York was its usual beautiful self, daffodils on the city wall banks just passing their peak. Spring bluebells were just coming on. The train station held happy memories of my first date with Peter, and the Minster was resplendent in the morning sun. I enjoyed long walks with Dennis, Hag's delightful collie/lab puppy, and of course, the usual volume of alcohol (lots).
When I returned home in early May, autumn had well and truly arrived. Short days, glorious autumn colour everywhere and heaps of leaves to sweep up. Stunning sunrises, rays of sunshine breaking through low, misty clouds, and ethereal colours in evening skies. There's certainly lots to love about a kiwi autumn.
Some tidying of the vege garden has been happening. Many of those autumn leaves have been swept up and placed where they'll add structure to soils. Heaps more yet to drop, so hoping that my back is up to the remaining leaf-fall sweeping. The raised beds in the horse arena are tidied and prepped, ready to be covered in weed mats and carpet. The feijoa trees have been harvested and severely pruned. The blueberry bushes have also been cut back, as have the whitecurrants. Hedges are trimmed and remnant weeds are removed. I'll probably make myself do a final weed spray before everything is covered. The olive trees need another good prune - that'll happen when we do the Big Orchard Prune next month.
I'm also getting there with the main vege beds. All the low hedges are trimmed and the smaller trees are cut back. There are carrots to harvest, and some weeding left, but the lion's share of the tidying is done (at least I hope so). Blanketing with weed mat and carpet will be quite a monumental task, but hopefully satisfying. And when it's done, it's done. Left to rest with its microbes until spring 2024. Eeek!
The orchard has yet to be future-proofed. I'm waiting for the last of the fruit - the persimmons - to be harvested. They're just ripening now and are such a treat. It's the best persimmon crop by far and not yet completely decimated by persimmon-loving possums and birds. They've made a start, but maybe they've found alternative sources this year. We'll do the Big Prune and let the ewes in to keep the pasture down. Sam wants fruit wood for the new love of his life - his kettle barbecue - so we'll chop and label some chunks from the pruning.
Apollo is next on the home-kill list, and that's likely to happen soon. He's pretty huge and has developed a bit of a bullish stance and attitude (though I'm sure he's still that lovely, loopy, little boy inside). Nike and the calves have been separated from Apollo and Pandora. Nike is still being an amazing mum to son Kratos and 'nephew' Triton (pictured, son of Pandora). They both still feed from her, despite their relative sizes. Triton is now bigger than Kratos, who has continued to suffer from some kind of neurological problem. He really struggles to stand up. It's awful to watch him staggering, but once he does get up he can move around OK and graze. We've talked to vets and he's had antibiotics and painkillers, none of which have made any difference. The plan is to watch and wait. As long as he carries on feeding and grazing, and his condition doesn't worsen, then there's no hurry to make any life-limiting decisions. His father earned his moniker 'Noddy' because he had a kind of neurological disorder. Kratos's is different but maybe there's a hereditary theme. Hopefully, Kratos will grow out of it like his dad did.
Peter and me managed to find a good weather day to take a winery tour by tandem. Once we had mastered the tandem - no mean feat - we had a good old cycle along the Wairau River stock bank, where we used to walk Maggie many moons ago. We called at 3 wineries for tasting and snacking and returned the tandem without accident or incident.
Sam visited Blenheim with the Army Band and we really enjoyed their fantastic concert. Jodie and son Ariel joined us, and we bumped into a few old friends there. We had brunch with Sam the next day, and the band stayed on another day for a concert at the Boys' College. Sam will be back a couple of times to play with the Marlborough District Brass Band in the next few weeks, hopefully with Molly and Lexie.
Billy meanwhile, is in Perth. He left NZ early in May and has been sorting out accommodation before he actively seeks work. He needs to get his documents in order before he's eligible for work, and that's been frustrating and lengthier than he'd imagined. Hopefully there'll be news soon. At least he has much warmer and sunnier weather than here.
Sadly, Nick passed away a couple of weeks after I returned home. His oesophageal cancer had spread to other places including his liver, brain, and lymph nodes. He died peacefully at home, as he'd wanted. Final arrangements are in hand. Part of my farewell message to him included some lines from Robbie Burns' poem 'Epitaph on my own Friend'.
“Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d
Few heads with knowledge so inform’d”
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