It's official - New Zealand is officially in a drought

Click on picture to enlarge it for a better visual

 New Zealand has officially been declared as being in a drought. The above photo taken by satellite shows New Zealand in March 2012 (left) and again March 2013 (right). Most of the North Island has had no significant rain since well before Christmas. 

Cyclone Sandy is hopefully going to rain down on New Zealand over this weekend, but here on the east coast of the North Island forecast rain often fails to materialise.

Even my drought tolerant plants are keeling over. My lawn is brown and patchy. The hills are brown. The fields are brown. Beneath the dried brown grass is dry dirt.
Farm stock are being slaughtered because feed is so expensive. This means that meat prices will rise dramatically.

Vegetable prices are going up because of the water costs to irrigate them and because so many crops are failing.

Whoever would have thought we would be praying for a cyclone to head our way?



 

Well, it has been a long time since my last post, for which I am very ashamed. However it has been a very busy time with working full time and having an overseas visitor to stay. That was fun, if exhausting. By the time he left it really did feel as though a great deal of my time was taken up with thinking about meals, preparing meals, cleaning up after meals, and washing dishes after meals. 

Anyhoo, I have been doing bits and pieces around the house. I finally got around to hanging some artwork, did a bit of re-arranging, and had to change some of my furniture to fit the smaller living room. This is what it looks like now - but I still have more ideas on this room and the rest of the house..... aren't dog beds unsightly?

 

Recipe Books

I am a lurker when it comes to other people's blogs. I take a great interest and have many favourites and read every word and devour every picture. Sometimes, infrequently, I will even post a comment. One particular favourite blog, http://belleaukitchen.blogspot.co.nz/  has monthly random recipe challenges. While I am nowhere near confident enough to join in, because I blog as a hobby and don't feel I could possibly meet the standards, I do enjoy seeing what other food bloggers come up with to meet the challenge.

Last months challenge was slightly different and involved  taking photos of each blogger's cookbook collection. It was one I thought I might take part in - until I realised that my books are not confined to a collection. They are spread far and wide, nestled in amongst gardening and other reference books, and even fiction. So, with no time for rearranging, last month's challenge also got relegated to the Not This Month basket.

However, going through each blogger's photos and reading the stories behind their collections and favourite books made me see my own books in a new light.

Prior to moving house the first time, eighteen months ago, I must have had upward of 100 cookbooks. I did a lot of culling for that first move - books, ornaments, knick knacks, bedding, furniture - basically all the things that I looked hard at and decided were superfluous and taking up room.

My cookbooks were just as ruthlessly culled. I have a terrible habit of writing in them. If I make a recipe I scribble a comment below it saying how it turned out, whether I would make it again and, if so, did anything need adjusting (i.e. temperature, cooking time, quantities etc). 

See? My system works. I have no memory whatsoever of making this, apparently, horrible cake, but my note tells me never to go there again: "Thoroughly horrible 0/10"

I culled my recipe books down to approximately 20. What then to do with the other 80 odd...? Who would want scribbled in recipe books? A few friends jumped at first offerings. I donated a lot of sundry items to the local hospice charity shop and asked them whether my "personalised" recipe books would be of any use to them, or whether they would end up sitting on the shelves and become a nuisance for them. They told me to bring 'em in and I did.

A few weeks later, and with another bootload of items, I asked about the recipe books. The ladies laughed. They had all been snapped up by people who, once they realised there were handwritten comments in them, even began picking through all the cookbooks to find mine !! It gave me the warm fuzzies to think people actually liked having my graffitti-ed books.

Today, inspired by all those wonderful bloggers' cookbook collections - some nicely curated and others more informally - inspired to get all my favourites and go-to books in one place. If there is one thing that I have noticed as I get older it is that I like what I cook to be simple, tasty and healthy. I can't be bothered with fussy recipes any more. And this was borne out my my favourites shelf. It is dominated by 3 Jamie Oliver books, a couple of Gordon Ramsay books, a couple of slow cooker books, The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, Moosewood, and The Higher Taste, and my  absolutely essential, favourite Go-To bible when I am having people over and want a meal that I know is great - Ta Da...

