Nonendemics in New Zealand: January 2012

Summer continues for us, and we've been enjoying the slower pace and the long, warm days. School is still out for summer for Rocky, so we've also enjoyed having him around more in the daytime. He'll usually spend the morning working on writing or whatever, and then be home to play once The Squidd is waking up from his nap (around 2:30).

Summer here also means backyard barbeques, and it's been fun to visit friends' houses and to play in backyards, grass under bare feet and all. Our small concrete patio, though shaded and ringed with plants, seems monumentally less in comparison, and Rocky's gardening genes itch to resurface every time we return home from an evening's backyard entertainment.

An interesting thing to note: here in New Zealand, and I suspect here in The Garden City especially, gardening is an equal opportunity pastime. I guess what I mean to say is that dudes enjoy it, too, and it's considered a manly activity. And I don't mean the generic "yardwork" that American men discuss (that of mowing the lawn and raking leaves and maybe lopping branches in tall trees). I mean flowers and borders and pruning and veggie patches. Everyone 'round here seems to have a backyard vegetable garden, partly constructed of bought seedlings, but many also nurtured from seeds. It's remarkable and so cool to see. Broccoli, lettuce, chard, zucchini, tomatoes, green onions, broad beans . . . love it. Should we ever decide to move to a house with a yard, I have a project for Rocky and his little sidekick to start straight away.

So in the absence of our own produce-producing yard, we're venturing around Christchurch to pick the fruits of others. Peas a few weeks back, blueberries today. Hopefully apricots and other stonefruit next weekend.

Here are a few pix of the start to our new year. Welcome, 2012!