Christmas Holiday

Christmas has found me in the Wairarapa with my family. It is good to have a change from the normal routine of Waiheke Island, if only to reinforce the fact I am happy living where I do, the weather has nothing to do with it! Well may be a little, I do like the mild climate we have on the Island (sure tulips are only treated as an annual and then sent on to my mother's garden in Masterton where the bulbs can recover and continue, hopefully, to bloom another year) where we can grow numerous tender plants my mother can only read about. In contrast to my garden, my mother's garden is a tiny, 1/8 acre, packed to the hilt with any old cottage and perennial plants, many of which would struggle in our subtropical clime of the north. At the moment her garden is bursting with fuschia, lilies roses, nearing the end of their first flush to the more tender things for her grown in pots and hanging baskets in the shelter of a sunny porch.

Tomorrow sees us travel north again through the centre of the North island and back to Waiheke, from where I will now start to post regularly. Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!
Ewen