When you both work from home and whole weeks go by without either of you leaving the property, the concept of ‘entertainment’ can get pretty simple.
At certain times of year we play ‘First person to spot a stick insect in the manuka bush’ (whereby you race each other to get your manuka-twig-imitating insect-spotting ‘eye’ in). Just sayin’, but I’m the one to beat at this one…
At the moment we’re playing ‘how many baby frogs can you see in the pond’. There’s a good five minutes fun to be had with this one.
Or we just watch the chickens doing their usual madness. Or feed strange things we find in small plastic containers in the back of the fridge to Alice the pig. It’s amazing the pleasure one feels at watching another creature completely and utterly lost-in-the-moment enjoying their food.
Cheap thrills. I’m not knocking it though. Feeling like a delighted child is highly underrated.
The other night I was standing out on the verandah just after sunset had faded to charcoal, bringing the sun-sweetened washing in from the line and breathing in the stillness of the valley, when I became aware of so many male owls (little native ruru / morepork) urgently trying to out-hoot each other. It suddenly struck me that they were doing the nocturnal version of the farmyard roosters’ every-dawn crowing competition but of course dusk was their morning. Ah, sweet testosterone! Made my chest unexpectedly hurt with happiness.
