February 6, 2010
Holly and Mia put their feet in the water and screamed. “Freeeeezing!”
It was hot in the Wairarapa that summer, and we were at a tiny beach along Palliser Bay, not far from Ngawi. Unlike my most recent drive to the coast, this was a gorgeous day. The sky was perfectly blue, and the heat intense.
Stingray (image from Wikipedia)
“But the water’s sooo cold!” Holly yelled. Mia went running, her arms flapping wildly, back up onto the black volcanic sand.
Holly and Mia are my nieces. They were 12 and 10 then, just last year, and visiting over Christmas with their parents, my older sister Amy and brother-in-law Mark.
The sand burned our feet, and Mia did a funny dance on her tiptoes as she ran back into the water. Soon all of us were in the water splashing around – the four adults and two children. The chilly seas of Cook Strait felt good against the heat of the day.
That was when we first noticed the undertow.
Read the rest of this entry »
8 Comments | 
Family, New Zealand, River & sea | Tagged: abel tasman, coast, stingray | 
Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
February 3, 2010
When the folks over at RunAbroad.com read my recent post, Running up Te Muna Road, they asked me if I wouldn’t mind being interviewed for their monthly ‘Interview with a runner’ feature.
Running Te Muna Road (click to enlarge)
I said, “Huh?”
I’m no serious runner. I mean, I love running but I’m a wimpy hobby runner. I run 5k and I practically need rehab. You should see the other runners they’ve interviewed over there. Supermoms who do grueling 50K trail runs without batting an eye. Italians who’ve run countless marathons. And even professional runners like Karl Metzer, who has single-handedly won over 50 ‘Ultras’.
I don’t even know what an ‘Ultra’ is!
Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Guest posts & media, New Zealand | Tagged: running | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 30, 2010
We were at John and Aussie Bronwyn’s for dinner with the rest of the neighbors when Rick first announced our intentions.
The wall
“We’re going to tear down the wall,” he said.
Suddenly the room fell silent. Forks were held frozen in mid-air. Mouths full of food had stopped chewing.
This was less than a year after we’d arrived here in Martinborough, and we didn’t yet understand that our house had come with an advisory committee.
“Which wall?” Kiwi Bronwyn said, looking somewhat concerned.
Everyone was staring at Rick.
Read the rest of this entry »
43 Comments | Country dinner parties, Neighbors, New Zealand | Tagged: gluten free, home, kind neighbors | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 23, 2010
Rain had been falling all night and throughout the morning when we climbed into the trusty little Nissan Pulsar. I threw four pairs of gumboots into the hatchback, started the engine, and headed for the coast.
Palliser Bay (click to enlarge)
Sitting next to me as I drove was Rick’s Aunt Charlie – a retired nurse from Iowa who, at nearly 70, still has a passionate enthusiasm for life and the boundless energy of a 16 year old.
In the back seat were Titou and Gabby, a delightful European couple.
Titou is a wiry Frenchman with a quick smile. Gabby is a petite Polish woman whose traditional Polish potato dumplings are so delicious that they’ll make you wish you grew up in Warsaw.
Read the rest of this entry »
22 Comments | Family, New Zealand, River & sea, Roads | Tagged: seals bay sea rain storm Nissan | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 19, 2010
Well, I’ve done it now. I created a podcast page, with the startings of a podcast library.
The podcasts are readings of various posts. I’m having heaps of fun with it, and I’m learning heaps too.
My friend The Wolf told me, “What next? Moon over Martinborough: the book? The movie?”
Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Podcasts | Tagged: podcast | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 16, 2010
It’s early on a Sunday morning as I put on my running shoes. It’s been a very, very long time, so the shoes feel a little unfamiliar. I stretch, then open the front door and go.
Huangarua river valley (click to enlarge)
I head in the direction of Te Muna Road. The name is Maori for ’secret place’.
When I get there, the blacktop surface angles up. This is the place where my body always starts saying it’s had enough, it wants to turn around and go home. The bed was so nice. The slope is too steep.
But a gentle breeze rushes though the pine trees on either side, and I keep running.
There’s an opening in the pines at the top of the slope, and I pause for a moment to look out over the little Huangarua river valley. The view from this spot is amazing – paddocks, shelterbelt trees, grassy hills. This is where I live. It’s good.
Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments | New Zealand, Paddocks, Roads, Wine & vineyards | Tagged: running, vineyards | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 9, 2010
Podcast available.
Because we lease our paddocks to a stock agent, we’ve seen a variety of cattle and sheep come and go on our property.
Dry paddocks and olive grove - March 2007
Being city boys, one animal has always seemed the same as another to us. One cow, however, has been a standout. She not only made an indelible impression on us, but she left Rick with an ongoing remembrance in the form of a dull ache in his side when it rains.
We named her Evil Cow.
Local farmers say cattle are smart. One farmer once told me he’d actually seen a cow push another cow into an electric fence just to see if it was on. Before I’d met Evil Cow, I didn’t believe that such calculated bovine treachery was possible.
Let’s just say that I believe it now.
Read the rest of this entry »
16 Comments | New Zealand, Paddocks, Podcasts, Sheep & cattle | Tagged: cattle, olive grove, pruning, stock agent | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 7, 2010
I blame it on my 20-something cousin in Michigan, Meryn, who said to me via Facebook…
This is my million dollar suggestion to you: Moon over Martinborough the podcast. This way we can all listen to the stories while we do our chores… or homework.
Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments | New Zealand, Podcasts | Tagged: podcast | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
January 2, 2010
No matter where I’ve lived in the world, if I couldn’t get back to Michigan for Christmas, then a little bit of my boyhood Michigan Christmas has always come to me – in the form of a box of gingerbread men.
Our gingerbread persons (click to enlarge)
Whether we’ve been living in provincial Japan or crowded Tokyo, central Wellington or out here in our rural paradise of Martinborough, the gingerbread men have always come.
That is, until this year.
Things had changed, and the only way we were going to get them this year was to make them ourselves. We’d never done that before, in any country.
Read the rest of this entry »
32 Comments | Family, New Zealand | Tagged: Christmas, gingerbread men, gluten free, gratitude, molasses, recipe | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
December 26, 2009
Read Part 1 and Part 2 first.
In the three weeks leading up to our Thanksgiving party, I checked Ethel every day to make sure she was still sitting on those six precious, mail-ordered eggs.
Chook house overlooking the olive grove
When she stepped on one egg and broke it, we were suddenly down to five.
And then, around two weeks into the 21-day incubation period, our dominant hen Henrietta did something which complicated everything.
Read the rest of this entry »
11 Comments | Chickens, New Zealand | Tagged: barnevelder, broody, chicken coop, Chickens, chook house | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
December 19, 2009
Read Part 1 first.
“There are two main ways to get a hen off the cluck,” Aussie Bronwyn said over the phone. “For the first way, you need a bucket, and for the second way you need a trap…”
Ethel broody on the chook house floor
Get a large bucket. Fill it with cold water (but not too cold). Pick up the offending chicken – holding her tight and making sure her wings are pinned. Now, very quickly, stick her backside in the bucket.
“Once her backside’s wet,” Aussie Bronwyn said, “she won’t want to sit down on any eggs, and she’ll forget the whole thing.”
“If she’s still broody after that, you can use the trap. But I think it’s even more cruel than the first.”
Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments | Chickens, New Zealand | Tagged: barnevelder, broody, Chickens, light sussex | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough
