Two Years On!

I have just realised it's been a whole two years plus-some since I last wrote on my blog spot!
My year has been full of grandchildren, writing, gardening, school library and a small time travelling in New Zealand.

My most recent news happened yesterday when I visited Room 5 at Oropi School as a 'famous author' to talk about my book. The class had studied Tui's Friends as a literary and native bird resource. 

I was impressed with their knowledge of the book. They knew all the birds' names, what they looked like and how they behaved. I had some native bird finger puppets (purchased on Tiritiri Matangi) with me and they knew which ones weren't featured in the book.


As a part of their study, they created a tree full of the featured birds, with information boxes about each bird. 

The tree even climbed out over the ceiling!





 
"How do you become a famous writer?" one little girl asked.
"Just write, write, write, and write some more," was my reply. "And have a magnet on the fridge saying, "One day Jan will be a famous writer."

Another asked why I wrote my story. I told them about the tui in my garden and how he hassled the other birds. But it really started as a writing assignment for my writers group in 2006. 

A year later a friend was looking for a project for her artistic talent so I suggested she do some illustrations for my story. My book was born.

Bear in mind 'famous' is their interpretation, not mine. About 300 books have been sold, so I'm hardly famous. 

However, I'm working on it!

Mainly March and May

The months have flown by!

 
My Book.
 
The major March event was the launch of my book, Dam Disaster. This was held at Nautilus Restaurant with some other authors, all Oceanbooks (www.oceanbooks.co.nz)  shareholders. More news about my book can be found on my Facebook Roadsendwriter page.


 
 
Our Farm
The ongoing event through February, March, April and May was the drought that affected every farmer in NZ. In order to keep animals growing to reach the weights expected by the farmers whose animals we were grazing, we had to buy supplementary feed all of which needed to be fed out. Hans spent most of his days on the tractor doing just that! Little else was achieved through that time. 

Normally, the autumn is a chance to catch up on jobs which have been defered from busier times of the year, but this year that didn't happen!

From June 1st we have leased the deer farm to a dairy farmer. Hans is now a 'retired' farmer - if there is such a person. Maintenance on our Mangatoi block is still necessary and contracting himself and tractor to Gavin for fencing and feeding out is to keep happening.

We still have our goats here at Seales Road. Shaering is next on their timetable with kidding due to start in early August.

Our Family.
The student graduation  from Janna Daycare, attended by the mums and dads, was held with much ceremony.
Our two five-year-olds, Stefan and Isabel, started school at the beginning of Term Two and are enjoying it. We now have six of our ten grandchildren at Oropi School, (www.oropi.school.nz) many of whom feature regularly in various areas, mostly sport.




Our adult offspring continue to work hard and make progress in their chosen vocations, while transporting their children to various activities: soccer, hockey, music, choir, Tai Qwon Do to name a few.

My Employment  
My career as the Oropi School Librarian continues. More areas of interest have been added. I occasionally help my daughter-in-law, Demelza, with her GATE children's enquiry learning projects, and assisting the little kids with their library time is fun as well.

I have introduced a training programme, complete with awards, for the new librarians which I hold on a Monday lunchtime. Sixteen trainees still attend regularly, despite all the competing clubs which have started up this term.

A serious upgrade of the library is planned, so already I have heaps of new books to process and cover before they can be shelved. I've enjoyed being more involved with the book purchases and library decisions.

A first for the kids this year was the Kids Lit Quiz, an international children's literary quiz which was begun in NZ in 2006 and now is in 22 countries. My role was coach, so I found myself reading classics, poetry and about authors of note so I could quiz the teams. We had only two months to coach our two teams, but we had a lot of fun. On the night one team came middle of the field while the other was at the end, mainly because their leader and key member fell ill!
 
