I meant to write this a month ago before I was ensconced in a sweater and a scarf but as usual time passes far too quickly. It’s hard to believe we’re already well into May and I’ll be turning 4o fricking one in nine days! I remember thinking when I was young that twenty was old. Those were the good ole days!
The days now aren’t so bad though and in fact they’re quite good and we really have no reason to complain. We’re lucky to live in a beautiful country although we could do without John Key running it, but that will pass. We have been in our new house for ten months now and we spent an amazing summer entertaining our friends and family there. The cottage in Coromandel is nearly done with a few minor finishing items to complete. Renovations are moving along at a respectable pace.
As summer changed into autumn I wanted to record some of the things that I really cherished in the last few months. Our vege garden was one of them.
After planting a good selection of crops we had some hits and misses. The broccoli grew into 3 meter tall trees and rarely produced a viable floret but somehow it managed to boost the white fly population (not good). Our green beans however were the star of the garden, producing huge handfuls of beans everyday. Everyday was an adventure searching among the beanstalks for beans that were ready to eat. Missing one that was ready meant it turned into a huge bean the next day. We ate the huge ones too but the smallest were the tastiest. The lettuces and tomatoes did quite well too but the rocket bolted under the hot sun and had to be pulled.
Having a yard this summer meant we spent a lot of time outdoors especially when we weren’t doing renovations on the inside. The bi-fold doors of our dining room opened up the whole house to the outside and vice-versa creating an excellent area for entertaining guests, having numerous bbqs, a big xmas party, and several other casual get-togethers with friends. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner outside under the big umbrella was so refreshing and added a relaxing quality to every meal. Swinging in the hammock under the great grapefruit tree became the perfect place for a nap.
Trips to Coromandel were well planned to include a swim on the way. We didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked in Coro but the times we did make it were fabulous. We had a lot of friends visit us in Coro this year including Aurelia and Etienne and their son Jules with Aurelia’s mom, dad and sister, Julia and Eric and Noah, Diane and Tristram and their boys, David, and Delphine and Lionel and Levana. Plus we were thrilled to have Seb’s dad, Daniel and Jennifer from France.
Now with winter on the way we can look forward to spending time in front of the fire. Not a bad trade-off for colder weather!
