It’s almost the first day of winter, and certainly we’ve had the odd cooler evening and chilly morning but overall it’s been incredibly mild.
Right now, mid-morning I’ve just been for a walk in short sleeves on a sunny day. Amazing.
Perhaps our change in altitude helps. It would have been a damp, chily morning down on the flat today. Look at these two photos, one from 6:30, the others from 7, and town is invisible, blanketed with low cloud.
6:30, with the aid of the camera flash which makes it seem brighter than it was, no sign of town7am, no flash needed, still no twn but it’s lifting, you can see a little more of the trees and shore between our neighbour’s and the tall trees at the bottom 7am, the sun is up but hidden behind the ridge for us
By comparison, here’s a morning view of town from a few weeks back
The sun is also behind the ridge in tbis photo
In the garden things are still growing and blossoming. Here are some recent photos of a handful of our hibiscus – we have about a dozen, all in different colours.
Two weeks after the lst scan I finally have a date for my next oncologist appointment: 4 June.
Given the casual nature of the conversation I had with the bookings clerk (who was going to ring sometime in the next fortnight to make an appointment if I hadn’t rung her first), I can only assume they saw nothing upsetting in the scan results, which is a positive thing.
My Auckland oncologist, Michelle, has referred me to the public team in my own region, which should mean shorter trips overall and also it’s free rather than seeing her on my medical insurance and paying the shortfall, but I can still contact Michelle if I’m worried about anything.
According to the appointment letter my new oncologist will be Sarah, though it also says ‘or registrar’ so we’ll have to wait and see. I have to go to Hamilton for this first appointment but after that apparently appointments, scans and treatment can all be done in Thames which is much more convenient.
It’s good to have a date. Another full day of travel but then shorter trips after that sound very good.
The weather this weekend was great and we made good use of it.
My clotheline area is now cobbled, so no more walking on the dewy grass.
My husband and father-in-law levelling th groundHalfway done, stopped for a cup of teaCobbles are done so the washing can finally get out
The washing got out mid afternoon and surpriningly all but three items did get dry before we lost the sun for the day. Impressive for the time of the year.
While the boys were busy cobbling, I was alternating between, cooking, dyeing wool, and yes resting as well.
I was recently given a second hand pie maker, so gave that a go with some leftover beef stew to make steak pies.
12 steak pies
I’m still figuring out how long to cook them, whether or not to eggwash the tops, and so on. The machine only does two at a time so it was an exercise in patience waiting for it to cool down beween sets.
Fortunately I had the dyeing to fill in the gaps. It’s been nearly 18 months since I last did any, and finding all the various bits proved harder than expected as things have gotten scattered. I was hoping to use my avocado and onion leftovers – the the avocado skins and pits are taking up space in the freezer – but those have to be done in two steps for best results and I couldn’t find my alum. We found it on Sunday but by then it was really too late. I’ll do that over the next few weeks.
So for this time I’m using Ashford acid dyes. I have three colours left over from my last dye experiments in late 2024: violet, orange and coal. I suspect they’re well past when they should have been used but the results show the violet at least is still potent.
The set up on the front deck while the cobbling was happening out the backThe result, 4 dye lots in different shades
Mixing the dyes in different propotions gave me a range of purples doen to a dusky rose. That last is mostly orange with just a little violet.
I still have yarn left for the avocado and onion dyeing when I get to them.
For a start it was supposed to be raining but while it was misty and damp, it wasn’t actually raining.
Town with the clouds breaking up. See the low drift of white cloud over the bay
Then as I was packing the car, I saw a kereru/native wood pigeon in the neighbour’s tree over our driveway. I tried hard to get a picture without chasing it away. You’ll have to zoom in.
The road was wet and misty but traffic was light. I’d left very early both for the weather conditions and for the roadworks on Pumpkin Hill before Tairua, and ended up arriving a full hour early. Which proved fortuitous as I was taken in early and was on my way out of town before my scheduled appointment.
By the time I left it was turning into a nice day in Thames. Still misty over the hills and dreary and wet between Hikuai and Tairua, but from there it was brighter. Here’s the view from the roadworks queue on Pumpkin Hill, showing sreaks of blue in the cloud cover.
It was beautiful between Coroglen and Whenuakite but then started clouding over again in Whitianga. There were more roadworks just coming into town, so I took another snap then
View towards townClouds coming over the hills
It’s rained a little since I got home, but I’m home and it’s warm and the trip is done. Yay.
