Hello again, I just wanted to let everyone know first off, that if you write a comment on this blog it won’t show up right away because I have to approve it first. What that means is that I get a notification when you write a comment and then I usually don’t log in and approve them until I write another post. So, they don’t show up until then, but I read them right away. Anyway, I really do appreciate your comments and feedback because I love to stay in touch with you guys over there in the states. 🙂 If ever you want to say something a bit longer or more private, just send me an email, I’ll likely respond much quicker. My email is katherinejustine@hotmail.com
So, life has moved on and it’s gotten colder here. I carried on with school until the end of the last term which ended about 4 weeks ago. So, now as I’m on maternity leave I’m happy to have more time to get on top of things before baby arrives. I’ve been madly sorting through areas of our house, trying to get rid of old things and give random things homes so they don’t feel like clutter anymore. Our house is small, but it’s cozy, and along with that goes limited storage space. So I’ve had to become inventive to get things looking tidy. One major thing I’ve been doing though has been sanding the floorboards of our kitchen, bathroom and hallway. Someone thought it was a good idea to put carpeting in these places which makes it really hard to clean properly. So, I’m hoping to have them all smooth and clean in a few weeks. I think this must be what everyone has been talking about when they mention ‘nesting’. I promise you, I’m taking it slow and easy so I don’t hurt myself.
Beautiful native timber underneath those carpets.
Also, last time I showed you all sorts of plants that were going in our winter garden. Well, about that….. yes, this year we happened to get an unreasonable amount of rain and a large portion of our land was flooded, including the garden. So, our plants have rotted and died. I suppose that’s the way it goes sometimes. Thankfully, our house is old, and the people that built houses way back in the 20’s knew how to look for high spots when building houses. Our house didn’t get any floodwaters. It’s taken about 6 weeks and it’s just starting to look normal again as the water table falls back down. I’m glad I have a good pair of gumboots. 🙂
Our front yard and garden…
The acre next to us turned into a large lake that the swans liked to hang out on.
The chickens didn’t get too wet.
We’ve been taking advantage of the early dark evenings by sometimes cooking outside. We’ve done this twice now and have roasted our food on a fire by star light. It’s been pretty fun.
Bon fire and roasted veggies.
We have been so blessed. If you look around our living room there is only one thing that hasn’t been given to us for free, and that’s just a small book shelf that I bought for about $50. The rest, table, couch, two lounge chairs, large bookshelf and coffee table all cost us nothing. We are so thankful and I’d love to be in a position to help out others in the same way sometime. We were also given a baby crib recently which I’ve assembled and put in the baby’s room. We won’t be using it until baby is a bit bigger but it’s great to have it ready. Also, since we are waiting until the birth to find out the gender, my students baked me some blue and pink cupcakes as a goodbye gift a few weeks ago. I’m due in 7 weeks now. Baby likes to move a lot and Darren can hear it’s heartbeat when he puts his ear to my belly.
Crib is ready.
Boy or Girl?
And the most eventful thing we’ve done recently was to take a trip down to the south island a few weeks ago. We visited some of Darren’s family that I hadn’t met yet and had some fun with some friends. It was a nice time. Darren doesn’t seem to get cold, which is why he is wearing shorts and a vest.
Split Apple Rock Able Tasman Park.
Fishing, Darren caught a bigger one. We used this one for bait.
Pancake Rocks.
Hokitika Gorge. The water is so blue because it runs off from glaciers in the mountains and picks up minerals.
Arthurs Pass. A road through the mountains going from west coast to east coast.
Kea. These parrots were everywhere. They have a taste for rubber, so you don’t want to stay parked for very long or they will pop your tires and take your windscreen wipers. ha!
Lunchtime!
In the mountains.
Castle Hill. This place was cool to explore. There are paths all in and around the rocks. You can even get up to the top of those big ones.
Clear ice.
Nice day for skating.
Snow Angels.
Playing in the snow.
fun!
Doing some donuts…
Another pretty lake in the mountains.
Inquisitive Bird 