October 1918

Tuesday 1st   It was fine in the morning, ‘tho threatening for rain, wind N.  After breakfast I left Jim’s place & walked to Ashton’s creek where I met the cream cart and Gus Neeley gave me a ride back to Leigh.  After I got home I changed my clothes and went into the garden to plant the things that Mrs Williams gave me,  I planted several GaillardsScabiousMarigoldWhite Mignonette.
After lunch it set in rain, so I just got home  &  planted my plants in time.

Wednesday 2nd   It was a beautiful day, the rain we had yesterday has freshened up every thing and the vegetables are growing fast.
In the morning I was digging the top side of the house for Tomatoes,
I manured the land as I dug.  I packed a little box with plants for Mrs Williams,  viz  Stocks, Candituft & Pansies, also Sweet Pea & other seeds and posted it in the afternoon to go by the overland tomorrow.   Went down to the steamer in the afternoon, received a letter from my brother Henry in England,  Mrs B  Birdsall sent a flowering shrub over which I planted when I came home.
Willie was hoeing Potatoes in the morning and in the afternoon he took the butter & eggs down to the wharf and hauled up flour & groceries and a bag of sand for me.  Grace & Raymond walked over to Ti Point.

Thursday 3rd   It was a very fine day.  Willie was flat hoeing his Potatoes.
I dug and manured some more ground the top side of the house to sow some Beetroot in.  I went down for the mail in the evening, Grace & Raymond returned from Ti Point.

Friday 4th   It was fine in the morning, ‘tho threatening.  Mrs J. C. Wyatt came in the morning and staid for lunch.  I weeded the Peas, put manure round the young Cabbages and cleared the weeds off the round bed.  It came on to rain in the pm and rained all evening.
Wille went down to meet the steamer as Keith Entwisle was coming to stay with Jim and Jane so as Jim was over he went home with him.

Saturday 5th   It was a very fine day, the wind has got round to SW, but the ground is too wet to dig, so I went down to the barley paddock and cut pea sticks,  fire wood & kindling wood and carried them home.  Willie went fishing with Leslie Machardo and brought home schnapper and rock cod.  In the afternoon I went down to the Church to take flowers , called on Mrs Gravatt,  after I got home I stuck the first row of Stratagem Peas.  Mrs G. Wyatt,  Beatie & Ixxxxe came to look at my garden & staid for tea.

Sunday 6th   It was a beautiful day.  After breakfast Willie Dunning came to have a look round the garden & orchard.
Archdeacon Hawkins  held service in the Church in the afternoon there were quite 50 present and a very attentive congregation , the Archdeacon gave a splendid address which was listened to with wrapt interest .  the Collection was 28/4 .

Monday 7th   The morning was dull and lowering,  wind N to E.  Willie took the trap down to Harpers and bought a 600 Gallon Galvanized Tanks and brought it home.  I went down to the barley paddock and cut some bean sticks, pea sticks & kindling wood.  It came on to rain and I had to come home , it rained all afternoon & evening.  I wrote a letter to Lily  (Jacks wife)

Tuesday 8th   It was a showery day, everything wet outside.  I sieved a lot of cow manure to plant my Pansies in.  In the afternoon I got firewood from the other side of the hill.  Willie was putting in the blocks to put the tank on.

Wednesday 9th   It was showery in the morning, but very fine in the afternoon.  Willie was making the tank stand.  I was sawing up tea tree and sharpening them for kerbing and I fixed them in the garden where the others had rotted.  In the afternoon I went the other side of the harbour to D. Mathesons to have a look at their garden,  Mrs M  was at the Pa but Duncan showed me round and gave me some plants of White Mallow.  I waited for the steamer to get the mail, but she did  [not]  arrive before 6.30.  There was a debate in the hall, the subject being,  “Should Women enter Parliament” – none of us went.

