We were pleasantly surprised at the cafe when a young girl and her grandmother came over to our table. I was curious about why she approached us and how she knew. There were a few hints: my hooded jumper had a message about sign language and being deaf from the US, and Jacek and I were communicating in our own way.

The girl’s name was Amanda. Her parents are from Australia and came to New Zealand to visit her grandparents. Amanda is hard of hearing without her hearing aids, and she signed to Jacek and me at the table. She asked if I was deaf or if I used sign language to talk with Jacek. I answered her and her grandmother, and when her mother arrived with two other daughters, I explained that yes, we are deaf. I also shared that Jacek has cerebral palsy and is speech-impaired.

Amanda shared her experiences at two different schools. One was a Deaf school, and the other was a regular school in rural Australia. She said that learning in the classroom made her tired all day and night, but she loves using Auslan sign language to communicate. She was not embarrassed at all. Instead, she proudly showed who she is and spoke openly about her disability while talking with us. Amanda was not embarrassed to look at Jacek and his sign language, although she understood he is different from us. When Jacek asked her questions, she understood most of them; she double-checked with me, who spoke in voice and signed to Amanda over his questions.

Six days before yesterday, on Sunday 4 October, I took Jacek to another cafe called Zenders in Ruakura. A couple sat in front of us and watched as I communicated with Jacek in NZSL and his own sign language. They were not being rude; they were just interested because they noticed the message on my hooded jumper. The woman asked me several questions for herself and her husband. I asked if they had visited Zenders Cafe before, and they said it was their first time. I introduced them to one of the waitresses, and they chatted about the cafe. https://zenders.nz/

I got the hooded jumper from the US while I was on holiday, though I have travelled to many other countries as well many years ago. I found this jumper thanks to an elderly couple I met on an Italy tour group who had lived in California for many years. They showed me one of the Deaf schools, the John Tracy Center. John’s parents were Spencer Tracy, the famous film star, and Louise Treadwell Tracy, an actress. John passed away around 2003 and left a message for all D/deaf children and youth: “I want to let the kids know they can live a full life. Sports, schools, hobbies, interests, dating, marriage, have a family, drive a car — all of it.”-John Tracy https://jtc.org/Tracy https://jtc.org/

I also went to Canada and stayed with another couple who lived in Edmonton. One of them was a doctor, and they took me to the Alberta School for the Deaf. https://asd.epsb.ca/

This is my preferred choice of hoodie compared to those in New Zealand. It is made of good-quality material and is an excellent example of sharing a positive message with everyone.

Ko Whāingaroa (e mōhiotia ana hoki ko Raglan) he tāone takutai whai hītori i te rohe o Waikato, e rongonui ana mō ngā ngaru.

Te Hītori o Mua o te Māori me te Noho a te Pākehā

• I mua noa atu i te taenga mai o te Pākehā, i noho te Māori i ngā taha o te tauranga e kīia nei ko Whāingaroa. Ko te tikanga o tēnei ingoa, “te wāhi o te whai roa”, “te kokoru roa” rānei. E maumahara ana te ingoa ki te haerenga me te taenga mai o te waka Tainui i mua i te tau 1858.
• I te tau 1854, ka tīmata te noho a te Pākehā i te wā i tīmata ai te kāwanatanga ki te hoko whenua i taua rohe.
• I te tau 1858, ka tapaina anō te tāone ko Raglan hei whakanui i a Fitzroy Somerset, te “Lord Raglan” tuatahi, te kaiārahi hōia o Peretānia i te Pakanga o Crimea. I ngaro tōna ringa matau i te Pakanga o Waterloo i te tau 1815. Mai i taua wā, e kīia ana tēnei tāone takutai ko Raglan.

E rongonui ana a Raglan mō te eke ngaru me ōna takutai onepū pango i ahu mai i te puia.

