The Proprietor’s Pleasures

The old sod

Yes, the Prop is back in res after a daring escape from Alcatraz; an epic swim, swatting off sharks like an Aussie bats away flies.

Anyway, fantasy aside, it’s a delightful to wander about the vineyard, saying cheerful hellos to animals, growling at Bob, and so on.

Mike has been doing a splendid job in the Prop’s absence, and a few inches of recent rain plus the ministrations of Keith have the place looking gorgeous.

One of the Prop’s obsessions is the planting and nurturing of native trees and plants, not just because they make a glad sight, but also because they attract native birds. No tuis or bellbirds yet, but fantails and grey warblers are here this year. This ditch beside the orchards we’ve planted with several hundred metres of massaes of toi-toi, cabbage trees, NZ flax, various NZ hebes, as well as  totara, kowhai, ribbonwood, etc. And on days like this, sometimes the reflections on the dam seem somehow more potent than the thing itself.Time for a swim. Couple of laps a day, and I should be fit enough to swim back to Alcatraz ...