Five Cherry trees have been blossoming since last week, bringing a late display of cherry blossoms due to unpredicted weather. Oh, what a delight to see out from our kitchen window early evening today after yesterday’s pouring rain out in Te Kowhai.
I love looking out through our kitchen window daily and watching wild rabbits out in the fields, our dogs running around and chasing wild rabbits and children walking up to the bus stop for their schools or coming home from school. Many birds fly in the air or creep on the ground for their yummy meals.
“The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly. ” William Wordsworth
Azalea shrub is full of fiery red colours and displays where the old house was; at the time, we moved to our home here, and yes, there were two houses here, but not anymore. What an angelic display of this shrub each year!
“My extravagance is my garden – it’s the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.” Ina Garten
When I was a young girl, my mother asked me to do a weeding or something in the garden. I said I don’t want to get my hands dirty, but I rather wait until I had a home with a bare or partially unfinished garden.
“God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures. ” Francis Bacon
Then, the garden is still processing with new plant cuttings, filling more seedlings in the gardens, and planting new trees to replace the old trees for firewood.
“In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ” Abram L. Urban
This is me as a deaf gardener/historian, researcher/blogger/community support worker/advocator, Christian and other roles. Note this photo was taken one long hot summer day in 2016.
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”- Dalai Lama
I woke up in the morning and read a book while my partner was asleep, as he had been working the night shift this week. Our dogs revving to go out in the field for their daily runs. I stepped in my gumboots and put on my dressing gown, then to let the dogs out by went bang and boom out through the door hasting for chasing rabbits.
“Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you can.” — Hillary Clinton (inspired by John Wesley quote)
I wonder what God has bought something for us each day – delighted to see daffodils out blooming in the centre garden. Oh sigh! There are more holes in the grass section and in the fields by the rabbits nesting their body at night. I nearly tripped over when walking around as I watched my left ankle because the last time I sprained my lelf ankle badly a few days before my 50th birthday, I was looking forward to a Hot Air Balloon ride. I will not be defeated by these rabbits and the holes they made a mess around.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”— Lao-Tze
School children walked past us as they caught their school bus across the road. One of the children asked me if I knew the story about the posh snob people across the road, as their house was still on the market for a long time. My reply was no one wants to buy their home because it is too expensive for their decision of house worth than the valuation. The place their choice was $1.5 million than $1.2 million of dollars.
“When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or the life of another.” — Helen Keller
I checked the sunrooms’ seedlings and was pleased to see sunflower seeds producing upward along with other vegetables and flower seedlings. I prepared the list of garden jobs for this Spring and the coming Summer seasons. “I don’t have to know why everything is happening since I know God is good, He loves me, and life on earth is not the whole story.” This God quote is about life and always reminds me every day.
Mum! my partner, came to rescue me and called me while I was in the courtyard having late breakfast. “Are you going to Hamilton City today or not?” Said my partner. I replied yes as it was one job for the Deaf elderly chap – Gordon. My partner asked me about Gordon’s coming birthday and when. I said not until next month and hoping for a fine afternoon when I plan to take Gordon for a ride along Waikato Expressway and the expanding growth of construction and super construction and new roads on the eastern side of Hamilton City.
Let another day come by and see what God has planned for us tomorrow!
I batted with chronic sinus and mucus vs stomach acid. I determined whether I got COVID-19 or not. The answer was no. Having chronic sinusitis during the Spring Season often brings the worst or evident.
The passing of Queen Elizabeth II’s death was ineffectual as I saw the news about the new Prime Minister – Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson met the Queen. I recognised the purple colour sign resembled bruised signs or peripheral cyanosis – the lack of oxygen to the heart. But I might be wrong, which can be similar to heart condition problems. As she met Queen Elizabeth II, PM Truss shook Queen Elizabeth II’s hands.
My first-noon outing was just a quick one to see the Deaf elderly chap who will be 90 years old next month for his grocery. I wore a mask and greeted him as he was well and delighted to see me. Mr G Wood played Solitaires on his computer while the tv was on. On TV, the new screen was showing breaking news about Queen Elizabeth II’s passing death all day last Friday.
