Advent, advent

4 December 2022
Christmas, Event, Family, Forest, Grass, House, Kids, Land, Object, Outdoor, People, Scenery

I don’t think too many people in New Zealand are into the advent wreath tradition. Our family(ies) have always done it and so we passed it on to our kids.

This year marks the first time that it was not us adults doing the wreath but our daughter herself with only very little guidance. She however insisted on pipe branches instead of long grass as a material. And so we chopped some pine branches off and drove them up to the house where she did a beautiful advent wreath, her very own creation.

Wasp and Hornet traps

5 November 2025
Activity, Animal, Building, House, News, Summer, trap

We typically put a waap trap up around the house in summer to keep the number of wasps at bay. This year, they discovered a queen yellow legged hornet in the early stages of building a nest in Glenfield on the North Shore in October, while two males were spotted earlier in the year in Grafton and Albany. It is the first time a Queen has been found in Aotearoa.

Spring has arrived – with its usual mixed bag weather.

3 November 2025
Egg, Flowers, Garden, Land, Sun

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” Spring came with beautiful warm and sunny days, storm, hail, rain and sunshine in between. It was cold and a few hours later warm again and vice versa.

Winter done and dusted

1 September 2025
Alpaca, Animal, Building, Duck, Fire, Fog, Frost, Land, Landscape, Mammal, Night, Rain, Weather, Winter

There was nothing extraordinary to write about this winter, really. It’s not been too wet and not too dry, neither too cold or too warm. We had a few frosty nights and a few pretty rainy days but all in all it was reasonably warm and okay from a mud perspective.