Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Before I get to my post today, I have two announcements.

1. During the month of February, I’m host for CoffeeWrite at the Coffee Time forum. This is a round robin story where both readers and authors are welcome to add a paragraph or sentence, driving the story in any direction they like. My story is a paranormal one with the starting line – a shifter and a vamp walk into a bar…

I’d love it you stopped by to help me out with the story. You need to be a member of the forum before you can post, but it’s free to join.

2. I’m visiting Chris Redding and talking about writing plus my upcoming release Cat Burglar in Training.

The Seasons

Summer falls during Christmas in New Zealand. It’s the time when Kiwis traditionally go off on their family holidays, spend days at the beach and their days outdoors. In Auckland, particularly, summer is often humid and wet with very unsettled weather. Just like this year! Summer officially falls during December, January and February.

Autumn is a great time to visit New Zealand. The weather is more settled, the days are cooler and all the kids are back at school. The leaves change color, and the weather is perfect for walking. Autumn falls during March, April and May.

This is Cornwall Park, looking toward One Tree Hill in Auckland. This is an autumn photo. Notice the gorgeous day.

Winter brings snow in the southern regions. Since Auckland is sub-tropical we don’t get snow and seldom get down to 0 degrees Celsius. It’s cooler with lots of rain. Winter is officially during June, July and August.

Spring is lovely with lots of flowers and the grape harvest gets underway. The weather can be settled with sunny days or we might have rain. Spring falls during September, October and November.

My favorite seasons are Spring and Autumn. I always enjoy the cooler weather before it gets too cold, and I love spring flowers. Daffodils always make me smile with their bright, yellow nodding heads. I like summer with the long daylight hours, but dislike the humidity. I prefer the cold, and I’m happy to dress in extra layers. One can only strip down to skin when it comes to the summer heat!

What is your favorite season and why?

On the whole, I’m a fairly healthy person. I don’t catch many colds or flu-type bugs. I think a lot of it is because I don’t have children. When we were kids we were always sick, and I’ve noticed that people with children tend to get sick more. There are a lot of bugs spread around at schools. At least that’s my theory.

My husband thinks we keep healthy because he puts garlic in everything and we eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. I know garlic has medicinal properties so he could be right.

The coldest part of our winter doesn’t hit until July and August, so it’s possible I might get sick yet. I’ve never had flu shots. Mr. Munro hasn’t either even though his employer provides them free of charge. My father usually has a flu shot as does my MIL.

Do you get sick every winter? Do you have flu shots? What do you think of my theories?

Last week author Jess Dee blogged at Samhain about 15 reasons she hated winter. Since it’s winter here in New Zealand, I thought I’d borrow her timely topic and do a list of Thirteen Things I Dislike About Winter.

1. It’s cold.
2. The cold means I have to dress in layers and I end up looking like a round blob just trying to stay warm.
3. It rains a lot more than usual.
4. I get cabin fever when I can’t go outside.
5. We’ve had more frosts in the last two months than we’ve had in the last five years.
6. My feet get cold.
7. It gets really windy and I can’t cycle some days.
8. The little dog and Mr. Munro leave footprints on the floor.
9. I tend to eat more. ‘Nuff said!
10. It’s dark when I wake in the morning and gets dark by late afternoon.
11. It’s difficult to get the washing dry. (I don’t have a drier)
12. The dog hates getting wet and leaves things to the last minute. I’ve learned to read the signs, but that means I have to go outside and wait. I feel mean making the wee dog stay outside in the rain because she’s old.
13. It’s not ice cream weather.

What do you dislike most about winter?

Hubby went shooting goats at the weekend with his two brothers. He arrived home with a hare, which he proceeded to chop up and turn into a casserole. I’m a vegetarian, and I went into the kitchen to find rabbit’s (hare’s) feet in the sink. Yuck. I beat a quick retreat and told hubby to call me when he’d finished. About an hour later, I had soup. Now everytime I walk into the kitchen, I see those furry legs in my mind’s eye. The next day I opened the cupboard and saw a strange bag. I poked it with my finger. It was soft. My mind went into overdrive. It was the hare’s legs…

When my husband rang, I interrogated him. Had he left hare’s legs in a bag in the cupboard?

“No,” he said. “That’s a bag of toilet paper.”

“Oh,” I said, remembering he was conducting an experiment and trying to grow mushrooms. Not the magic sort – just the normal ones. I had to laugh. Hubby said he’d disposed of the hare’s feet but I’m still imagining them lurking in the kitchen. Sometimes a writer’s imagination is a curse!

It’s freezing down here in New Zealand. We’ve had heavy frosts each morning. The days have been sunny with beautiful cloudless blue skies but they remain chilly. The low temperature in Auckland was 2 with a high of 13. Not as cold as the US but too cold for me. I’ve had practically three summers in a row because we spent our last NZ winter (or the worst of it) in the USA. Yes, I’m whining. I’ve been whining all day. I’ve had to search out my beanie and my scarf. Please think of me when you’re lazing in the sun. It’s going to be another frosty day tomorrow.

And speaking of the cold, what’s up with the young girls/women who wear camisole tops without jackets etc in this cold weather? They team them with brief mini skirts and stand around shivering, wondering why they get goose bumps. Not an attractive look. Really, there’s a reason why geese have feathers. It’s to hide the unsightly goose flesh. Young women should keep that in mind!

Have you eaten or cooked hare or rabbit? Have you tried growing mushrooms? Does anyone know why young women wear flimsy clothes during winter?

Author, Cynthia Eden is having fun with demons to celebrate her new release, Midnight’s Master. Hop over to her blog and join in the fun.