Like the little girl with the little curl, Autumn can be very, very good or it can be horrid; there’s no inbetween. This week it’s been an angel. Although a tad brisk of a morning, it’s a reasonable trade off for gorgeous, clear days and allows events like the Hororata Glow Festival, held 16 km up the road from the Homestead, to be sell-outs
while we get to stand on our back step and feel part of it, too.
This morning, it was a joy to be out in the paddocks
where Meredith Goat and Hercules Wether-Lamb were more interested in me capturing their best side, while in the big girls paddock, the leggy creature approaching with the feed bucket made them blink a little.
In the chicken coop, all is business as usual in a week where the chicks have spent their time working on growing feathers so they can join the multi-coloured throng on the outside
and in Ed’s Manor House, he and April carefully point out to Farm Girl exactly where they would like their hay. Cindy can’t believe their audacity; oh that she were that brave!
No school uniform today for Farm Girl in honour of Pink Shirt Day. Yes, it’s red but I think her donning the Liverpool jersey apt after the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield over the weekend. I get it, people are angry and feel betrayed but guys…it’s Trent! You know: Trent! The wee guy we have watched grow up, smiled fondly at his thickly Scouse-accented, progressively more eloquent after-match comments, and stared open mouthed as he worked his magic on the pitch. Agree or disagree, honest or calculated move; at the end of the day it’s still just Trent and we’re still LFC (just quietly: this season’s EPL Winners) so cue a hearty chorus of YNWA and just cut it out!
Crowd bullying at its finest.
Which leads me to our local body (council and mayor) elections, happening later in the year and, notably for us, the first time our Farm Girl gets to cast her vote. Selwyn, the Homestead’s district , is likely to vote in a new mayor and while, personally, I feel we’ve done fine under the current one I understand and acknowledge there are issues and, yep, I think it is time for a change. But my vote will not be given to any of the mud-slinging, name callers who are taking up ever-more room on my social media news feeds. Give me the facts with clear examples that I can properly research; telling me what and how to think whilst hurling alliterative insults at the opposition is insulting of my intelligence.
And it’s bullying.
And on that note, I’m back off to play in the paddocks…but first, where did I put that pink hat?
Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!
Union Homestead 
Football (called soccer here) is not nearly the thing in Canada that it is in the UK (or NZ apparently!). Hockey is our thing. Pink shirt day is a thing here but happens elsewhere in our calendar. We just had a federal election, and with the neighbour we have, the main driver for how people voted was “who is best to deal with the bully?”. Hopefully we chose the right person. I will say it was a fairly civilized campaign…which was nice. Your golden days…remind me of the Sarah McLachlan song “ordinary Miracle” from Charlotte’s Web.
Usually our campaigns are civilised, too. Seems the bully’s influence is far and wide. Its glorious here atm- definitely golden days and as for football/hockey/rugby/whatever…we kiwis tend be jacks of all trades and as a result (having the sports mad husband I have) know a bit about ever sport.
Hi. Have you seen Ted Lasso, a TV series, set in England, about football (soccer, to Americans). It’s very warm and good-hearted.
Its on my list…maybe I should bump it up 😁
Not at all into sports and not sure who Trent is, but I’m with you all the way about bullying, which, alas, is all too common here.
By being old enough to vote, Farm Girl has reached an important milestone.
Fall for you folks, spring for us. Busy, busy in the garden. How I love it.
Farm Girl is very excited and keen to “get it right”. Lovely to hear from you, Laurie.
I take a very dim view of so called fans who boo a player for wanting to move to another club after years of loyal service. Mind you, I think that the only people who should wear club football shirts are the footballers who play for the club so I may be a little old fashioned in my attitudes.
I agree with the first point utterly. Who can blame him for wanting to explore, spread his wings and try something new? The second point though…I fear there would not be much left in my husbands wardrobe 😊
Hi, I got a bit lost after Pink Shirt Day as I don’t speak soccer/football or any other sporting code for that matter. My brother, Malcolm, speaks fluent AFL (Australian Football League). I agree about the tone of election campaigns. I was not at all impressed with the tactics used in the recent Federal Election campaign. Legislation for Truth in Political Advertising is well overdue here in Australia.
I did veer off into a specialist subject there for a bit but Im glad you persevered 😊 Thanks for that