With just over 100mm rainfall this Month the farm has finally come alive. It is amazing the difference rain makes it brings everything alive. The insects, frogs, lizards, birds, turtles, snakes even a fox chasing a bunny around it is astonishing just how much water affects the eco system. I took several walks down to the back paddock this weekend and the sounds were a buzz all around not to mention the scent. I will post up some more photos in the photo album section where the rain has made a notable difference, a wonderful weekend this one.

Every now and then (sometimes a long time between drinks) someone comes into your life and leaves a footprint, a footprint in your heart and soul, an impression of life both present and past.
Sadly, I said goodbye to one of those special people on Saturday……We came together in my working life just over 14 Months ago, after I tragically lost my right-hand man at work to suicide, another heartbreaking story in itself. He had previously worked for the company and was a trusted friend of the owner and being only new to the job myself at the time he was brought on by the owner as probably more in a mentoring type role for both myself and the boys than anything else.
What started as a pretty turbulent relationship overtime blossomed into something else, I’m putting it down to being very simular men who hold the same values in life and that dirty word “ego”. Two men hard on the exterior seeking redemption for a lot of the wrongs they have dealt out especially earlier on in life, the ones that are created growing up young angry men. Though our stories are different and my upbringing certainly wasn’t the same and it would be wrong of me to even compare or portray that it was given after the many shares we shared, most men would certainly not have survived his.
What I could really relate to though is quite often we are miss understood because of the auras of the exteriors that we both share. Deep down all you really want is to share your love especially where our kids are concerned but it must be earnt and I think we both had and have problems with the unconditionally part, does it at the end of the day make you love any less – no, but it can create problems especially when you’re not the best communicator at times. Once we had built up our trust we quite often bounced things off each other – and not having an elder statesman in my life I must say it really helped at the time because I listened to him and this is something I am truly going to miss. Thankfully New Zealand is not that far away nor is the phone.
There were a lot of other facets we both shared and I think work was another one of them but perhaps that could be a little misconstrued because we are both old school where work is concerned– you work hard in life before anything else and I can say for a man at his age he was a great influence for all at work, he quite often showed the boys up on site.
I could go on a lot more, I could share a lot more of the similarities and I could go on forever on just how much I am going to miss him but I’m hoping though within these couple of paragraphs it pays enough homage to the respect that I have for this man….I love you “Brother”, until we meet again “mahue I a koutou” and may the land of the long white cloud bring you happiness to your heart.

Kindred Spirits are two people that make a special connection by sharing a bond that has joined them by the means of an experience that has drawn them together on a higher level of consciousness. This connection can be from the same experience at the same time or two separate experiences similar in nature.
If two people were in a dramatic situation and had to depend on each other in order to get out of the situation or one having to help rescue the other, they would become bonded as kindred spirits. Oftentimes, a couple will meet that had both come from very bad past situations in a relationship; a bond is then reached because an understanding of what the other had been through where they feel no one else truly understands, through this the have become kindred spirits.