Made Happy

Well the little guy is growing and moving quite happily right now. I must confess that I don’t think I am one of the ladies that ENJOYS being pregnant. I feel a bit old lady before my time. Symptoms could be much worse too! I don’t know how some woman do this over and over. I just keep remembering to myself about the end goal. Kylie has also been very attentive so I am well looked after!

Mostly I wanted to write to show you whats been happening around our wee house for the last few months. SO MUCH.

Getting Plastered!

New Gate! Almost done.

Really cannot justify missing out the recently built “Man Bench”. If we have an earthquake guess where we are hiding? Kylie is quite proud of this one. All the people that come over get shown the new construction.

Some Garden:

Want basil and tomatos to be big NOW. I can just imagine the taste.

Gone to seed Spinach (I eat anyway!) and lettuce.

Its a corgette (zucchini) baby! I planted four of these plants and slugs ate three of them! I now have some happy little seedlings growing forth thanks to an old flatmate. Thanks Esther! I am looking forward to eating these soon.

We have a few flowers in out garden – none planted by us. All here when we arrived. The white roses and lavender are EVERYWHERE. And they both smell great and flower in great abundance.

I have yet to take a photo of our red climbing rose, its gets alot of love from our visitors. The only thing we have done to our flowers this year is prune. So they are a little eaten. I am hoping in the next few years to start giving the decorative parts of our garden some love. But for now they do what they do with not alot love, but give us so much!

A few things I have let go in the last month or so:

• I have come to ignore the weeds in the garden for my time is better spent elsewhere (for now!)
• renovating yourself will mean it won’t be perfect and thats quite alright
• sometimes your plants get eaten by more than just you. Just keep planting
• stop comparing myself to other peoples house and gardens, ours is perfect however it looks! (this is a skill i need to get better at)

So many photos! This really is a small taste of what we have been up to recently. Its a rather nice reminder for me on how far we have come and how much we have achieved. (Must be showing Kylie some before and after shots!) We have actually been feeling over whelmed of late about how far we have to go, so this blog post is rather timely and has kicked me right out of it!

Its been awhile since I posted as you can see, I have been avoiding it to tell the truth. First because I was miserable in Cambridge without Christchurch or my friends around to keep me busy. I don’t like writing when sad! Second because I was pre-occupied with good things but I kept on putting it off writing because I am useless at keeping things to myself. I am pregnant! Yes thats the big news and the pre-occupation. I believe most people now know that need to, so I can safely announce here. In the delightful spring I am growing things in the garden and (hopefully) one thing in the belly.

Speaking of the garden, its busy busy in there…

First came the seedlings. Then….

The hastily constructed beds, then….

The slugs! Argh.

I am fighting with expensive but successful buried beer traps (slugs really like Speights). Egg shells that don’t do much at all and soda bottle cloches that my “seedlings” are growing out of! I am just going to keep adding in more seeds in cloches as they get eaten and keep putting down traps and eventually I hope to have enough plants alive to get nice and big and feed us.

This really is my first vege garden from scratch and all by myself.. previous ones have been others I have helped in. I have so far learnt: Not plant out seedlings (no matter how impatient I am) on windy days! Some seeds really do fair better when planted directly in the ground. That this garden has bugs everywhere – more than any other flat, unit or even mums place than I have seen anywhere. In one night healthy seedlings are stumps. STUMPS! Grrr. Not to mention the caterpillar invasion from last year on my bucket salad veges from the moment we moved in, in late summer. One day a few caterpillars the next I have no rocket left. Going to try “molasses spray” for the next anticipated invasion. I figure I just keep on trucking and each year I will get better at it and there might even be less bugs of some varieties? Maybe? Hopefully? I have also learnt cats love vege garden beds as littler trays, so stubbornly that the netting has to be TIGHT, or they will just walk ontop of it and pee anyway. Blighters.

