Self indulgence. Now and Then: Memoirs of a Sort.

A YEAR ON.   There is no point in recounting what we’ve been doing here for a year, I’ve kept a pretty complete account of things as we’ve moved through the months on ihaventacluerichardinnz. But yes, it’s a year since we arrived.   I stood on our deck a year ago and I remember thinking to myself ‘Have we done the right thing?; have we bitten off more than we can manage’?.   I deffo felt daunted. The less practical stuff has also been on my mind over the year.  The stuff up in my head. Yes, I have missed things from my previous life but as you have seen there have been a whole load of new and varied experiences.  I’ve learnt more in the last 7 months than I have learnt in the last 37 years.  Everyday is school day. I did chance across some really wonderful groups of people in those 13 years in the UK.  Good people and the accompanying memories are THE BEST . By a stroke of good fortune Warwick Hospital were very short of radiographers,...

  I identified with Lambretta.  He was one of us. Lambretta arrived at 354 Blue Rock Road 4 months ago.  Mum had rejected him, so he'd got off to a wobbly start.  When we left the adoption meeting with him, he sat in the back of the car looking out of the window wondering where he was going.  He arrived with only what he was wearing, no suitcase, just an oversized sheepskin coat, a bit like a football manager of the 1970s.  He was young and wrinkly, about 5 days old.   At the orphanage were Lambrusco and Lamborghini.  They were 'besties' and they didn't want anyone to break up their group.  For the first 2 days Lambretta was bullied, but he found a way to calm them down and they were soon all good friends.   He joined in the fun.   “Besties” at the orphanage.   Lambretta often, but not always, sat at the back of the class.  He did have a degree of ADHD, but his new friends learnt to tolerate it and play alo...

Summer is a comin' in. The lambs in the paddocks (in NZ - NOT fields or fells) are appearing at a rate only slightly slower than a fast breeder.   It's fortunate that they are appearing in such numbers because Tom, our next-door neighbour farmer friend tells me "from obstetric ultrasound to weaning a farmer will lose about 20% of their lambs".  We started with 2 lambs and now have 4.  I might have to give him some hints.  Mind you, our oldest female, Lamborghini did go through a 3-day period of being pretty lethargic.  Her illness was indicated by a dooped head and while we once thought she lacked the satiation gene, she simply stopped eating her muesli for breakfast and even stopped drinking her milk halfway through.  There is usually something wrong when someone is reluctant with chocolate.  It was like that.  But she's better and accompanied me to play with my big digger. New Zealand having prided itself in having only 27 covid deaths and 4...