The watermelon catfish

Why I am still married to the same man after nearly four decades – who else would leave vegetable and fruit creations on the kitchen bench to amuse me?

Not a common sight in the rural area of Tikorangi - Rango in performance in our garden

Latest posts:
1) Frangipani in Plant Collector this week – but not, alas, in our garden here yet.
2) Garden tasks this week, including our method of preparing tomatoes for the freezer.
3) Outdoor Classroom – replanting the strawberry patch using runners.
4) Castanospermum australe – a mission which required the extension ladder – in Plant Collector last week.
5) Woodland gardening in Abbie’s column last week.
6) Garden tasks for early autumn last week including crop rotation, lawns, hedges and fertilising.
7) Does credibility and reputation count for nothing these days, or does Penguin NZ think we have short memories?

Members of Rango in our carpark area

Tikorangi Notes
A taste of WOMAD came to Tikorangi. Generally we do not embrace the functions market (I met Bridezilla and it made me decide that we are not so desperate that we need to offer a venue for garden weddings) but the opportunity to host Sudanese Egyptian group, Rango, in performance with school children from our local country school was a different proposition altogether.

Alas it rained, especially as people arrived for the luncheon

After a week of fantastic weather, we felt the event manager may have been overly cautious in deciding to erect a marquee just in case, but as we woke to rain which became torrential during the luncheon for invited guests, we were greatly relieved to have additional covered areas. Nobody even looked around the garden which we had prepared in readiness, but the vibrancy and fun of the percussive rhythms of Rango made that irrelevant.