Welcome to 2009 Saturday, Feb 28 2009

It has been a long time since last bog with some exciting times in between. Spent December 2008/Jan 2009 in overseas and feel very refreshed from the holiday. I just read my Nov2008 entry and shudder at the memory of trying to get too many things completed before we left. Proof of this lies in my medical record of rather high blood pressure which still needs watching.  Need not have worried because our relatives who looked after house and animals did a wonderful job, and even kept the gardens etc looking good. What a wonderful feeling to come home and see the place looking ship shape, knowing we could just lie back and get over the jet lag. Last time we travelled overseas we came home to grass up to our knees and overgrown gardens.

It really is a joy to not have to sleep to the alarm, concern myself with whether sufficient food (all within the “pyramid’ category) is on our pantry shelves, think of some exotic meal each night, while at the same time the laundry is being washed, will need hanging out, and dinner is cooking, while I am dashing through the house with a vaccum cleaner (hence exotic meals turn into darkened or dry blobs of not so exotic meanls) etc..for a couple of months.  Pity two months off work each year could not be arranged other than a nasty illness, accident, or redundantcy.

First leg of the journey to England was a four day stop-over in Singapore. We stayed at the Miramar Hotel which I highly recommend. Fairly central location, good service, nice rooms, has a swimming pool, and a restaurant.  Hotel is within walking distance to China Town, contrary to to the advice of some enthusiastic tax drivers touting for business.  Orchard Road is very much like any major shopping street in London or any other big city - certainly had changed since I lived in singapore in the late 70’s and visited in the early 80’s. I love the cleanliness of the whole island, and knowing it is also one of the safest countries in the world to visit. Food was delicious as always. Bougis Street which had a reputation for its nightlife – similar to that of Amsterdam, has been revamped to make it more “family friendly”. I almost did not recognise it. Where once there were drunken tourists and sailors lurching everywhere, with gorgeous local women on their arm or drinking beside them (bearing in mind they were not all biological women but the men mostly were too drunk to notice), there are now places for families to eat, lots of stalls for family shopping etc. We were told by our local guide (the place has changed so much I was pleased we had joined a small guided tour group) that while Bougis street is not as I knew it, the “previous residents” have moved on to another part of the city – and that government would like to see this type of “night life” disappear entirely.  So we toured by night, walked the markets of China Town by day, and lay by the pool in the afternoons.  Bliss.

It was then on to London, where we quickly packed away our summer shorts & sandels and slipped into our heavy clothes. Met by my wonderful brother in law we spent a few days with my family then picked up the rental car for the next part of our journey. While Im on the car business, we picked up the car from Enterprise Cars Limited in Daventry, and from what I gather they are also in London and a couple of other places dotted around England. If anyone does actually read this blog, and you want a rental car, use this company – they were very accomodating and efficient and we had no difficulties at all.  After a quick break to get over jet lag we made our way off to Wales, the Brecon mountains, Hay on Wye. Daughter was booked in for horse trekking at Tregoyd Farm for a week , a quick drive out of Hay on Wye. We all stayed there, and whenever she went out for a ride hubby and I would walk around after the horses across fields etc. Really was a nice winding down and darn good exercise.  Hay on Wye has thirty odd second-hand bookshops and runs literary festivals which fills up the town. We only made it through 8 of these shops, so we will clearly have to go back and try to get through some more. Most nights we ate at the farm, we were the only ones staying there so it was quiet – and after dinner we would retreat to our room to read a little and fall asleep. Hubby did all the driving with the help of satelite navigation which brother-in-law had downloaded how to get to Hay-on-Wye and back to Long Buckby from there. What we did not realise was that quite a few the roads off the A & M roads were narrower than our driveway here in NZ. Takes a wee bit of getting use to, and given that the whole of UK is quite a few hundred years older than NZ I would have thought they would by now have considered shifted the fencelines or hedgerows since horse and cart are less common on the road, and made them a bit wider taking into account the move to the motor vehicle. One person told me that too much wild life would be homeless then?????

For the whole time we were away, UK and Europe, the weather was kind to us. While some Australians may have felt that 8-10 degrees was postively arctic, from where we live in NZ this was only slightly lower than average. In fact we had overprepared in the weight of our clothing and quite often just a shirt and jacket/coat sufficed. There were quite thick frosts at Brecon but once we picked up speed walking across the fields etc it didnt bother us.  We also loved the landscape of Hereford and Brecon, very much like our own but in the knowledge that it is far older than NZ it makes it more special.

