LOOKING AHEAD...

Yes, indeed...today, I bought "a few" bulbs for Spring colour and perfume. I did search on-line for some old favourites, but I think I was a little tardy and all the nurseries I checked were "out of stock."

Ah, well, maybe I'll be lucky next year. What's that?  You want to know what I couldn't find? Freesia "Burtonii." Not so easy to find (although I'd bet the house-keeping budget that canny gardeners  have been growing these treasures for generations!) 

I shan't whinge, but it's a great loss to many that they are so hard to find, having been pushed out by newer colours with longer, straighter stems.

But today I bought (for starters) Hyacinths, 2 of each in white, yellow and blue. And bag of mixed double daffodils. And, because I still had a few shekels and my eye had said "buy!" I also got an Angelonia in a glorious dark purple.

Angelonia

Mixed daffs

Hyacinths

These pictures are from the Web, obviously! But I do hope I'll have some stunning images to show you in a few months!

We drove across the highway to do some other shopping this morning and I made a mental note to take a camera next time, as most trees are beginning to show the season's colour change.. The oaks across the lane from our house are yellowing and I think I saw a liquidamber this morning. And the giant magnolias still have big cream flowers, but I notice a lot are seeding.Might need to wear a pith helmet...

                       

                                          Again, from the web.

                                               Liquiamber

And one day last week we took a ferry ride across the Waitemata Harbour to Hobsonville to visit The Man's cousin. What a fabulous catch-up! We swapped old stories and laughed a lot and agreed that we must keep in touch. So, lunch at ours next time.

And that's about all I have time for. 

         

BACK IN THE SADDLE....

 ...  or,as Ms Minnelli would have it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPBIYCN_4WY&list=RDMM&index=6

We've been out and about, getting used to riding buses and trains. The traffic here is mind-boggling!

But we'll skip that bit and get on with the story...

An old school friend in Taupo had suggested we head down there for a Memory Lane Trip.

He booked us a hotel (right on the lake front!) and the next day drove us over to the places we'd lived as children. That unleashed a veritable avalanche of memories!

Still some stands of old native bush.

Mangakino Stream, which ran into the Waikato River which, in early 1950s, became Lake Maraetai...

And this is the lake today. Gone is the old fenced-off swimming lagoon and gone, too, the Speed Boat club house. The town had a very strong following of racing boaters and throughout summers races were often held here. To the right (not in shot) is the golf course.

This taken and sent to me by a friend in 2023. It's drone shot, looking West to the township. The golf course is on the left.

Last week, we did a trial run to the City by train. Easy-peasy! So we repeated it two days later and met friends from England who'd arrived on a cruise ship and were staying ashore for a week before flying back to England. Via Doha!!

Bob, Dinah and Peter

               Kathy, Dinah and Peter

And back at home again we've made a start on revamping the garden. We might still get some mini tomatoes, but most of the salad leaves have bolted and will be replaced when I manage to get some seedlings. !And that nursery trip will also include bulbs for Spring flowers-YAY!

At lunchtime I came in from the garden looking like a kangaroo...my sweater's pouch-pocket was bulging with, not joeys, but feijoa windfalls. Yummy! 

We've managed to rescue one edible peach which looked and tasted like a Golden Queen and an apple tree has a reasonable crop, but they need to be a bit bigger and I suspect the birds might beat me to them!

But I'm loving having a garden in "easy" soil after long years of struggle.

left to right: basil,parsley,nasturtiums and angelonia- and- sweet- peas.