riverECHO

Unlike last week at the winery, my work this week has been almost therapeutic. I spent two afternoons in the small vineyard located next to the winery. It’s the only vineyard that the winery has in Gibbston Valley as the rest are located just down the road in Cromwell, in a more open landscape with typically warmer temperatures. It is also the only Riesling vineyard in Gibbston all together. Because of the cooler weather that has hit Queenstown this summer, my job involved thinning out the vines, leaving only one bunch of grapes on each stalk where usually three or four bunches grow. Once the fruit actually ripens, my work this week will hopefully result in fewer but better grapes. Although a bit tedious . . . snip, snip, snip . . . I have really enjoyed being in the vineyard. When my back started to hurt from bending over the whole time, I just sat in the dirt and scoooched down the row instead.

We returned with our mountain bikes to Fernhill Loop on Tuesday afternoon. This time we completed the entire loop, which was quite a bit longer than we expected, involving a handful of hike-a-bike sections. But when we reached the top, we were overlooking Queenstown and the lake in the evening light. Not all of the descent was rideable but it was a long one and well worth it. Once again we found ourselves in a few really dark sections of forest, making it feel like much later in the evening. The trail spits out at a terrain park with huge jumps and high bridges. While we didn’t attempt anything big, BJ got some air on the sections of trail that went around the really big features.

Instead of going for a bike ride yesterday evening we went out to dinner . . . an equally toning and energy boosting feat, right? We modestly ordered two sushi rolls because we weren’t that hungry, but we had our work cut out for us when the unagi roll was delivered. It was by far the largest sushi roll I have ever eaten. Normally you can’t distinguish the shape of the creature that you are eating at a sushi restaurant, but this time it was as if they sliced the poor guy in half, dipped it in some sauce, and laid it on top of our roll. Delicious, but quite a mouth full.

As a side note, I had a first real wave of missing our not-so-itty-bitty-kitty back home this week. We were eating ice cream one evening on the couch and I had a vision of Salsa sitting somewhat patiently next to me, watching my spoon during every bite, and occasionally making a gentle swipe at it. Ice cream, along with Ritz crackers which Jean recently informed us about, is his favorite food. Here is a photo Shannon sent me from a night that Salsa slept over at their house. He was most comfortable in their bathroom sink apparently.

BJ’s mom, Jean, spent two days over Christmas with her sister and family in Buhl. On her drive out of Teton Valley on the snow covered roads she saw a small kitten run across the road. She didn’t think anything of it until she saw the same kitten sitting in the middle of the road in the same spot on her way back home two days later. Her animal saving instinct stopped the car and picked up the mostly frozen kitten and took it to the local vet. They thawed her out over night, ran a few tests, and then called Jean to tell her they couldn’t keep her and asked if Jean wanted to take her in before they gave her to the animal adoption center. Jean asked us if we would mind having another cat around and we knew she had already formed a bond with her. Jean chose the name “Chili” for her . . . partially to go well with “Salsa” and partially because she was quite chilly when she found her. Chili now lives in a large cage in the living room in Victor and has yet to warm up to Scooter, Jean’s terrier, but has been loving the daily bathing rituals from Salsa. Last night, as we were chatting with Jean over skype, we watched as Salsa jumped up onto the table right in front of the webcam on Jean’s computer, blocking most of our view with his big belly, and began licking little Chili, who Jean was holding in her arms, until he was satisfied that she was well bathed. I never would have thought Salsa would stand to have another cat in the house but obviously I was unaware of his desire to be a big brother.

After meeting the latest member to our family last night, we looked outside and saw a dark ominous cloud building over Queenstown. We decided to pack up our swim suits and spend a few hours at the local indoor swimming pool. Our arms started burning after the first lap so we didn’t last long but it was a nice way to get some exercise for the day. The pool also has a lazy river and two huge waterslides. It costs extra for the slides but I’m sure we’ll be willing to fork it over on the next rainy evening. We returned home and made Vindaloo curry, what has become a favorite for us when we cook at home. I would love to say we make it from scratch and that it is just as good as when we buy it from a local Indian restaurant . . . but that would be a big fat lie.

We heard some sad news yesterday. One of Jean’s puppies, 14 year old Barkley (on the right in the photo), was being put down. Barkley was one of the many critters that Jean so lovingly took home from a kill shelter. She lost Sundance, another retriever, just under a year ago. Needless to say it has been a tough year for her. But she still has two little guys at home, Salsa-the-crazy-black-cat and Scooter-the-crazy-terrier. Barkley played the middle man between the two before and although his best friend was Scooter, he had befriended (or tolerated) Salsa as well. Now it’s up to Salsa and Scooter to hash it out and start snuggling. Jean, we are thinking about you and very sorry about your loss. We know how much Barkley meant to you.

BJ woke up at 4am yesterday (8am in Jackson, Wyoming) to meet over Skype with Vertical Media. When I finally zombied out of bed he was already half way through his work day. His meetings went great and the solid internet connection that we have make us more optimistic about being able to work from just about anywhere. We spent the late afternoon watching people kite surf on the beach and then reading, eating fine cheese, drinking German beer, and listening to the birds sing on our deck next to our koi fish pond.

We’ve cooked the last two meals at “home” and it has been a nice surprise to go into the local grocery store and find much more than just meat pies, kebab, and vegemite (what BJ feared would consume our diets down under). After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood. We stopped and smelled roses, honeysuckle, and lilies in front of a few different houses and tried to remember the last time we had “stopped and smelled the flowers.”

We find ourselves in a unique situation. We actually have the chance to test out a few places and decide if and where we want to stay during our 6 months in New Zealand. We like Nelson, but what if we like Wanaka or Queenstown or Dunedin more? For this week, at least, we are calling Nelson home and looking forward to enjoying the artsy and active community that lives here.

Salsa finds a new hang out: