Top o' the mornin!

With technology, sending an email or visiting blog friends, searching for something on the Internet is all great, until the system fails and you realize how much you rely on this service.
Being offline was not what I was planning and on Monday found that the router had stopped working and  we were no longer connected to the big wide world.

The knock on the door yesterday, when the courier delivered the package was wonderful and now very happy to be back again.

With the date been the 17th March... Saint Patricks day  thought it appropriate that I share a few green pictures

 the Chateau we stayed, in Saumur France

Harvesting the olives will soon take place here, as they are ripening well and we seem to have a bumper crop this year

For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way 
Good health, good luck and happiness
for today and everyday

Do you wear something green today?
Hope all is well with you and I look forward to coming to visit soon

hugs
Carolyn

We farewell the Royal Family

The Duke and Duchess wave goodbye to New Zealand, while the little Prince wriggles, as they board the plane bound for Australia.

Despite wearing three inch heels Kate got stuck in with a game of cricket - this time however it was William, that won this one.

The feel good factor cannot be underestimated and how great it was to see some good news and be able to see smiles on the many faces of people who were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the Royal family.
They were affable and approachable to the many that had gathered to see them and at the more traditional functions they carried themselves with dignity and elegance.

This week we have been busy picking the olives, we had a bumper crop this year. They are now out been processed and pressed so we will be able to pick up some bottles of olive oil in about three weeks.

Wild weather has hit Auckland and last night we had gale force winds and it was stormy -  hopefully it will pass for the long weekend.  Have just heard that Sealink Ferry services have had to cancel their sailings because of the rough seas. This will be an inconvenience for the local supermarket as all the produce is brought over on the boats. Might go out and stock up on a few groceries. Not a good time with the long weekend coming up.

Wishing you a wonderful Easter break.
Carolyn

Pansies, olives and a walk along the beach

We have had a lovely, busy weekend and this is a little of what I got up to.

It is olive season here again and they were ripe and ready to be picked so that was one of the jobs in the weekend, on the to do list.  I have noticed the birds had been making a feast of them over the past few weeks. While there was not as big a crop as last year, it is always exciting picking the olives and having them pressed and turned into bottles of our own delicious olive oil.

I feel so lucky living near the ocean and every possible opportunity it is lovely to take a walk along the beach. Even better now that most of the tourists have gone away until next summer and there are only a few people out enjoying the sunshine and walking their dogs.

Looking out the window on Saturday afternoon, I saw this old sailing ship and had to run and get my camera. Wouldn't you enjoy going for a sail on this old beauty, I know I would with only the sound of the wind,  making her move over the ocean.

Busy, but happy and I look forward to coming to visit you.

Blessings to all of you,  have a great week

Hugs

Carolyn

Happy Easter

Home baked hot cross buns are the best, the smell of cinnamon and mixed spices wafting out from the oven is wonderful.
I had to bake another batch the next day because the first lot were all gone lickety split. If anyone would like the recipe please email me and I will send it - have had trouble inserting the link here. I did share the recipe in my Easter post a few years back.

We picked green olives from this tree
...and the black olives from this tree.
In total we have about 12 trees around our property.
Because the weather was dry and hot back in November when the olives were forming, have given us a bumper crop. This is what we spent a lot of time doing, over the weekend. The birds have been feasting on them ( you would not think they would like them as they are very bitter) and the Tui's got quite stroppy when we started picking. We did leave a lot up at the top of the trees though, for them.
I will take them to be pressed at one of the big Olive oil companies, so we can have some bottles of olive oil to put in the pantry.
Image ~ Victoria magazine

Twas Easter Sunday Full blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and joy.
~ Henry W Longfellow

I hope that you are having a beautiful Easter weekend
Hugs
Carolyn

Award, pansies, window boxes, olives

I spent Saturday replanting the window boxes at the front of the house, with white pansies. They give me much pleasure when I look through the windows.

We have been picking olives again this weekend and took them to the place where they will be pressed, so hopefully we will have some lovely bottles of our own olive oil, in a few weeks. I have been amazed at how much the birds have been making a feast of the olives, they must not mind the bitter taste of the olives, straight from the trees.


I have been awarded the Sunshine Award from Pat
kittilover.blogspot.com
Many thanks Pat ~ I would like to Award this to everyone, because we all need sunshine in our life. As so many of my blog friends, are blog free and already have this award, please feel free to add it to your blogs, if you would like it.

We really could do with some rain, here on Waiheke Island, where I live ~ we have had 4 months of glorious weather and still no rain. I wonder if we are going to have a wet winter ahead?

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend, filled with joy and happiness and the sun shines for you.

Hugs
Carolyn

The olives are bottled.

A few posts ago I was telling you about our first harvest, from off our olive trees.
Well I have gone through the process of changing the brine for 12 days and was very proud to have our first bottles of preserved olives.

We will be harvesting some more olives on Saturday, this is not hard work in fact it is fun, as the buckets seem to fill up quickly.
We will be taking these olives to one of the Local Olive Groves, where the oil will be extracted by the Company's olive press.
I am looking forward to a few litres of hopefully, delicious oil.

Picking Olives.

This weekend we were picking olives on our trees. There was a bumper crop on the 12 trees that we have planted on our property.
The warm dry climate and the soil seem to be ideal for growing olives on the Island.
We needed to have a delivery truck, bring us a load of water last week, as we have not had rain in ages.

We had to make a cross slit in each olive, that will allow the water and salt to penetrate the fruit drawing the bitterness and also preserving them.
They need to be soaked in the brine for about 10 - 12 days, changing the brine every day.
Then they can be poured into glass jars left plain or with garlic, or lemon juice to flavour.
I will go on the lookout for some nice glass jars to store them in. I do like those antique stone jars and the very nice old glass jars.
I am not fond of olives, but I can eat them. I love olive oil and use that all the time.
What put me off them, was when I was young and eating a salad and what I thought was a grape turned out to be an olive.

It was fun though harvesting them and to get a crop from the trees we had planted was exciting and to be able to share them with those that do enjoy olives.

Do you like olives?

I hope that you are having an enjoyable weekend
Hugs
Carolyn