Mr Wood asked me about the royal lineage to the new King Charles III. I explained to him through sign language then I decided to draw the line along with many names linking to King George VI’s ancestors.
See the photo here.
G. Wood said Prince Harry is finished and gone to the USA with a bad wife. No King for Harry. What about the titles – Duke and Duchess? I told G Wood that it was up to the new King Charles III if Queen Elizabeth II had already made the plan. Harry’s children won’t have the titles but remain as Master and Miss. If Harry’s wife complains, she should keep her mouth shut and move on. For example, living oversea, like in the USA and no longer in England, they will pay their income, not the British Tax. If Harry and his family do not want to live in England anymore, then it is their problem, not the Royal Families. Yes, U.S./U.K. dual citizens have to file U.S. taxes. Wood said Harry’s wife is the lousy troublemaker, not the boss and lacks respect for the Royal Families. Mm, that was an interesting comment from him. Then Wood asked me how the name “Charles” traced back to the first Charles. I decided to draw the line along with many family names linking to Queen Victoria’s ancestors.
Let’s recap the line linking to the names.
King Charles 1 (born 1600 and died 1649) was known as King of Scotland and England) and his sister – Elizabeth Stuart, married Frederick V.
King Charles I’s wife, was Henrietta Maria (1609 – 1669) of France, and they had nine children. Four sons – Charles (died stillborn), Charles II, James II and Henry (died two months later), and five daughters – Mary Stuart, Henrietta, Anne (died young), Elizabeth (died young) and Catherine (stillborn).
Mary Stuart married William II of Orange and had one son – William III.
Charles II married Catherine and had no children at all.
James II married twice and had a daughter – Mary II.
More complex –
William III married his cousin – Mary II (her father was James II)
Elizabeth and Frederick had one daughter – Sophia Hanover, and married Ernest A.
Sophia and Ernest had one son – George I, and married Sophia Dorothea of Celle. George I, became a King and had two children – George II and Sophia.
George II married Caroline of Ansbach and had four children – Frederick, Anne, Mary and Louisa.
Frederick married and had a son George III.
George III married Charlotte Mecklenburgh and had three children – Edward, George IV and William IV (who became a King but died). George IV became a king, married Caroline of Brunswick, and had one daughter.
Edward (Duke of Kent) married Victoria of Saxe Coburg and had a daughter – Victoria, later Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria married Albert and had children. Their eldest son Edward married and had a son George V who married Mary.
King George V and Queen Mary had two sons – King Edward later, but his abdication as he wished to marry the twice-divorced American woman. He abdicated the throne to marry twice- divorcee Wallis Simpson, became known as the Duke of Windsor and handed it over to George VI to become a King.
So King VI was Queen Elizabeth II’s father. Note the Royal Families lineage I wrote down was just roughly outline, if you note any errors or no errors.
Wow, what an entertainment lesson for Mr Wood to understand but fair enough for his choice to know a better picture today. I headed straight home for a well-earned rest in bed as an afternoon nap.
I lost the count of years until I read the newspaper article about Princess Diana’s death and the significant impact across the countries today. It had been 25 years ago Princess Diana was killed along with Dodi al-Fayed, and the driver. At the same time, the bodyguard survived the high-speed driving that led to a crash in the 200m tunnel (Pont de l’Alma traffic tunnel-Cours Albert 1st) past the Cours de la Reine along the River of Seine.
That day – 31st August recaptured my memory of this significant impact on many people who loved Princess Diana and the Royal Family, which was the highlight of my three months travelling to Europe, England and Ireland. I was due to fly out to Heathrow Airport in a couple of days and raised concern about the delay due to massive crowds heading for the funeral on 6th September 1997.
I, along with other airline passengers – British Airways knew about this. I went ahead as usual before arriving at Heathrow Airport, and the airline flew a circle for about 30 minutes in the sky before landing. Coming out of Heathrow Airport by catching the taxi into the city of London to Shepherd’s Bush (12.5 miles), perfumes of flowers float in the air from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, which is located 4.1 miles from Shepherd’s Bush. These smells of perfumes from approx 60 million flowers laid surrounding Buckingham Palace between the time of her death and the funeral. The sight of flowers was excellent as I did not walk around there, for I caught a train to Notts where my cousins lived in Newark, Nottinghamshire and stayed with them before 6th September, and I flew out from Birmingham Airport to Dublin, Ireland.
I did not watch Diana’s funeral for a week during my stay in Ireland. I travelled around South Ireland from Dublin to Galway, down to Limerick, Tralee, Killarney, and Cork, via Mallow to Tipperary, Waterford, several villages and back to Dublin. That was my highlight of the Ireland holiday where our ancestors came from.
One of my travelling days – Italy: Pisa, Tuscany.
After my Ireland trip, I flew directly to Heathrow Airport from Dublin via transit airline to Paris, France. I stayed in Paris for a couple days before heading out to Zurich, Switzerland. Yes, more flowers were lying near the Flame of Liberty, Paris, by the tourists and Parisians.
Twenty-five years ago – times flew so quickly since I travelled around the world each year/every two years in the past. My first trip overseas was in 1981, and my last trip overseas was in 2009. Most of the time, I wish to go back and catch up with my cousins and friends overseas, but I see the cost of airfares, accommodations and transport are far too expensive. I count myself lucky because the prices fitted my travel budget in the past, and any leftover cash went back to the saving account. Today I am firmly staying on the ground with my partner, three dogs, our home, gardens, and works as I get older.
What a glorious day so far! Spring is almost here as the weather plays tricks on us each day.
Inspecting the gardens and magnificent cherry flowering trees with bright pink-red colours display in the skies. Hungry Silver Wax-Eye birds (green feather birds) swooped down from one branch to another, drinking nectars from cherry flowers. Oh, what a delight to see drunken birds feed their babies in a safe place in the trees.
28th August 2022
Oh, what a wonderful sight to see so many bees and Silver Wax-Eye birds busying around three flowering cherry trees this morning! Oh, there are many bees flying from one flower to another, collecting pollen-nectar for making honey. Hark!
Silver Wax-eyed green bird peaking on top of the tip.
Oh, one more to mention about the glorious sunsets over the last night and tonight!
“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” ~ Millard Kaufman
Over the last few weeks in New Zealand, there was so much bad wet weather down in the South Island – the worst hit area are Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. Many of the residents were stranded due to flooding, massive landslips, road slips and road blocks due to landslips from the mountains, and a couple of bridges collapsed. In Wellington, plenty of landslips, causing cars to collapse on the roadside next to the hilly Wellington city.
Bubs near the water pump hut, 2022
“For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in every wood in every spring there is a different green.” ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
We are in late Winter into Spring within a week or two weeks in New Zealand. This year we are experiencing the worst kind of wild and wet weather so far. for the last three to five years, we have not had much Winter rain through the longest drought in Summer. Then this year, we just have a wet and wild weather bomb, but wondering if this kind of weather bomb is just a one-off or to continue through Spring into Summer. We do not have a magic ball to know what the weather will be like here. It would be best to admire flowers blooming in the trees, fields and garden while the birds are busy collecting pollens and seeds for their babies or transferring them to fruit seeds.
Popular field of our home, 2022
“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.” ~ Charles Dickens
Harks! Ah! Many fantails fly to greet me when I walk with our three dogs in the fields and gardens. There go many green finches and silver wax eye birds greeting me while they wait for seeds, where I hang up the bird feeder.
Our dogs’ favourite daily runs, 2022
“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heartache, you want it so!” ~ Mark Twain
At the end of the other side of the property, where our most giant Oak tree standing
Blast! Oh, rabbits everywhere and making plenty of holes where I nearly trip over while the dogs chase them out to the hedges or hide under the house and old concrete steps belong to the original house. Curse rabbits! And that’s good to have our three dogs to chase them out or exercise in the fields.
