Helpers

The weekend was a busy one! On Saturday we suddenly felt the need to paint the deck of our house (not the new house - the deck for that one isn't built yet....). What we forgot was that it was going to be yet another boiling hot day and that our feet would burn as we were painting it! It has been averaging at least 36 degrees each day lately....

We also forgot that we would have "helpers" - along with the frogs there was of course Emily who decided she had to "help" the entire time. Hard to say no, but frustrating when you say yes!
Sunday was Masaki's fourth birthday so we mixed New Zealand traditions with Japanese traditions and had a cake and noodle races down a bamboo pipe. Fun for all!

The house is on hold at the moment - the latest hold up is that the rubbish company won't come and empty the skip which is overflowing with rubbish. This means that the plumbers can't do any of the drain work, which means the concrete people can't do any of the final touches. The builder hasn't turned up to do the front steps again today so everywhere is very quiet. In a way I think we are now hoping that they delay a little more as we have a clause in our contract that if everything is not completed by the 20th of this month then penalties start to be incurred and our house gets a little cheaper! Maybe that way we will be able to afford to put up curtains!

The latest development in the garden at the moment is the discovery of a new variety of pumpkin.... Most of my pumpkin plants were self seeded in the compost and there were two different varieties - butternut (like the one on the left) and a small green variety. They seem to have mixed somehow to produce the one on the right. I wonder what it will be like inside......