s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So, after a breif lull of “free” time, our schedule has returned to normal.

Last Wednesday before A&S we raided some flax from Maggie and Martins place. They have a totally overgrown garden that they are massively pruning back. This involves, among other things, getting rid of a stand of mature flax. We took away 23 plants just that night, and on Thursday I planted them to be the start of a new wind-breaking shelter belt around the house. In future weeks we will take more of them away to finish the belt.

Friday night it was Pirates on Parade! The St Patricks Day illuminated Night Parade went ahead, and we pirates had a wonderful time. We almost didn’t get started, as our float (which was to be first) got stuck behind a telephone pole, and other floats had to go around while the driver tried to get us unstuck. When we finally got moving he had to drive at well above the parade-mandated 5 kph limit to catch up, with Hillary and I running along side the float like piratical Secret Service agents. It was lots of fun, and the crowd really loved our antics– and the occasional screams of shock and alarm were pleasing, too.

Saturday morning I drove into town to pick up Amy&crew. I had met Amy twice before, she used to work at Millennium in the same group as Judy. She and her husband Max (and 2 year old Ari) are considering moving to NZ, and this is their “check it out” vacation. We took them (plus Amy’s brother Jeremy, who was also in-country for vacation and had hooked up with them) up to the farm to play with a kitten, alpaca, and ponies. They all had a great time, as near as we can tell. Though Ari was a bit overwhelmed at times by the rather large and pushy critters Oak and Max in particular). Plus Amy (at my request) brought 3 (!) boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios. This is my favorite breakfast cereal for which I have not found a local equivalent. I am looking forward to some yummy breakfasts over the coming months (have to ration them out).

Saturday night we had a dinner-party at Stuart and Sibylle’s. Lots of ymuuy food, plus we got to meet their friends Steve and Tam! (Steve with a v in this case, and Tam is short for Tamzin). An interesting couple that met while on a multi-year trip around the world. They moved to NZ as they felt it was the best place to raise their three kids. And after spending months or years in dozens of countries, I guess that says very good things about this place!

Sunday morning we went over to Mike and Lara’s place for instructions in stage fighting (so that the pirates can add to their repetoir). It as fun, though I did find it a bit of a challenge to deliberately telegrapgh my attacks. Over the coming months we will probably get some pirate-like stage swords for the next time the pirates are called upon to abuse the populace. Sunday night Geoff, Beth and Mikhail came over. We didn’t get a chance to watch any Anime, but we did catch up on the Battlestar Galactica episodes we had missed. Fun!

And now the work week has begun. But at least it will be a short one as we are taking Friday off (my birthday) to go up to the Central Districts Field Days in Fielding for some farm-shopping! Woot!