Quilt Progress.

 Drizzly rain ( not nearly enough ) on Monday early so I got sewing time. I now have got the outside row of  little squares on and am ready to add white borders.

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Today is the day the  old back door  is out  and the new door is being put in. So far so good I think. 

( Lots of banging, sawing, chiselling and mess ) Of course it is not straight forward  but R and the builder bloke are nutting it out . Photos when complete.

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 I had a lovely time at my friend's birthday dinner, last Thursady. Under the table where I was sitting was Guide dog  Charlie.

 Seen here looking out to memorial Park, when he went for some air.

He is on holiday with his "foster parents," as his blind Dad and Mum ( not blind )  are away in Wellington at a Bowls Tournament. By coincidence I happen to know both his parents and have worked with his Dad when he was still partially sighted. He was strapping kiwifruit pallets then, in a packhouse where I used to audit.  His Mum was on the Office staff at Zespri when I was there as field staff. They own and work a Kiwifruit Orchard and he is able to do a surprising amount of kiwifruit work just by feel. They also pack their Kiwifruit at the same packhouse we do and as it happens I will be seeing them soon. I will be able to report that Charlie was quite happy and very, very well behaved when he went out to Dinner. His blind Dad also sails.

 Photo, Memorial Park  in Tauranga at dusk. 

Fruit Getting Spoilt.

 We still have had no decent rain and pests like Passion vine hoppers are thriving.They excrete honeydew seen here as wet sticky blobs. Sooty mould then grows on the honeydew. Nothing will get it off and it makes the fruit into rejects.( the fruit in the photo (click to enlarge )  are the correct shape etc and I pulled them off just one plant. There is very little we are allowed to do ( that is effective ). We had a pyGanic spray  a few days ago and then a lactic acid ( clean up spray ) to see if any of the honeydew would wash off. ....not really ) Today we got a new heavyduty dust buster and I am doing the edges of blocks with that. It does suck them up but the battery soon runs down and it takes lots of time and patience. But I have to try something.

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 I am still picking this many every second day. R is picking loads of big red tomatoes too. We have cucumbers and courgettes and lettuce still doing well. I have let the broccoli got to seed - too many pests on it. It is attracting white butterflies.

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 Over the weekend my sister and partner were here. They can't walk far so we went driving all around the neighbourhood. We were taken by surprise how much new development there was. Here are some sights we saw.

 A new pontoon in the inner harbour where folk were fishing.

 The Mt. is in the distance.

 Here are some attractively coloured hydrangeas being grown under shade cover for the export market.

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This is lying in the carport till next Wednesday when a builder is going to take out the old door and frame and put this new one in.  Our new backdoor, with some blue glass.

 I am having the afternoon off as I am going to a friend's Birthday Party at 6 pm  and it's VERY hot and I usually work till 5.50 each evening. The boss ( me ) said it was  okay.

The View From The Mt.

 Yesterday morning Son and R walked around the Mt. Dear Daughter in Law indulged me and went up the Mt. with me.( she can do it easily ) It is probably 10 years since I had done that climb and found it really hard going. Several times I had to stop for a rest I am ashamed to tell. BUT I got there. It took 50 minutes up and 20 down. It was an amazingly clear blue sky and already hot by 9.30.

 This shows other climbers looking out at the view. 3 cruise ships in the harbour below.

 For those of you unfamiliar with Mount Maunganui ( Maori name Mauao )( 761 ft or 232 metres high )there is  an old dormant volcanic cone at the end of a narrow strip of land and has ocean sea on one side ( top left in photo ) and inner harbour port on the right.

 I thought I was quite a good walker, but  up steep steps I struggled. Probably we should have taken the longer road track which is further but less steep just an incline all the way.( Council vehicles, ambulances etc. use it )

 Fortunately my knees were okay coming down the steps and I didn't slip. Other young fit people running full tilt dowwwwwwwwnward past me was the scariest part.

 There were all shapes and sizes and ages doing the climb. One dad had a babe in a backpack. Well done that man. Lots of locals do that climb every day. Some really fit folk run up.

 From now on my exercising will include more climbing.  

3 Good Things.

Over the last 3 days we have had a little much needed rain, mainly during the night. We also got our Avocados picked. 15.5 bins. The second pick for the season . That's it for this season.( 45.5 bins all together ) Next round will be in November 2015.( that fruit is already set and just tiny at the moment ).
 On Sunday I snuck away for a couple of hours up to Katipatch Garden Party and Quilt Hanging. The weather was cloudy( quite a relief after all the sunny days )  and a bit dodgy but they got away with it.

 Quilts were put up quickly after a shower and most weren't named. This was hand quilted. That's a fantail.

Quilts were hung against the shed; in the shed on the washing lines and in one room. Why not?

 There were stalls and refreshments.The garden is lovely. Mr. B has all manner of fruit trees and  a vege patch.( avocados;blueberries ; strawberries passionfruit ;apples; pears and currants.)

 If you are in the area Katipatch is well worth the visit. You can also order on line. Carol and her helpers are all lovely knowledgeable ladies.