One challenge this year is watering. Since our water piping system in Christchurch is still rather broken we have watering restrictions. Last year I just watered my bucket vege garden from the washing machine waste water! It works, but in the new house its all plumbed in. Not to mention the pain in the ass it is that every time it starts a spin cycle we have a bucket chain going out into the garden. This year we are planning on collecting rain water off the garage and I use big bowls in the sink every time veges are washed ect and we put that water into a big plastic tub thing to be used when needed. Thus far we still get to water gardens every other day (kinda) but I remember Chch summers harking back to childhood where we could not even do that. So if its dry summer then there will be buckets in showers, sinks and whatever to be used again on the garden! Luckily we use all eco store bio-degradable products. Mostly because I am allergic to lots chemicals, but useful now we need to re-use all our water.

Well I have knit my dream man his dream sweater – or actually MY dream sweater for my dream man… Here is the handsome man his self:

Thankfully we do not need to worry about the lack of the ring on my finger – because he loves it. (side note: Knitting lore states that you can only knit your man a sweater if you are married or engaged. Because if he doesn’t like the sweater and does not wear it then a break up will surely happen.) A bit too much as I find myself fussing over it pulling off the pills and looking at the elbows worrying about wear. As you do.

This is great pattern for knitting mindlessly for long stretches (all I have headspace for right now). I did start it a few times and pulled it out as I attempted to get the sizing right. I started a small part of sleeve and then the body and then the body again as I worked out the best size and needle size to knit in. Eventually we got there! If I am going to use THAT much yarn and spend that much time I really don’t mind taking the time to work it out. The upside down Simone way.

The pattern is by one of my favorites, Brooklyn Tweed and the yarn I got on sale from Skeinz! Its in the round and eventually knit all in one piece, so he can try it on towards the end and say things like “O dear its too small” which you stubbornly refuse to listen to, knitting on to find your instincts were correct and it was the PERFECT size.

Talking about Skeinz.. I am off to Knit August nights in Napier this weekend! Looking forward to fibre geek paradise and being wowed by many a knitters prowess! Yay!

There is a pretty lake in Cambridge. Lucky for us its on the way into town – well almost, I detour a little to walk around it on my way to do the odd shopping excursions. One afternoon I luckily brought my camera because the light down there was stunning and I have not managed to equal the shots since (I have tried).

The name of the park is called Te Koutu Domain.

Starting to count the days until we make it home. I dreamt about it last night… the painters had painted it in all the wrong colours, however the roof looked great!

This little bird came to greet me upon arrival and posed for some photos… fantails are quite prolific here.

Could not resist this shot in the lovely light!

Last but not least – my favourite cafe is in pink hidden behind the trees, great coffee and tea selection, slices are delish and they have a great selection of interesting magazines. Hard to find all of that in the one cafe…

More photos on flickr

A stormy weather weekend had me wanting to go to the sea. So off we went to Raglan. The beach was blustery and quick showers threw themselves at us as we battled our way for a walk. I tried to take photos of the windblown sand making a sort of miniature dust storms around our feet. Turning back we forced our way into the wind getting peirced by rain that felt like pins the wind was so strong… as you can probably guess I found it exhilarating, all sorts of cheesy poetry and literature coming into my mind as I romanticised being really cold and wet. Needless to say I put the heaters on full when we got into the car and was glad we had a car to go to. Not sure I would of been as romantic if i had a pack on my back and warmth was hours away…

We then headed to a crowded cafe for lunch. Debating on scones or ordering off the menu – I ordered off the menu, with all the fresh sea air I was a bit too hungry for just a scone! Kylie follwed suit or he would get jealous… and we were SO happy we did. The food was so yummy! Kylie agreed – its not often we ware impressed with food at restaurants either – once you spend time cooking at home and trying to make things tasty, restaurant food often becomes a bit bland. Not this stuff, we speculated on ingredients and left feeling inspired to cook like that ourselves! The cafe is called “The Shack” if your in the area check it out.

