SPRING

Spring is here with lots of warm days, lambs, calves, and fast-growing grass. I discovered today how out-of-touch with the affairs of the world I am when I arrived at church this morning. I was about ten minutes late, but ten minutes on, the service came to an end! Daylight Saving had arrived and I was completely unaware, so I was actually an hour and ten minutes late! Fortunately at Kinohaku they always have a shared lunch after the service, so I did have some fellowship, and the twenty-minute drive each way wasn't wasted.
I have been minding the farm alone since Wednesday afternoon. Dorothy and Colin travelled to Kaikohe to visit some of their children and grandchildren. They return this evening (Sunday). This is the second time they have gone away and left me in charge. Last time was for two days (one night). Once the farm is running more smoothly, they will be able to go on longer trips while leaving the farm in my increasingly capable hands... ;c)
I haven't been alone the whole time, as an Israeli couple came to stay the weekend. Colin and Dorothy are hosts on the Hospitality for Israeli Travellers (HIT) list, as well as being back-up hosts for Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWoOF). Spring is the start of the tourist season. So far we have had two German girls as wwoofers, and this Israeli couple as HITs. Assaf and Moran are in NZ on their honeymoon. With Colin and Dorothy away, I enjoyed being hostess on my own, and gave them a really good NZ farm experience by taking them around the farm on the quad. Later we went down to Marokopa beach where they saw black sand for the first time. Their comment after the farm tour was that they didn't need to go anywhere else, as there couldn't be any place more beautiful! I couldn't have been more pleased!!
Assaf had a little trouble with his camera memory card, so he loaded some of the pictures taken on the farm onto our laptop to see if everything was okay. Now I have more photos without having to wait until I have my films developed - hurray!