 

My old, handwritten recipe journal. Started when I was barely out of school and learning to cook in my first flat, along with another girl and a guy both also learning how to cook. We were all trying hard to prove that we could cook and none of us wanted to admit that we were learning on the job, even though each of us could clearly see we were all in the same boat. We had fun times in that flat - the accidentally melted out tupperware container when Karen tried to cook ginger crunch in the microwave...she lifted it out the microwave and the bottom of the container simply fell out.  The frozen lamb chops which I put in a plastic bag and used Defrost on the microwave (which none of us were familiar with) and ended up cooking them on Defrost. They were the most tender, tasty lamb chops I ever remember having. We tried to replicate the happy mistake but never got the same great result. And Alex's amazingly light scones. He would make them randomly for us as a treat and we would huddle around the wire cooling rack and eat them hot with butter melting into them, and piled with jam and whipped cream. Heaven on a plate. He gave Karen and me the recipe, but ours never turned out like his - we always suspected that he deliberately left out some crucial step or ingredient, though he vehemently denied it.

As happens with flatters, we eventually went our own ways - me overseas, Alex to university, and Karen settled down with her fella and started having babies. When I returned it was with a daughter of my own and the cookbooks came out of storage - including that journal. More recipes got added, and one day when I was about to write in it again my wee toddler came and put her hand over one of the inside pages and, on a whim, I traced around it. About five years later I looked at the tracing and called her over and I traced her hand again. And then again another five or so years later.

I wouldn't, couldn't part with this journal. A lot of memories go hand in hand with the recipes in here - of wonderful meals and of the people who gave me these recipes.

Any starting out flatter or newly-wed in New Zealand has this on her shelf:

My, old now, edition carries an absolutely scrumptious winter comfort food recipe called Nun's Toast (which is in the "Cooking For Invalids" section. It is hardboiled eggs mixed into sauteed onions and then with the addition of a bit of milk and flour to make a white sauce, and seasoning. It is one of my all time favourite recipes, and I am still amazed that later editions have removed that recipe.

My mother's even earlier edition of the Edmonds book is, literally, falling apart. I learnt to bake in her kitchen as a child using that book.

And, as for Student Grub... well, I bought this for my daughter when she went flatting, but you wouldn't believe how many times I have used it as a fast reference to gauge how long something will take to cook.

I am currently waiting for River Cottage Everyday to arrive. I managed to buy it online with free shipping from the UK for half the price I could buy it here in New Zealand (exchange rates factored in). I can't wait for it to arrive !!

Annoying privet

We finally had one of our fabled beautiful Bay days - stunningly sunny and not a breath of wind, and for once I wasn't working. 

I managed three loads of washing onto the line, and sprayed the troublesome jasmine again. The forecast is for rain again this evening and lasting through tomorrow. I am, of course, back at work the day after that so I imagine the weather should clear up again at that point.

I rang the regional council again about the enormous privet in the neighbouring garden that overhangs our fenceline almost to our roof guttering. That house has been empty for the ten months we have been living here as it has not sold and the owner is not keen to rent it out after his previous bad experience. I've never met him as he lives out of town and I don't even know his name - hence my call to the council.

Privet, while a very attractive tree, is a banned tree in New Zealand because of the high incidence of hayfever and exacerbation of asthma requiring hospitalisation that it causes. The tree has gone through its beautiful but asthma-inducing flowering stage and is now covered with seed-bearing berries. Once they fall or are taken away by birds there will be countless new privets germinating and the cycle continues. The jasmine has also apparently spread on the other side of the fence and is gaining a good hold judging by the way it is climbing up the privet. With no one living there to keep it in check the jasmine has gone feral.

As often happens when dealing with government departments I got an answerphone. I left my name and number and very nicely explained the situation again (I think this is my third phone call and in the last one six months months ago at least I was told the tree would be gone within three months). I don't think I'm hounding them. Three phone calls in ten months? When I have had to use my inhaler every single day as opposed to my usual usage which is only when I have a cold? We don't have air conditioning so our choice is to wilt from heat exhaustion with closed windows, or sneeze and cough and wheeze our way through the day with the windows open.

On a brighter note, my daughter and I have been invited to our neighbour's home for dinner. So lovely not to have to think what to have for dinner and to not have to cook.  


Joy !!

A stroll around a little plant nursery

Finally a stunningly beautiful day and I slept through most of it following my night shifts. Such is life. Hopefully the fine weather will continue and I can catch up on some gardening and the mountain of washing which has accumulated.

These photos were taken a few months ago at one of my favourite garden nurseries. It is such an informal tiny nursery in the yard of the house where the owners live, but it has such a fun vibe.

Old claw foot baths are now so popular that they are well out of my price range. But I do like them in a garden setting.

I'm toying with planting ornamental grasses for their low maintenance value.

