So much to say, so little time

It's amazing how busy we are... I was going to write about all the frosts we had this winter, even here on the bluff just above the sea. Now it's spring and the NZ Fairy Terns are here and hopefully exhibiting breeding behaviour. I saw two white fronted herons doing a breeding dance, they were beautiful. I've seen some California quail here, the last two years I've had families of them born here...they are gorgeous when the chicks follow the parents around searching for food and learning to be grown up quail. They live in extended family units not just with two adults. Sensible, ay?

I've just created a cause on Facebook, Save the NZ Fairy Tern, New Zealand's rarest bird. My friends Jessie McVeagh and Murray Nathan and I made two videos for YouTube, just go there and search NZ Fairy Tern and they'll come up or follow these links, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yprf9E1wBdY  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN6pfFEWkvU&feature=related Then go to http://www.fairytern.org.nz/ and buy bunches of calendars for 2010 - they're not expensive and terrific Christmas gifts for a good cause.

Only $13 NZ dollars plus $2 postage in NZ.  Email pjrangi@vodafone.net.nz for more information, they are the women who created the calendar and sit out on the sand dunes looking after these wee birds.  There are some amazing volunteers who help out too.

One of my dreams came true this week when I walked into the Countdown supermarket in Whangarei and saw mangosteen.

Over 25 years ago i first tasted this hard shelled milky white fruit in Bali and had one of my earliest mouthgasms!

As you can see, they (Garcinia mangostana L. ) look like hard reddish brown mandarins and inside they look exactly like a mandarin except the pulp is milky white and each section has a large brown seed. The texture is somewhat lychee-like but the flavour is delicate and exciting, indescrible as it teases your tongue and melts in your mouth.

The tropical fruit is hard to get into, but with a good knife you can either cut a bit of the shell off and then peel them, or slice in half (carefully with a strong arm) and then use a teaspoon to get them out.

I remember researching them all those years ago and finding they only grew in hot humid climates and had to have really deep roots, perhaps the trees needed to be very old before they produced.

From http://www.mangosteen.com/ I found that this is not strictly true:Under ideal conditions (plant nursery), the first fruit can be as soon as 6 years after the seed sprouts but the initial low light period is still essential for about the first two years. They do require a tropical climate however, so my subtropical orchard probably won't allow me to grow these divine fruit trees.

The mangosteen has historically been praised (see History and Folklore) for countless centuries by all who encountered it. The edible interior is renown for its indescribable sweet-sour melting rush of flavors. But apart from the edible treasure inside the hull, the rind (technically a pericarp) has also been part of Ayurvedic medicine and has been valued throughout its native range for its medicinal qualities.

There is much more you can read about this fruit, but I'm just thrilled to have a dream come true, and irregardless of food miles or Carbon points, I'll buy them whenever I can - I hope they are not seasonal. YUM! Can't wait for my next mouthgasm (thanks to my friend Philippa for that spunky descriptive word).

Plenty to do and no where to go - a marvellous day!

It is blowing a gale, showering heavily off and on, cold and wintery - a marvellous day that I started with early coffee and a reorganisation of my closet - moving summer clothes out and winter clothes in. I have plenty to do and no where to go.

I am content.

It has been a busy few weeks with B&B guests from Australia for a mutual friend's wedding, a visit from a new friend who is taking up the position of manager of the Kaikohe Pioneer Museum, more time looking after my old dog Mally whose toe was amputated not quite a month ago, and lots of organisation to do for the next Northland Region Fire Service newsletter and annual report.

It is also, finally, planting time since there has been some rain. It seems like lots of rain, but it isn't. The soil is still dry a few inches down, but there is moisture gathering and frequent rainbows - what could be better?

What is not better is the new google account stuff. My God there is a lot to organise....what blog, where, what user name, which password, do you have a google account, what google groups do you belong to, which do you want to join, how about sharing calendars? Not to mention whether you Twitter and tweet.

I seem to have sorted it for this moment as I was finally able to access this blog and make a post. Fingers crossed I'll be able to do it again.

I know I started another blog somewhere, that was going to be my homourous writing. It is really rather funny because I have no idea where that blog is or what I've called it and now I've reset my password, I'll probably go to both and they'll be confused as they'll have the same account details. Oh well, such is the price of being over 50 in 2009.

I might prefer to sell lemon grass and cut protea flowers, but I won't give up my day jobs or my creative retreat B&B.

Back to work. I hope I can find you all again next time.

Finally some rain is coming

Home is the middle property, which is the third house from the left. you can make out my curving drive way...which is very long and takes a lot of rocks, that have just been renewed at the cost of about half the fare to LA, so I'll be staying home driving on my well shaped and rocked drive this year!