I ngā wā o mua, he kaiahuwhenua, he kaimahi noa hoki tōku whānau. I tēnei rā, kei reira tonu e noho ana tōku whaea me taku teina. I hokona e tōku whaea tētahi toa pukapuka me tētahi whare i te wā e noho ana ahau ki tāwāhi i ngā tau kua hipa. Kei te tipu haere tonu a Whāingaroa hei wāhi mō te hunga kua reti i te mahi, mō ngā pakihi o te rohe, me ngā mahi toi.

Whāingaroa, also known as Rakarana or Raglan, is a historic coastal town in the Waikato Region famous for its surf.

Early Māori History and European Settlement

• Long before Europeans arrived, Māori lived around the harbour known as Whāingaroa, which means “the place of the long pursuit” or “long inlet.” The name remembers the journey and arrival of the Tainui waka (canoe) before 1858.
• In 1854, European settlement began when the government started buying land in the area.
• In 1858, the town was renamed Raglan to honour Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan, the British commander during the Crimean War. He lost his right arm at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Since then, this coastal town has been called Raglan.

Raglan is well known for surfing and its volcanic black-sand beaches.

A Weekend in Raglan

In the past, my family worked as farmers and labourers. Today, my mother and youngest brother still live there. My mother bought a bookshop and a home while I was overseas many years ago. Whāingaroa continues to grow as a place for retirees, local businesses, and the arts.

Home

Our home is in Eureka, in the Waikato Region.

Ko Waikato te awa
Ko Taupiri te maunga
Ko Te Wherowhero te tangata1

(Waikato is the river, Taupiri is the mountain, Te Wherowhero is the man.)

The river, mountain, and human ancestor are vitally important in defining tribal identity.

Meaning of Waikato

• Wai: Means water.
• Kato: Means the pull of the river current in the sea.
• Translation: Traditionally translated as flowing water. https://ngatinahotrust.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/the-mighty-waikato/WordPress.com

Related Māori Names in the Region

• Hamilton City (the main city in Waikato): Known in Māori as Kirikiriroa, which means “long stretch of gravel.”
• Waikato River: Known as Waikato Te Awa

Ruakura

One famous saying of the Waikato tribes shows the close association between people and places. Ruakura literally means red feather in Māori but is used metaphorically to mean a chiefly plume and serves as a powerful symbol of peace. [1]

Literal and Metaphorical Meaning

• Chiefly feather: The literal translation is red feather but it represents the chiefly plume worn by people of mana (prestige and authority).
• Leadership and strength: Wearing a raukura traditionally reflects leadership, hope, inner strength, and shared vision.
• You can explore basic word entries on the Te Aka Māori Dictionary. [1, 2, 3]

Ruakura is a Māori name meaning a red pit or a gathering place of chiefs. It is also the name of a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand. [1, 2]

Traditional Māori Meanings

The name Ruakura has two main traditional interpretations:

• The Red Pit: The word rua means hole or pit and kura means red. This refers to an area where people burned iron oxide to make red ochre paint for sacred carvings and objects. [1]
• The Meeting of Chiefs: Rua can mean two and kura refers to the red feathered plumes worn by chiefs. It represents a neutral meeting place where local tribes such as Ngāti Wairere and Ngāti Hauā gathered to talk and solve issues. [1]

Modern Locations and Uses

Today, Ruakura is a well-known area in the Waikato region: [1]

• Research Hub: It has hosted government-backed agricultural, soil, and plant research since the late 19th century.
• Commercial and Logistics Center: The land is now home to the Ruakura Superhub, an inland port and industrial hub designed to connect freight by road and rail. [1, 2, 3]

Second meaning option for the name Ruakura

Ruakura translates literally to red pit or red hole in Māori (rua meaning hole or pit, and kura meaning red). [1, 2]