Early hours in the morningJasmine climber
Oh sigh! I have a final project for the gardens and fields this year, or at least I think so. Mmm, let’s wait and see how the weather goes.
Another weekend retreat for us – staff under the Social Service Trust through Winter season 2022. The last time we were here was the first week of April 2022. The very first retreat break was July 2021.
The place we stayed in Flaxmill Bay, near Whitianga, was the best accommodation lodge to stay and wind down to relax. The director used the funding from Well-Being Trust for us, including the director.
The beach is just down the road from the accommodation lodge and is a 5-minutes walking distance. The garden is surrounded by native plants, shrubs and trees where you can hear many birds singing day and night. Fear not for me as I am deaf with a disability myself, and it does not bother me with the rattle noise from birds.
A ferry landing is down further the road to catch a ferry to and from Whitianga. You can walk down to the ferry landing via ferry ride and head to Whitianga within 59 minutes from the Flaxmill Bay Accommodation Lodge. It is much quicker by ferry in under 7 minutes than driving over to Whitianga along the winding road for approximately 33 minutes and 38 minutes on different routes. If you don’t like walking a long way, you can take a car to the ferry landing and park there for 2 minutes or so.
Viewing from Whitianga wharf to Ferry Landing across
There are several recreation parks, beaches and cafes near Maramaratotora Bay, Cooks Bay, Hahei Beach and Hot Water Beach. The popular recreations are Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, which many tourists visit.
Walking, relaxing in the lodge or sitting out on the deck where the sun is shining out, having a bbq one evening with mates or staff or even being lazy in bed or sitting around in the lounge reading books, watching tv or playing games. Oh, one more – yes it is friendly accessible for all disabled people/families. Ah! a perfect place for me to do writing (typing) blog, story for the book or admire out there to think about life such as philosophy or to take photography.
Why not spoil yourself with a holiday break or a retreat weekend treat? What are you waiting for?
Left for Papakura area this Saturday morning on such a beautiful fine day. Driving along the newest Waikato expressway (State highway) was delightful, and it was a smooth ride all the way by reducing the time from 1 hour and 30 minutes down to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remember, back to our childhood days, it felt like 2 hours and 30 minutes or less on the winding roads, traffic jams and through rural townships like Huntly. But today, it was brilliant and straightforward from/Eureka to Auckland.
Arriving at Taupiri, it was foggy surrounding the mountain – a special Māori place and, of course, a sacred mountain. The spirit surrounding the mountain gave me something special meaning when I look at this mountain from time to time through travelling to Auckland.
We passed along Rangiriri, Meremere and Mercer as I looked at the Waikato River. It was over flooding the farmland and the wetland reserves due to the rainy month – July. It is undoubtedly a bonus for Aucklanders to conserve water intake instead not from our Waikato River for the last five years. (video clip here) This area reminds me of a story from my great grand aunt Olive about uncle – Charles Watkinson, his wife Sarah Ann and two children – Vera and Sidney lived in Mercer. Charles worked as an engine driver on the river steamer Manuwai along the river.
Reaching Pōkeno, the famous bacon place and the most significant ice cream scoop, provides a favoured stop by travelling to Auckland. “There are two stores – right next-door to each other – selling scrumptious icecream, as well as other food-on-the-go. The two shops are just as popular as each other, so take your pick. Come with an empty stomach, or icecream-loving friends, though. One of them, Pokeno Takeaways, sells 15-scoop monster cones for $18. Most people opt for more manageable version.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/five-of-the-best-ice-cream-shops/CA5UBAU2ZBWVIC654CNZC6V3E4/?c_id=6&objectid=11381565
What does Pōkeno mean? “very first inhabitants, and many who have taken up residence since, Pōkeno – meaning a ‘place of refuge’ – has gained the reputation as a safe haven where people can escape the stresses of city life and relax amongst friends and family.” https://www.pokenovillageestate.co.nz/history Unfortunately, Pōkeno is no longer a quiet local village due to the demand for housing from the Aucklanders, and the population quadrupled in size today. In Greater Auckland, there are no rooms for housing, and the Aucklanders have to seek outside Greater Auckland to buy homes like in Bombay or Pōkeno.
