Waiting My Turn.

                      First some flowers to brighten a dull day.

 I just picked these late Graham Thomas rose blooms for the kitchen bench. Everything in the garden has had a drink from the rain ( about 40 mls plus in the last few days (and nights )

 There seems to be a big cross over of seasons as it is Autumn by the calendar and leaves all on the ground particularly under the flowering cherries. In the garden below them are Jonquils and Paper whites flowering. ( the 1st of Spring Bulbs )

 Anyway they are both welcome spots of colour and great perfume when inside the house.

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Second is my experience yesterday as I waited my turn first at the Doctors then at the AA.

 In less than 2 weeks I will be 75 so therefore have to renew my Driver's Licence.. I made a Drs.. appointment by phone on Monday. and get one the next day .No my previous doctor no longer works there ( that has happened so often. ) (I last was at the Drs in February 2018. - that's part of the problem - I'm not sick )  But you may see Dr. J.  - OK. 

 I arrive about 10 minutes early. R drops me off and goes to do some other errands.

 I dutifully read all the covid Notices at the door.then enter to be told to not approach the counter but call out my name, sanitise my hands and put on a provided mask. All of which I do and stand near the door where told.to wait. An old man pushes past me and goes to the counter where they get shouted at to move back and stay in line. Unbelievably this happens twice more. None did as they were asked and all pushed  in ahead of me in quite close proximity. I elect to wait out the door on chairs provided - . it is quite chilly.  I get beckoned in by the reception lady....... she doesn't recognise she has already asked me all the questions SO Again I tell her my name and which Dr I think I am seeing. Oh you could sit over there now she says as the waiting area is empty. After 25 minutes waiting in total the said Dr calls me in. He is young and pleasant. We talk about how his small under 5's coped during lock down while he takes my blood pressure ( which is good ). then he listens with his stethoscope through my clothing and says, sounds good to me. He takes my pulse. 

 He asks me if I am happy to be driving still. I reply yes but hate the traffic...so does he. Then we have to do the eye sight chart.. I have to say well either I read it with my glasses off  ( and fail ) or I take my mask off cause my glasses are all fogged up. He laughs ( cause he's not wearing one. )  I pass the eye chart and the peripheral vision test and he says I could get a truck driver's licence with that result haha. 

I am sorry there is an additional charge at the moment. I say that's okay but am astounded when I get back to reception to be charge NZ $77.50

R is back and waiting . We go home for lunch.

 Feeling that I would like to get this all sorted I go to town to the AA. I wait in a queue on the pavement standing on the marks provided for acceptable social distancing. A very "with it" young lady gets my details and mobile # at the door...then 2 minutes later texts me to tell me I am in the queue. ( she had all the skills the Medical centre  receptionist lacked ) Slowly, ever so slowly we move to the next mark on the floor. 5 ladies are working behind the counter. WE can hear all the conversations. My legs are getting tired from standing still so I do some on the spot exercises. I chat to those around me. We all look at the display stands we are weaving our way around. It is quite social but so, so slow.

 My turn takes less than five minutes - photo an all . I had all the forms filled in correctly and 45 minutes  from the start I have a temporary licence till my new one arrives in the post That was only NZ$18..

 I now realise going to the supermarket was a breeze. Some businesses are taking almost no precautions; others' systems are a night mare. And they are ALL different.

 Anyway that little exercise to be a current Licence holder took up a large chunk of yesterday.

Day 50 ( 14th May 2020 )

 My hand holding up one of the Christmas cactus ( not in NZ its a Zygo Cactus ) flowers.

Day 50  but  the first day at Level 2 in NZ. ( less restrictions )  A week since I posted anything.

 Some progress has been made however ...small steps. Yesterday I went and shopped by myself at my usual  NW. I hadn't forgotten how to drive or how to shop...it ended up being rather a big order but at least it was all stuff I needed.and the right amounts. I even got a carry bag of hi grade flour so I can keep making bread.. The sparsest area in the  shop was the Magazine section where we no longer have the NZ Listener or North and South mag  or NZ W Weekly etc etc. We previously got  the Listener on Subscription so I must watch they don't continue to charge for it. No refunds on copies we didn't get.
( all were being published by an overseas company so they don't give a .......    I do hope some of the writers decide to start a new in depth enquiring publication.)( they must all be out of jobs? )

 The Spider lily is all out now.