It has been a long hot dry summer and the dirt is dust. we have had a bit of rain and it is said by the almighty, and usually wrong, weather forecasters that we may get 6 inches over the weekend. Fingers crossed, because then I might stay inside and do more work on the computer or in the kitchen. Feijoas are ripening now so it is time for more jam. speaking of which my HUGE brown turkey fig tree has produced unbelievably this year and it is late and beautiful - a dark skin with a bright red interior that is so sweet! The wee wax eyes are going crazy in it and it is a very big tree, so this year they will get many more than I have.

Mally my dog had his toe chopped off last week after four months of infection. It was doing very well, but now I fear he has licked it or it got rubbed so I forced him to allow me to put a sock on it with a plastic bag, which I've now been told I should have done from the start, but I was only told not to let him lick it after I took the bandage off. I didn't even want to remove it since I knew it would keep it dry and clean, but I guess it had to breathe. Now we have to go to the vet AGAIN tomorrow. AAARGH!

I really really don't want it to be infected again. He's been on antibiotics nearly four months, and he's not a fan of yogurt so I don't know how to replace the good bacteria.

It's late, I'm ready for bed and have nearly completed a project I've procrastinated on for weeks, so this is it folks.

Night night and take care!

Catching up

Sailing on Yamana and meeting 'cruising' friends of Pete and Alice's, met along their paths through the Islands and countries between America and New Zealand, has been an extra treat this summer and a great way to start the new year!

So far, 2009 has been hot and dry and glorious....not just at the Tangle!

After a month of less than an inch of rain - a perfect summer for tourists and beach goers, a drought for gardeners and farmers - we are having torrential rains so that I may sit at my computer and begin again telling of the wonderful happenings in and around the Glorious Tangle.

The rains have come from New South Wales in Australia where they caused flooding, but unfortunately did not go to the fire area near Melbourne to put out fires. On the other hand, this kind of rain there now could also cause more devastation. Life is so complicated.

Since writing last I've been to California and Baja, spent wonderful time there with family and my gorgeous wee niece and nephew. My pal Kimberly and I took the children and her son to "The Baja House" in Ensenada where we had a few days of Mexican summer, food and beaches. we loved the time away together, even though I lost my voice! The owner of the house, in a 'gated community' is Mike Wilken, the leading expert anthropologist on the indigenous people of that region. Check out the house and go visit him http://www.thebajahouse.com/

Since my return to New Zealand, I've put out another Fire Service newsletter (Region Wise), grown zucchini, chiles, pepino, eggplant, wonderfult heritage tomatoes and am now harvesting figs, well except for the torrential rains of course.

Here's a picture of one day's harvest... come and visit and help me eat it!

Summer was perfect with B&B guests from Germany and the States and loads of friends camped on the property in tents and caravans (known as trailers in America).

Jessie and Murray, film making friends from the Hokianga came down and we've begun a documentary on New Zealand's rarest bird, the fairy tern. This year's and last year's Conservation wardens in charge of the fairy terns on the Waipu Wildlife refuge (the sand spit in front of my place) were all living on the property so it was an intense time regarding cats being trapped, bird eggs being moved for protection and other rare species stragegies being put in place.

I think it was five chicks successfully fledged this season, none from Waipu.

Mangawhai was far more successful this season. This picture shows you how well camouflaged the chicks are and one was trampled by uncaring people who walked inside the areas roped off by the wardens. When the chicks are scared, they stay perfectly still.



And one of the happier parts of my life at present is the arrival of Pete and Alice, Olive and Ruben on Yamana, as indicated above by moi sitting at the helm...wait there is a bunny and seven or so quail chicks plus three adults in front of my window. Another happy thing about living here! These are California quail, by the way. I love it here.

The racket outside, made by the cicadas and the sea, is another joy this time of year.

Peter and Alice Grant, my out-laws, and their two children sailed in to the Bay of Islands last November after three years cruising the world from South Carolina through the Caribbean and Panama Canal to the Galapagos, Marquises and Polynesia. They are settling now in Ngunguru and it is very cool to have them in Northland and to meet their friends. The children, Olive and Ruben, are wonderfully confident and well read after three years on the boat and it is great to have them on board, well on land here. Sailing with them from Russell to Tutukaka was fun, really wish I'd met them in Tonga now, but it was too soon after California.

Scarily, other cruising friends, Tom and Thecla Bouter, are lost at sea. Hurricane Klaus crossed their path on Jan 24 off the Netherlands and in spite of extensive searching by several governments, they are not yet located. We all hope they will float to shore somewhere and we find that their boat was disabled but not sunk.

So enjoy every day - live your life fully, whatever that is for you - and stay in touch, there's a break in the rain so I'm going to walk my ancient dog (Mally made it through vestibular disease just after turning 14 in November) and then practice my uke before I get back to real work. Check out the Flaming Ukuleles of Waipu on You Tube if you haven't already. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9T0jT9JnrY for Tequila with our teacher Bob and his friends or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktZvDe8XCs Five Foot Two for just us.

Keep on sailing, dancing or doing whatever you do!