June 7th 2021: Orange

Just to commemorate our beautiful son Tristan who would have been 23 this year on June the 5th.

We'll start today with a song by a local from Otaki, a friend of a friend. Pip Payne, singing his version of Roxanne. Sorry the song just stops after 2 minutes, recording time in NZ is expensive 😂.

They love toys. The chickens. Someone said. So I build them a swing. For two days all they did was walk around it. None jumped on it. At least not when I was watching (my life is not that empty that I sit there the whole day).

So the third day I put some chicken feed on it. But other than eating from it, nothing happened. Maybe it is because one of the chickens for a while thought it was a rooster. He/she has given up on that idea now. I thing it wants to be binary now. Ain't I lucky they do not have toilets. And there is a communal bedroom. So that's it. For it.

Indian cooking class at a friends house. Well, she did the cooking and we could ask some questions. Delicious anyway.

Picture taken with permission. This guy came to consultation this way. Was warm and cosy he said. Had a matching walking stick made from a tree branch. Just perfect. Not expensive either he said. What do you think? Could become fashion? Back to the middle ages.

What a surprise, the second piano concerto from Camille Saint-Saëns performed here in Kapiti by the Kapiti Concert Orchestra. This is one of my favorite classics. For those interested, here is a link to a good version.

Heard Nienke tell someone enthusiastically 'Hans went around the corner'. Now in English that may be easy to understand, but in Dutch it means a person has passed away (hij is het hoekje om). The English way of saying that would be 'he is pushing up the daisies', 'he bit the dust', 'he kicked the bucket', 'he checked out', 'gone to meet the maker', 'snuffed out', 'dead as a dodo', 'out of commission', 'water under the bridge', and several of other sayings. Apparently the English find it more difficult to tell a someone another person has died. It may be the directness of the Dutch, we just say what is on our mind. Although, I do like our 'hij ligt aan de verkeerde kant van het gras', meaning 'he lies on the wrong side of the grass'. Anyway, I am still painting the house and I there is only one more corner to conquer. 

Yep still looking for a property. What about this view. Overlooking the Otaki river and the ocean. Sunset every evening. Big though, 20 hectares.

Walking around with the real estate agent. One of the most easy jobs here in NZ. Every question you ask them is answered with 'I don't know, I'll try and find the answer for you.' Because of the housing crises they sell every house ease and a raking in in money. @$%$#@

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A bit of an issue. Access to the property goes over an old bridge. With these maximum weights transport of building materials is going to be expensive. Something to take into account. The other thing is, if that bridge collapses, we'll be stuck. One of the reasons we decided in the end not to go for this property. Taking into account that it was a lot colder up there and often in the clouds as well, taking into account that because of the bridge and the distance building will be extra expensive, taking into account also some legal issues of 'right-of-way' of the drive-way, which would be part of our property, we just thought it was too expensive and would be too much effort. 

But then, sunset from our deck. 'Why would you wanna move' people say to us. Ehhhhhhh.

Not sure why, but Nienke dumped a Wasgij puzzle on the table. The problem with these things is is that they are addictive. You can't walk passed the table without looking at it. We finally managed to complete this one at about 1.30 am.

Showing the difference between what we thought was only a bit dirty, and what has been painted. The effects of sea wind over 10 years.

I never get enough of cleaning up some storm damage and enjoying the rainbows. Realising that the rainbows are there because of rain in the mountains. Where that property is. While I am standing in the sun......

Sunrise. Chilly, but dry. Would be great to go fishing. If only I had a boat.

Dutch dinner with friends in Wellington. Koen had made some very special things, raising the bar significantly.

I have to admit that I 'borrowed' this picture (and the next one) as my skilss as a photographer are just not good enough to capture this. We are looking at the milky way, photographed from Mount Taranaki, overlooking a DOC hut and looking at Mount Ngauruhoe. Also known to you as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. Of course we can't see the volcanoes from our tub, but the Milky Way is always right above us and a never tiring sight.

So we had a 'blood-moon' and a moon eclips at the same night. One of our neighbours made this one.

Yes, I have a boat. I bought a boat of a friend who is moving. Been fishing with this thing, but never as a captain. From now on I have to do everything on my own. Yep, I have got a life saving vest! Now I need a name for the boat. Nienkes suggestion of the 'Titanic 2' can't be taken too seriously and my idea of 'the Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter' might be an issue in case of a distress call ('Sorry sir, can you spell that!). So, we are open to suggestions. At this point it's called 'Tin-tub', but I'd like to rename it. What? painting it orange? 😏

So here we are back at the Raumati Social Club for a nice dinner and the concert of Pip Payne. Great night. Our Scottish neighbour was presented with an Irish whiskey which led to some comical situations. Good conversation about whisk(e)ys. He quickly noticed a spelling mistake on the label of the new Kiwi Matakana Moonshine whiskey. It was spelled with an 'e' in it, whereas the Scottish whisky is spelled without the 'e'. Apparently the Irish do use the 'e' again, but the Japanese don't. Cheers.

Too boring for Nienke (the subject, she did like 'her' Sean Connery) so she moved to the dance floor, being invited by the locals.

As the air is quite humid and the paint I am using is very sweet I ran into a problem. If I paint after 1 pm squads of suicidal little flies, called midges, descend onto the wet paint and succumb in my work of art. When the paint is dry I brush of what I can and repaint their 'graves', only to find some family members on the repainted parts the next day. Painting a whole wall takes me days this way.

Met up with our friends Jeanine and Garth for a beach walk and lunch. Had to make a selfie of course but were happy a nice passing man saved us from the humiliating attempts to get our faces in one shot.

The European Football championships are starting soon. Not sure if this lady was aware of that, but I saw her walking on the parking of the supermarket completely in orange, including her earrings and handbag. Even a bit too much for me, although, my new orange crocs should be arriving any day now.

Yes! She did it! Scared of heights and wobbly things she vowed not to climb on the scaffolding. But, after a my attempts to clean the windows were rejected she had no other option then to do it herself. I take my hat of for her as they say in Holland. Well my dear friends, that is it for now. Next time I'll explain to you why we did not win the European Football championship. Cheers.