A Day Of All Sorts

All sorts of things have happened today.  I’ve wandered around our garden looking at son’s recent handiwork, been out in the car, petted the cat, stewed up some nectarines that were becoming over-ripe, and taken care of tidying the house and doing the dishes.  I still have another two trips out to make, and, of course, need to make time for an afternoon siesta!

Our weather today began pleasantly warm and sunny.  Blue skies, not much breeze, and almost mellow enough to be autumn, but that has changed now we have reached afternoon and the temperature is climbing rapidly.  I know our predicted temperature is 27 degrees C so it will get much hotter later in the afternoon.

My David Austen rose (sorry, I cannot remember its name) has produced a couple more flowers with their lovely sweet scent.  With developing hips on the plant I never expected more blooms.

Today began with a drive through rush-hour traffic to reach a denture-repair technician.  There are some things one cannot do when one has dentures – things like biting an apple or a carrot, crunching on whole nuts, or consuming small seeds like poppy seed or chia or sesame.  I have something to add to the list:- gnawing on a bone! 

Bone gnawing is not a very ladylike activity but pleasurable nevertheless, until a tooth falls off your denture plate.  Thankfully I rescued the tooth and it will only cost $100 (only?) to have the tooth replaced.  It would have cost a lot more if they had needed to match in a new tooth.  The repair will be made today and I will be phoned when I can go and collect my denture again.

On the way home I called at the supermarket for some fish and lettuce and tomatoes for a salad, and spied the New Zealand Gardener magazine on sale.  This issue included a spring bulb advertising pull-out and I have been thinking about planting some bulbs for spring, so it made its way into my trolley.

I used to receive this monthly magazine years ago but gave it up during one of our Times To Be Frugal.  It is packed with many interesting looking articles, ranging from uses for the herb lemon balm, to growing succulents, to creating a food forest, and even 50 tips on how to beat weeds.

Also in the reading pile is our free local weekly newspaper.  This was delivered on Saturday (it comes out on the Friday) but I haven’t read it yet.  Our local City Council has joined the Fight The Landfill recycling programme and our rubbish collection system is set to radically change in the middle of this year.

Instead of two black plastic rubbish bags and one green recycling bin (that takes glass and some plastics), plus tied-up piles of paper, we will be given different bins to use.  The existing recycling bin will handle glass, and a large yellow wheelie bin will be for recycling all plastics, tins, cans, paper and cardboard.  A slightly smaller red wheelie bin will be dedicated to “items that cannot be reused, recycled or donated” and a small green bin will be for food scraps. 

Food scraps will be collected weekly, but the other containers will only be picked up fortnightly (alternate weeks for the different bins).  It is good to see our Council making this effort and I hope Hamilton’s residents will take to it with a willing attitude.

The field behind us is becoming more and more trampled down as the few cattle in there roam around.  The farmer left the grass to grow too long before allowing the animals in there (we thought he must have been going to make hay) and it has now turned to straw.  A real fire hazard while it is this dry, but hopefully nothing will occur to set it off.

Mittens has been keeping me company a lot lately.  She sits at my feet or curls up on the end of the bed and sprawls out purring whenever she is touched.  The other night, around 2am, I opened a window to let in some cooler air while I read for a while (couldn’t sleep).  Imagine how startled I was when Mittens came hurtling in the window to see me!

This evening I am going to have dinner with my brother and his wife.  They have kindly invited me around to meet up with my second cousin from Wellington, who is spending a few days with them.  It should be a very pleasant evening – and I will have my teeth back as well!!!

Cheers,

Margaret.