No word yet on the next appointment but at least the scan is done.
It’s been a very normal last few weeks. My energy levels are improving, I’m doing longer hours at work, and I’m having fewer medical appointments.
Speaking of which, I do have a scan bioked for Wednesday, but it’s in Thames, so a 3 hour round trip rather than 3 hours one way, so that’s good too. There will be another oncologist appointment sometime after that but I don’t have the date for that yet. I’m hoping that might also be in Thames this time. We’ll see.
In the meantime I’ve been doing some spinning in the hope of having a dyeing day (that’s dyeing with an e) in a few weeks. I’ve done some thin yarn, niw I want to do some skeins of thicker yarn.
My husband, though, has been busy at work on the laundry and outside. Here are a few photos of his progress.
Destroying the old hot water cupboard to make more room in the laundryPutting on the framing for the wallThe wall is up and lined, it’ll be stopped and painted laterRubble in the alcove of the toilet room, ready for conversion into a broom cupboard The new broom closet is cut into the wall to the left of the laundryThe broom closet door from the inside, with tiles cut awayNew wall between toilet and broom closet taking shapeThe glasshouse with all intact glass panes in place (over half were already broken before the move)Glasshouse steps taking shape, first plants inside and a new Meyer lemon planted outside to the leftThe new washing line with planning for the cobbled space beneath still in planning
As you can see there’s plenty still to do, but he’s getting a lot done.
It’s been an interesting week. The other day I spotted a new fruit tree on the property, a red guava half buried in the flowers at the top of the driveway.
But I titled this post for the kittens because I haven’t posted any photos of them in awhile.
They’ve grown significantly, now at 6 months. One or both of them tend to join me at work, usually in their beds bit sometimes making an appearance during video calls. They now go in and out at will, and are involved in everything. Here’s a small montage of recent moments that prompted me to take photos.
As can be seen in the photos, Leroy enjoys a cuddle. Daisy likes my lap when I’m crafting which is never a good time for a photo.
Those in NZ will know but for the rest of my readers: sorry, I should have postedon Monday to confirm that all was well. The storm ended up veering east and did far less damage than it might have done if it had stayed on track. We had a couple of strong gusts that made the roof creak and the town got cut off again by flooding, trees down and slips, and some areas lost power for some hours, but overall it wasn’t too bad.
lumpy mid-tide before the storm hit
Westerly winds were worse than the earlier easterlies
We stayed inside and kept busy. The laundry renovations started with the demolition of the old hot water cupboard
Meanwhile I bottled some more pears, made some feijoa chutney and some home made tomato salsa.
I’ve got about 3 batches of pears to go though we’re now just eating them fresh, too. It’s a good sign my stamina is improving because a few weeks ag I couldn’t have managed so much, even with breaks between.
So it was a safe, happy and oddly productive weekend ignoring the weather outside.
Red sky at night, cyclone nearly in sight… that’s how the rhyme goes, isn’t it?
Seriously, we’re well prepared for the coming chaos so I think we’ll be okay, though I fully expect road closures and probably power cuts. The biggest worry is the garage because the builder has been delayed and therefore hasn’t fixed the hole in one corner, but we have sand bags in place.
Sunday will be the worst, it’s pretty much all over by Monday.
If the power stats on I’ll probably do some baking. If it’s off, I’ll be spinning. Plans for every contingency 🙂
An unexpectedly industrious long weekend here. The posts are in for the new washing line…
…the glasshouse retaining wall is up and the frame established…
…and the old wardrobe walls in Nathan’s room have been demolished (further work required)
Anyway it’s Sunday morning and time for church on the most important day of the church calendar, but there’s been enough time to make fresh hot cross buns for breakfast. Yum.
I said I wouldn’t update until tomorrow but we’re home beore dark so I’ll do a quick one.
I travelled okay, slow going on wet roads but overall the traffic was steady.
The scan shows absolutely no growth in my organs, so that’s wonderful news. The oncologist is going to get back to us after Easter with next steps but it’s likely to be another scan in about 6 weeks. Close monitoring is the plan here.
To finish the day we’ve arrived home to a house without power. Seems it’s a local fault, and it’s being worked on, so glad it isn’t already dark. We’re off to locate the candles and torches in case it persists longer than expected.
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