Wild, windy, wet weather ...

... that’s what we’re having.

But on the up-side, I spotted this beautiful evening sky yesterday.

Nice!

It’s not bonnie, bloomin' heather ....

.... it’s a unwelcome alien ... a noxious weed!

On our trip in and around the Tongariro National Park last weekend I noticed that the purple colour on the hills was heather. The Scottish blood in me was roused and I admit to humming a few bars of ..... I love a lassie, A bonnie, bonnie lassie, She's as sweet as the heather in the dell ….. etc., etc.

Later, as df and I were wandering through the Park’s visitors centre, I spotted a section on heather … that’s when I found out … heather isn’t loved here!

According to the exhibit:

Heather was planted here by one of the early park wardens around 1910. [Probably a homesick Scot!]

He introduced the heather to the area as a food source for pheasant and grouse which were to be introduced for shooting trips. Apparently, not everyone thought this was a good idea. The birds were never introduced in the park, although some were released in neighbouring areas. The birds did not survive, but the heather did! It has spread throughout the region, smothering and pushing out the native red tussock grass.

DOC (Department of Conservation) seems to have successfully developed a form of biological control ... the heather beetle. Another import from Scotland, this beetle feeds only on heather. Many tests and trials were conducted to ensure that the beetle will not feed on any of the native plants. In 1996, the heather beetle was released on two sites in the National Park. No one expects that the beetle will get rid of the heather all together. The expectation is that the spread of the heather will be slowed allowing the native species to regenerate with less competition.

Blooming heather indeed!

View from the top .. and bottom

df and I have been having a little break in the Tongariro National Park in the central North Island. We took a chair lift ride up Mt Ruapehu ...

... and then, feeling full of the joys of the beautiful sunshine ... puffed, panted, slipped and scrambled our way up to a ridge where we were rewarded with views like this.

Clever us!

After a freezing ride back down we looked up, and there was Mount Ngauruhoe glowing red in the light from the setting sun.

Mountains are mystical places ... so someone must have said. They are right.

Flashback

Almost every time I look in the mirror nowadays ... I think of my mother. I realise that I’m starting to look more and more like her. That feeling was confirmed today BECAUSE when I was flicking through an old photograph album .... df looked over my shoulder and remarked, that’s a nice picture of you. BUT it isn’t me ... it’s my mother when she was young.

Research time ... I just had to find a photograph of me at around the same age as she must have been in the photo ... and what do you know? I DID look like her .. even then!

I must have looked like her my whole life ... and I only realised it now ... now that I’m getting older ... funny that!

Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness...

... as Keats so eloquently wrote.

And it’s true ... apart from the choko we had peaches, passionfruit and a fine crop of olives this year from our garden. I’m going to try pickling the olives. It’s my first time so I’ll see how that goes.

It's a result of the long hot summer.... we aren’t the only ones with fruitful abundances ... Matt, a young work colleague who, like me, enjoys talking about food brought me some of his harvest of chillies. Aren’t they pretty?

I think I feel another curry coming on ......

Summer has officially gone!

It's true! We have to move our clocks back tonight ... and there’s definitely a slight chill in the air.

But what do you know! When I went out into the back garden this morning I noticed that our choko vine was laden with fruit. I plucked one ... our first choko of the year!

Here’s what I used it for .... Choko raita.

My recipe...

Take a fresh choko straight from the vine or buy one if you must.

Peel it, dice it and steam or microwave the choko till it becomes soft (about 5 minutes should do).

Stain it and when cool add the choko to plain yogurt (mine is homemade) along with a handful of coriander leaves and a little salt.

I sprinkled a little roasted cumin powder on top to make it look pretty and added a sprig of mint. Choko raita goes very well as an accompaniment to spiced dishes. We are having ours with fish curry and rice. Yum!

Puka mess!

We were driving back home on Sunday after enjoying a very pleasant lunch at df’s sister’s place when df stopped the car! He has this thing about old houses and just HAD to take a photograph. The house was pretty old and pretty run down but not pretty!

I threw an appreciative glance towards the tree, a Puka, which is quite common around here. Unfortunately so is the litter!

What is it that people don’t understand about keeping our planet habitable? The sun has another 6.5 billion years give or take a few hundred million to go before it becomes a white dwarf! The way we, the human race, are going .. we’ll be lucky if we have a few hundred more to go! Grumble, grumble ....