 
 

 Another crazy thing one does as a staff member at Oropi School is to join the kids in dressing up as a book character for the last event of  school bookweek! Almost every child (the roll is 160-ish) dresses up for the occasion. I will bravely upload my effort at Heidi!
I had to chuckle. When asking for advice on whether I should wear my glasses or not, the children all said to wear them, but when I mentioned to a staff member that my glasses made me look like a Heidi granny, she said I looked like one with or without my glasses!!!
Oh, well... 


Birds


 


Now the winter is on us I am feeding my  white-eyes and sparrows again. They go through a cup of home made bird pudding in less than two days!






 
Another treat which has begun recently is the kokako song I hear throughout the day in the bush just out from our house, near Mt Otanewainuku. What a privilege to be able to enjoy such a rare sound on a regular basis. To hear the song, one I say 'you can see through', google kokako song. Another description  is, 'if you throw a sheet over it, it would be a ghost' .
The dialect of  'our' ones is a little different from the Mt Bruce or Tiritiri Matangi dialect. Ours have been introduced from Kaharoa and Rotoehu over the last three years. See www.kiwitrust.org

Pets

My dog, Charm, has four gorgeous, time-wasting puppies at present; two boys and two girls. They will be wonderful pets, and if trained well, will be valuable farm dogs. All going to plan the funds from their sale will help cover the expensive operation Charm had on her knee at the beginning of the year.





Until next time remember, "Do something for the kid in you every day".

February Five

Our family. New Year 1013

2013 is well underway. It took me a while to 'drop into' this new year, but I was forced into it when school returned and various groups started again.

1.
The grandchildren are back at school and have settled into their new classrooms and classes, all enjoying their teachers and activities. The school year means my Janna Daycare on Wednesdays is operating again with 'the three'.
This will be my last term with the older two as they'll be off to school next term. I'm trying to introduce a little more structure to the day; an effort to encourage Stefan and Isabel to sit down for an organised length of time to learn something. They're still getting used to the idea. We've only had two days so far, so there's plenty of room for improvement.

The original three: Breahn, Lyndon and Tyler

 I've had three grandies every Wednesday for almost six years, so dropping down to one will take some adjusting on  my part.

Stefan and Isabel - three months old cousins

Seven months old

Three years old

Three years old

 
These two have been an absolute delight for almost five years, so I'm going to miss their Wednesday visits.

Four and a half years old

Four years old

Johnathon - the youngest

However, move on I must! Johnathon and I will have some great adventures.







2.
I have my lovely new enclosed vege garden producing a copious amount of produce, without having  it destroyed by birds, rabbits, cats, dogs, white butterflies or possums.

I did become a little worried about whether bumble bees could get through the mesh when my scarlet runner beans began dropping their flowers with no sign of beans. I tried hand pollinating (what a task) then, when Hans found a bumble bee nest and brought home a queen and two workers, I thought my problems were solved - but no! Those bees just disappeared!

One day some time later I heard a buzzing while I was working near the beans. Bumble bees had reappeared - yes!

My hanging basket project grew to six baskets with various plants brightening the deck and blocking Hans's view from his office.
My first basket, spectacular as it was, passed its best, but others have grown well; the success story being the tumbling tomatoes which just keep on producing little tomatoes, enough for a few each day.
The Aladin cucumbers I tried in a basket were another success. The strawberries didn't work at all well, so now have petunias flowering profusely amongst them.

I'm delighted with my Blueberries (in big pots) this season, too. After having two years with no fruit, I planted lobelia around the stems to attract the bees - and it worked. I'm harvesting blueberries every day. The grandies just love to help pick and eat them.

My daughter-in-law, Cherise, gave me some acid-free tomato plants, for my birthday last September, which I planted in pots on the deck - frost free. They took ages to get going in our cool temperatures, but in this present heat they are ripening beautifully.

The deck plants and baskets demand a lot of water so it's a daily task to keep them moist.

3.
I'm back at Oropi School doing a few hours as Librarian; training student librarians, running quizzes, processing new books, learning more about the library computer programme, helping kids and keeping the library tidy. I love it.