After we filled our bellies we headed home, on impulse we decided on taking the detour to see the “Bridal Veil Falls”. We descended the many stairs and climbed back up… amused at my lack of fitness! They were beautiful, and tall!  The Waikato RAINS so much I don’t head out for as many little runs like I do in Christchurch. I still dream about earthquakes, and don’t miss the shaking at all, but I miss Christchurch. Its still an awesome place to live. Glad to be heading home soon!

Before the break of dawn at what seems like yesterday, but is actually at least two weeks ago, Kylie, myself and cats set off to spend three months in Cambridge. Needing to catch a ferry we drove pretty much without stopping until we reached Picton.

Cats had a good portion of our space with a large dog cage. Distressed as I was at having to put them through this – we knew they would cope. Malieka looked the most perplexed about it all, Mischief just slept.

I put on some sea bands and had my knitting with me on the Ferry – almost no point for I quickly fell asleep. Much to my relief because I get quite ill at times. Sea legs I do not have.

Driving up the landscape changed and although I tried to drive, in order to give relief to Kylie, I was far to sleepy to do so safely. So gave up that idea fairly quickly (poor Kylie!) On one of our petrol stops I thought at how much this station looked like it was out of a 70′s american movie. Loved it, mid-century modern-’esque’.

We arrive in cambridge just before bed-time, quickly chose the mattress (five bedroom house!) and fell asleep. The next day we unpacked and explored the town. Pretty! Good coffee at the coffee shop above the gift shop in the big pink old church.

The next day I dropped Kylie off at his new work:

and went for a walk and took these shots of the lake and church. I like wooden church’s now! For reasons obvious to us that live in Christchurch!

Just when you think your safe you get a wee reminder that you better keep your emergency kit stocked! You know sometimes with these aftershocks they’re so gentle and rocky it feels like your living on a ship! I have also decided if it feels like your swaying and ground in subtly moving… you probably are. Not all shakes are sudden and scary sometimes they are just weird!

We are a full house again here while my friends house goes through the same process (but alot faster this time) to see if ;one – its safe, two – it has power and amenities, and three – are they courageous enough to live there yet? So it begins! In the meantime Kylie is away and I am getting ready to leave Christchurch for three months (as some of you know – Kylie has a job up north for that time and I am coming along with him!)

I have decided to not take all the supplies for every “hobby” I employ. Instead its sewing, knitting and possibly drawing with a few paints. Thats not much gear right? If I limit my clothing I should have plenty to do, just not much to wear! Then there is the shopping I intend to do in Auckland… anyone know of awesome second hand shops (besides my cousins one – “two daughters“) then let me know.

With all thats happening there is always time to sit in the sun, knit and catch up with friends!

And buy the occasional treat to make life easier and prettier in the kitchen.

I feel compelled to voice a small bit of advice for those outside of Christchurch, those worry about us and our sanity – all your sympathy comes from good places. But at the moment I read at LEAST once an hour someone advising the people they know here to leave, to abandon everything and just go. Seriously at this time it’s the last thing we need to hear. Its just not the easy. (Ironically we can leave for a few months, but would be staying if there was an option!) Jobs, friends, homes, financial investment. Alot of us committed to living here many reasons, those reasons have not changed. Earthquakes have not taken jobs, have not taken friends and they certainly have not taken away the awesome stuff to do just hours away. Now I never “pledged” because there is something this earthquake has taught me, is no-one (not even you) is safe from life changing events like this. Who knows what will happen and what we will need to do to survive it. But as soon as you let go of the fear of it – knowing you cannot control it, you can become a little liberated. After every quake I have gotten increasingly more calm and ok with them. In fact the last one by far the worst part was being stuck at home again not knowing if things were really bad or ok. The trauma is not in the movement of the land but the potential loss of friends because of it. Once all the txt’s came in that everyone was fine then it was back to work. In reality – I have lost more loved ones to illness and accidents that happen everywhere than to natural disasters, and I live in natural disaster zone right now! If we have to move for survival, careers, family, friends then so be it. But I will not be bloody chased away from my hometown because of an irrational fear, I’m far too stubborn for that. Righto, thats enough cheese for one day. Back to work!