It was then on to Stratford-Upon-Avon, immersed in Shakespeare country and we loved every moment. Visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, his mothers place and every other monument to the bard. A lovely, clean and friendly town is Stratford-Upon-Avon and we intend to return because we only spent a longish day there. My highlights are tied, that is, feeding a barn owl at Ann Hathaway’s farm and having tea and clotted cream with scones. The cream was superior to the other places we had visited which seem to be rather yellowish and from appearance probably past its ‘use by’ date. Daughter wants to return to do a falconary course so that is her incentive for making sure she passes year 13 exams (now doing year 11 so have two years to save for it and another visit to Hay on Wye).  Made a couple of long day trips to Oxford, making use of the park and ride set up. Did not have to bother about finding carparks and coins and how much a days parking would cost etc, just found the depot where the cars are left and hopped on a bus into central Oxford. Very well planned, but not planned in that we went on the first day being Monday, and the Bodlein was not open, which was fine because we went off to visit Christchurch College, and this marvellous book shop across the road that it is very unassuming, with plain black words on white signage “Theology, Philosopy, (and something else but I cant remember what it was – never the less, books on the way home in the shipment) and visited Waterstones etc and did lots of walking about and had lunch at the Bird and the Baby (CS Lewis and Tolkein fan so always pop in when I can) then went back to Oxford the next day and the Bodlein was open but for the last time until next year while they referbish it. 

On 27 December 2008 we began our trip with Trafalgar Tour of Europe. Started out at 6.30am to cross the channel with 30 odd other travellers. There were 7 New Zealanders and the rest Australian’s. So we started with Amsterdam, Cologne, Offenbach (first day – bearing in mind the majority of Eurpean countries are so close to each other you could do several in a day if you didnt stop); then on to all the ‘bergs’ – Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Engelberg, with a Lucerne excursion – lots of snow and schnapps, the latter served me well going up some of those swiss mountains by cable car and the bus etc winding roads are not my pleasure - magnificent views or not. We visited the lovely monument to Louis 16th Swiss Guard & Chapel Bridge where there has been a Lion Monument carved into a stone wall which is simply beautiful - my first time to slightly miss my cats! but the moment was fleeting.On to Innsbruck and then Venice. Lots of sightseeing and boat boarding/unboarding, and thick mist. They are not use to getting snow and there was iced over old snow all over the boat ramps making it very dangerous so I was a bit on edge, and sitting on the boat especially when the fog set in made me wonder if the driver was watching what they were doing because I could not see a thing so how they saw through the fog I dont know. Needless to say I was relieved to see the back of the boating. I had been to Venice before and only wanted to make sure my daughter got to see it. Then on to Rome, a visit to St Peter’s Basilica, to the Forum and a walk around the Colosseum. Its been 20 years since I was last in Rome, and was quite surprised that they have put in turn-styles to manage visitor flows/security etc and amazed to see an elevator!!How historical is that! It came in handy because we had an elderly lady on our tour (83 and enjoying her 7th or 9th Trafalgar tour). We had dinner that evening within viewing distance of the Colosseum, pasta of course, lashings of red wine and a tenor and soprano singing very very close to us – my husband’s ears were a bit tender afterwards but he purchased their CD. Took daughter to Trivi fountain & I was stunned at the difference from when we were there two decades ago – the place was packed, it was a week night, and winter, yet there were loads of people out.  20 years ago it was a handful of us silly tourists standing around in the cold.  On to Isle of Capri where we went up the top in very small vans driving around very very narrow roads again narrower than our driveways, and at great speed with no barriers on the cliff edge so I have to say that this was not a good visit for me. While the rest of the tour went on a chair lift to view some rocks, myself and two other tour members joined our local guide from Naples and visited a home that has been turned into a museum of this amazing Swiss gentleman who had restored the home from its glory during Roman times – this was in the 1930′ s he did the restoration. I cant recall his name right now, I did end up buying his biography and a couple of tiles which have animals featured in mosaics at this house, he was also a doctor and during some epidemic treated hundreds of people who were sure to die. I was so taken with the place Im surprised I didnt record it in my diary, perhaps the drive up there and fenicular trip down took too much out of me. His biography is currently shipping its way back here (along with quite a few other books). Forgot to mention the trip to Pompeii – had never been there before and it was quite a shock. There was a smell of buring rubbish, probably just a local place burning off some garden clippings but knowing how all the people died in that village added to the smell in the air of burning something, made it all a bit too real. Daughter, hubby and I felt quite shaken when we saw the castes of people taken by archaelogists. Quite a few took photo’s of these but we felt it was too gruesome, too sad. The whole atmosphere was of sadness and morbidity. None of us want to return. Then it was on to Assisi where we walked up quite a winding hill to the hotel, which was perched on the very top, too small/windy road for the bus. On to Pisa (fleeting visit for photo opportunity) and on to Nice. While in Nice we went to St Paul de Vence, a wee medieval village where I enjoyed a leisurely walk through the somewhat hilly streets, then sat and watched a game of petanque played by a group of middle aged gents, and one woman smoking a pipe, looking very chique. Then on to Avignon, Lyon and Paris. Paris sightseeing was fun – got a lot more than we bargained when our guide was trying to locate the place that we were to eat on the first night and we went around and around back and forth looking for the place. Eventually got there quite late and was rushed through our meal, and then taken on to a boat cruise and viewing of the Eiffel Tower, what is referred to as an ‘illuminations’ tour. The latter is all lit up like a xmas tree now, seems it has been for a couple of years. While impressive given the height and size of the tower, it is a bit over the top. Second evening was a trip to Moulin Rouge. A visit to Louvre, Notre Dame, and various other key points for “photo opportunities”. I got all the photo opportunities out of my system from the first tour 20 yrs ago so it was nice just to look this time and not worry about focusing the camera. Daughter took most of the photos and did a really good job so I will get her to load some for me. Then it was back to England. And while I miss being able to hang out with my big sister, whether it be to follow her around doing shopping, or just watch television and comment on various silly things, it was a wonderful time to have her “on tap”. Technology is a fine thing but we are still worlds apart so its back to the phone and email.

