Summer, the good and the bad

Let's start with the bad - hottest day on record (tied with 1869 or something like that) yesterday, 32.8 C. Oh yes you may giggle, those of you from more continental climates, but we're soft here in Auckland, soft and squishy, and that was horrid. We survived though, survived and triumphed. On a sadder note I feel kind of funny making light of this given the weather-related nightmare that they're going through over in Victoria. Kiwis and Aussies love to take the piss out of each other but no-one here is making fun that's for sure. They might about the cricket or the fact it's been proven that we invented the Pavlova, but not something this serious.

The good is campbellberries.


Ok, so they probably have a name like logenberries or something, but this is a bush with history and so it's named after Mat. A long time ago he flatted in Dunedin, in the South Island, in an old house up NEV, and there was this berry bush growing there. It has no thorns, is more of a climber than a bush, and had the best berries. Like a good blackberry but twice as nice. Eventually I moved in with him, and all the flatmates would pick berries off it as we went past but given Dunedin growing conditions (entirely lacking) there were never enough berries to do more than that. Friends of his who lived even further south took some cuttings to live in their garden where they thrived - and we moved on to Sydney. Then we came back to New Zealand and the friends came to visit, bearing cuttings of the berry they called the Campbellberry. I'm teaching Hazel how to pick just the ripe ones, with only partial success, I'll leave it to you to guess which of these luscious looking berries will make your whole face pucker in and your eyes cross :)


I sure can't tell but it lends a bit of spice and excitement to my life.