May 1912

Wednesday 1st   It was a showery day, but not quite so bad as yesterday.  After breakfast I went down to the village to post some letters, when I came back I was weeding in the flower garden.
May Dunning was here for dinner.  Willie hauled a load of fruit down to the wharf in the afternoon & brought up some fruit cases.  I also went down for the mail.

Thursday 2nd   It was a fine day, wind S.  The ground is drying up nicely.  Willie took the horse down to the wharf in the morning and hauled up some empty cases.
I was working in the flower garden all day.

Friday 3rd   Although there was a big rainbow in the morning it proved to be a comparatively fine day, only one shower in the morning.  Willie was working on the grade road.  I was working in the flower garden all day.  I planted one clump each of the following Daffodil bulbs given me by Mr Grindrod (Empress & Sir Watkin mixed)  Vesuvius, Grandee, Shirley Hibberd, Ellen Barr, Nelson Major.  In the evening I went down for the mail and attended the Library.
The adjourned Annual Meeting of the Hall was held, the old Trustees with the addition of Albert Wyatt in the place of Mr Banks were elected.  Mr Handby Chairman & Secretary and Mr Neeley Treasurer.
Jim brought me a brace of cock pheasants to send to Mr Wallace so I left them in the Library until tomorrow morning.

Saturday 4th   It was a beautiful day.  In the morning I took a case of Pears and the brace of pheasants and sent them away by the “Kawau” to Mr Wallace, carried up a bag of sand.
Tom Ashton came up with me to get his Marriage Certificate, he staid for dinner. In the afternoon I was working in the flower garden I planted clumps of the following Daffodils, Dean Herbert, Mrs Langtrey & Butter & Eggs, also planted bulbs of Calla Elliotiana (Yellow) Nerine / Guersisey (Nerine Sainienois) Lily) & Michaelmas Daisy.
Grace went to call on Maud Wyatt. In the morning Willie walked to Ti Point to go fishing and he brought some fish home in the evening.

Sunday 5th   It was a fine day.  I walked over to Ti Point to spend the day with Joe & Minnie.
Willie & Grace went to spend the day with Jane and Jim.

Monday 6th   It was a very fine day.  After breakfast I went down to Mrs Dunnings beach and carried home a bag of sand, after I came home I planted 4 rows of Mixed Daffodils that Mr Grindrod gave me, late in the afternoon I went down to the beach and carried up a bag of sand. Willie was picking Apples & packing Pears.

Tuesday 7th   It was a very fine day.  In the morning I planted a Choisia, a Syringa  & a Carnation. In the afternoon I commenced to dig in the green Maize.  Willie hauled a load of fruit down to the wharf and brought up a load of cases, in the afternoon he was working on the grade road.  Mr Roose called in the afternoon and Grace & I gave him small orders.

Wednesday 8th   It was a very fine day. I continued digging under the green maize.  In the afternoon I went down to meet the Steamer and to get the mail, carried up a bag of sand.
Willie was working at the grade road, he took the horse down to the wharf in the evening and hauled up some goods that came by the steamer.

Thursday 9th   It was a fine day.  After breakfast I went down to the beach & sieved a lot of sand,  I carried up a small bag full myself. Willie took down a load of Pears and he hauled up the sand for me. In the afternoon I finished digging under the green maize, I sowed a row of Mixed Sweet Peas near where I had them last year.  Willie was picking and packing Vicar Pears from the small tree.

Friday 10th   It was a fine day.  I set fire to a heap in the pigs paddock composed principally of periwinckle sods, the remained of the day I was helping Willie pick the last of the Vicar Pears from the small tree which has bourne a very good crop.  In the evening I went down for the mail and attended the Library, there was a meeting of the Hall Trustees re painting the Hall.

Saturday 11th   It was a very fine day.  After breakfast Grace walked over to the Claim to stay a few days with Jane.  Willie walked with her as far as Ti Point school and then he walked on to the Point to fish.
I was left at home all by myself. I was working in the flower garden. I dug up 3 clumps of Gladioli in the diamond bed. I sent an order to
W. E. Lippiatt for 6 Roses of the following varieties,
George G. Waud            Penelope
Caroline Testout            La France
Lyon Rose         &              Lady Battersea
I went down to the P.O to post this order and to get Postal Notes for 7/- to enclose in the letter.