This planter is looking quite well. It has very little soil in it.

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Just to take a photo of my progress I laid the 9 patch blocks out. The ones at the bottom are sewn together the ones at the top not yet.

I moved them to show how wide and long I think it needs to be

 ( 4 by 5 )

 I have enough of the coloured middle blocks ( pink, blue,orange etc) but need to go to my stash and find some more light greens. The tags just say top left block one etc.

 This may not be their final place.

 It doesn't matter a lot as this is stage one. In stage 2 each 9 patch gets horizontally and vertically  cut through the middle and this creates some much smaller pieces . It ends with a totally  different appearance.  I can then decide on one of about 6 different layouts.

Day 43.( Thursday 7th May 2020 )

This afternoon I got the chance to go on a different walk. One I used to do in years gone by but not since we moved here. (I got dropped off and collected later. ) Its a lot more overgrown than it used to be ) 

It is through native bush beside shallow wetland ponds with a lot of weed.

 Near the far end it pops out behinds some lifestyle properties.This one busy felling trees and cutting firewood.

 Then you come to this point where you can turn to the left and return on the  other side of the ponds ( to the car park ) or if you go right the path continues out to another road.

At the end there is a sign and I turn left onto the road.

On this road are a few steep hills to climb and I pass orchards , flower growers with covered protection ( mostly hydrangeas - usually for export )  and horse paddocks.

 ( gosh those 2 horses have been eating a lot and ....... a lot !)

 At the top of the hill  I turn left onto a more main road and almost reach the end of it when R drives up and collects me. I think I walked for 45 minutes mostly in the sun,

Day 41

My potted Spider lily is just starting to flower. It is a tiny Nerine bowdenii ( or Guernsey lily ) .
 It is in a dark blue ceramic pot and was sitting on an outside table. I had to bring it in where there was a light coloured background to take the photo. It is one of my most special plants as the bulbs came from my Mum's garden about 45 plus years ago..

 I think it is having 14 flowers heads.

We have had rain and  wind and yesterday thunder and today drizzle. Altogether over an inch or 27 mls. of rain. Good, we needed it and I put replacement grass seed on some bare patches on the lawn so haven't had to water for 2 days.

 I have started making a community quilt out of some of the 5" squares I cut from my scraps.  There are a lot of green ones so green will be the dominant colour. ( dark ,medium and light ) . I am making disappearing 9 patch that I have done before. The middle square of each 9 will be plain mauve ; pink; lemon  or orange. These are the squares that later get cut  and rearranged.

 I choose the 5" squares ( could have used 4" or 3" ) as  I didn't want too much work for a Community quilt. What is a community quilt you might ask...we used to call them charity quilts but were told that was not PC - no one wants charity! .. ( .I bet they do if they are cold enough ! ) ( anyway they are quilts we donate to someone who needs bedding ) 

Day 37 Friday May 1st.

One of two  African Violets that sit on the coffee table in the lounge. I have one upstairs on my dressing table too. They all have purple flowers....must look for a white or pink ( have had them in the past )


My machine that I made the cover for. I can assure you the cover IS square, its just the machine is higher at the right and wider on the left.  Here it is with it's new cover. Note the pockets.

 I think anything too big or heavy will make the pockets gape. I'll know after I've used it for a while.

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 Nice to hear from you Molly. The bread recipe is very simple. I use a Breville Baker's Oven Bread Maker and cook this on the first option Basic Bread.

* make sure you paddle is sitting upright.

 Into the bucket put in this order:

 1 tblsp of oil

1 tblsp of Sugar 

1 teaspoon of Salt. 

 1 1/2 cups whole meal flour

 1 1/2 cups plain strong flour

 1/2 cup of sultanas

 2 tablespoons of all spice

 1 tblsp of cinnamon

 2 tblsps of sesame seeds 

 2 tblsps of sunflour seeds.

2 teaspoons of granulated yeast

 1 1/2 cups of warm water

 set going  - machine will do the rest.

 You could alter the quantity of spice or seeds or add something else

 ( bonus - it smells great while cooking )