We start CRE (Christian Religious Education) in school on 26th February. I'm looking forward to that as I enjoy sharing Jesus and his values with the children. The CRE curriculum closely follows, and sometimes supplements, the values programme run by the school.
I am still involved on the regional CEC (Churches Education Commission) team as treasurer, a role I really enjoy.

4.
My writing is still happening, and involvement in writing groups continues.
The NZ Christian Writers Guild is planning a 30th Anniversary celebration on March 23rd at Cornerstone north of Auckland. It promises to be a great day.
Our Tauranga Christian Writers group met for the first time this year on 21st February; a great turn-out.
The Tauranga Children's Writers has begun as well. During the holidays we joined Art in the Park at Mount Maunganui to sell our books, a moderately successful exercise.

Jean, Lois and I at Art in Park.

I joined a writers' co-operative, Oceanbooks, in Tauranga last year and have been down the publishing path with them, resulting in the pending launch of my children's Easy Read book, Dam Disaster, on 22nd March.




5.
On the farm. Hans is flat out 'polishing' the water supply, fences, gates etc readying the deer farm for lease to a dairy farmer for grazing from June.
He will no longer be a deer or cattle farmer, although we will still have a few sheep and goats.
It seems he will be no less busy as he plans to do contract fencing and maintenance, and feed out winter silage for Gavin.

Looking over the Little Gully

Besides the farm work, Hans has been busy planning land development on our Changepoint church's property. The progress over the last five years has been spectacular, with a small core team of dedicated gardeners and workers.

Well, that's five points for February - enough I think!

Jan

October 'Eight'

Now it's October I will fill you in on my news since June.

July.
 1.
Our Tauranga Christian Writers weekend was fantastic. Most of our group made the most of the opportunity to improve their wordsmith skills through writing, discussion, and sharing and critiquing manuscripts.
We were challenged and motivated to keep the momentum started in April with the initial challenge to write down our writing goals, including progress plans and deadlines.
One of our members is making great progress with polishing her first novel so it is ready to submit for publication. She has written a sequel, and another stand-alone novel.
Another member is writing an organisation's history, so was encouraged to keep at it.
An historical novel based on early NZ history is being written by another member while a beginner writer is working on her autobiography.
I found a wonderful illustrator who did wonderful pencil drawings for my children's story which is currently with a publisher. Watch this space!

 2.
Our four Japanese visitors arrived as scheduled.
As usual they ate heartily and were occupied all the time, shearing sheep, pressing wool, feeding deer, mustering goats and discovering glow worms in the bush after dark.

Resting on woolly sheep

Jumping on the wool in the press

Now, what did she have to say?

Glow worms

Getting aquainted

3.
We managed to shear our goats between showers. It's great to have a lovely big shed to shelter them in bad weather.

August
4.
Kidding began on the 10th and in the first week 2/3 of our 48 does had 64 kids! The rest took their time and weren't as prolific. Two produced triplets, so one from each was given to a couple of local children to raise for Calf Club Day in mid October.

I love kidding, especially in good weather. On a sunny evening large groups of kids play, jump, run and spin around the paddock - just because they feel great. It's a delight to watch their fun.

Pretty

Playtime

New two

Palm kernel bins. Feed time

  

 

 

 

On the run

Birds.
5.
Wax-eyes have been regular attendees at my bird feeder all winter. Sparrows joined them later on, so I had to make more puddings to keep up with them. At the peak I was giving them a pudding each day.

The kereru spent the early spring stripping the new shoots from the kowhai and now they're onto the flowers! The tuis don't have a chance!
Welcome swallows are building their nest again under the deck. It's not a good idea to park the car under there when the chicks hatch!
I'm expecting the shining cuckoo any day. October 1st is usually their e.t.a.

Archery
6.
Our new hobby - rather Hans and Lyndon's new hobby!
We've just returned from a trip to Wellsford where Hans's cousin and her husband, who run Archery Adventures, live. The boys learned to do archery properly, and discovered there's more types of archery than just shooting at targets. Different archery sports use different arrows. Fascinating.