Sunday 12th   It was a very fine day.  Willie & I walked over to the claim in the morning to spend the day with Jim & Jane,  Grace is staying a few days there, we had dinner with them and in the afternoon  all of us went to Revd  Blundells service in the Hall,
I returned home immediately afterwards, Willie Dunning kindly gave me a lift in his waggon,  Willie returned to Jims for tea and returned later on.  Thomas Ashton Jnr & his cousin Rose Ashton Jnr were married yesterday in the Hall by Revd  R. A. Macdonald (Anglican).  After Willie got home he heard a rustling noise in the drain near the landslip and on going down with a lantern he found that the horse Stake had slipped into the drain and could not get out, so he got Charlie,  Eddie & Lennie to help him, but they could not get him out.

Monday 13th   It was a beautiful day.  After breakfast Willie knocked Stake on the head where he lay in the drain and we covered him with earth. Afterwards I fixed up the garden fence to keep the fowls out as they have been getting into the flower garden and scratching. I commenced digging the diamond bed, I put leaves & burnt soil in the trenches.
Willie was working at the grade road.

Tuesday 14th   It was a beautiful day.  After breakfast Willie went down to the village to get the mail, he received his gun from Laidlaw Leeds, the remainder of the day he was working on the graded road, I was digging between the roses in the diamond bed but did not quite finish it.   Grace returned from the Claim in the evening.

Wednesday 15th   It was a beautiful day.  There have been very heavy dews for the last few mornings.
I finished digging the diamond bed.  I went down to the Steamer in the afternoon and got the mail, there were two parcels for me, one a parcel of drapery from Bridgmans and the other the blinds for the Hall.  Willie was working on the grade road.

Thursday 16th   It was a beautiful day.  We were up early and Willie took a load of fruit and a box of pickled eggs (The first he has sent) down to the Steamer before breakfast & he hauled up a bag of sand for me.  After breakfast I took Mrs Charlie Wyatt some Marigold plants, after I came back I gathered up all the cow manure that was lying about and put it on the manure heap.  In the afternoon I planted out 17 Pansy plants on the border near the Sweet Peas.
In the morning Willie was putting the finishing toutches [sic] on the grade road as the bull had been knocking it about with his horns. Before dark Willie took his new gun down the farm and shot two wekas, in the evening he went down to see Charlie Wyatt.

Friday 17th   There were a few heavy showers during the day.  In the morning I was stringing up Onions & cutting out the blinds for the Hall, Grace machined the hems for me.
In the pm I fixed up one of the blinds in the Hall, and I went again in the evening to get the mail & attend the Library.
Tenders had to be sent in for painting the Hall (labour only) four tenders were received viz
Alf Wyatt &  W. Harper     £14 . 15 . 0
J. C. Wyatt & W. Clarke     £13 . 16 . 0
T. Handby                                   £12  .  0 . 0
Jno, Joe & H. Torkington   £   9 . 17 . 6
The lowest was accepted.
Grace walked over to Ti Point in the afternoon and stayed.

Saturday 18th   There were a few showers in the morning, but it cleared up and was very fine in the afternoon.  After breakfast Willie went down to the village to post some letters.  After he came home he walked to Ti Point to fish.  I staid at home and did odd jobs, I chopped some firewood, gathered two tins of horse manure and put it on to the rubbish heap in the garden, and was weeding in the flower garden.
Willie & Grace returned home after dark.  Willie was with Joe drawing the net and he brought home several fish.

Sunday 19th   There was a thick mist in the morning when we got up, but the sun soon dispelled it and it turned out a fine day.  Alma & Dorothy came here for dinner.
Revd Pais  (Methodist) held service in the Hall in the afternoon, there was a large congregation.  I attended and afterwards went up to Mr James Greenwoods and staid tea.

Monday 20th   It was misty in the morning and being a heavy dew everything was very wet.  Although it was cloudy it did not rain during the day.  In the morning I was weeding in the flower garden.  In the afternoon I walked over to Ti Point to see Minnie whose 36 birthday was today, Minnie was getting over her confinement having given birth to a son (the sixth child) yesterday week,  Mrs Geo Smith was there as nurse, and Annie Torkington came there yesterday to help Minnie with the work.  I had afternoon tea there and returned home before, on my way home I called in at Mr Ashworths and had a look at Mrs A’s garden, she gave me some rose cuttings.
Willie was packing pears & apples.