I love Nikau palms, but they grow absolutely enormous (and can be a bit tricky to get going)

This pony tail palm must be very old. You don't get a true sense of how big it is in this photo, but let me assure you it was BIG. I had one that was growing very nicely until the cats discovered its teeth-flossing benefits. After that it never stood a chance. I like them indoors, with their gracefully flowing fronds.

I'm rather taken with this. I have no idea where I'd put one though. Must work on it.

Are they Security, do you think? They look fierce enough!

I like the way the pumice has had a hole chiselled through the centre. Seeing another plant through it gives it a whole new dimension. We have pumice a-plenty lying on the beaches here, so this would be easy to copy, perhaps when I am stuck for a gift idea.

This colours did look a lot nicer in person. The photo makes it look very drab.

I'm not sure if these grow naturally like this or whether they have been clipped into balls

 

 

 

This was at a different garden centre and made me a bit sad, I have to say.

Happy Easter!

Sending warmest wishes to you and your family from mine.

Irish

"Oops, I did it again..." as the song goes.

We got suckered into taking another kitten, the last one left in a litter and no one wanted her because she was the plainest. What else could we do? She is four months old now, and is the second most cuddly, snuggly kitten in the world. (Delphi retains the number one spot - no contest really).

Oddly, it feels as though our household has rounded out again.

Old Sophie was always the odd one out - grey tabby among the three black cats. When she died (nearly a year ago now) we thought three was a nice number and yet when Irish came to live with us - an orange tabby - somehow everything just felt balanced again. I can't really describe it better than that. 

She has settled in beautifully with the other animals. She has had outside access for a month now and is very clean. She is just starting to venture further afield (always a worrying time with kittens) so today I have bought her a collar to let all the people she comes into contact with know that she is loved and not a stray. 

Now I just need to wait for her to come in so I can put it on her!

What's with the weather?

Where I live in New Zealand has arguably the best weather in the country. We have mild winters and gloriously sunny springs, summers and autumns. It is even possible to get sunburned in winter here! But the past year has been very tropical, with rain, rain and more rain and high humidity which has seen the weed population in my garden explode in a way that I have never seen here before.

I'm very ashamed of this picture, but in my defence it has rained on every single day that I have had off work for about three months, and I am not exaggerating. I almost felt inclined to name the amazing specimen of a weed (in the centre of the weedy patch) which grew from nothing to over four feet high in the space of two weeks ! That is, indeed, what two weeks of solid rain and mild temperatures will do. This entire corner had been weed free prior to the rain, I swear.

The Japanese maple and the moptop Robinia are newish. I planted them in November and had to tie them to the fences so that they withstood the roaring spring winds that promptly followed their planting. They have stood up to the rigors well, though. In the midst of all those weeds, and completely obscured by them, is the little Meyer lemon tree sapling I planted months ago. Now that I have decided to make this corner into a shady garden I am going to uplift it and replant it elsewhere. My end game is to underplant the two trees with hostas and other shady garden plants. And perhaps paint one of my wooden park benches a deep red or blue and nestle it between the trees. It will be a lovely spot to sit on hot sunny summer days - you know....the kind of sunny days we usually get.

 Remember this view down the side of the house?

Well, with the not-working spa pool removed, and a few bushes growing in the wasteland, it now looks like this:

Still so much to do, and you can see the awful jasmine everywhere. Pruning makes it grow back faster, so all I can do is keep blitzing it with weedkiller, but unfortunately I need several dry hours each time I spray and the weather has not been helpful at all. It is constantly two steps forward and one step back. It is disheartening at times, but I am determined to beat it.

Dog Obedience

I forgot to say that Keeper passed his adult obedience course top of the class with 100%. Not bad considering all the other dogs are fully adult and he is only five and a half months old.  

Well done, Keeper. I am so proud of you :-)

So much to do, so little time - and money

It's taken me ages to decide what to do with the garden. Yes, I have planted the odd thing here and there. Keeper has been the deciding factor whether they lived or died. But I now have some wooden planter boxes which I intend to trial square foot gardening in.



The massive trees outside the kitchen window - an ancient plum tree, an equally ancient jacaranda, a chinese bell tree, a huge and rather ugly palm tree, and a smaller and somewhat straggly palm have all gone. All were planted far too close to the house, considering how big they are when mature - and believe me, these had reached full maturity. This left me with blocked guttering and downspouts, and a huge amount of light blocked out.

