A day of “lasts” for Tara today. Last playgroup and last day care session. With cakes to fit the occasion. It is, of course, always nice to see the reaction to these cakes…I always think they “could be better” because I watch too many cake shows on TV and see too many gorgeous things on the internet and in books.

Tara’s last day as a 4 year old too, and so excited for her that she starts school as a 5 year old tomorrow. She was supposed to go on the bus, but we’ve taken pity on her so she’ll get a lift with Dad. School photos tomorrow as well, so what a great record of her first day at school.

But also a first today…it really did feel like the first day of winter today! I know it’s July and we should already have had a month of winter, but we just haven’t. A farmer we were talking to today said that it had been a self-congratulatory winter so far for farmers like him – they’ve been chuckling about how clever they are making their grass grow so well! But today they were out in their beanies, balaclavas, 14 layers of wool and waterproofs and they were still cold. Our neighbour was shearing his sheep though, so imagine how they felt! They use what’s called a “cover comb” for winter shearing which leaves about 10 days growth of wool on the animal, but let’s face it, it’s not going to help that much, is it? And the cold took it’s toll at Ra Puke today, with one of our goats not managing to survive the night. It was not unexpected, but disappointing and saddening obviously. Tallulah was the first doe to have a kid last year (apart from the ones who were pregnant when we bought them), but when the kid died she started to go “downhill” and has rallied numerous times. Eventually, however, last night’s real cold was the last straw. Poor wee Tallulah.

The cows didn’t like the cold either, standing with their back to the driving rain and sleet, so we took pity on them by giving them a double dose of warming hay, and some trees to hide under. Maybe winter won’t last long…..though the snow on the Tararua Ranges is very pretty.