 We have been back for a month now, and it is good to be home. Nice to go away for a while but nicer to come home and cuddle my animals, and be around familiar surrounds. All the better for knowing that we are privileged to have a beautiful country, nice people, and while we are not a very old country I think we have made some staggering good ways of life and changed the ones that were not so good, far quicker than some of the European countries.

Iwas also please to see I dont need to pour my anxieties about drought on here because the rainfull has been kind to us, we came home to green grass and it only browned up about a fortnight ago; intermittent showers have greened it up again and our water tank is full. I can hear the rain now as I type. Its good to be home.

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Bottom on Chair Sunday, Nov 2 2008

It has been some time since I updated the blog, and so spent a couple of hours adding to the Books category because all that time I was not updating this blog, I was reading. Since about May 2008 I think I will just give a quick overview of life and vow to keep updating to a regular basis.

Weather: It has remained wet, which is to be expected because soccer and wet weather go together. Spent the soccer season out every saturday morning standing in wind and rain, and tending to the odd real and imagined injury with the magic spray (a can of spray cold ice type stuff – harmless placebo).  Then dashed home to warm up and deal with the housework. Thank the Lord for whoever invented the clothes dryer.  Thought numerous times whether we needed a second water tank in case the great drought of 07/08 returns, but that is all we did – thought and talked. Having watched the watertank overflow several times this winter (case in point just last night and we are entering summer in a couple of months) we think we are safe.

DVD watching has been high on the list after soccer support, horse support, housework and napping on a Sunday afternoon. Greatest so far is “Jane Austen’s Book Club”. Also “Run fat boy, Run” another English goodie which I actually saw twice. And thats all I can remember for now.

Gym membership still going but I have been terrible at keeping attendance. New year’s resolution if I were the type to make these and stick to them, would be to go to the gym more often. Have been very tired of late, havent really picked up since the flu in May for heavens sake, but could also be a bit of old age. 

Garden: Disasterous, have not really kept on top of things as much as we would like, but cant plant out too many vegies because we are off to Europe for a couple of months and dont want any new plants dying if there is a drought (good excuse, which I will stick to).

Have come across lots of wonderful blogs, good reading, especially ones about books and reading. Will list a few later when time permits.

