Goldfinger (and Goldnose)

Next week it will be back to school in this part of the world, and after a lifetime of summer school holidays, the younger ones are almost at wits end as to what to do with themselves.

Look! You can call me Goldfinger!

Halfway through the morning, Brynn was joined by friends Poppy and Kate for a “girl’s morning out”. Out came the make-up and face-paints, and Brynn got to work on the eager models. After a short debate, Brynn decided that Kate would look good as a cat (no surprises there), and Poppy would be a racoon.

Come into my parlour

Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,
‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I’ve a many curious things to shew when you are there.”
Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

“I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the Spider to the Fly.
“There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin,
And if you like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly tuck you in!”
Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “for I’ve often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!”

-- Mary Howitt (1799 – 1888)

To be or not to be:  ‘Fraid this bee will be no longer. In fact, that the only thing that this bee will ever be again will be dinner for the spider! My eyes would never have spotted this couple, but Brynn, who is constantly on the look-out for bees and their nasty stinging habits, saw it from a mile!

Me and You and a Dog…

Me and you and a dog named Boo
Travellin' and livin' off the land
Me and you and a dog named Boo
How I love being a free man..

A future Marianne in the family?

The smash hit Royals was voted Song of the Year at the prestigious ceremony in Los Angeles after Lorde earlier secured the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. Lorde, whose real name is Ella Maria Lani Yellich O'Connor, accepted the song of the year award with co-writer and producer, New Zealander Joel Little.

Earlier, Lorde appeared shocked and overwhelmed as she accepted the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance.

What has this to do with us, except that we can, for a change, claim to be residents in a country which wins stuff?

Well, this afternoon while I was watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse, I heard the melodious strains of not one guitar, but two, filtering through the shrubbery. It was Bianca coaching Brynn with her guitar lessons.

Lorde is 17 and Brynn is only 9, so perhaps we have a budding future Marianne Faithfull in our midst? She certainly sounds as if she has the aptitude for singing, dancing and music!

A House in Waikanae

In response to requests from a number of readers to blog some pictures of the house and grounds to give an idea of the lay-out, I have taken a few composite photos (using panorama / stitch type software). Apologies that the photos overrun their allotted space.

Above: Looking eastwards across the lawns towards the house (roughly dead-centre) from the wooden Goat Hill fence. Kents Road runs along the back of this picture. Yes, that is Benny grazing in the meadow!

Above: Looking South from the driveway copse, with part of the orchard in the foreground, the adolescent veggie patch to the right of centre and the proposed chicken run down beyond the shed. The magnificent pines line the border of the property all along Kents Road in the background. (One can just make out the Goat Hill wooden fence on the extreme right.)

Above: The house and driveway from the gate in Kents Road. To the right of the garage is the wood shed and water tank areas, with the mower garage and greenhouse down the pathway on the right.

Above: View of the house from the “front” lawn at The Snake. The kitchen yard and jardien potager beyond the trellis are on the left; The door to the left of the conservatory is from the dining room. To the right of the conservatory is the lounge, with the main bedroom on the right. Tyler’s room occupies the upstairs area.

It’s a hard rain a-gonna fall…

"Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been my darling young one?"

"I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans"

"I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain a-gonna fall"

The much-awaited rain came late yesterday afternoon with such excitement you’d swear we live in a desert or something.

Well, sort of excitement. Because we wanted to see how effective the cleaning of the downpipe had been, and how efficient the water harvesting process has become. This can only be determined if you have a reasonably substantial downpour.

The weather forecaster had promised that the lower half of North Island would get such a substantial shower or two late Sunday, and true to form, he was correct.

We work on the following criteria:

Main tank dimensions: D =3.00, h = 2.400
From my old maths formula:  Pi r²h = 22/7 x 1.700 x 1.700 x 2.400 = 21.79Kl

Allowing for the overflow to the secondary tank and ullage allowance, the tank therefore has a nominal capacity of 20,000 litres. A 2.4 metre length of profile beading salvaged from the shed and marked off in 220 mm graduations by Tyler produces a practical and durable dipstick… as long as it stays in one piece.

