Ah ha, Spring is here and with it lots of lovely flowers. And what a month it was too weather-wise with lots of sun and virtually no rain. Oh unless you count the hail storm when we received hail stones the size of marbles.
And, oh yay, the willow hut sprouted its first leaves! But oh horror, they are not willow leaves, or at least most of them aren't! We have not as yet been able to decide what they are but they are growing well so hopefully they are not something horrible.
The magnolia was superb with two flowers just weeks after being planted ...
... and the cherry trees along the drive had just a suggestion of what is to come (hopefully).
My super special banana box of bulbs exceeded all expectations with the vast majority of them flowering and many of them being rather fine double frilly flowers.
And the biggest of the kowhais was in full song ...
... and attracting some special guests.
The greenhouse was doing well too and started to provide a variety of vegetables and even a couple of strawberries by the end of the month.
Outside Dave was still keeping busy of course and for a while seemed to think up endless jobs that had to be done before he moved on to the breezeway deck. We collected some wood from some native trees that had been cut down along the river - and were actually thanked by the council for tidying it up for them - and of course that had to be cut and stacked to dry out over the summer.
But then he finally relented and ordered some wood. There followed a period of many days when he drew up a scale plan, deliberated over every detail and even discussed some technical issues with me! He seemed to want to get the heights of all the piles correct to the millimetre and which point I realised I was glad I made clothes and curtains and not decks.
The first job of course was to clear the mess we had become accustomed to ...
... and then to build the piles. There were to be 21 and my brain went into overload when I calculated that the first 3 took about a week and a half!! Still I'm sure they were EXACTLY the right height.
He then improved his technique and the rest appeared more quickly, thank goodness, and we also made use of a visit from niece Katie who helped shift some of the bigger pieces of wood.
And on the last day of the month, we actually finished the last row of 6. I say 'we' as I was finally entrusted to make the sandpie supports for these last 6 piles which was lots of fun and speeded up the process.
The cats were having fun meanwhile playing with some new friends - and even sharing on this occasion.