Origin of the Name

• The Pit: Rua refers to a hole or pit located in the area. [1]
• The Colour: Kura refers to the red staining caused by a traditional manufacturing process. [1]
• The Process: According to Ngāti Wairere oral history, the site had a pit used to burn raw iron oxide found in local swamps. Heating the iron oxide produced a powdery red pigment. [1, 2]
• Kōkōwai (Ochre): This red powder was mixed with water to create kōkōwai, a sacred red ochre. Māori used kōkōwai to paint sacred (tapu) ceremonial objects, wooden carvings, and ancestral remains (kōiwi). [1, 2]

Burning and processing the red iron oxide stained the pit’s earth red, giving the location the enduring name Ruakura. [1, 2]

My family grew up in Ruakura, Hillcrest, Newstead, Silverdale, and near Morrinsville for many years. The male family members were farmers, labourers, and staff who worked with Ruakura Research Centre and Agriculture from the late 1900s. I attached a couple of videos of Ruakura for you to watch if you are not familiar with our Ruakura Inland. There is now one official NZS/Māori sign language concept for this name. However, from my experience as a linguist, there are two different meanings of this name as explained above. The video shows two other sign languages that correctly link to this name.

Our home in Eureka, in the Waikato Region.

Ko Waikato te awa
Ko Taupiri te maunga
Ko Te Wherowhero te tangata 1

(Waikato is the river, Taupiri is the mountain, Te Wherowhero is the man.)

The river, the mountain and the human ancestor are all vitally important in defining tribal identity.

This week in Aotearoa (New Zealand) marked Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), from September 14 to 20, 2026. The theme is understanding the names of towns and cities across Aotearoa and how to pronounce them correctly, including for D/deaf people, D/deaf with disabilities, and other disabled people. We focus on teaching many Turi Māori (Māori D/deaf) to learn te Reo and develop ariā mō te reo tohu Māori (Māori Sign Language Concepts). This helps them understand their iwi, hapū, sub-hapū, myths, and cultural background of their whānau and iwi, along with many other lessons for the next generation. We will explore this more during the week.

Let us learn about our home in Eureka. First, the name. Eureka was not the original name for the tiny townships in the Waikato region. Before the 1860s, Ngāti Hauā called it the Great Piako Swamp.

Tribes

In later generations, Tainui ancestors founded tribes that spread throughout and beyond the Waikato region. The Ngāti Maniapoto tribe descended from Maniapoto, who with his people settled around Kāwhia and to the south. Ngāti Toarangatira (also known as Ngāti Toa), whose ancestor was Tūpāhau, originally lived at Kāwhia. Ngāti Raukawa, descendants of Raukawa, occupied south Waikato between Maungatautari mountain and Whakamaru, extending north to the Kaimai Range. The ancestor Marutūahu migrated north of Te Aroha mountain and founded several tribes now known as the Marutūahu confederation.

In the Waikato basin, the Waikato confederation of tribes, including Ngāti Mahuta and others, settled. Ngāti Hauā, descended from Te Ihingaarangi, the elder brother of Maniapoto, established east of the Waikato River. Over centuries, alliances and disputes affected relationships between these tribes.

No specific, officially recorded pre-existing Māori name exists for Eureka in the Waikato. The European settlement and farm estate were named Eureka after the 1865/1874 land confiscations and the area’s draining. [1, 2]

Historical Context of the Area

• Ancestral Land: The area originally formed part of the vast Piako Swamp, within the ancestral territory of local iwi such as Ngāti Hauā and other Tainui tribes. [1, 2, 3]
• The Land Confiscation: Following the 19th-century conflicts in the Waikato, the Crown confiscated the land in the 1860s. The eastern edge of modern-day Eureka still borders the historic Confiscation Line. [1]
• Naming Eureka: The name Eureka itself was applied by European settlers/syndicates (such as Captain William Steele) in the 1870s, derived either from an exclamation upon reaching a local hilltop (“Eureka, I have found it!”) or from a composite of women’s initials from an early picnic party. [1, 2, 3]
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka,_New_Zealand
• Eureka, New Zealand – Wikipedia
• Eureka is on the former Piako Swamp, described as deep in 1876. Following the invasion of the Waikato, it was part of the area confiscation line…
• 
• https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/eureka
• 
• http://heritagewaikato.org/index.php/node/97
• Eureka | Heritage Waikato
• The farming area called Eureka was created by reclaiming part of the vast Piako Swamp.

