Quote for the day:
“Happiness isn’t about getting what you want all the time. It’s about loving what you have and being grateful for it” from theteenagerquotes.tumbr.com
Welcome to day 16. I’m a bit late tonight posting this blog, been watching a Jason Bourne movie on TV. Haven’t watched a good movie for sometime, as I normally spend my evenings writing up my lock-down blog posts.
I have a confession to make, today’s feature image is not from my garden, but from the Hamilton Gardens. I saw the bloom with a bee in it on the foot path and couldn’t resist taking a photo. Quite beautiful don’t you think? I’m so glad the bees have a good food supply at present with all the camellia out.
If you missed reading day 15’s comments click here to catch up.
It’s been another stunning day in paradise – what a beautiful day for celebrating Good Friday. Did you do anything special today, or were you one of those that went to the beach batch??? Yeh right – if only!
This morning I went for a short bike ride to check out the country side and Hamilton Gardens and get some ‘signs of autumn’ photographs. You’ll see my captured moments below. It’s hard to get used to Hamilton with so little traffic on the roads, and with the supermarkets closed today, the city was ultra-quiet. This afternoon got my lawns mowed and tomorrow will throw some lawn seed over the bare patches of my lawn. The forecast is predicating rain on Sunday – so here’s hoping. Mind you, having said that I’m a firm believer in waiting until the day arrives and then see what the weather will be like. All this forecasting of weather can lead to false hopes and changing of plans, which is not a good thing.
What can I let go of to keep my life peaceful?
I get monthly emails from Cindy Cashman (Million selling author and Intuitive Coach) and thought you may find this useful. She wrote the following:
With everything going on with the coronavirus, a question I have been asking myself is:
How do I let go of fear, anger, hurt, sadness, etc? What works for me is allowing myself to feel whatever feeling is coming up and then I give myself permission to let it go. How do I let it go? How do I let go of a hot potato? I drop it and stop talking about it! Instead I choose to focus on gratitude and what brings me joy 🙂 This is an ongoing process like brushing your teeth. Some days are easier than others.
Signs of autumn
That is it for day 16. Trust you’ve had a great Good Friday and look forward to hearing about your happenings tomorrow.
Take care and be kind and patient with yourself and those in your bubble. Goldcard Gal 🙂
Lockdown day 16.
Another day in our slice or heaven.
Has there been a better autumn? Not in New Zealand in the nine+ years since our move here in 2010.
I read of tourist – back packers happy to be stranded here, others deciding that they are better off staying in lockdown here than going back to Covid 19 ravaged communities overseas. All of them, commenting on the beauty and pleasant conditions of their internment.
We have the “Pause” button pushed. What an opportunity that allows us stop, review, think, plan, and so on. How many times in a lifetime does that happen?
Even better, it is without the imminent threat that our ancestors experienced of being blown to pieces by crazy mad enemy forces. (Mad noisy neighbour excepted)
Before the forecast rain (you may believe it will come), I decided to mow the newly dethatch lawn along with the other grass I normally pay a very hard working fellow to attend to on a bi- weekly basis. After at least six weeks with out my attention and at least five since Kevin attended, the whole lot was somewhat ragged and unruly.
Trim the edges. That was an hour in itself. They look nice and sharp but an awful lot of mess left.
I decide I would mow MY grass first. (Bugger the council’s bit) Just in case I
1. Run out of petrol
2. Run out of time
3. Run out of energy
Well I lasted the distance. It now looks very nice and just in time for any rain that may show up.
It also reinforced my original decision to employ Kevin. He is well worth it.
Time for lunch.
A small project to start the afternoon.
When it rains (Ha Ha!) and we have BBQ, I usually rig up a tarpaulin over the stove.
This usually is done at the last minute and involves lots of string and lots of swearing.
So today I screwed up cup hooks to the gutter facia to anchor one side of the cover and located similar attachments for the cords that hold up and stretch out the awning in an appropriate manner. Done, another little job that never seemed to get started, completed courtesy of the lockdown.
A new stage in the garage on the wind trainer! My, this fellow has boundless energy!
Strange but I have often found that the harder the day is the better I perform.
Today was no different. I was flying from the go. The legs just came up to the regulation 90 revs per minute and I was floating.
This of course translated into a complete flogging of the opposition. We were only 10 kms in and I had a handy lead.
Even when my son arrived, bringing fresh supplies from the supermarket, it did not hold me back. In fact he went to converse with my wife up in the grandstand and before he returned I had completed another 10 kms.
Well the long and short of it is that the Gordonton team once again showed that they are this year’s revelation. The ruckus over course deviations and errors is now behind us, as are most of the favourites for overall honours.
The day finished with another sound thrashing of those that pretend.
Now, my turn to cook dinner!
Is there no limit to my prowess today?
Unhurried in Hamilton
Love it “Unhurried in Hamilton”. Totally agree about hitting the “Pause” button on life and having this quiet time enables us to reflect, think and plan – wonderful. 🙂
Hi Heather, yes another beautiful day and great for a bike ride. Not many cars at all on the road this morning. Tony cleaning outthe spouting ready for the next rain fall to fill the water tanks. I am happily reading a book in the sun waiting for Novalea to bring the shopping so I can make some of the feijoa chutney as did not have the correct seeds in the pantry. We are doing fine in our bubble plenty to do and food to eat, not sure why there seems to be such a rush when the supermarkets are only going to be shut for a day. I can remember long ago the shops shut for 4 days in a row at Easter and Christmas how did we manage!!! guess those skills for us older generation help in planning ahead. Keep safe we have made the half way point hopefully as long as things progress as they are. Well done to all the wonderful front line people and especially the supermarket staff, I am sure they are feeling more appreciated that ever before.
Thank you “Carly of Tamahere” great to hear about your day and the jobs that are getting done. You have to be a certain age to remember 4 day weekends without shops open – I think our mum’s were organised and they taught us to be organised, having said that most homes had a good vegetable garden and some fruit trees. Let’s know how your feijoa chutney turns out, I did leave out garlic because I didn’t have the much but added chilly flakes instead. 🙂
thanks Heather for your ongoing blogs. When I was growing up on high country farms in northern Rangatikie and Ruapehu, there was always an abundance of fruit trees; apples, several varieties of plums, a few peach and nectarine and one of my favourite, Quince. I am sure most of you had a smell that drives you straight back to your childhood. One of mine is pine needles and the other is the aroma of Quince cooking.
So after a few recent years of contemplating having some fruit trees in my urban garden, I found a quince tree and planted it in full view of my lounge windows. The blossoms are stunning and I have enjoyed three seasons of yummy quince and introducing it to other people. Quince originated in Caucasus. It is part of the rose family and relative to apples and pears. In classical legends it’s the fruit of love, marriage and fertility. In the 12 and 13th century, kings in France and England had quince trees planted in their palace gardens. Beautiful in shape, aroma and colour but requiring patience. Hugh Fearnley- Wittingstall is my favourite chef/ecologist/garden guru and you can find yummy quince recipes on his website. Jams, chutney, sauces, meat dishes etc. quince often features in Morraccan tagines and Persian stews. I have included diced quince in some of my chicken dishes. Very delicious.
Try it sometime.
Thank you for that story Margie. Yes I agree we have those smells at take you right back to your childhood, one of mine is silage. Quinces are a very special fruit and quite versatile. They make great chutney. 🙂