I was there the weekend before last and had a lovely visit with two of my favorite people, AntiGene and UnklEd. Here they are:
UnklEd and AntiGene.
As of Friday they’ve been married for 55 years, and they are still not only talking to each other, but listening to each other as well. The Forbearing Husband and I want to be like them when we grow up.
While I was staying AntiGene and I indulged in a little light op shopping, during which I found (another) old tartan-patterned thermos flask. I have four now, but are they not adorable? I’m in Auckland today and tomorrow, but I’ll add a picture when I get home.
We also went to a concert at the Tauranga Art Gallery,
Mozart, Strauss and Dvorak
and admired this exhibition which was on display at the same venue.
Afterwards we had dinner at a little Italian restaurant where AntiGene charmed the owner by chatting away in la bella lingua. When she was 19, AntiGene spent seven months in Italy working as an au pair for an Italian family. Apparently the village gossip was tantilising so she learnt the language pronto to keep up with what Signorina Rossi* got up to last weekend.
That all happened on Saturday! On Sunday UnklEd and had coffee with Omokoroa Joe and his wife Lynn (whose cousin turns out to be the owner of our local tavern. No, really! Who’d-a thought?).
Because both UnklEd and Joe are geniuses at fixing things and solving problems. I left with Ed’s inspired suggestion to use a steam weeder for organic weed control, and Joe’s savvy ex-farmer’s tip to stop algae growing in the troughs by adding a little bluestone (copper sulphate), to tuck into my bank of farmlet ideas.
It seems there’s no end of things to be learned from the Omokoroa crew. I’m looking forward to going back soon for another burst of inspiration. Thank you AntiGene and UnklEd.
* Signorina Rossi is a made up Italian with a steamy social life.
nice pics! a pic of the Thermos™ collection would be most appreciated, thank you and bless.
The Thermos family will make a guest appearance soon.
Aah what a pleasure it was😍 benissimo! xx
Come again soon lovely niece!
Ciao Bella x
xxx
That steam weeder sounds right up Stephen’s alley! He’s desperate to de-weed the new driveway and somewhat irritated at my concerns about all the various ‘natural’ concoctions which he’d like to try. He’d also like to keep the new mettle free of leaf debris (such a tidy kiwi), so if Omokoroa Joe or UnklEd could please come up with a clever way to automate some kind of leaf blower system….
Love the photo of your Aunt and Uncle.
I do like the idea of a steam weeder. Here’s a video:
http://www.weedtechnics.co.nz/
How nice to see you antigene and unkled! Glad you had a good trip c xx
We’re so proud of our nieces and love having visits. Xx