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Lycra or crampons? Both choices I have managed to avoid today but for some now in both they may be questioning what's around the next corner on this adventure. It's Gods Zone race time and participant kits required extreme climbing gear. Multi sporters are the guru geeks of our town. By day they mascarade as company directors, engineers, real estate agents or work in retail. By weekend they push sleep depraved into the hills, racing, climbing, kyacking and conquoring. - Where? not even they know until they get there - I live in awe. For thousands near the Arrow today is Mototapu time, when Shania Twain opens her land thanks to the OIC rules that surrounded it's purchase for the mean and the keen to trek from Wanaka across the valley by bike and foot. It's become a walk in the park completed so often by some there was head scratching last night wondering why it was they thought a 5th time would be different. Perhaps it's for the carbo load feasting before it... guilt free indulgence. For others it is the first big push out of the comfort zone how hard can riding a bike be?? By now they may be wishing they'd purchased the comfy seat 2000 version of their padded shorts instead of the crib in the Southern Riveria or that Chanel handbag. Or perhaps they are pausing, daring to look behind them to see why that friend the planner is taking it so carefully down the hills when surely that's the easy side of the ride and we are not even half way in. For the fast and furious it's already done and dusted, they'll be lying in the village, eating a Mantra samosa, being felt up by physios and welcoming number after number across the line to local celeb torts and cheers - I wonder if we'll see Chuck's mum? For other friends today is an adventure of another kind. Two souls meeting as one to tie the knot and begin a different kind of story, married, fiesta style. Some friends scattered by distance or carnage are sending love via moonbeams and honoring them in creative ways, planting cherry trees, writing love notes in the sand and adding beats to spotify. Then there are those who are ten years into their married story - wrapped up in their off spring or overseas travel. Living lifes adventure on opposite sides of the world doing it well all the same. There's parties tonight, competitions to win and work to complete. Some Ad-venture-rs are too busy to take "time off" right now but we'll get there... where ever there may be. For me what adventure does the rest of today hold? An experience of being in the flow. I've opted out of the above pursuits ( see my earlier blog on Saying NO being a really a big yes). To focus on my own state of calm and retreat from the roaring crowd. Some me time DO-ing what I love to DO - I woke with my youngest childs arm across my neck, a sleep hug. I hadn't noticed her climbing in to my bed but it was well after I was rounding up the cairn terrier from his rabbit slaughter at 2am, belated thanks to the father in law for the spot light it does work on rabbits, and horses who seemed very surprised at how I look in my nightie at 1000 plus lumens. I've had a late breakfast in bed - an almost luke warm weak cup of tea, barely cooked peanut butter toast with a freshly plucked rose on the plate side. I've been out doing some friend stalking. The chickens and I have had our chat over their La rumbla scraps, the sprinklers are all on as is the dish washer and the washing machine - water consumption is in abundance, the house is clean and silent - the children are all gone, we've raised them well enough they all have friends. The bliss of the solitude to write. There are still those cherry trees to plant, a new wwooffer arrival, mojito hour and that's just in the breaks. The advenutres that await will surely feature in another blog. I don't yet know but I've commited to go with the flow. When you have no idea what's happening next, your excited about the process. I love it when a plan comes together particularily when you have no idea of what the plan is. To enjoy every adventure for what it is, a moment to smile lots and laugh plenty. Life is the journey not the desitination and isn't it the best adventure of all.
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So excited - I have 30 saffron bulbs to trial at Arrow Ridge. All via facebook and like souled-individuals, learning and sharing seed thoughts of sustainability in Central Otago. Bulbs offered and transported through social networking. Gotta love how the world works today. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those willing to share. 30 bulbs as a trial crop or just because... Saffron one of our best restaurants name sakes, as a crop - new to the region but not to the world. A gold crop, high maintenance and hard work like many Arrowtown women, born of gold, and stunning. A new plant is a new story, untold and untested. Better than a delivery of on line shopping from Asos. Clothes that look great on the modeIs but carry the guilt of air miles from the UK even though shipping is free... a fashion fail with kiwi cankles. I get to see if I can encourage those 30 bulbs to thrive here. It may seem nothing to some but to seed-crop-cravers like me 30 bulbs are 30 gold nuggets. I've been gathering seeds; sweet peas, parsley, corriander, cucumbers, peas, beans and tomatoes to propagate next spring. I'm very aware that some places on our planet what I am doing for enjoyment and satisfaction is a crime. I get a buzz each time I mulch the pumpkins in the horse poop, the parsely and mint from generations ago and wild tomatoes or beans that have found crevices and thrived. Arrowtown, a living historic village filled with high end estates, first family homes and holiday cribs. Artisan galleries, boutique shopping, restaurants where slow food that showcases Central Otago produce and wines thrive. Villagers from all walks wax lyrical describing puff balls bigger than your head harvested in the early morning dew of autumn. Rowan berries, elderflower and rose syrups. Apple trees, apricots and quince hang on the river tracks and verges. Wild black berries and yellow plums are harvested on 4-wd drive trips up river to Macetown. We worship our chefs who turn rabbits shot on the block into Moroccan feasts. Or a rainbow trout, Tar or fallow deer dropped off by whanau to full the freezers for the wwoofers. Our prized silver dorkings are fed on tapas from La Rumbla - scraps so good the chicken run must be dog proof or the bulimic suffering big black walrus of a labravac dog will surely die. Living in central we battle the climate, the days are shortening at one end while the shadows are lengthening at the other. Hot days and lingering afternoons are being swallowed by darkles in the morning and the threat of frost. I dare not look when daylight saving ends. Too soon we will be swallowed by -14 degrees and winter. To walk bare foot on the lawn freshly mown and watered with our bore supply cold and crisp from the Arrow. We can eat and grow lawns, chip and putt golf balls and splash in clear river pools. We may simply sit majestic amongst the mountains. Nurturing the 100 mile diet philosophy. Reflecting on the chinese market gardeners, gold miners and settlers who have sown seed here before us. And get prepared to bed down for winter. Gathering and preserving what we can and paying it forward when we have an abundance to share. |
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