Finally my favorite dancing song right now…

I want her boots.

Orchids make me happy.


I pricked my finger on these cacti when I was only little – its a very clear memory actually. I was told to not to touch, then guess what I did?





And finally for some fungi…

We went for our first walk around the cordons about a month ago, I know late posting! Here are some pictures I took. I did not break down or get all emotional or anything, in fact amongst the broken bits there is still our beautiful autumnal city, the streets are the same, trees were loosing their leaves and the seasons continue. That alone is a huge comfort. Band aids have been applied to the favorite buildings that are no doubt among the ones people would like to save. Empty lots are not empty gapping holes but an opportunity to put in something beautiful and/or useful.

I must say the media seems to be grasping at negative straws for stories these days and I am getting a little over it. I wish we could just get some facts on the quake and the rebuild and not the whining emotional tripe we are getting right now. All I see is “not fast enough”, “why are they gardening in the red zone?” and more equally as silly articles. Think this though please journalists and editors: for example Gardeners cannot fix roads or buildings, but if the city gets over grown, then when it come to reopening – how much work will it be to get up to scratch then? Just because they are keeping things tidy does not mean work on other things in the city goes any slower. AND Why should our people be working seven days a week? Surely they are as entitled to have time with their families and loved ones as you or I? In fact now more than ever they need to be their fighting best, which requires rest and happy times. Its no longer a disaster people, its just a job to get done. One last point, how on earth will we get people down here to help build if whats on offer are seven day weeks?

With all the walks around the neighborhood lately I have been noticing and picking up walnuts here and there, little did I know I was mistakenly stumbling into an addictive and quite popular Christchurch (and indeed the world) pass time. Urban Foraging. It happened thus; I mentioned in passing conversation to my lovely ladies the walnuts I had been spotting who then agreed on their wonderfulness and told me all about  a “map”. I decided I needed to find this allusive treasure map, how does every modern girl start her education these days? Yes indeedy I went “googling”.

Christchurch Forgaging Map was found here. Although I have been told by these fellow foragers that not everything is on there, for there is an unspoken rule. No-one revels their spots, the good spots are found only by chance or rumors. Places where wild asparagus grows, the biggest sweetest chestnuts, the yummiest mushrooms – these spots will be harvested in secret and locations taken to graves.

The generosity and spirit of sharing must be very strong in the people that setup the map, from what I can tell this world would be a very secretive one to break into.

On the foraging note we collected Chestnuts in Hamner when we were there a couple of weekends back. I roasted them up and ate them with salt, Kylie and I both agreed they were worth finding more and foraging some locally. Lovely and sweet, I love sweet things with salt. Mmmm..

This is what they look like before a good roasting. Note they are not the “horse chestnuts” Which are poisonous.

Ready for roasting:

Eaten:

I have yet to have any success foraging for edible mushrooms. I have some verbal descriptions of what to look for. But really am a little scared to just try them… the consequences being rather dire. I continue to look on my walks and take photos with my phone, but I think I need someone who knows about mushrooms to take me on a tour… I will let you know if I have any success.

Here are some links to get you started on foraging or to help your already formed habit:

- A blog (not very current) on urban foraging.

- The facebook page – yes theres one for everything these days.

- A bit about the people that started digitising it all

- A small part of an old book on food gathering in New Zealand (look out for this book in second hand book dealers!)

Have fun exploring. I think the best part of all of this is just paying attention to the trees and the ground and appreciating what we can eat for free and its healthy! Not only that if I have time I will take a bike instead of the car and stop at the local park or graveyard just to look around and see what I can see! I am getting a new appreciation for our parky urbanness that is Christchurch.