While the immediate fields of Eureka were mostly an unmodified section of the Great Piako Swamp rather than a permanent village site, the surrounding area is rich with Ngāti Hauā history, traditional pā sites, and ancestral boundaries. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

1. Traditional Boundaries & Topography

• The Piako Swamp Network: Prior to European drainage, the swampy regions extending into Eureka were an invaluable food source (mahinga kai) for Ngāti Hauā. The complex web of wetlands and streams was heavily used to harvest tuna (eels), waterfowl, and flax. [1, 2]
• Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere: This is the traditional name for the long, sweeping range and ridge systems that define the wider eastern boundary of the Waikato rohe, extending toward the Kaimai ranges. [1, 2]

2. Prominent Nearby Pā Sites

Historically, permanent Ngāti Hauā settlement concentrated on strategic high ground, ridges, and river pathways just outside the deep peat bogs:

Potuwha Pā: Located nearby, Potuwha is considered one of the best-preserved pā sites in the entire Waikato region and holds immense historical significance for Ngāti Hauā.

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Tauwhare Pā Sites: Just to the south-east of Eureka lies Tauwhare, a critical strongpoint and historical settlement area for the iwi.

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Maungakawa: The nearby Maungakawa ranges housed prominent seasonal and fortified pā positions, acting as high-ground lookouts over the vast wetlands below. [1, 2, 3, 4]

3. Local Hapū & Marae Centres

The Eureka area sits closely within the traditional domains of specific Ngāti Hauā hapū (sub-tribes):

• Ngāti Werewere: This hapū traditionally occupied and managed the trails, streams, and resource zones running through the upper Waihou-Piako basin, adjacent to modern-day Morrinsville and Eureka. [1]
• Te Iti o Hauā (Tauwhare): Located just down the road from Eureka, this remains the closest active ancestral marae and primary cultural hub for local people today. [1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C4%81ti_Hau%C4%81

Here is my sign in ASL (American Sign Language), which conveys the meaning of discovering Eureka in the video. First, with a closed fist as in ASL ‘E ‘, and secondly, sign as a light bulb flicking on by using the index finger upward as an idea.

As we age, we often rely on the problem-solving methods we’re most familiar with when things go wrong.

One cold morning, it was -6°C, and I had no idea the vent pipe for our old hot water cylinder on the roof had burst. When I got home from a staff meeting on Friday, water was everywhere. My partner had slept through the sound of water pouring onto the roof all night. The next morning, while I was still asleep, he went to check. Because I am a deaf senior with disabilities, I didn’t notice anything until I saw him on the phone. He told me he had turned off both the hot water cylinder and the main water supply. Getting someone to come out over the weekend was expensive, so we decided to wait until Monday to fix it. That morning, I stayed home except for a short interview with a friend for his project.

We’ve learned many tricks for handling problems. We use secondhand materials, make our own tools, save water, and always keep food, meat, and vegetables stocked. I picked up many of these habits from my late grandparents, my great-grandma from Christchurch, her sister, my aunty, and great-uncle Fred. My partner has his own skills from his past, so we’re both handy around the house. Over the weekend, we noticed water missing from the big tank, probably because we washed the dog blankets. Maybe someone from the Waikato District Council checked the trickle or drip water line and forgot to turn it back on to refill the storage tank. Someone else also said their water storage tank was empty. I filled three buckets just in case and bought extra water containers from the supermarket. You might wonder how we manage toilet flushes or showers. We don’t live in the city. We’re in the country, and our nearest neighbours are a kilometre away.

In some parts of the region, temperatures dropped to 5°C, but for us it was -6°C. The last time we had such a heavy frost was -4°C in 2016.

