Spot the Rabbit!

Can you see the bunny?



Here it is, staying close to the fenceline...

Spot the Sheep!

Can you see the sheep in the shade?



Here they are, thinking we can't see them...

Foraging

We lacked mint for our raita tonight but James knew of a little plant in the back paddock which smelt of mint. It looked a bit like mint and tasted quite like it.


The raita was good and there's been no ill effects yet. And James even thinks that he's identified the mystery plant - mint bergamot.

Peacock Preening

The peacocks have been visiting again but at least they've left us some presents this time.

Baking Bread

I dusted off my garage sale breadmaker this morning to make my first loaf of bread since primary school.



It rose nicely - perhaps a little too well - until it touched the lid so that the top stayed pale.


But it looked the part once we'd extracted it...


...though it sagged a little as we cut it - perhaps should have waited until it had cooled a bit...


...and it tasted delicious with the imported Dutch cheese which we'd tracked down the night before... Mmm...

Californian Quails

We've been visited this weekend by a family of Californian Quails.



We’ve seen the male and female quails a number of times. They’re quite odd little birds – they can fly but prefer to walk or, more often, run. The male has a feathery topknot which dangles in front of his beak as he dashes about. And the female is quite plain in comparison. But we first saw them with their chicks last weekend.

The mother took the lead with a line of about eight chicks behind her and the father brought up the rear, keeping a close eye for danger (us). They kept close to the edge of the lawn, not far from cover, and acted with almost military precision. The mother stood to one side when they reached their destination and allowed her speckled chicks to climb into the long grass first whilst the father stood back on guard.

I guess that their nest is no more than 20 feet from the house, just in the wildflower meadow at the edge of the cut grass, but I won’t go to inspect until the chicks have flown the nest.

Reality Bites

One thing we didn't have to deal with in Lancashire was mosquitoes. And since we returned home, we've been the meal of the day.

We have one major weapon in our armoury - an electrified plastic bat with which we zap bugs. We'd seen them in China, in the street bars of Yangshuo, but never expected that we'd be able to pick one up outside China.

But in NZ with the Accident Compensation Corporation looking after us, we can take all kinds of risks without government intervention and we found this zapper bat in our local DIY store.


Using the bat is a great sport - five points for a bluebottle, ten points for a mosquito, twenty points for a cockcroach...


But our best line of defence is our new mosquito net. Which James cunningly fixed to the joist above. And which gives me a terrible fright on the odd occasion when I wake up and attempt to leap out of bed.

Christmas Present

Somebody very clever found us an excellent retro telephone to go on our 1960s telephone table. It even co-ordinates with the carpet!

Home from Home

We've had our fill of snowy landsapes over the last few weeks and were pleased to set eyes on our verdant view when we got back this weekend.