Thursday 10th   It was a beautiful day – very hot in the afternoon.  After breakfast Willie took the butter & eggs down in the trap.  I went with him and got some gravel which Willie carted home for me.  When I returned I planted the White Mallows that I got yesterday.
Willie cemented the inside of the tank and tarred the bottom.  Grace & Mrs Simpson went down to C. Wyatts in the afternoon.  I went down for the mail in the evening, but as Grace also went down she got the mail and I came home.

Friday 11th   It was a fine day, the wind is blowing strong from SE.  The ground is too wet to dig.  I planted about 40 Pansy plants round the edge of the long bed.  Willie put the tank on to the stand and fixed spouting to lead the water into the tank.

Saturday 12th   The steamer did not come last night on account of the easterly wind, but she came this morning and proceeded to Mangawai calling in here again in the afternoon at 3.30.  The wind is still easterly, but has moderated.   It was a fine day.  I sowed seeds of Mina Lobata in a flower pot, also seeds in the border of Zinnia Elegans & Portulaca  (Abrahams seeds),  also planted 2 Stocks and 1 Candituft.
Keith Entwisle returned to Auckland in the steamer, Grace & Raymond also went to Auckland,  Willie drove them down to the wharf  and he brought up 3 bags of sand for me.

Sunday 13th   It was a fine day, ‘tho very dull, wind N.  I conducted service in the Church in the afternoon , attendance 19,  Collection 6/6 .

Monday 14th   Wind still blowing strong from E, steady rain nearly all day.  Willie was making the brooders for the chickens he has ordered from J. C. Wyatts incubator.  I hollowed out a punga to plant a Lobelia in, also wrote a long letter to my son Henry.

Tuesday 15th   It rained heavily last night and when we got up this morning the new tank was full and running over,  it did not rain but the ground was very wet, but a strong W wind blew which dried up the ground a little, but blew the vegetables about.
Willie was making his brooder & chicken yards.  Charlie Wyatt came in the afternoon to get my signature.  Mrs A. Dunning also called.
I fixed the punga near the summer house and planted a Lobelia in it. Sowed seeds of Cenaurea Iperalis, and pricked out Tomatoes in a box.  I went down to spend the evening at Mr Archie Dunnings,  Willie D  was also there and we played at Five Hundred.

Wednesday 16th   It was a fine day, but it rained again last night and everything was very wet this morning.  I got firewood on the hill, cut down and put a handle to a benzene tin, went down to the village in the afternoon to post a letter to my son Henry and also one to Mr Goertz containing an order for £5 being our half yearly guarantee to the Anglican Church.  Willie was putting the finishing touches to the brooders and chicken yards , in the pm he took the sulky down to the wharf with 20 Doz Eggs and 20 lb  butter and brought up fowl grit.

Thursday 17th   It was a very fine day.  Willie went down to J. C. Wyatts and brought up 110 White Leghorn chickens just of the incubator which he bought for 5d  each.  100 @ 5d   £2 . 1 . 8   the 10 extra ones were chucked in ,  he put them into the store for the present.  I resowed the Pale Dun & Canadian Wonder that the slugs had eaten ,  also sowed a row of Red Beet,  and dug up the piece of ground I intend to plant in Tomatoes.  I went down for the mail in the evening.

Friday 18th   It did not rain during the day but it was dull and looked threatening, wind strong from W.  Willie was working at his chicken yards.  I dug between the crops the top side of the house .  Burned some oyster shells.  Went down to meet the steamer in the afternoon as Grace was going to send a parcel down by Dan Kempt.
Last Wednesday evening after the “Kawau” left here for Auckland, Frank Witten and his eldest boy went out in a sailing boat to meet the “Kawau” steamer in the Kawau passage and it is supposed that the boat was upset by a squall of wind  and that Frank and his son were drowned as the boat came ashore bottom up the next morning, search has been made for the bodies without success, he leaves a widow and 7 children living at Matakana.

