times everything will be OK.

Arrived home to find that quite a lot of the landscaping had been done but, more importantly to me from a practical point of view, the drive and car parking area had been completed.

I promise not to mention the weather too often but today Hawkes Bay was the hottest place in New Zealand. Officially it was 30 deg. My veranda registered 34 deg. The funny thing is that, because it's not humid, it feels very pleasant.

Still no news of the phone though.