It (be) is winter time in Greystone!!

The sun gets up at 7.43am and sets at 5.00pm. Picasso the cat gets up at 6.30am for breakfast and goes to sleep shortly thereafter in front of the fire! He has his winter coat and is a well fortified cat for the cooler conditions. The leaves have all gone wherever they go to in the winter and the birds go mad when bread is crumbed and left out for them. Sparrows and all sorts of finches have a race. The tui are noisy during the day and one particular thrush practises its full range of songs in the bare walnut tree.

Some snow has hit the tops of the Tararuas but we are yet to get the first snowfall down to 555m the top of the Rimutaka road into Wellington. The lower south island (Te Wai Pounamu) has had its first snow fall close to sea level. There is talk of electricity shortages due to low lake levels and voluntary savings have been called for. Greystone enjoys the heat from the tile (wood) fires and on-demand on-line gas heating for hot water with gas for cooking also. On sunny cold days following the frosts heating is not needed until sundown due to the solar loading due due Sammo's excellent home design and in particular having a two-storied home. The library is very warm in particular.

The hammock supports are looking cold and lonely and are waiting for the summer, the dappled sunlight and the quiet gurgling noise of greystoned gin and tonic going south.


The 50 year old date palm (some 8 m high) next door has been cut down as have two conifers by the new owner following consultation and agreement with neighbours. This has had a marked difference for the neighbour and Greystone in terms of extra sunlight during winter.



Late June brings the camelias out, the daffodils poking their heads up some two inches and the lemons and grapefruit ripening.

Remembrance Day - Svend Carl Vilhelm

The 10 June is the day that Svend CV was born in the year 1905 and is his Remembrance Day on which I celebrate what he meant to me. This year a long and awaited document (originally requested by Mrs Suzanne) has been completed by me, Svend's eldest son Evan Svend Ernst. For all you direct descendants of Svend CV you may get some insights as to where your major talents might have come from! The picture below is me and my Dad taken in 1947 either in Wanganui or Nelson, NZ



The document is available on direct request to Greystone.

"Svend's clock" that was given to him when he left NZ Railways workshop at Woburn, Wellington in 1945 has been refurbished for his Remembrance Day and is ticking (and bonging) away in the library at Greystone. It is a Wurttemberg (after the town in Germany) HAC clock and according to the the clock maker who refurbished it, was manufactured in 1905 also.