Tuesday 21st   There was a heavy dew this morning and it looked very dull, but it turned out a fine day.  In the morning Willie took a load of fruit down to the wharf.  We had an influx of visitors, first Dolly Greenwood, Dora Greenwood & Miss Houghton came, then Willena Neeley & Gracie Knaggs & then Miss Brown, they all staid for lunch.
I planted out in one of the three cornered beds 36 Pansies & 11 Canditufts.

Wednesday 22nd   It was dull the first thing in the morning, but it turned out a very fine day.  In the morning I took up the sweet pea sticks near the closet & put them under the house and I dug up the ground down to the rhubarb.
In the afternoon I went down to the steamer got the mail and carried up some sand.  Willie rooted out the Late Scarlet Apple tree in the orchard that was dead.

Thursday 23rd   It was a fine day, wind S.  We got up early as Grace is going to Auckland to day.  In the morning I planted out 2 Lupins and took up the Stokesia and divided it into three parts and replanted them.
Willie hauled a Box of Eggs & Grace’s luggage down to the wharf in the afternoon, the “Kawau” left here about 2 am.  I carried over some sand to the wharf and Willie hauled it home for me.

Friday 24th   Empire Day.  It was very cold this morning, wind at S.
I took up the clump of Montbretias near the Citron tree and replanted some in the border near the pigs paddock fence.  Forked out some sorreel round a Cornmeice apple tree in the orchard, Willie cut down and rooted out an old Orleans plum tree.
In the evening I went down to the village  to get the mail and attend the Library.
Burton Witten called a meeting of fruitgrowers to consider the advisability of taking shares in a co-operative Canning Factory to be established, 201 shares were taken up in the meeting, Willie took ten.  The factory is to be in Auckland.

Saturday 25th   It was a beautiful day and not quite as cold as yesterday.  After breakfast I went down to get the mail that came by steamer last night, carried up a bag of sand.
Agnes came here to bring us some carrots .
Willie went down to the P.O first and then went to Ti Point fishing.
When I came back from the village I was working in the flower garden, I transplanted 1 Marigold and 3 Canterbury Bells.

Sunday 26th   Whitsunday.  The wind was blowing strong from the N, very dull day but it did not rain.  Alma came up from the Bible Class to dinner.  Mr J. Pigott a Theological Student at St John’s College held service in the Hall in the afternoon instead of Revd Macdonald.
Willie, Alma & I went, there was a good congregation and we liked Mr Pigott very much.  The Collection (for the Melanesian Mission) amounted to 16/2.

Monday 27th   There was a misty rain nearly all day, wind strong from N & E.  We were unable to do anything out of doors.

Tuesday 28th   It was a fine day, but the wind is still from the N.
After breakfast I went down to the village to get the mail.  The Torkingtons commenced to paint the Hall.  In the pm I was digging out periwinckle in the pigs paddock.

Wednesday 29th   There was heavy rain last night & everything was very wet this morning, but it was a fine day and the wind is getting round to the W & SW.
After breakfast Willie took the horse down to the beach and hauled up some empty cases, he went down again in the afternoon taking 2 Boxes Eggs & 8 Cases Vicar Pears and he hauled up 2 Sacks Fowl feed.  I gathered up a sack of willow leaves and also 1 of horse manure & put it in the rubbish heap in the flower garden.
In the afternoon I went down to the Steamer got the mail and carried up a bag of sand.

Thursday 30th   There was a heavy dew last night and also a shower of rain so that things were a bit damp this morning, after breakfast Willie took the horse down to the wharf and hauled up a Sack of Sharps & a bag of sand for me,  in the pm he was putting in posts in the pigs paddock to fence off the fruit trees  he has planted there.
In the morning I was getting firewood & cooking the dinner, in the pm I was digging out periwinckle & cutting ink weed in the pigs paddock.

Friday 31st   Although it was dull in the morning, it turned out to be a fine day.  Willie went over to Willie Dunnings to bud some lemons for him.
I cleared all the ink weeds in the pigs paddock and cut a pine branch off.  In the evening I went down for the mail and attended the Library.