Gardening time

We've been blessed these past few months with glorious summer weather.  Admittedly I haven't been doing much gardening lately, but the fun, sunny days got me motivated again.  But instead of working the soil, I want to do it in pots and cans this time.  And instead of veggies, I want to try my hand with flowers now.  And planting in transportable medium makes sense, as I can display these in front of the house, and move someplace else in case the strong Wellington winds threaten to destroy my work.

So last 2nd February I bought some garden soil, seeds, and a grown azalea to start me off.

Planting and gardening can be a very rewarding experience.  And I think I'm off to a good start, because last 13th February, I have seen life sprouting from the seeds.

I plan to make gardening a longer term hobby, and collect azaleas as my main interest while I work with flowers and veggies on the side.  Hmmm... I guess I can consider this my New Year's resolution: to be more active outdoors.  Not the running, exercising kind, but outdoorsy just the same.

A visit to the Philippine Embassy in Wellington

We recently dropped by the Philippine Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand to have our passports renewed.  The Embassy is located near the city proper and is actually based in a stately house.

The first concern I had about going to the place is actually the parking.  I heard that the parking areas there have very limited time slots.  We parked beside Queen Margaret College where the sign read "P 5" which my wife assumed it meant "5 hours" but I had the feeling it was more like 5 minutes.  An embassy personnel did confirm that it was only for 5 minutes, but if we moved our car to a slot near the park, he said the time limit there is 2 hours, which is more than enough for our purpose.

Gone fishing

Jo-Lo was invited by his friend Russell one fine Spring day to go trout fishing.  My seven-year old kid going fishing?  Yep.  That's thanks to the Capitol Trout Centre!  The Centre teaches the kids about the basics of fishing, and starts it off by having a licence (which is free for kids) and then an adult helps out the kids with their fishing adventure.

The kids get to take home their catch.  If you're squeamish about cleaning the fish, you can have it done there for a donation.  It was quite an experience for Jo-Lo, who was fishing for the first time.  The people running the place are friendly, and it's quite an interesting place to visit; it's like a valley with water flowing into a basin where kids can fish for rainbow trout.