Saturday 19th   There was no rain to speak of to day, but it rained heavily last night and the ground was very wet so that I could not dig.  Willie was making appliances for the chickens.  As I could not dig or plant I was not idle.  I remarked the rose labels, applied liquid manure to the roses and put manure round them,  got firewood from the hill for the kitchen & my room,  collected up manure.

Sunday 20th   It was a fine day, but a cold wind from S was blowing.
Revd Gould conducted service in the Hall in the morning.  I attended.
Willie Dunning had his youngest child baptized.

Monday 21st   It was fine in the morning, but the wind is only W.  Willie earthed up Potatoes in the new garden.  I broke the ground up which had been previously dug and planted a double row of Homestead or Kentucky  Wonder bean,  also manured a trench and dug beyond it.  It came on to rain about 4 pm.

Tuesday 22nd   It rained last night and early this morning and the ground was very wet and I was not able to do anything in the garden. In the afternoon pared weeds off the ground in the new garden ready for planting beans.  I went down the barley paddock and carried up the bean sticks I had cut down there and I cut a few more and carried them up.

Wednesday 23rd   It was a very wet day,  I was not able to do any thing in the garden.  Willie took the sulky down to meet the steamer in the afternoon,  Grace and Raymond came up from Auckland by her, and they had a very rough trip.

Thursday 24th   The wind was blowing very cold from the S.  –  it was perishing cold out of doors so I could not work outside.
I went down for the mail in the evening, but the coach between Kaipara Flats and Warkworth had broken down and the mail would not arrive at Leigh until 8 or 9 pm so I came home without it.

Friday 25th   It was a fine day and the ground is drying up.  After breakfast I went down for the mail  that came last night.
I weeded the second row of Stratagem Peas and stuck them,  I had not quite enough sticks so I went down to the barley paddock and got some more.  There was a miscellaneous entertainment in the Hall in the evening given by the local W. C. Y. U.  in aid of the Mine Sweepers,  the entertainment consisted of songs , recitations & a dialogue entitled ‘Is marriage a failure?’   the ladies provided supper.  Willie and Grace went, but Mrs Simpson and I staid at home,  while I was working in the pm I felt as if I going to have a bad back and it got worse in the evening.

Saturday 26th   It was a fine day.  My back was so bad that I did not get up, but they brought my meals to me in bed.

Sunday 27th   There was heavy rain early in the morning, but it cleared up and was a fine day.  My bad was still bad and I staid in bed all day.  Revd Orchard held service in the pm, but no one went from here.

Monday 28th   It was fine.   I was still confined to my bed with a bad back  (lumbago).  The body of Frank Witten who was drowned off the Kawau on the 16th ultimo was found on one of the islands near the Kawau and was brought to Pakiri and was buried there this afternoon, we never heard anything about it until the pm when Mrs Simpson went down for the mail  met several people coming back from the funeral.  Mrs S  did not get the mail as she heard that this was Labour Day  (Holiday) & the P. O.s  were closed.
Willie planted Homestead & Canadian Wonder beans in the new garden.

Tuesday 29th   It was a showery day.  I was still in bed with my back. We heard that the body of Frank Witten’s son was picked up at Day’s bay and was buried at Pakiri today.

Wednesday 30th   A showery day.  Grace went down to the village in the afternoon to get meat, but heard that the steamer was not coming until tomorrow and the butcher was coming tomorrow also. Willie had got his butter & eggs packed so he did not take them down today.  I was still in bed with my back.

Thursday 31st   It was a fine day.  I got up for breakfast, but my back is not quite well.  Grace went down to the butchers.
The “Kawau” made a round trip leaving here at 5.30 .  Willie took his butter & eggs down to the steamer and got the mail.
There was a meeting of the Mutual Improvement Associn  in the evening, the subject for discussion was ‘Is ambition a Virtue or a vice?’   Grace & Harold Knaggs took the affirmative and Wilfred Torkington the negative,  the meeting voted for the affirmative. Willie, Grace and Mrs Simpson went.  I staid at home.