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Adios summer & welcome winter Sunday, May 11 2008

Yes the drought in our region is over.  We have had nothing but rain now for about three weeks, of course there has been the odd pause, in its place a sort of dreary humidity, then a sharp frost the following morning, and the odd foggy morning.  But like most things involving human perception, now folk are moaning about too much rain, yes, too much wet stuff, severe rain warnings, flooding, rain with winds, darkness falling early – with rain, and any thing else even remotely to do with wet and rain. Mother nature teasing us.  I far prefer to look out over rolling (well more like the odd undulation) paddocks of new green grass than scorched land.  Hoorah the water tank is full, no more carting the grey/gray water to the trees, and the trees I might add are now upright and smiling – just in time to loose their leaves for autumn! The car looks remarkably clean (because of the rain, Ive not had any cloth or shampoo to it).  So while talk of the ‘drought’ has past for now, now it will shift to the ‘flood’.  Where I was getting irritated with the dogs and cats shaking off sand and dried grass on the floor each time they came in side, my fickle humaness gets irritated with mud splotchs! Its not really about fickleness I suppose, its about how I view it (heres some guru self-help input) I probably need to remind myself that I love my animals, they didnt force themselves on me, I chose them, and us humans leave splotches too. Is my glass half full or half empty?

While I revel in the rain, I have to also take the flourish of weeds. The erradication of which will remove me from good reading time, well even bad reading time, and housework. Yes bizarre I know, but if I am outside trying to prevent the land from returning to its natural wild state, Im not inside doing the housework and washing, which will then distract me even more from the reading, which in turn distracts me from the writing (though I use this description lightly). 

There are so many books that I just “must” read. Like a child that tells their parents if they dont have the latest advertised toy or a pet they saw in a shop and fell in love with, they “must” have it or they will die. Well I know and they know they will not, but the joy of actually obtaining the object of desire is truly wonderful.  For example, there was a quote from a book ’Recollections of Virginia Woolf by her contemporaries’ Edited by Joan Russell Noble, the quote was from the cook who had been with Virginia and Leonard for many years, and was reproduced in a blog I recently found (John Bakers Blog). I have for the last couple of decades been fascinated by anything written about/by or to do with Virginia Woolf. I contacted the Dymocks bookshop, was told it was out of print, but to my amazement they were able to get it through Amazon for me, second hand.  Well I truly was over the moon and am now the proud owner of a book I wonder why someone would want to onsell but Im ever so greatful they did. Im trying not to rush through it, and savouring each contribution, but it is hard to restrain myself to not devour it in one sitting.  

Coincidentally, our national broadcasting radio programme, which runs a saturday morning segment of book reviews, and interesting interviews, broadcast an interview with Hermione Lee, woman of many letters, and biographer of Virginia Woolf, and more recently Edith Wharton.  Its such a wonderous occassion when the stars align and all these things come together at once – I had picked up the Woolf recollections on the Friday and tuned to the radio on the way to my daughters soccer game, to hear Kim Hill interviewing Hermione Lee. I was gutted because we had just arrived at the soccer grounds and the interview had just started – my wee transistor radio batteries are dying and the interview was fading in and out, and then parents would ask me something etc. Anyways, daughter made up for it today and what a wonderful world we live in when it comes to Podcasts, dont ask for an explanation I dont know how they work but I got to hear the interview today, no interruptions or static, just clear speaking. Hermione is going to give a talk at the Writers and Readers Festival Week in Auckland this coming week – but this was just as good. A half hour talk and I was rewarded.

As I mentioned, soccer has also started so I will be out every Saturday morning in the rain, doing the parental support thing.  There may be some merit in having children who are couch potatoes – the parents stay warm and dry, and get to hear the Saturday Morning radio show uninterrupted. My daughter played two games of soccer on saturday, first one at 9.00am in a town 45 minutes away from here, then another back in our own town at 11.00 (the other team was short of players). Its not unusual for her to do this, she loves her sports, but it wipes me out for the rest of the day, the housework is done late (if I havent done it the night before), I cant read late on friday night because I need to be up before 7.00am to get everyone under way, no gardening gets done because I spend the afternoon thawing/drying out. Its actually quite exhausting walking up and down a sideline! We are not supposed to be team coaching or managing for the first time in years, but the coach had to go off on a holiday overseas so guess what, first game of the season and Man of the house is running around the field refereeing. So gumboots got their first outing for the season.

But all this distraction from reading and writing makes me a little edgy, a bit grumpy, a hint of agitation, so I have to get my groove sorted so that the family doesnt have to put up with my ”reading withdrawal” symptoms, or my “reading separation anxiety”. Hence why I find in some small way, I relate to Virginia’s anxiety.     

