HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To each and every wwoofer, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your special contribution to building our house and establishing our property and we wish you all the best for Christmas and for the coming year.

For Christmas this year we have given Childfund a donation of $92 ($1 for every wwoofer we have ever had) to go towards their African appeal. At Christmas as we enjoy our lives of privilege we remember with charity those less fortunate. In the coming year I hope we can remember the people whose lives will be impacted by climate change by our actions and our words and our political will to make a difference.

FLORIAN

Florian probably has an identity crisis now because I kept calling him Fabian or Damian... Florian had a relaxing (boring?) couple of days minding the house, while we went up to Wellington. It poured with rain and he couldn't do anything except sit inside. Florian and Ken came to "Christmas in the square". We took a picnic of curry and rice and enjoyed the entertainment. Florian starred as a king in the play, and Ken as an angel. They had some lucky prizes and Florian won a nice shirt for being one of those coming from the furtherest away. Florian helped with fencing and "killing weeds" as well. He got on really well with the girls and got on Shannah's bad side by stealing her chocolate cake mix from the bowl! At night he challenged Wal to Chinese checkers...and he won tonight, on his last night!!!!

Narumi and Kyooko

Narumi and Kyooko walked the girls to school one morning as Wal drove over to Wanaka to get a 2nd hand fridge. It is a GRAM model and is the most energy effcient model on the market (I think). It is highly insulated and is probably the model of choice for people off the grid. They did a bit of housecleaning and taped down the sides of the fusuma paper on the doors as it was peeling on the edges. Narumi and Kyooko got the cold weather following the heat wave...nevertheless, they got a phone call from a friend about cherry picking and they were off despite the cold.

Claire and Sophie

We had a heat wave while Claire and Sophie were here so they spent most of their time in the shade weeding under the trees. Ami brought home a book on gingerbread houses and the great gingerbread project was begun. This engaged Claire, Sophie, Shannah and Ami for several days and the picture speaks a thousand words...fantastic!

Sho

Sho was a bright and cheerful Japanese with engaging conversation. He weeded, dug out the trench at the back of the house, generally helped tidy up, collected various things like carpet, sawdust and drums, and helped sieve last years compost and make a new compost heap.

(Sho at the bench)

Megumi

Megumi's stay is a blank...?? (she forgot to write in the book) but she weeded the drive garden for me and weeded and covered the gardens at the road end of the drive with bright, orange carpet (since covered with sawdust). Megumi did some calligraphy and we get a lot of people asking what it means. We have hung one on the wall, which is "smiling face".

Steve Carraso

Steve stayed for 3 and a bit weeks and helped with some major jobs-he probably never wants to see a wire bed again because he helped to sieve a lot of soil. Steve helped to move the glasshouse. Wal made a bricked base for it and brick raised gardens inside and after renovating a lot of the glass Wal and Steve sieved dirt to fill the gardens and planted tomatoes, cucumber and a capsicum. Steve built two door frames for the toolshed and helped to brick the patio. This was a job that intervened as the contractors turned up to do the drive and kindly dug the patio space as well....so then it needed filling. Steve also played lots of games with Ami and Shannah including digging for fairies!

Monika & Galyas

Monika and Galyas wrote in the book that they did "only a few things" which is an understatement...they would get up early and go and find their own jobs to do! They tidied the garage, stacking all the odds and ends of wood. Monika oiled the outside poles with linseed oil. This darkened the poles and made them stand out nicely against the clay. Monika also prepared and papered 3 doors with the special "fusuma" paper we brought home from Japan. Galyas worked with Wal on various woodworking projects including rebuilding a double bed we got from our neighbours, finishing Damian's shelf and blocking off the top of the battery room with battens. Galyas was a real chatterbox and we enjoyed our conversations with him.

Kristen

Kristen arrived at a timely moment shortly before we moved in so she got to help move lots of stuff. We tried to sort as we went-consequently we have half a house full of "stuff" we really don't need. We will have a big garage sale soon. Kristen also waterproofed some of the adobe walls and did some bits and pieces of painting.

Charles and Domitille

Charles and Domitille helped tidy the house by putting mud on the outside-this gave the walls a much more uniform look. A major job requiring neighbour's assistance was to get their van out of the mud on the lawn!!! They sanded the kitchen floor and repainted Ami's room in a lilac colour to make it brighter.