Garden Goodies

My Mummy and Daddy Box

I often feel a little jealous when my friend Viki blogs about the things she gets and creates with her regularly delivered Ooooby Box. Today I came home with a whole heap of fresh garden goodies of my own, which came together thanks to my parents. I am calling it my Mummy and Daddy Box -  an array of produce fresh from the garden at Fothergills on Mimiha; carrots, beetroot, beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauli, broccoli and feijoas.

Plus a few extra things that also originated from the garden, such as...

Forgot to include the feijoas in the ensemble above!

• Several jars of preserved feijoa and apple (last year's lot being palmed off to make way for this years!)
• A coupe of jars of my favourite Bread and Butter pickles.
• A fat pork chop, bacon and ham steaks

The latter items came from a home grown piggy -  who would have been raised on scraps from the garden...

Dinner smells delicious!

There's No Place Like "Home"...

5 Reasons Why it's Great to Come "Home"

1. The dogs LOVE it
2. Awesome photographic opportunities
3. Yummy food :)
4. Someone to drink wine with (thanks Mum)
5. This man...

Anyone else eat too much?

Christmas ... a laid back day with simple but simply delicious food, including ...
Turkey
Ham
Slaatje
Salads
Salmon
Ambrosia
Ice-cream
Cake
Turkish delight
Peber Nodder
and fresh summer berries... prepared and modeled by the girl clad in cherries, Lisa. Who would not add pineapple because it was the wrong colour. I approve!
All consumed in typical Kiwi style outdoors, in the summer sun. It was great to have Esther spend Christmas with us - honorary 'daughter' and ex rotary exchange student of John and Frances. She brought the Pebernodder, which are very more-ish! Little crunchy biscuity delights which you can still squeeeeze in even when you have no room. I will still be full in the morning, that's for sure!
But with two family birthdays tomorrow and the next day, the eating fest is set to continue for a wee while yet...

Barking Mad #2

I say this often... 'People who know me well..."
And again I start with this phrase...
People that know me well know that I do NOT camp. A holiday for me includes all the creature comforts of home - and more if I am honest.
So, it may come as a bit of a surprise to some that here I am at 'home', sleeping in a tent - by choice.
This is a concession I chose to make, for the love of my dogs, and out of respect for my Mum.
I have visited many times with Hugo and Reilly. They started off sleeping in the garage or laundry, but of late had eked their way into my bedroom, with my mother's blessing, even though I know she is not in favour of 'inside dogs '. Now I have three dogs, I felt that it was unfair to try and wangle them all into my inside bedroom. Yet I was reluctant to have them spend their Christmas in the laundry... so when it was mentioned that we may need the tent to accommodate all the family at Christmas time, I bravely put my hand up to sleep there, with my boys.

It's actually quite a cool little set up, as the photos show. And across from the tent, is my 'day room' - the old shade house which is now a place I can sit and read or edit photos...

So just at this moment it seems like a holiday adventure, though this time tomorrow, my opinions may have changed...

PS Photos courtesy of Camera+, iPhone

Say "Cheese"

I quite like supermarket shopping, though am decidedly predictable in what I buy. Today, with a sizable gift voucher burning a hole in my pocket, I moseyed around New World in Botany Downs selecting things I rarely buy  - well not all at once - and depositing them with gay abandon into my trolley. My contributions for the Christmas table and ensuing days at with the family at home in Matata. A few cheeses here, smoked salmon and smoked chicken there, other nibbly bits that I love but am always either too tight or diet conscious to purchase... and quite a few bottles of wine. Needless to say, the voucher amount was easily exceeded. 

Where's Home?

It's hard to answer this question for me.
I live in Auckland. I am 'home' as I type. My things are here, my dogs only know this place as home. When I head for this place, I say I am going home.
But I also say I am going home when I am headed here, to Mum and Dad's. Who knows for how much longer; it's an extensive  property and not matter how fit my parents are, it won't be a home destination forever. Just thinking about that makes me sad.
And then there's this place in the photos. Other than my family home above, it's really the only house that's felt like home to me. Whilst I don't think I will ever live in it again, it's hard to let go of. Hence, I still own it. And the city it's in feels so much like home that I take it personally when a bloody great ship grounds itself out from the coast, potentially sullying my 'home'.

Reflecting on a Great Day

Well at 8 am this morning it looked as though Mum and Dad's 50th anniversary celebration would be completely washed out. Heaviest rain I have seen in the longest time. Couldn't even see to the end of the once-was 'tennis court'. Mum even contemplated moving proceedings to the local hall.

But fortunately by late morning the skies had brightened and whilst the sun did not show itself, the rain stayed away and is only now reappearing as I write this. 

It was really good to see all of Mum and Dad's friends from the local area come along to celebrate with and support them, But best of all for me was seeing family that we don't often get to spend time with. Really there wasn't enough time today though. So we have made promises to maintain the contact, and to plan some get-togethers. I really hope we honour those commitments.

The above photo was actually taken by my uncle on my brother's camera so I cannot lay claim to it. I have made sure that I have 'stolen' all of his photos as well so I can have the full complement of memories to reflect on. 

This one is taken on the jetty of the lake at the bottom of the house. I think it's choice.

Bloody Bewdy Boy

Thought I'd better do my post now before I get caught up in the meet and greet of uncles and aunts long not seen etc etc...
Came down to Matata in the rain accompanied by my 9 year old niece Megan today. She informs me her school is doing a "...'s Got Talent" show and that she is going to do a comedy routine. She's got her introductory joke off pat, to be delivered in a Scottish accent, and is formulating what the rest of the content may comprise.
One idea we spoke about was incorporating the 'Fothergill Vernacular".  Megan nominates 'goob' as one of 'our' words.  It's a derivation of '''good' and is generally followed by 'boy' as in 'gooboy', and was probably created by my Dad. As was 'Bloody bewdy boy'.

I am sure there will be more laughs to be had as the weekend evolves. And maybe even some tears - of the 'goob' kind...

Fothergills, out .

Things we look forward to

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a while now - and this isn't the last time it'll be the subject of a blog post.
Big family shindig in my Turangawaewae, Matata, this weekend. Double celebration. Lots of friends and whanau we won't have seen for a while, and probably won't see again for another long while.
So I've wrapped the presents. For the recipients, I hope they are something to look forward to for you, too!