Some may say I dont need to be reading so many books, but the short answer is ” Yes” I do have to – because I am nosey, I love reading what others have to say, I love learning to a certain degree, I love observing other writers play with words, not just the words but also the themes etc they bring together.  With the advent of blogs, online newspapers etc, the world has come into my house, I am not restricted to the library, because there are so many other readers out there sharing their views and knowledge.  All this tantalises the bookaholic. 

While soccer takes me away from logging on to read the latest blog post of some writer, or overseas Newspaper interviews etc, I am grateful that I get to read for two hours in the car while daughter of house is at soccer practice, and another half hour at the end of the week while she has guitar practice.  At least in these venues I cant get up and start doing housework or cooking – I am imprisoned with a book for a set period of time.  Doctors waiting rooms use to also be a wonderful place to get a good long read, but they can be unreliable on time and keep to the appointment time, leaving no time for that book in your bag.

Anyways, authors that I have read lately are Ann Cleeves (Raven Black), very good; Frances Fyfield (Staring at the night), good; John Baker (The Chinese girl), very good; Patricia Highsmith (non-fiction, on writing) very good. I have read so much more but havent kept my list up to date. So Im not doing too badly.

 

 

 

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Drought and Gray/Grey Water Wednesday, Feb 6 2008

We are experiencing the worse drought for decades. While water, liquid and frozen, is abound in the Northern Hemisphere, we here in the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, not all those states of Australia that are now experiencing downpours & storms) are looking out over brown fields and lawns, and dead and dying flower gardens (apart from the sneaks who in the dead of night are floughting the hose & sprinkler bans). 

I am quite use to seeing brown dead grass, because our property was a roading depot in the 1920’s that housed the shingle and sand for all the roads that are the transport arteries around our region.  I’m not sure why they had to gauge at least 8 metres from the top of the land, but I do know that they left behind three huge gravel mounds, leaving nothing but the subsoil and plates of rotten rock and sand.  While there is no threat of ever having a flood here, it also means that when rainfall reduces, or stops completely for a couple of months as is the case now, we are left with conditions not too dissimilar to a desert. 

Desert like conditions are fine for succulants, manuka (known as Tea Tree in Australia), and twitch grass (the evil of twitch will definitely be a blogging entry on its own in the near future but for now its drought), and geraniums (but even they are looking sad).  But I am now witnessing my pittisporums drooping under the heat, the younger ones are actually browning. 

“Get that hose out!!!” you may retort, but, we live in the country and rely on tank water, water we have captured from the roof of our house.  ”Well just fill the tank when its empty!!!” I hear the tree lovers and gardeners shouting.  This I would do – after all why go to work and not spend the hard earned wages on protecting the trees and plants that struggled to survive the near infertile arid free-draining sandy soil.  Unfortunately the tanks that bring the liquid gold are bringing it from a town that is under threat of their reservoir drying up completely.  Parks, equestrian centres (horse bathing), pools etc have all been told to restrict their water use.  We are in a drought – and its not just us rural folk that are suffering this time. 

My heart breaks that little bit more when I hear that the ’townies’ are’nt able to wash their 4 wheel drive land-rovers (which have never seen the terrain that they were designed for, and are used to zoom around supermarket carparks and drop children off at school not more than 5 km from home), and that their pristine handkerchief sized lawns, (laid at the cost of feed for a 100 head of cows), is browning and as we speak devalueing the price of their property.  I am also saddened that they are now having to restrict the refilling of their spa pools, and instead - resort to placing a damp flannel to the back of their necks and wrists to cool off after the hard day in the airconditioned office. 

Since we went feral (sorry I mean rural) 11 years ago we have learned a healthy respect for our water.  God giveth, and God may one day decide not to turn the universal sprinkler on – for months, and we end up as dry as an AA meeting.  Long gone are the days when we would leave the tap running while we brushed our teeth; flushed the toilet no matter what went in it; washed outside of house every couple of months because it was a nice thing to do in the summer to keep cool;  wash the car every other weekend;  leave the sprinkler on the garden all night for several nights because the fuschia’s, lettuces and tomatoes are sagging;  do the laundry every day – full load or not; do the dishes everytime a piece of crockery appeared on the bench.  You got the picture?

While we could carry on doing all those townie things, we would pay the price – literally.  To have a tanker of water come and fill our tank up is quite a costly expense.   Nice if your a media mogel or you have a child celebrity living with you that has’nt spent all their money on drugs or tattooes.  For the rest of us, the average family, this unexpected expense is not one to encourage.  So, here we are in a drought.