A dip of the tank at 11:00 am shows that the level lies at the 12.25Kl mark. Now bring on the rain!

The roof area is approximately 250 square metres. Therefore, assuming optimum efficiency and minimal leakage and loss, for every 1mm of rainfall, we should collect 250 litres of potable water.

This morning, we dipped the tank once more, and within the limits of practical accuracy, I am please to report that the approximately 19mm of downpour last evening caused the level in the tank to rise to 17Kl, being about 4,750 litres. Quite conveniently, 19 x 250 litres is precisely what we were expecting.

Like all good scientists, we will repeat the exercise when the next heavy rains come. In the meantime, Tyler is busy preparing the overflow tank so that we don’t waste any precious water.

Can you feel the excitement? Next time you open a council-supplied water-tap, please remember those who look towards the skies for theirs.

In an English country garden…

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
I'll tell you now of some that I know
And those I miss you'll surely pardon

Saturday and Sunday 25/26 January arrives and we’re all set and ready to go on the 2014 Waikanae Super Garden Trail, a Waikanae Lions project supporting Mary Potter Hospice and the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. All in all, there are 12 homes on the list of selected gardens in the town of Waikanae.

 
I am not much of a fundi when it comes to the various plants in any garden, so I trust I will be excused for not being able to identify any of the blooms in these photos.

Strolling in one of the larger gardens.

This is not plastic… a genuine specimen, I promise.

Cute little green monster with peculiar feet…

Clayton stands in a bamboo plantation growing in one of the larger gardens.

A perfectly laid-out petanque (boule) field of varied small pebbles. Very nice. It is part of a 7-acre informal garden of streams, specimen trees in a park-style setting, with boardwalks, ponds and native bush settings in Puriri Road.

Reflections in a pond…

Some parts of some gardens have that “wow” factor, even for a garden philistine like me…

Resting up the tired dogs in a cool nook …

A stream running through the Puriri Road garden. Most picturesque…

An oriental influence in one of the more formal gardens…

There wasn’t even a hint of a breeze, and thus the waters were mirror-like.

Crossing the ponds on boardwalks…

 

The long and winding (Ngatiawa) Road

I try to follow the golden rule of remembering to carry a camera when strolling along in nature the road. When we went on a short stroll along Ngatiawa Road (east) this morning, I took it along, only to find that I’ve already photographed most of the noteworthy scenes.

Then I spotted the remains of the tree with which Richard the Woodcutter had almost blocked off Kents Road traffic: The photo does not do the height from which it fell any justice at all -  the top of that ridge is a good five/six storeys above the road. You don’t want to be standing here when he fells one of these pine giants! The ‘arrows’ sign has nothing to do with the tree-slide – it indicates the one-way narrow bridge over the river up ahead.

 

I looked around for more ordinary scenes, with these results:

Hi from Billy at the Ngatiawa/Kents T-junction

Lots of pretty weeds, seeds and wild flowers to be seen along the verge.

The winding road…

Mr Arachna designed his new home with one nice rectangular window. Then he got bored and made a whole bunch of funky odd-shaped ones.

The sun filtering through the trees at this peaceful scene with a wooden paddock gate.

The canopy above the road ahead creates a complete roof: ideal shelter if you get caught in an unexpected rain-shower.

A Japanese Wish

It’s not every day that I buy a car, so please indulge me a bit on this second time in 14 years that I have managed to drive a used second-hand pre-owned car. Last time it was a Toyota Camry, which lasted for 14 years. Today, another Toyota has joined the family – a wagon called the Wish.

Introducing the Toyota Wish…

As can be seen in the picture above, there are three rows of seats, enough to cater for the whole family without any arguments. In fact, with average sized passengers, one can easily fit a seventh.

 
Alternatively, a whole bunch of seats can be folded flat, giving what is tantamount to an indoor LDV with a flat load deck and convenient loading height.

The interior is spacious, with plenty of leg-room and true to the Toyota reputation which we’ve become accustomed to, a reasonably simple instrument lay-out. At 52,000 k’s this 2006 model is in excellent condition and runs well.