New Zealand Sabbatical

Being imbedded in Darfield affords us the chance to see details, get to know our neighbors and participate in novel events. The first picture is a posting on the fence gate around the corner from our house. That family likes their privacy and a good laugh.

The next photo shows Dianne hanging at the sheep paddock fence with 2 friends. Genny is a South African immigrant of 23 years (distant in the picture) with an amazing tale of coming to New Zealand to start a better life. Closest in the picture is Jane who, with her husband Bob, hosted a party this particular night at their acreage honoring 6 fellow bicyclists with recent birthdays. Jane is the owner of her ram named Larry who she fully expects to turn cantankerous soon at which time she will call the local butcher to come do a “home kill” then eat Larry. We may get invited over for that meal. She speaks about it so matter-of -fact without hesitation though she was raised as a city girl.

The aforementioned Bob, poses below cutting the highlight of the dessert table- a homemade pavlova that we loved almost as much as the brandy snaps we have had at another event.

Finally, just today we went to a fundraiser to benefit a proposed war memorial in the nearby berg named Kirwee. We were novice players in a game of BOWLS or lawn bowling. My best 2 rolls of the day were back to back with the desired results of getting my 2 blue balls nearest to the target ball (called a jack or kitty). The effort still wasn’t enough to keep us from being shut out on the green for the day but at least my $30 in raffle tickets returned about $100 in prizes and I feasted on sausage and brandy snaps.