There is no doubt that we are heading into autumn. The mornings and evenings are getting darker, the wind that bit chillier and the blackberries are out in the lane.

I pottered out to see if I could find some to make a crumble but looks like Bob and Sheila had snaffled them all when they went out for their walk last week. This photo was evidence of their find and the blackberry juice on their lips was the sign that they had partaken of the luscious fruit!

Down in Golden Bay there is no shortage of water. In fact we saw some of the purest water to be found. Pity that other parts of New Zealand are missing this, there has been drought declared in the Waikato region. As one of the largest farming regions in New Zealand this is really not good news.

Just over the Rimutaka Hill in the Wairarapa the water thing is just as scarce. People are sending their stock off to slaughter because they can’t get feed or they need to cut their loses whilst they can.

We don’t have any shortage of water here in Kaitoke which has lots of passing clouds this week. In fact last night we even had hail which was a spectacularly noisy moment under the veranda.

Take a look at this picture, its water in a stream in Golden Bay – so clear and pure. Check out the slight ripples on the right if you don’t believe me.

It’s not been a basset friendly day. We woke up to drizzle and our evening constitutional to spy on Mike and Andrea’s house was in the wet too. But wow was it worth it to be able to see rainbow-rainbow. Yes a double rainbow.

Oh course this was just the time for the camera to tell us to “change the battery pack” so we couldn’t capture it on film so you’ll have to make do with a shot from the internet. You can find out all about rainbow-rainbows at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

It was indeed a beautiful sight and we could see when the pot of gold was buried. I’d be lying if I said it was in our back garden but it was close enough! With or without a rainbow pot of gold you can’t beat our back view for sunsets. Tonight’s was a particularly vivid pink with fluffy clouds flying over the hills. It’s the sort of view that you simply have to put into your memory bank and think about on a bad day.

I’m not sure Fortnum and Mason appreciated the wonder of it all. They were trotting along trying to get back as soon as possible and get out of the wet.

There was a parcel left on our veranda today from Al our beekeeper friend. Our first Treanor Honey!

It was amazing to see the first produce from our very own land. Admittedly we’re relied entirely on Al to do the hard work – oh and the bees of course!

After a moment of joy, sheer panic. What the heck do I do with it now, after all my honey usually arrives in a jar not a slab of honeycomb. After a few texts to our experts suggested just cutting it up into pieces and spreading on toast. Which is exactly what we did this morning.

Without wishing to make you too jealous, I have to say this honey was the best I’ve ever tasted. A deep rich taste, sweet but not too much. MT was very pleased and is planning to do an alternative morning tea at work – toast, butter and honey. Now that’s a conversation stopper at the water cooler if I ever heard one!

From this, you get……

Some of this……

All set for our honey feast

As part of my efforts to put a little spice into this blog I thought I talk about the heat we are having at the moment. Compared to last year it’s a heat wave. Come to think of it, I think it’s a heat wave per se.

Yes in the last 9 weeks we’ve had hardly any rain and consistently good temperatures in the 20’s (30C on New Year’s Day). Whilst it’s not been perfect, it’s t-shirt and shorts weather and the sun Nazi is back on duty with the slip on a shirt, slap on a hat and slop on the sun cream. You can’t be too careful in this part of the world. Those windy Wellington days can be very deceptive.

Bassets don’t like the heat at all. It makes them tired and cranky with a tendency to loll around, usually wiping their watering mouths all over your clean clothes. Still, I cherish my Bassets more today than ever after reading a tragic story in the paper about 2 bassets that died from toxins they picked up on a walk around the Hutt River this week. They were owned by a local breeder who has been walking their dogs for years in this spot but with the hot weather and low water levels the algae had populated the river bank and having eaten this they died within hours.

Anyway time for me to take advantage of my shady veranda and admire the view. It’s a hard life for this domestic executive who working hard at vacationing!

Hurray, new neighbours. After the steers were moved from the the paddock it’s been lonely with no friends to talk to.

Fear not, we’ve got new neighbours this week. The dinkiest, sweetest family of goats – billy, bessy and their little kids.

Dramatic scenes today though as I turned into the lonely goat herder. They obviously didn’t like the paddock much and escaped to be found wandering on the highway. I did manage to get them back although MT doesn’t think I’ll make the next round of “one man and his dog”.

Whilst I did marvellously for style, there were a few penalty points for taking the goats into the neighbours garden and then a slow move back down the lane to their rightful place.

Whilst they may look happily through our fence they escaped again tonight….. can you believe it. A few words were spoken to the neighbours house sitter (well dog and goat sitter). Hopefully he’s mended the hold in the fence and they will be around for while.

The Bassets are curious but not interested enough to make friends. That’s tomorrow’s excitement.

Phew back where a country mouse can feel more comfortable after two days hacking into town. Boy is life as a domestic executive much more appealing.

After doing my stint this week I’m all ready to down shift into a slower pace. I fear that this is unlikely to be possible given that we’ve got earth moving machinery on site and builders due to do snagging. Also, granite installers will be here to finish their work. Did I mention plumbers to site water pumps and filters, oh and put the kitchen taps in.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement we will have two new residents to join us next week. Let’s just say that they are not going to be easy to live with as they have a demanding diet, expect lots of attention and will not be terribly obedient until they’ve learned the house rules.

Watch out for the photoblogging this week – these flower beds have to be seen to be believed!

MT cuts a lonely figure at the commuting rush hour. Yes Maymourn station has the grand total of 4 commuting passengers. He takes great delight on an evening to be the only person getting off the train. It’s quite something to be dictating that a loco with 5 carriages should grind to a halt so you can hop off!

The downside of this leisurely commuting is that there is only two trains in each direction a day.

We’ve been all of a dither this week. Our domestic routine has gone to the dogs.

Getting to grips with MT commuting was simple – lift to dinky station and back again. Nothing hard about that. Getting two people to town, well that takes a bit more consideration. After two attempts we think we’ve worked it out – up 15 minutes earlier and leave the before the traffic builds up. Yes, we do have traffic jams here too!

With builders still coming and going it’s hard to keep the domestic standards up but hopefully now the painters have finished inside that will be it for a while. Still waiting on the granite worksurfaces which is frustrating as we were hoping to have them in place this weekend. Cooking is possible but there is much toing and froing to the sink in the utility room which makes the whole experience of making a meal hard work.

Still, I’m looking out the window from Domestic Executive HQ and can see the cows lying down in the field chewing their cud with little care in the world. The view is still there every day and whilst we’re still adjusting to the new routines it’s not easy to get stressed when you’re surrounded by the hills and nature at it’s best.

Tomorrow there is high excitement, we’re heading over the hill for our Saturday brunch and shopping expedition. Greytown here we come.