It's June and it's winter . . . Down under.

May slid right by. Time is speeding past and we are trying to savor every moment.
Hang on . . .  I thought I would take you on a walk with us.
Each morning we are up at 6 a.m. and out the door for a walk at 6:30. These days it is still dark and I carry a pocket flashlight to so I can shine it on the path when we leave the street lights by the temple and head up the hill into the dark.

On Mondays, our preparation days, the centre is closed so we can wait and take our walk when it is light. That's when I take pictures.

This last week we had our first frost. The retired mission cars have been parked next to our house for a week waiting to be sent to auction. Their windscreens (not windshields) are frosted in the crisp damp morning air.

The brown-scape of the dry summer is a distant memory. The rain has come, and come, and come. The fields are deep green. It is green everywhere we look.

Barry is HOME! He admits that he feels his roots here and he hadn't imagined how deep. It is early winter. The locals say winter begins on June 1. Officially, it begins this year on June 22. The leaves have fallen, the feijoas have fallen, there are apples and pumpkin (winter squash) in abundance.

This neighbor has his sign out most days and down his drive is a wooden stand with the fruits and veggies, a self-serve scale to weigh them and an "honesty box" in which to deposit the money.

These are feijoas. 

They are the texture of a pear but a great mix of sweet and tart. You scoop them out with a spoon. They are delicious!

Barry is the self-appointed local liter patrol for Tuhikaramea Road. You could look on Google Earth and see our CLEAN Road!! Every morning he heads out with a bag in his pocket and every morning it is full when we come back. What did this neighborhood do before he came? I say there is a lesson on repentance in this activity. Repentance isn't a one time clean up. It's something you do every day. . . just like picking up trash on the roadside.

I have been documenting Barry's work. Who does that!??  A good historian. Me. :)

Most of the time it is fast food bags, candy wrappers and adult beverage containers -- bourbon cola in cans is the most popular. Sometimes it is a small bag . . .

Somedays a little more and once in a while, it takes both of us to haul it in.

The worsed is the cigarette cartons. I have never seen anything like them before. These are regular cigarette packages meant to discourage smoking! Oh, yuck! It would work for me!! 

Walking home we visit with the cows. 50 years ago the hills in New Zealand were covered with sheep. Now they are covered with cows. 

If you look closely you can see frost on the grass. This is winter in the Waikato. No snow!

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And we keep an eye on the temple renovation. The scaffolding has finally reached the top.

We love living in Temple View. We love being in heaven!