Yardwork

Betsy and I went to the grocery store early. On Tuesdays, seniors get 5% off, and we wanted to avoid the crowds. I found “classic kiwi barbecue”, but evidently not for kiwis. We went on to the bank where I got some more cash, then a local shop where I found an All Blacks rugby team sports cap. The store owner asked me what we planned to do the rest of the day, and I said, “Work in the yard.”

She was confused, but Betsy cleared it up that we were going to work in the garden. Evidently, the yard would be something like a sawmill. We got onto the varagies of english. Just don’t say fanny pack in NZ.

We went home, had lunch, then started in the yard garden. Today’s project was to weed the path near the house. Not easy, but the 3 of us got it done. I found gooseberries. These weren’t ripe, but I’m on the lookout for some that are.

Wednesday morning, Betsy and I went to the sawmill and got a truckload of sawdust. We put down cardboard on the area we cleared the day before, then dumped a thick layer of sawdust over it. I spent some time searching for a cute little Japanese hoe we’ve managed to loose. No luck. Our hope is that one of us carried it somewhere and will remember eventually.

The rest of the morning we cleared out another path and repeated the cardboard/sawdust layers. We still have half a truckload of sawdust but no more cardboard, so we called it a day. 

After lunch, we walked up to Claes’ to schedule our mussel dinner with him. The day had been sunny, but while we were there and looking around, clouds moved in. As we briskly walked home, we heard thunder, and the temperature dropped several degrees. Rain and hail were predicted, but the storm moved on without any precipitation. The weather and the weather reports are often at odds here.

For dinner, we went to the weekly Quiz Night at the Bay of Island Golf Club, a trivia contest played in groups. Six topics with 5 questions in each plus a separate sheet of matching questions. Our group of 8 (Kiwis, English, and Americans) came in about 6th. Or maybe not. The grading on answers was harsh, but each table’s score was called out and applauded, high or low. We did get the highest (7 out of 15)  on matching Latin plant family names with some examples. As a gardener, I shocked we didn’t do better, but then I didn’t know apples were in the Rosacea family, etc. We will be back next week. 

I also put $2 in the drawing for $40, but did not win. The food was good. I had veggie frittata, which was a layer of mashed kumera topped with an egg and greens mixture, baked. Grant had fried calamari and chips (fries). My white wine and his beer may have helped in our quiz answers, or not. 

Steps Tuesday: 2,570

Steps Wednesday: 3,709