Wednesday, February 3rd The last day of our diet dawned sunny and hot. There was no spring in Karamea this year. It went from winter straight into summer in a matter of days. All we could think about though, was the end of our diet and the promise of a meal without rice. Before we started the diet we had taken front and side pictures of our mid-sections, because without a scale we thought pictures might tell us if we’d improved visually. Looking at the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics we saw that Talita had lost her boobs and butt, while Ferdi lost a bit around the waist and under the boobs. Both of us, unfortunately, still had our bellies intact. Seems these will have to be destroyed with another diet session or some serious exercise. Ferdi ... read more

Thursday, January 28th The human body is a truly amazing thing. Ferdi’s wounded thumb is already almost as good as new. He doesn’t even have to keep it covered anymore. Anyway, this morning, just as Ferdi walked out the cabin with his toothbrush in his mouth, Paddy arrived. We hadn’t seen him for a few days, which was a little unusual. We’d decided that if he didn’t visit today we’d drive out to his place this afternoon. Turns out he missed us (not that he’d admit it in so many words, but we knew) so he came for a cuppa. Talita showed off her flute skills, but when Paddy took the flute for a play he said that the flute had “lost it”, meaning the sound it produced was not up to his standards. He said ... read more

Friday, January 22nd After a good night sleep we woke to an overcast and drizzly morning. After breakfast we crawled back into bed. This kind of weather doesn’t inspire us to get up and go. Just before 10am we were roused by the sound of a familiar engine note. Paddy had arrived! We invite him in, prepared a cuppa, and spent more than an hour chatting. When he’d gone we did the cleaning, then spent some time sanding down the inwales. Ferdi’s injured thumb was surprisingly painless, until he bumped it of course. Then it flared with great pain, letting him know it was still there. John remarked that that’s where the old saying “Sticking out like a sore thumb” comes from. You just can’t help bumping it into things. We had lunch and then decided ... read more

Saturday, January 16th A rainy morning greeted us, but lucky for us it turned into another sunny day. We headed to the shed and spent about 15mins cleaning the stray strands of fibreglass off the seams. Then we called it a day. Talita wasn’t feeling her happy self and we decided to take the day off and just relax. We sat out by the estuary for a while, then did the cleaning and had lunch. We received the great news that Talita became an aunt for the third time. Jaco and Sarah had their son Elion Minty yesterday at 3pm UK time. He weighed in at 3.02 kg and has black hair. Congrats you guys! May God bless your family and may Elion be a blessing to you always. After lunch Ferdi spent a while pickling ... read more

Sunday, January 10th The south-westerlies brought with it a ton of rain, which it proceeded to dump on Karamea. The good news was that our third attempt at laminating a paddle had worked, so we laminated the second one and weighed it down with paint drums. Ferdi started the shaping work on that paddle, using an electric planer, belt sander and random orbital sander to sand out the shape he was after. While shaping the handle the belt sander decided attacked Ferdi and chewed up his unsuspecting shirt. Now he looks even more like a carpenter’s orphan; covered in sawdust and holes in his shirt. Just before noon we went for a garden tour at Gary and Rose’s place. It was part of the Knowledge Swap workshops that are running in Karamea at the moment. It’s ... read more