camping

Two nights away camping. It was fabulous. I think we should live in a tent all the time (apart from the heating in winter issue). We just don't need so much of the stuff in our house. I've come home ready to do a deeper cull.

We stayed at Nelson Creek, an old gold mining village up the Grey Valley (West Coast still). We walked past many relics and reflected on the lure of gold over the centuries. We swam and lazed around and watched the children and made friends with another family. There is a church (not generally used I think) and a pub (generally used) and a few houses clustered near the camping ground. The pub had a corner devoted to the photos of the past, including the century of the Nelson Creek School.` Wow. I recognised many of the family names and realised that they go back over 100 years in this part of the West Coast. My family have never stayed in one place for more than one generation.

Yesterday we drove further up the road and went to Lake Haupiri which was very serene and totally beautiful.

I found out more about a local homekill abbatoir. Although we have a good local(ish) butcher, he still sources his meat from Canterbury and I want to shift our meat consumption entirely to locally grown meat, not just locally processed. I am in the process of sorting out a co-op for half an organic (beef) beast for this winter. I'm making sure I get the bones as well as I've been reading more about the benefits of bone broths. Perhaps we do need a chest freezer after all. I have made a space for one with the last revamp of our home.

I have finished Fionn's sleeveless hoodie. It would look better with the edges on the sleeves (I certainly won't be undoing it to put them on!) and the pattern is very odd with respect to the way the hood attaches to the rest of the vest, but you can't tell when it is on. It looks good on. Fionn now wants me to make knitted trousers to go with it to complete the bumblebee outfit look. A vain desire.

Brighid is now two. She now has even more clothes than before and it is truly ridiculous. She also has the cradle which my great grandparents gave me when I was one and which Mum has repainted and made a mattress and linen for. Mum and Dad put (another!) doll in for her as well but Mum doesn't like the clothes the doll arrived from the shop in. Maybe I will use some of the rather significant stash of wool I found when I cleaned the study and knit a doll's dress. Maybe. I'm going to do the sewing night class at the local high school again this term. Last time it was winter and I missed a few sessions due to bad health and weather. So all I did from a supposedly eight week course was turn one dress into a skirt, sew some nappy wipes and cut out a pair opf pyjama pants. I'm hoping to at least manage to finish the pyjama pants and do something else as well. I do enjoy the chat though, which slows me down just like it did when I was in the classroom years ago!

The garden is looking well. I found the magic stick thing for saving files and photos onto when I cleaned up but I forget which safe place I put it into. Or the proper name for the magic stick. It is peak white butterfly season and I spend some time every day peeling off caterpillars and killing them. Tomatoes still seem to be slow even although the weather is wonderful. When they do ripen, Brighid and the blackbirds eat them. Brighid gets stuck in before they ripen sometimes. I have started to harvest the first potato patch.

I'm off now to make a bigger pile of things to give to the charity shop. We need fewer things in this house.