I got three quotes for removal. They ranged from $250-$1,000. Quite the price range, considering all three were from reputable companies and all three companies have indemnity insurance, and all three quotes were for the same work. I had decided on the cheapest, not only because they were the cheapest but because the man also volunteered information which told me quite clearly he knew what he was talking about - things that the others didn't mention.

While the issue was relegated to the back burner due to my father being hospitalised, I arrived home from visiting him in intensive care one day to discover the work had been done. Fortunately by the company I had decided to go with. I acknowledge I had indicated that I would accept his quote - he took it as a done deal. So. The trees are gone. All I am left with at the front is a fully mature silky oak - the bane of my life since it sheds incessantly, and a fully mature Norfolk pine tree. However, they do not block my light and therefore I'm leaving those for the landlady to deal with, no doubt in the far distant future. It all looks rather bare, so I have been scouring my favourite gardening blogs, books and NZ Gardener magazine for inspiration. I have decided (since that front corner of the section is shaded by the house, though open shade now the trees have been removed) that there will be two clumping fairy bamboos, and several hostas. Possibly a Chatham Island Forget Me Not. In the house, still the sitting room to sort out.

I have a few problems with this set up.  For one thing, it all looks so bland. It needs a colour injection.

The big two seater and three seater couches looked great at our old house - the 100 year old villa with big dimensions. They sit a little like giants in this much smaller space. We haven't lit the logburner this winter because we can't push them far enough away to avoid probably singeing the fabric on the arms. I'm thinking of either selling the whole thing and going for a corner lounge suite, or possibly keeping the two seater only and getting a recliner to tone in. Since spring is in full throttle, this is not something to worry about immediately. Any time before now and when we would like to light the logburner next winter will do. 

Those salmon curtains are possibly the most hideous things I've ever seen in my life. And they match absolutely nothing I own. They will be going, and will be replaced with something with warmer tones. 

The 1 metre quare pine coffee table which has done me proud for years and years is now too big and cumbersome for this smaller place. It has been sold and replaced by a pine chest of much smaller proportions. 

I'd really like to get a rug to go under it in warm reds and oranges or similar. 

I also need to get some artwork on the walls. We have hung a few pieces since this photo was taken the first week we moved in. Essentially everything is in the same place though, as the room leaves little scope for re-arranging. 

So that's where the "So much to do" bit comes in.  

The "So little time" part is due to the fact that I work full time, that there is only me to do all this, and I actually have a life to fit in somewhere along the way as well. 

And the "So little money"...... well, that part probably doesn't need any enlarging. However, we have been promised that this is a long term rental, so the way I see it is that I have lots of time to accomplish everything I want to do.

October Craziness

What a mad, mad month October has been!! 

The first two weeks were spent mainly at the hospital as my father fought for his life on a ventilator. It was stressful, waiting to see if being on full life support would allow his body to rest enough to continue to fight on its own again. My Dad is a fighter though. He has always been a fit and active man, and at 81 years old he wasn't going to let a little thing like Legionnaires Disease (which has a 33% mortality rate!!) and a severe pneumonia stop him for long. The intensivist told me that if he hadn't been so fit and active he would not be here today. He is back home again, but the illness has taken its toll. He has gone from looking much younger than his age, to now looking much older and is suddenly frail. It's hard to see him like this. Time will tell as to how much of his former vitality he is able to recover, but I am just thankful to still have him.

Our little Delphi got run over by a car (we think) in late September, and had to have her badly broken leg pinned and plated. Then came a month of house confinement. That may sound easy, but it becomes a shuffling game when you have three  cats and two dogs. Previously we kept the two ranch slider doors open all day and night with lengths of wood in the groove for security. This allowed the chihuahua and three cats free access in and out whenever they felt like it. The labrador is outside most of the day and is allowed inside in the evening when we are watching television or whatever, to lie on his bed. All that changed to accommodate Delphi. Suddenly we had to manage letting cats and dogs inside and outside again, but without letting a determined Delphi escape. She did, a couple of times, but she is such a sweet little thing that I only had to call to her and she came running straight back to me, thank goodness. And because the labrador and she are play buddies, suddenly they had to be kept apart. All this while shuttling back and forth between the hospital and home. I am now a certified juggling expert, I do believe :-)

We have had a very rainy month of October. The lawns are shaggy within a week of being mowed, and it's been hard to mow them when it kept raining. A horrible sticky weed has errupted throughout the back garden. It clings to my skin if I try to pull it out, or to my clothes, and brings me out in a rash. Today I went out and used weedkiller on it. It hasn't flowered yet, so I am hopeful that I can get on top of it with regular weedkill. The jasmine that is the bane of my life (but may be replaced as such by the sticky weed) has sprung forth again with the warm weather - that got blitzed today as well.

