Rainy Days

 

Good evening.

 It's 7pm here in Wanaka. Just finished dinner and cleaning up. I made Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto tonight. We attended a block party of sorts in Dan and Annie's neighborhood on Sunday and I won a basket with a butternut squash grown by Annie, a jar of honey and 6 eggs from Cervelli hens. Annie was the one who provided that prize and I was lucky enough to win it. The risotto turned out well and we enjoyed it. Cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen is not fun but I'm learning the nuances of the stove and oven, etc. No garbage disposal, and I will have to make a few purchases until I am comfortable in it.

Yesterday rain was predicted but fell mostly during the night and the day turned out warm (68") and we walked down to the town center to check out ebike rentals and to visit the library. It is .8 mile from our house to downtown. It is a gradual downhill with steps at the bottom and is not a bad walk back to the house. We also had lunch and I ordered an egg and bacon pie. The choices of pies were numerous but I played it safe the first time. I'm looking forward to sampling them all. 

Today it did rain most of the day and we spent most of it indoors reading and working on a puzzle. Phoebe has been coming by most mornings. She leaves her bike here and walks across the street to school. She comes by after school for a snack and usually then goes to an after school activity such as netball or Jiu Jitsiu. Malcie also has been coming in the mornings to work on his Lego and gets to school barely on time. He's also been by after school. Annie and Dan do a lot of driving ferrying the kids to school and all their activities. Iris has gymnastics and swimming. We have borrowed Dan's car to do some shopping and Gene seems to have conquered his fear of driving on the "wrong" side of the road. I think we will be renting a car later this week to have for the remainder of our stay.

We are not yet over our jet lag. We are doing better as we are not going to bed by 6pm but we are both still waking far too early in the morning. I have never been a morning person so I can't wait to sleep past 630am. 

Wanaka is a beautiful place and is a ski destination in the winter. A lot of shops have changed over to ski shops and the population will increase as ski season starts. There are few traffic jams and only 1 stoplight in the city. We find it to be a lovely place.

Joan