An Angel In The Wild: Sweet Pea Cottage

At January's end 2023, Auckland and much of the upper north island, were deluged into disaster- roads washed out, trees swept away, homes ruined and lives lost.

And I turned 62.

One thing I learnt from Nancy when I worked at the Curiosity Shop in town, was don't wait for others to make your birthday happy- make it work for yourself; which may or may not include other people! The thing about birthdays is that they do rather have a habit of coming around at the same time every year, so mine will be forever attached to Auckland anniversary weekend and the height of summer. Months ago, when having a look through airbnb, I discovered a dear little place called Sweet Pea Cottage. So we booked it. On Saturday when we headed off we'd packed several umbrellas, gumboots and jackets and hoped that we didn't have to play scrabble all weekend. A friend had mentioned that there was a makers market in Clive that morning so we decided to make that our first stop. I was so delighted to find my friend Wendy there- we'd known each other well when she was managing the Hospice shop in town. Debbie, her sister, runs the market. What an absolute delight it is- so many lovely people with truly lovely quality products. Up the top I discovered Lois of Oh Darling Flowers.

What a delight! I bought a pretty bouquet with pink sweet peas!

Meanwhile, I hadn't realised that I'd lost my companion along the way- oh lordy, he's found a friend- called Opal! He almost lost his watch and his shirt buttons. The wounds on his arms will stop bleeding soon.

Ironically, Sweet Pea Cottage is really not far from Nelson crescent where Rob works, but we didn't stop by to say hello.

A perfect blend of old, renovated,

vintage, quirky, creative,

soft and pretty,

comfy and homely. And with a great deal of generosity including fruit and flowers.

The sweet peas.

And flowers from home.

And British Country Living magazines (ours)

since they always nourish and inspire us.

Fun

And a lovely pile of books. The Cat's Table appealed to me as I have recently read Michael Ondaatje's Warlight which I enjoyed immensely. I sent a message to Treena to tell her that I had taken it home and that I would send it back with Rob and she said I could keep it/pass it on. Isn't that kind.

It must have been a strange little house to have lived in back in the day. Probably around a century old, like our house. One bedroom. Skrim on the walls. Built in/on wardrobe. Railway line across the road.

And a gorgeous double pink hibiscus under the bedroom window.

The little back section has been very cleverly "privatised".

Which makes a small, narrow house a whole lot more spacious.

I decided to skip the outdoor bath while it was bucketing down, but it was lovely on the second night. Even epsom salts in a bag, waiting under the chair for us.

The sun comes up through the Pohutukawa tree. The neighbour's were entertaining with their drunken squabbling.

Very clever wee sleep out that is fresh and clean and sweet and has the comfiest bed in the world. The craziest noise with heavy rain on the roof. Lucky I brought my ear plugs along.

The Marine Parade retains it's timeless, quirky appeal with old-fashioned bedding flowers that you just never see anywhere else. Statice.

Not sure I've seen sunflowers in civic gardens before.

I would never choose celosia, but it certainly works in these beds. Funny shirtless man lurking behind the sun dial.

On Saturday we bustled around town with a flurry of of cruise ship folk that were hoping off and on buses. We didn't hug anyone! And went "home" to make our own coffee. It amused us to think that they all arrive at once and no doubt imagine Napier to be a busy, humming city- but really it was all of them and their intense make-the-most-of-it presence that made it seem that way.

Waiting for the next returnees.

Would you like a ride around the block?

Just up the road in Herchell street is Matisse wine bar. We love the colourful vibe.

The old Thorps building is one of our favs. Decorum have recently moved out because it leaked like a sieve and the 90 year old owner wasn't up to resolving the issues. Water and damp are not so useful when you sell fine Art Deco clothes and precious things.

Directly across the road is the side of the MTG building where there were some interesting pictures.

Very detailed, although quite what about I wasn't so sure.

What I did get was the: Waka kōrero Māori: waka carrying the taonga, te reo The Waka Kōrero Māori exhibition encourages learning the Māori alphabet by pronouncing the names of the kaharehe animal treasures on display. Bring your whanau to MTG – it’s free! Kō Waka Kōrero Māori hei whakaaturanga kia...

I love the origami paper things that we used to make as kids. Nnot sure they had a name. Just- "Which number do you chose!" What a great way to make learning another language fun.

And a round the corner- interesting architectural combination.

We found Decorum in the old singer sewing shop. Linda is just fabulous. They have the loveliest things.

We love to make every opportunity to visit the Old Napier Hill cemetery. There's been a lot of cleaning up of returned service person's graves, which is grand. These echinacea are new.

Lots of fragrant white lilies dotted around this time.

I guess the pollen won't stain anyone when they drop. Hara (flowers at the Farmers' Market) says that you can use the dried stamens in curries, as a spice, I guess.

Everything was well overgrown and fresh.

And the trees still all green with our recent rainfall-ings.

A few pretty roses still blooming.

And some interesting fairly recent additions like a fig tree!

It's amazing how resilient the Oxeye daisies are and how long they flower for.

Since it's a wild space and most things struggle through the summer here I shared some Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota, wild carrot) at one time. I think it may have settled in!

Some blooms even had the wee red dot in the centre.

An interesting grave I don't remember seeing before.

With all the moisture there's moss. I adore moss. It was my best thing to use when making fairy gardens at Nan's when I was a child.

Napier Botanic gardens are pretty unique and nestle here adjacently.

We had a little lesson in observation to see what distinguishes the Oxeye daisy from the Shastas.

And we saw again just how much the Monarch's love centranthus ruber- any colour will do.

Jubilee Celebration is a remarkable rose. Flourishing!

Looking to see if there are caterpillars! Swan plants are great in cemeteries as they host plenty of butterflies.

I think he went way down there!! We came over this way to check on the rugosa roses.

I've always loved these cones. But I've never known what the tree was called. And no, it's not Burt. But it turns out there's a sign on the same kind of tree in Cornwall park- Cedrus Deodara. A Himalayan cedar!

I'm not sure what's happened to all the volunteers that were caretaking the plants in the cemetery. The whole place has gone a little wild! Mind you, it's not use to irrigation either.

I loved this pretty rose too.

I spotted some banana passion down the bank near the road. Rob clambered up and picked them.

The neighbour's were probably laughing at us because although they looked lovely and were perfectly ripe

when I opened them up they were quite different to the usual banana passionfruit and very seedy indeed.

Oh look a path we've never been on before that will take us back to the top again.

But on the way- gorgeous gum.

And an astonishing vista across the valley (lots of those on Napier Hill).

What a massive amount of work!

With lots of added creativity.

Another view down in to the Botanic gardens.

There were Beams all over the place in Napier. Rob decided it was about time he tried one out.

And off he went!

Later, we walked around the neighbourhood and discovered this lovely avenue of Puriri trees.

With loads of berries.

This took us past the entrance to MacLean Park which seems kind of crazy in the middle of a residual area, what with all the towering lights and stadiums.

However, like many things, it did not start out this way...but gradually grew in to a dominant monstrosity,

Just around the corner, between one house and another- a church.

Then an interesting pastel house.

Then off to Portside for a cider and people watching and then dinner at Elicious- a new contemporary Thai place. The food was "nice", the Maitre 'd exceptional, a lovely evening together.