I've always enjoyed that little punctuation puzzle. Time does move relentlessly onward, though, regardless of how slowly it seems to go when we are in the middle of something we don't particularly enjoy; or how rapidly it appears to go when we look back and see how long it has been since, say, our children were small. It has been awhile since I last posted anything here, so enough of this preamble, and on to the body of this little epistle.
We never tire of the view we have from our house - especially the one looking out to the ocean. There is something about the ocean that draws one to it.
Of course, the view across the valley of South Dunedin is impressive as well, even if it is filled with houses and businesses. It is especially pretty when the fog rolls in.
Karen didn't know anything about gall bladders until I took her to the urgent doctor and they sent us on to hospital. The next day she had surgery. Then the long recovery period and the after-effects of the surgery. She's discovered that eating some foods is no longer a good idea and that her nails and hair also take a while to recover.
Karen continues to be the center of my life. In addition to the great views from our house, we enjoy the closeness of the beach at St Clair. We can take a 30 - 40 minute walk that includes a round trip to the esplanade. There's usually a group of surfers busy catching the waves, even in the rain.
Looking through our photos, I find mostly pictures of our three grandkids, but for now I'll focus on our activities.
We took a trip to Wellington to visit the Mitchells in July. Talk about views! Here's one from their house. They've spent almost a year remodeling it and improving on it. It now has a lovely airy and modern feel. I think Karen got some ideas about remodeling from them, because she's started talking about changes we can make to our house (the one we were just going to move into and live in).
While in Wellington, we visited the Karorai Game Reserve. We had to have our bags checked for rodents before we could go in, because most of the wildlife in the reserve is birds. This was built on what used to be the water supply for Wellington. There are walking tracks in it that could take all day to traverse. They even had a little motor launch to take you from one end of the lake to the other and get up close to some of the birds in the process.
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and the government is mostly consolidated in the building behind us, called the Beehive. It is very unusual and was voted one of the 10 ugliest buildings in the world last year, but I kind of like it. It is probably related to my sense of style. Karen takes me shopping with her as a sort of litmus paper - if I don't like it, it is probably stylish; if I do like it, she'd better not buy it.
One day in Wellington, while the Mitchells were busy with work and getting ready for their first grand baby, we took the train up the coast to Paraparaoumou and spent a couple of hours walking along the beach and dining at at a local cafe. After it started to rain pretty seriously, we took the train back. We nearly missed it, though, because we didn't realize that Paraparaoumou is the end of the line, so the train that pulled into the station from the south is the one to catch to go south as well.
One weekend when John, Sara, and Eli were visiting we decided to visit Larnauch castle. We didn't know they were having a wine tasting that day, but took advantage of the booths spread out on the lawn after we'd toured the castle and grounds. It was an idyllic sunny, warm Sunday afternoon. Talk about serendipity!
Even now we find ourselves thinking, "we live in a place that others visit on their holiday". This was a combined Saturday morning Farmer's Market and Global Warming Awareness event. Behind Karen (brown pants and white shirt) is the old train station - said to be one of the most photographed buildings in the country.
We've been enjoying gardening this year and are trying out a few different things.
The potatoes we had last year grew from compost we'd spread in the garden before leaving for a Northern hemisphere Christmas. They impressed us enough that this year we actually planted some. The plants are lush. I hope the potatoes are abundant as well.
Lettuce grows very well here, but pulling our the ornamentals on our raised planter beside our patio was the ticket to increased visibility and pleasure.
We planted a Thai chile plant that has peppers that range from purple to yellow to red as they ripen.
We've even tried some warm-weather plants like squash this year. This is generally not a good idea. We have to plant tomatoes in the green house to get them to bear.
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