We got a nice update from Corey that the cats are doing fine in their new home after a period of adjustment. As we expected, they seem to have him well trained already as concerns nighttime feeding requirements, playtime, etc. This pose, which we recognize very well, indicates the need for the human to come rub the royal tummy, whilst preparing for some friendly biting and playing, as long as the cat isn’t actually required to do any work.
Eat your veg!
It’s Saturday morning, which means spin class and farmers market. Our little market only has a dozen or so vendors, but we’ve embraced the idea and are trying to shop there regularly and cook at home. As a result, we’re definitely eating more veg and of course saving money by not eating in restaurants.
So far… and this is winter…
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Chillies of a few different kinds
- Sweet potato
- Pumpkin (they eat more pumpkin here, mostly in soup)
- Lemons
- Limes
- Mandarins
- Tamarillos
- Jam
- Honey
- Yogurt
- Fennel
- Leek
- Walnuts
- Broccolini
- Carrots
- Cucumber
- Cauliflower
- Mung bean sprouts
- Arugula
- Bibb lettuce
- Courgettes, aka zucchini
- Smoked salmon
- Avocados
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Oranges
- Spinach
As well as some good breakfast / brunch food.
Just a walk in the park
Another fine Sunday, so we set out to explore a few streets in the neighborhood that we hadn’t been down before. No shortage of nice houses, etc.
We ended up on Lovers Lane, a nice trail in the Auckland Domain, and decided to see if we could find the suspected connector trail down to the Parnell train station.
This parrot (which turns out to be an Eastern Rosella) put on quite a show for us. We had glimpsed one before, and we know they are reasonably common here, but this was our first good viewing.
In a matter of a few hundred yards, and only a few less metres, we passed from parklike meadows to deep forest.
And then, in the middle of the forest, behind a construction fence, we found a tiny little illicit skate park. Just three little features on a slab… one rail, one kerb, one ledge. Thinking of you, Scotty.
These big trees are really big… maybe not California redwood big, but bigger than any non-giant-redwood tree I’ve ever seen.
Then, we found the train station parking area, seen here through the lovely vegetation, which let us know that we were back within striking distance of a pint and a nice plate of duck liver pâté. What great explorers we are!!
The Winter Garden
Today we visited the Winter Garden in the Auckland Domain. Beautiful… as if all the exotic houseplants you’ve ever seen in stores were growing perfectly, mostly at about double size.
Lee’s hair gets a little frizzy with all the wind and humidity…
Next time, we will see the outdoor fernery…….
Propping up the entire health system
Who says structured vocabularies don’t solve practical problems???
(I don’t usually talk about work here, but this was too funny for me to pass up. A bit of an inside joke for those of you who read this outside of that context.)
Spring!
It’s not like we don’t have warm climates in the US… and I’ve even lived in those climates at various times in my life.
But I’m still agog at daffodils in early “February.”
A postcart from Auckland
These little carts, which are allowed right up on the sidewalk, er, footpath, are how letter carriers carry letters here.
I spoke to the driver, who said that they are a whole lot of fun, and make his job much easier. Apparently, now that online shopping is starting to take off, they have to deliver a lot more parcels than they used to…
Vote early and twice
The election campaign is in full swing here, reaching what passes for a fever pitch in New Zealand. That means that there are signs like this one… It is not the same level of fever pitch that I am familiar with from the States.
But there has been some excitement… The woman in this photograph, who has been the co-leader of the Green party, had to resign this week from her post after she revealed dodgy welfare benefits she received many years ago. On the one hand, fairly minor offenses, but on the other, as leader of her Party she was held to a very high standard. We will never know whether that standard was even higher due to her being female and of Maori descent. But probably yes.
Everyone gets two votes, one for their local member of Parliament, and another for their political party of choice. There is a system of proportional representation, and so if a party gets more votes than its individual candidates, they are awarded some party seats to make up the difference. Awesome in my opinion.
Here be dragons
Lurking under the motorway…
Bumber-shot
Looks like this may emerge as a theme…
Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile
The Peace Mile looks out across the cricket grounds (fields? pitches? courts? I have no idea and so far choose to maintain my cricket ignorance) at the Auckland Domain.
Retail Therapy
We had a fun day last weekend, including a lot of shopping. Apples and cherry tomatoes from the farmers market, a super-nice mandoline from a fancy kitchen store, and – finally – a bottle of sriracha from the Asian grocery.
Those, along with all our other things, beat up our good intentions, and we called an Uber to get home.
Blue Sky Ideas
Look at that beautiful blue sky! What’s that? Hard to see the sky behind the giant LED billboard that’s being installed? Oh well, there’s lots of other places with no billboards.
Attention to detail
These little wooden coffee stirrers seem to be the default here in NZ.
Every morning at work, the little cup of stirrers is arranged in a perfect spiral. Some cleaning person has found a way to make their efforts visible, and it does give me a smile.
Kinda free, kinda wow, Charlie!
Walking back from the farmers market on Saturday we ran into Charlie sitting on the street. Lee recognized that he was all alone, and convinced me that we had to do something. And so we made a few calls, and finding nobody answering at his home number, took him home with us.
Within an hour the Animal Welfare people showed up… a woman who could totally play an idealistic and highly motivated animal welfare officer on TV… and then just as we were going to turn Charlie over to her, Charlie’s owners showed up and he was very happily reunited with his real family. Yay!
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 