The world is changing quickly with more flooding, bushfires, and landslips. Many people aren’t prepared or don’t notice these changes. Sadly, some choose to live on clifftops for the view or near rivers in the bush and cut down trees to get a better view. We don’t do that. When we moved into our home, it already had plenty of storage and a large section with several trees. The first thing I did was plant more trees along the stream and around the property to help with windbreaks. Our neighbour is a farming family with few trees and less conservation land. Sometimes the farmland isn’t cared for as well as it could be. It’s important to know which tree seedlings are best for the soil, whether they hold the ground, have space for roots, or grow fast or slow. Most trees, including wilding trees (self-seeded invasive pines and conifers), Eucalyptus, gorse, and certain conifers such as junipers, pines, and cypresses, are highly flammable.

More than forty-eight hours ago in Tibet-Nepal, a glacial lake burst, triggering a catastrophic flash flood. The flood swept down the river between two mountains and destroyed every home, hydropower dam, road, and village, without warning anyone. The disaster was triggered by a massive glacier collapse on Langtang Lirung in northern Nepal, near the Chinese border. The resulting wall of ice, rock, mud, and water surged over 80 kilometres downstream, destroying roads, bridges, and hydropower projects along a 170-kilometre stretch.

More than four thousand people are missing, including tourists from other countries and New Zealand. There is a young couple missing from our region – Hamilton and they run a small business on the other side of the river in Hamilton City.

“We mourn with every family that has lost a loved one; we stand with those who are still waiting for news, and we grieve with communities whose homes and livelihoods have been swept away. In the midst of such overwhelming pain, we pray that the people of Nepal and Tibet may know that they are not alone. We are together in this hour of anguish.”

“In this time of profound loss and suffering, may God’s comforting presence draw near to all those affected, embrace those who grieve, strengthen those who search and serve, shelter those who have lost their homes, and kindle a light of hope amid the darkness.”

The world in those early days consists of glass and white, and the silver grass comes to life in the morning light. [1]

The sun comes up a sleepy, frozen red,
The trees are all shaking in bed.
The ground is crisp and crunches at your feet,
And every little puddle is a sheet
Of shining ice, so delicate and clear,
Here, a quiet morning in winter establishes itself. [1, 2]

Your breath blows out like smoke into the air,
Frost that is cold and sharp can be found everywhere.
The rooftops glisten in the pale blue sky,
Little robins are rushing by.
So step outside and see the diamond ground,
The sun will melt all the crystal sounds. [1, 2]

In the morning when it was frosty the spider web which had been hidden became white lace and crystal glass.

The Frosted Loom

The night is still, the air is cold,
A fragile net of silk is spun,
Before the early dawn can hold
The winter sun rising.

White frost arrives upon the breeze,
And paints the threads with glassy ice,
It hangs between the sleeping trees,
A quiet, silver, cold device.

No gem is brighter in the light,
Than every line of frozen dew,
A web of magic made at night,
This shines for all the world to see.

There’s a great feeling in realising that all you need in order to achieve your dreams is already within yourself; the spider does not have within the housefly all that it needs to make a cobweb. Turn your attention to yourself and you’ll find that you have the ability to weave your own success! The way you look at things will decide if you see a spiderweb as something deadly or as something beautiful.

Esoteric and Philosophical Symbolism

In a more mystical sense the spider web stands as a symbol of destiny, karmic connections and the notion that all the events in life are interwoven; it may also signify obstacles and the challenges one has surmounted, which makes it a highly personal and significant choice for a tattoo.

Yesterday, after work, we let our dogs run and explore the big fields near our home. While I walked, I took in the gardens, filled with trees, shrubs, vegetables, strawberries, small plants, and bulbs spread throughout.

One of the bulbs, the daffodils, is starting to bud and should open in a day or two. The Grevillea, also known as spider flowers, silky oaks, or toothbrush plants, is showing yellow and red blooms on another group of shrubs.