The ornamental cherry tree and the Fairy magnolia I planted to mark Old Sophie's grave are both flowering for the first time. I was convinced the cherry sapling had died, as I drove around town and saw all the trees with their spring leaves and blossoms - while mine sat still dormant !! It has double blossoms which open pink and fade to white, and it is blossoming at the same time that the leaves are forming, so the tree has a two-toned effect. Beautiful. I have tried to take photos, but I only have a point and click camera and it simply doesn't capture it well. I have resorted to a Google image, although the leaves in this picture are reddish and mine are a soft, spring green. And the mature blossoms are pure white. But this was the closest image I could find.

I have precious days off now, so some intensive housework is needed, as well as some intensive gardening. Keeper the labrador completes his obedience training tonight, I hope. He should fly through the assessment, however last week he was shocking and distracted  and not paying attention to what was being asked of him, so it has thrown an element of doubt into my mind. Since he is only 5 months old, the trainers have reassured us that all puppies have days like that and not to worry. 

Well, I will happily farewell October this year, and with no regrets. 

May November be wonderful !!

Legionnaire's Disease and The Thousand Dollar Cat

While I was concentrating on deep breathing exercises to help me cope with the iminent bill for Delphi's surgery and stay at the vet's, my father was quietly cultivating Legionnaire's Disease. 

Masked by flu-like symptoms, he collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance before the gravity of his illness became known. He's been in ICU for the past 3 days. We've been 'phoned twice to come in since yesterday. They think they will be putting him on the ventilator shortly - possibly for 2 weeks. 

To say we are frightened for him is an understatement.

Our little ball of cuddles

Delphi, our little ball of cuddles, disappeared a few nights ago. 
This little cat does not stop purring. If you make eye contact with her from across the room it is enough to make her come running to you, trilling happily (she doesn't meouw without a purr in it and it sounds like a trill). And a lot of the time she is in our faces wanting cuddles even when we are busy. She is tiny, being half-Burmese, but is the most insistent of our three cats.
Yesterday morning she was back, with a broken leg, and obviously feeling pretty miserable. No purrs. Apathetic. Our little dynamo lying very still on the sheepskin where I put her.
A trip to the vet and xrays revealed a badly broken leg, with a piece of bone completely detached and floating about. She has to stay at the vet clinic for another three days so that they can assess her for any internal damage that may not have shown up on the xray.
And once she is assessed as otherwise being healthy, she will go into surgery to have the broken leg plated and the bit of bone removed.
I hope it all goes well. 
While at times we have called her the most annoying little cat on the planet when she has been demanding our attention (she doesn't take no for an answer and will climb onto our laps and thrust her nose into our faces to make her point), she is also the cuddliest little cat on the planet. I truly believe her allotted task during her time on earth is to simply love us. Which she does. In abundance. The house, despite the presence of two dogs and two cats, is missing her personality immensely. 
I can't wait to bring her home again.

(Even the vet melted when, in pain from having her leg felt during the consultation, Delphi started to purr)

Cyclone Keeper

There was the ugly gate we had to hastily erect

 

There was the newly planted William Shakespeare rose that got chewed

This is either Penstemon Firebird or Penstemon Blackbird. I won't know until it flowers because Keeper ripped them out of their pots. They got separated from their name tags and one died. This one is coming back. It will be a surprise !

Bergenia Bressingham Ruby also appears to be recovering slowly.

I do not think Lilac Katherine Havermeyer is ever coming back. Every single new leaf bud has been nibbled off.

Likewise the Ribbonwood sapling

The problem tom cat from two doors down doesn't visit any longer

And my cleaning rags don't stand a chance if he gets hold of them

but.....

How can you hate something that gives us a laugh many times each day over his complete idiocy - yes! he really does sleep in weird positions all the time.

   ... and gets along with Otter and is gentle with him despite his vastly superior size and weight...

 ...and goes all dreamy when you scratch his muzzle with one finger...

....and looks like this !

We knew there would be casualties when we opted for a puppy over a fully grown and trained dog. But the casualties are ones we can live with. And we have to keep reminding ourselves that this big dog who is ahead of all the other dogs in his obedience classes is still only 4 months old!!!

And when we stop to consider that, what we actually have is an exceptionally well behaved toddler. Smile.