Gardens Galore

 

 

In New Zealand today is Labour Day, paradoxically, a day on which not to labour! So true to this mantra, I went with my friend Brenda to look round Little River Gardens; revealing their secrets to both to the hol polloi, like us, and also to the Canterbury gardening ellite. As a transplant myself, I have never felt I fitted in to the, descendants of the First Four Ships, club. This is not nearly as prevalent as when we originally arrived in 1976 but lurks uncomfortably just beneath the surface to be revealed if one inadvertantly scratches the skin of a Merrivale lady! To return to the gardens; they were a source of inspiration and joy. It was wonderful for so many to open their gates to us and generously share thier private havens with the masses. The photo is of Ecostay, a magical place in Okuti, where nature has been joyfully played with and artfully eaggerated. Round every tree there is a surprise, a circle of trees pruned to create a sitting space or an arbour of willows containing a bench from which to while away the view. It is heartening to see what can be done using the trees themselves: nature adapted beautifully.We do not need to spend vast quantities of money to achieve harmony, in fact I would go as far as saying the opposite is very much more likely.

Cool Cabbage Cat

This all started with a photo on FB of my little cat Molly up a Cabbage tree. It is a game we play every morning whe she hangs upside down and I poke with a long leaf from the said tree. She had so many comments, especially one from Jim calling her a Cool Cabbage Cat!

Here she is! I am still learning the esoteric art of the blog, made all the more difficult
 because my 'b' is only just hanging on by it's teeth and I wonder what will happen if it gives up the ghost completely. The challenge of writing without it is eyond my imaginings! My stories would be even less likely to be looked at by those fierce publishers and agents sitting at their desks ready with a big, or in my case 'ig', red pen. So to return to the blog. I have just been through the painful process of uploading or downloading my book, Drifter, onto createspace. I'm sure the process has been made as simple as possible and I'm usually quite good at things 'Computer' but this was indeed a process riddled with pitfalls and required the patience of a proverbial saint (which I am not).
Now my challenge is to write a story about said cat. I have many stories and will try some out on here along with relevant photos.
Now it is time to stop and survey the damage wreaked by the relentless Nor'wester. Even the cats have taken refuge under the flax plants. Liz has been and collected a chair for her wondrous flower shop due to open in the Tannery ( check blog) next week. And Miss Molly the Cool Cabbage Cat is doing busy cat things in my garden (or next door's).