These late-winter flowers, especially the yellow daffodils, are a sign that spring is on its way.

Very Early Spring

By Katherine Mansfield

The fields are snowbound no longer;

There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.

The snow has been caught up in the sky–

So many white clouds–and the blue of the sky is cold.

Now the sun walks in the forest,

He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;

They shiver and wake from slumber.

Over the barren branches, he shakes his yellow curls.

Yet is the forest full of the sound of tears….

A wind dances over the fields.

Shrill and clear the sound of her waking laughter,

Yet the little blue lakes tremble.

And the flags of tenderest green bend and quiver.

Recently in New Zealand, wild weather has caused thousands of dollars in damage from flooding and heavy rain across the country. In the past few days, we’ve had light frosts in the mornings, partly cloudy skies, a cold wind, and some sunshine here in Eureka, Waikato. Meanwhile, the rest of the South Island, up to Wairarapa, is facing more flooding and heavy rain, which has badly damaged farmland, bridges, and roads, and caused landslides, including on State Highways.

Now that it’s mid-July, I’m starting to plan for vegetable and flower seedlings, including watermelon seeds. Timing is important, especially for planting sunflower seeds to mark the five-year anniversary of the serious car accidents at the intersection across from our home and along the State Highway between Morrinsville and Hamilton. The anniversary is on February 1st, 2027. Our closest neighbours, a cousin and her husband, and I are remembering the young mother and her almost-six-month-old baby. We were the first to arrive at the accident site, helped the victims, made sure everyone was safe, and let emergency vehicles like fire engines, ambulances, and police cars get to the site and park next to our fields.

I’m planning to choose a new spot for a sunflower patch near the intersection as a gentle reminder for all drivers: slow down, don’t use your phone while driving, get enough rest before travelling, don’t drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and don’t overtake cars at the intersection.

Gypsy Day is taking place across Aotearoa-New Zealand today. What significance does Gypsy Day hold for you?

In New Zealand, Gypsy Day on June 1 is the official Moving Day for the dairy industry. On this day, sharemilkers, contract milkers, farm staff, and their families relocate their homes, equipment, and herds to new farms for the upcoming season. This move typically occurs annually or every three years, depending on employment arrangements.

It is also commonly referred to as “Mooving Day.”

Our neighbour, who worked as a farmhand, and his wife or fiancée moved out a few days ago. He mentioned they are now living along Tahuroa Road, on the other side of Tauwhare. Their one-year stay was unusual, as previous tenants, such as a young family named Greg, lived here for nearly four years before moving to Morrinsville. The tenant before them, between 2023 and 2024, also stayed for one year. Our neighbour is a shareholder in two major farms, including King (Hinton Bosch) Farm. The King couple began sharemilking 420 cows on 123 hectares on Hinton Road with Dan Hinton’s family, expanding their operation to 560 cows on 163 hectares and grazing stock at Tahuroa Road. My late great-aunt Joy was part of the Hinton family before the 1940s. Gypsy Day has always been significant to us, and several of my late uncles and other relatives spent many years living on farms. When I was young, my late grandmother Hilda (Biddy) explained the meaning of Gypsy Day to me.

The Hinton Bosch Farm is a prominent, multi-generation dairy property situated on the corner of State Highway 26 and Hinton Road in Eureka, Waikato. Spanning over \(120\) hectares, the property has a rich local history and has produced generations of the Hinton family, who originally settled the area as part of the Waikato Militia in the 1860s. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Historical Background

• Family Line: The Eureka and Hinton Roads property is a 5th-generation Hinton family property. Henry Hinton, a private in the 4th Regiment, was granted a 50-acre block in the area known as Hinton’s Gully in the 1860s. [1, 2]
• Operation: In the 2000s and 2010s, Troy and Michelle Hinton-Bosch ran the dairy operation on the property, milking around 400 cows and later expanding to over 420 cows. [1, 2]
• Current Status: After the Hinton-Bosch family sold the property in the mid-2010s, subsequent owners continued sharemilking over 120 hectares [1]. The property was later sold to the King-Hinton family.