Travelling through Bombay onward to Takanini – the newest area after Papakura. Our family ancestors lived in Papakura for many years since they arrived from England, Ireland and Scotland. Late Great grand aunt Olive lived there until she passed away, and I visited her several times to discuss genealogy. Olive was close to Ann Brown (our grand aunt) until Ann passed away within a month in 1988.
At last, we arrived at the Friend of The Farmer cafe near Ardmore, Takanini and met my partner’s whānau there for the day. What a sight to see the wall of books!
“Fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.” Virginia Woolf
Wake up in the cold, foggy with a bit of sunshine peeking through the cloud in the garden. Oh, what a delight to see many spider webs in the roses garden!
Mum let dogs out for their runs around the property while walking around the roses garden and admiring unique works woven by spiders overnight. Quickly dashed inside the house as it was a frigid morning. Mum had a warm porridge breakfast while waiting for the sunshine to peek through the foggy clouds. Finally, outbreak – the sun looked through and shone over the roses, and mum grabbed her mobile camera to take photos for this blog. Oh, what wonder artworks made by the spiders that delighted that morning.
Yes, it is Winter here in New Zealand, and it is not quite the end of June. Thankful for the bountiful rain we need in the Waikato Rural regional, for we, the local rural community, do not complain about rainy weeks.
Kindly remind Mum that today’s world is heading for destruction and the danger of global warming. Global warming is becoming destructive caused by mankind, Mother Nature and the lack of horticultural education to preserve trees and grow seeds to plants/trees. Trees/shrubs and boulders/large rocks can prevent erosion along the coastal beaches like Port Waikato or Raglan, New Zealand. For example, the war between Ukraine and Russia without warning made mum think about the late blind woman who foretold the future and said there would be a World War Three.
Looking back to the spider’s web and the handwork, the spider continues to be woven the web each time any insects or humans break the web. “Spiders rebuild their webs by eating the silk then “recycling” it to make new webs. Webs have multiple purposes, but the most important one is to trap insects for food.”
“Spider’s web symbolizes destiny and mortality. Christian symbolism of the spider is usually that of a Devil, which captures by ensnarement just like the spider traps its prey. Folklore also associates the spider meaning with good luck, wealth, or coming rain.”
There was another detail that mum forgot about, and here is the quote. “In Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a good luck omen. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. There is also a popular spider inspired folk legend from Germany and Ukraine.9/01/2011″
The worst nightmare and shock affected the close-knit families when a policeman came to the door, or a phone rang early in the morning.
Yesterday morning we read the newspapers in the Waikato Times and the NZ Herald. In the article, the family members detailed were a mother and a child who died and left a young father alive and injured. This detail brought back my memory of the 1st of February in Eureka. The worst serious accident happened on State Highway 1, south of Picton, South Island, resulting from a van (mover van) and a truck with two container trailers. Seven out of nine family members died instantly, leaving two other families injured, and the truck driver was barely shaken and had a mild injury.
I tried to focus on other areas like gardening, genealogy research and jigsaw puzzles. My partner knew what to feel like having been injured and living with the accident in the past. Because he had been involved in vehicles and other accidents in the past, he is a truck driver. At the same time, I am a deaf-specialised community worker, deaf advocator and deaf historian. I have experience involved with assistance in the accident near our property back on the 1st of February.
The family came from consistent church-goers. The father was a primary teacher who received extensive extra training for the high-needs children; the school dealt with behaviours that “fall into the broad categories of profound, severe and moderate disability”.
Consider there is more work to be done on the safety of driving on the road and the acute awareness of the road codes and speed. It is called Road to Zero. The campaign starts on the 13th of February 2022, and it is not okay for people to die or to be seriously injured in a crash.
Your loss saddens our hearts, and our thoughts and prayers are with you. May our Lord bless and comfort you and your family during this time of grief. May the memories of this familyand the love of family surround you and give you strength in the days ahead. Please accept our sincere condolences.
Life in Eureka 
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