Spring had not been a long wet season, which in our region is then followed by a long wet introduction to summer.  The population of the North Island of New Zealand has spent quite a few years bemoaning the lateness of summer (summer doesnt really come late – it arrives on time but generally the initial two months are damp).  Many opine their younger days of long hot summers at the beach or camping etc.  Now, every conversation is about the absence of rain, or rain that appeared in one part of the region or town, but not the other.  While rain conversations are not my normal staple conversation diet, I was absolutely miffed that it rained in town, heavily whats more – on a carpark! There were huge puddles where I park my cark.  Was this a cruel joke from the heavens, or had someone spent hours hosing the agapantha’s dotted all around the carpark?  What is the point of raining on a darn carpark??? But I’m over that now.  

I have never been in a region that experinced drought. I lived in Auckland in the early 90’s and there was low rainfall and reservoirs got dangerously low – to the point that media were speculating that people would have to go to fire-hydrants to fill up containers for domestic use.  Grass was still green, the vast majority of the population begrudgingly turned off their sprinklers and allowed dust to settle on their cars without having to hose it off.  But it was scary because I had just had a baby and I was worried out water for washing nappies (yes, I used cloth nappies!!!!). 

What is a wee bit like the devil expelling flatulance in my face is that we had been cautious with our water because the spring was not as wet as it normally is, and spring rain fell but only in Spring.  When summer started, it really started – no late Spring rains in Summer!At the same time we received notification that the long awaited Council approval (Council fees and Council rates will most definitely be the topic of a future blog!!! – probably under the title “Complete and utter rip-offs – Council laughs all the way to the bank” or something along those lines. 

Any way the garage/sleepout building consent came through the same time as the drought began to be referred to as an official ‘drought’.  The garage is being built on concrete, and concrete does not come ready made – it requires the mixing with water, and hosing on a regular basis to cure the concrete so it doesnt crack in the future.  So I asked the builders if science had come up with an alternative to all that water needed for the hosing – yes!!!!! They put black polythene over the newly poured concrete, so the concrete would ’sweat’ dampening itself while it dried out.  Hooray cried the villagers (well me and the hubby actually). 

Sadly, (there is always a sadly in best laid plans, sort of the “Murphy’s Law Number 1028), on or about 9.30am when the concrete was poured, the lads did need the hose to smooth over the newly poured concrete.  The next day, on or about 6.30am after I had left for work, hubby rings me (he was dropping daughter off so was the traumatised witness to the event) and asks if I had used the hose before I left.  My answer was no, which meant AHA !!! the concrete smoothing bloke had forgotten to turn the tap off about 23 hours beforehand, and we did not notice the constant groaning of the pump. 

We ended up with enough water to flush the toilet for what us Southern Hemisphere people refer to as “Number Two’s”, and a few pots of tea.

I have spent the last few days researching how to use grey/gray water, the waste water from the house, so we can try to resusitate the trees and keep the silverbeet and tomatoes alive until we can eat the rest.  Whooooah!! Before there is readers dashing to the Council or Health dept, we do not intend to drink, bath or consume in any way this recycled water, nor bath the dogs in it.  It is only the laundry water, and it is only going on trees. We have no intention of bottling it and selling it to townies!  And we most definitely will not wash our car with it, because then we will be readily and mistakenly identified as townies and posers. 

We spent this afternoon working out how much water comes out of a washing machine, in earlier days it was about 3 rooms across the floor if you left the plug in the laundry sink.  Nowadays there is modern out pipes that discharge it magically through the floor. I have flexi polythene piping, two 72 litre bins to catch it in, and hubby will be standing by the ‘pause’ button in case our bins are too small, then we will madly dash for more buckets, all in the line of saving the life of a poor tree. 

Trees a cleaning our air for us people, not to mention they are really courageous surviving in our property with all the heat from the sand, stone and nothing to retain water at their roots.   I suppose its a wee glimmer of those doctors dashing around an ER??

Here’s another thought: the absence of water is making us all gray/grey.  Especially the poor farmers who are having to sell of their stock because they cant afford to feed them, and those that rely on milking to bring in the bacon - I mean money, the diary farmers have had to dry off cows way too early.  I also heard that lots of rural folk have found their water bores are drying up, no rain falling on the earth, means no water under the earth. 

So my fellow/ess’s bloggers, think before you leave that tap going. And just appreciate the fact that water is still coming out of the taps.  

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