Sunshine

I wasn’t intending for this to be another gardening post, but as all day yesterday was spent outdoors, it seems only fitting that it be so.

On Wednesday afternoon, after I had done the chores I talked about in the last blog, we approached our neighbour about thinning out the tee tree, which was shadowing the vege garden. He had already told us that it would be fine to cut some down, but before we did so, we just wanted to be sure it was still okay. Which it was. The trees were essential shelter from the northerly winds but their height meant that they stole the sun from much of our garden. I suggested the first tree to be removed and that fell into our section and right across the compost heap – the perfect place for the clean-up. Once this one was out of the way, I decided to take the other half of the tree as these two halves stood way taller than the rest of the trees and were the main sun-stealing culprits. We removed the branches of a couple more and already the effects were obvious. Now full sun shone onto the vege garden, where in the past only mottled bits had made their appearance and the pink hibiscus was now bathed in sunshine as well.

All we did after this, was to clean the debris from our neighbour’s garden. He didn’t want the wood and we knew it would be perfect for our pizza oven. Yesterday, Stephen began cutting the wood into oven-sized pieces while I bagged them, for ease of storage. After this, I dragged the mulcher up from the garage and started feeding the machine with the left-over bits of wood and foliage. It didn’t take long to realise the size the mulcher preferred and that was about half-an-inch wide stems. It didn’t like the leaves but I fed them anyway, often clogging up the machine, forcing it to stop. I managed to clear about half of the pile so we have about the same amount to contend with another time. But it won’t be today as we are heading into Mangonui later on and visiting Genevieve after this. The weather is glorious once again. After all the rain it just seems extra special.

When I gave my talk at the Mind Body event in Whangarei, I explained how our current lives are impacted by our previous lives and specifically mentioned the loss of the sun after the land was taken from our tribe when I was a North American Indian. We were no longer able to carry out our early-morning rituals as a big hill now obscured much of east, meaning we didn’t see the sun until late in the morning. When I was born, our view stretched for miles in the easterly direction meaning we were greeted by magnificent sunrises every morning. Then my father sold the farm and not only did I miss the land as the Indian had, but our new house no longer received morning sun. That pattern continued for much of my life. Wherever I seemed to live, the east was always obstructed. I remember when I moved into the nurses’ home, I was given a room on the westerly side that faced the hospital carpark. The other side looked over the lake, where magnificent sunrises abounded. How I longed to be on that side. In my house in New Plymouth, as well as a big bank on the easterly face, the neighbour’s Pohutukawa grew so large that it obstructed the little morning sun we did get. Moving up here, and I soon realised that the house faced the south, and the northerly sun swept around the toilet and bathroom while another tree took the sun from the bedroom. While the east was clear, further off in the distance a huge hill meant that we didn’t see the sunrises as early as others could. I have always known that when a pattern repeats, and in this case, the lack of sun, then there is more work to do on an issue. But I am thinking that we are receiving solutions now – an affable neighbour who is happy to let us cut down the offending sun-stoppers. The tree that takes the bedroom sun will be cut shortly too, as this impact’s the neighbour’s plans for development. Soon our house and section will be bathed in sun once again and I know that the Indian within me will be very happy.