Style!

Garden
7.
I  branched into container gardening recently, prompted by the competitions for Calf Club day. Hanging baskets caught my imagination. I now have four hanging on the office deck, two with strawberries, one with sweet peas and the other 'chocka' with polyanthus, lobelia and silver cineraria. I even have miniature gladioli in a planter.
Because my vege garden isn't quite ready yet I have caulis, brocolli, rainbow beet, cabbages, lettuces and spring onions growing in buckets and pots of various sizes.

8.
We have been grandparents for ten years! Now, with ten grandchildren, we are quite used to it and enjoying the times we spend with them.

Catch you in November.

Stepping Out

Hi All,

I'm stepping out, being courageous, bold and confident!!!

I'm planning a writers' Advance (not retreat) at my place with maybe 6 -10 people attending. Members of our Christian Writers group set themselves a challenge to have certain goals achieved by this Advance weekend, and a few are well on their way.
During the weekend we will share knowledge we have about different aspects of writing from beginner editing to publishing a book, including e-books and how to make use of social media.

I have been doing the Ten-Week Writing Challenge set by Marg of Writing for Success (www.writing 4success.com) . This has sent me into many useful websites and given me confidence to 'attack' this social media issue, as well as prompted me to unearth some old stories which need tweaking before I publish them. It happens that the end of this challenge falls at the same time as our weekend, so I have NO excuses.

Before that we have six Japanese teenage boys coming for a two-night/one-day farmstay. We pack into their visit as many farm activities as we can muster (pun intended); shearing goats and/or sheep, feeding out silage to the heifers, mustering, drafting, drenching, and posssum shooting (I'd like to include the 3 families of rabbits, which dig up my lawns, here!). We have a mountain to climb and gorgeous waterfalls to visit if there's time, but it IS almost our shortest day so that may not be possible.

Mt Otanewainuku in the mist

Possum shooters

Whataroa falls

 In early August, about the time our goats start kidding, we have 19 Japanese students arriving for a two-hour, action-packed, farm experience stop-over. Busy!

Up close

 In the meantime...
We need to shear our 250 goats, and I must keep writing, keep up with the grandies, do something about my garden and remember to watch the birds enjoy the winter.

First Blog!

Hi Friends,

This is my first effort at blogging. I'm a bit nervous about it but we'll see how it goes.

ME:

I've started on a Ten-Week Writing Challenge, from Writing 4 Success, prompted by a Writers Retreat in January and our local writers' group challenge to do something with what we learned. One of my goals is to have a blog up and running so I can promote my book, "Tui's Friends" and our Roads-End Farmstay, and to chat about what's happening on the farm.

MY BOOK:

Tui's Friends, beautifully illustrated by my friend, Ruth Reinsfield, was inspired by, and is all about, a selfish Tui in my garden. His mean antics through the week result in an unexpected reaction from the other birds in his garden. The illustrations of our New Zealand native birds and trees are all painted in vibrant colour. The text is full of tongue-twisting alliteration making the story a delight to read.

http://www.creativetauranga.org.nz/gallery/book.html

 http://www.scribesvalley.com/wfbpurch.html#tf

Young deer

FARM:

It's our first wet day in ages so Hans is having to feed out silage to the heifers in the mud! He's been totally spoilt over the last few weeks, enjoying the April sunshine.

We have been deer farmers for over fifteen years, but are now reducing our numbers drastically and taking on grazing heifers. It's going to be a major lifestyle change which will take some adjusting to. Weighing and drenching cattle has been the major farm activity lately. 

FARMSTAY:

We live in an amazing place, surrounded on all sides by our fabulous untouched native forest which is full of fantastic bird life. Our garden runs into the forest so we share a multitude of native birds.

Well fed kereru (pigeon)

 The quiet environment here is restful so ideal for a relaxing break from the bustle of urban life and hectic activity.

Our visitors come from Japan, Europe and America.

Visit www.roads-end.co.nz for more information.