Days 23 and 24

We continue our assault on the walls and trim in the house.  The office now has all the trim painted with two coats.  Most of the touch up is done on the little spots we messed up on the ceiling when we painted the second coat on the walls.  Mike is making the molding (Kiwis call it beading) that will go around the top of the rooms.  We'll have to put a coat of polyurethane on that before it goes up.  The master bedroom has the ceiling painted, two coats on the walls, but just the first coat of paint on the trim around the doors and window.


Heather won an auction for 130 Italian Tuscan tiles for the kitchen floor and we picked those up yesterday.  It was quite a ride home with about 400 pounds of tiles in the back seat and in the trunk and the little car almost bottoming out on every bump!  But we made it home and the tiles are going to be gorgeous in the kitchen.


We've gone to two plant sales this week and purchased about two dozen flowers, shrubs and trees.  From the first sale we got a number of seedlings.  One plant just looked interesting so we bought it but didn't know what it was.    It turns out it is called a kaka (parrot) beak and produces a beautiful and delicate flower that looks just like a parrot's beak.  Can't wait to see this one flower.  Here are the plants from that sale.

The sale yesterday was at Lincoln University which is an agricultural school.  In the spring they sell their stock of plants that are grown during the previous year.  Needless to say, there was a huge selection and the plants are very healthy.  I don't have a picture of those plants but maybe I'll get pictures as we plant them.


I have always been amazed at how friendly and polite the people are here in New Zealand.  I've told this to my friends and family many many times.  Here are two more examples of what I mean.  Have you ever been driving through a road work zone and seen signs that say "Flagman Ahead" or "One Lane Ahead"?  Here is how the Kiwis caution you.

Or driving behind a big tanker truck with a sign that says "Wide Turns, Stay Back"  or some other order?  You'll like this one.

Yes, the joys of being in a country with genuinely polite people!!


That's it for today.  I'm still collecting photos of the flora and fauna of the region and hopefully will have enough to do a very interesting posting later this week.