Locality & Context

• Region: Located in Eureka, a tight-knit rural satellite farming community of the Waikato situated just a short drive from Hamilton.
• Nearby Hubs: The farm is only about 15 to 20 minutes northeast of Hamilton City via State Highway 26.
• Community: The area is famously documented by the local monthly publication, the Eureka Express, which records the comings, goings, and history of the local pioneering farming families. [1, 2, 3]

To learn more about the history of local families and estates, please visit the Heritage Waikato archives.

Thinking about what life could be like in the future can feel worrying. Many countries are preparing for a difficult economic outlook, with higher prices and job losses. Because of this, thousands of people with disabilities, D/deaf people, and others might face even more challenges, especially if there are cuts to support workers and funding for access.

Many people with disabilities, D/deaf people, and seniors will probably have a hard time managing daily expenses and finding ways to save money.

We do not know exactly what the future will bring. Sometimes, it feels as uncertain as the futures shown in movies like Blade Runner or the Terminator series.

I can feel the music’s vibration and try to hear the voices through my hearing aid, but it is hard without Bluetooth. The YouTube video ‘This Sound Feels Like Heaven | Gregorian Chants That Heal the Soul’ has Gregorian chant music that is great for meditation, prayer, relaxing, deep sleep, and spiritual practices. Many people use these chants for reflection, reading, or inspiration. As I listened, I looked out the window and watched sunlight fill my home office. Relaxing music helps me unwind, especially since I have multiple disabilities, including chronic pain and cervical spine issues that were finally diagnosed in 2014-2015. We live in the countryside outside Hamilton, which has given us a break and lets us enjoy life on our property. There are many garden projects, our dogs keep me company, and we have a house with a large barn, double garage, and a separate double carport on a one-hectare property. I named it Cluain na mBláth and Cluain na gCrann.

The Ministers in Parliament are struggling with their finances, rules, inflation, taxes, and funding. This makes things harder for us, while they benefit from our taxes and profits. Budget Day is this Thursday, and we have no idea what they plan to do.

Now the sunshine is fading, and night is slowly falling as the temperature drops. It is time to start the fire for heating, and I will soon prepare the dogs’ meals because my partner will be home soon.

Autumn is here in Waikato. The leaves are changing colour, and as you walk through fields, along footpaths, by the roadside, or in the park, you can hear the crunch of fallen leaves under your feet.

Mushrooms pop up among the fallen leaves, but you have to be careful. Some are poisonous, while others are safe to eat.

Raking up the leaves can feel like a chore or something fun. Some people burn them in a bonfire, while others add them to compost to make new soil.

This morning, I went to the Oak Eatery Cafe in Morrinsville to meet with a Neurodiverse Support Group. From the cafe, I watched children playing in the playground nearby while parents, walkers, seniors, and other customers enjoyed the sunshine and walked through the leaves. One young child with mild autism was full of energy, running around, climbing a rope structure shaped like a hut, and walking across the platform bridge. The child’s mother looked tired as she tried to keep up.

A woman named Pamlea, whose real name is not Pamlea, asked me about using sign language to help autistic children and teenagers communicate. She said there was an NZSL class, but found it too hard for nonverbal young people. She was not criticising the class; she was just trying to understand. I suggested she talk to one of the NZSL teachers or teacher aides to see if they understand the needs of neurodiverse children and youth.

Out back, children played in the playground and loved the sound of leaves crunching under their feet and the feel of the leaves. Their faces were full of laughter and smiles. Adults enjoyed drinks like coffee, tea, or milkshakes with their meals and chatted with friends and colleagues.

It was a lovely morning at the Oak Eatery Cafe in Morrinsville. You might want to visit and try their menu while enjoying the area around the new housing estates.

Here is the link for you to look up… https://www.oakeatery.co.nz/