Sunday

We celebrated our New Zealand Father’s Day today with much hilarity. The gag gifts and great chocolate blocks seemed to put smiles on our faces aside from the incredible brunch my daughter prepared for all of us. Elijah took our orders and they hung from the fan over the stove while the meals were being cooked to perfection. As a joke Phil made a reserved sign for our king-sized table that he built years ago when they lived in Nelson. It has withstood the elements and the test of lots of time spent eating well with family and friends, and after our meals and our coffees, he opened his silly gifts while we all guffawed at how outrageously funny we looked. If I get up my nerve, I may include some of the most horrendous shots of myself and everyone else that I’ve ever taken, of me and them, but it’s all in good fun.
I think that the hilarity of the afternoon permeated the usual quiet of the surrounding gardens but eventually we got it together and decided to again help out with gardening chores. After a couple of hours of toil, I had to go inside but those two stayed out until nightfall, making all pretty. There’s so much work here at all times of the year and springtime is a crucial season to set the tone for all of the seasons that follow.
So, they worked until they couldn’t see enough of the garden as the light faded then completely disappeared.
Since we all labored like beavers on our garden crusade, I decided to treat everyone to fish and chips. They were certainly appreciated and rather immediate and best of all so easy to clean up afterwards. We get them from a local place that is only a 5-minute drive from home here and they’re consistently excellent and plentiful as they give ample servings with every order.,
Again, my bed called to me and I answered sleepily. Nighty night.

PS Elijah wrote the menu on his whiteboard and also took the picture of it for the cover shot on this blog.