rivettingKateTaylor

The snow has not lingered in Takapau.

It did snow this morning – for about 15 minutes.

My children would have been so annoyed – they are in Gisborne where it hasn’t snowed for a long, long, long time (I wouldn’t think!)

Mum will be thrilled – she’s just started an Australian golf trip and will be loving short sleeves. The sister in Tapanui won’t be liking it – they’re on a farm.  The sister in Dunedin is – day off work! The sister in Christchurch – better than earthquakes?

When Southland had a decent fall of snow a couple of weeks ago, it launched my kids into a deluge of questions about what its like to play in the snow. Real snow. Not a few centimetres of snow where you clear an area the size of a rugby field to make a snowman. We used to be able to dive off the top of fence posts into drifts that were taller than we were (being Rivetts that wasn’t a hard feat really).

We used to wake up in the morning sometimes to an eerie silence and a weird colour tone in the bedroom … snuggle down in the bed…. then……click….. snow!

Hours were spent trudging up hillsides for moments of thrilling pleasure speeding back down them again. Mum’s tin kitchen trays used to get a hammering. One of the hills beside our driveway offered extra thrill – if you had a good enough ride you could make it to the creek at the bottom. Funny – I don’t remember doing any washing afterwards…. just a steaming hot cup of milo or vegetable soup in front of the fire while you waited for your mittens and hat to thaw out ready for the next run.

Snow at The Glen, West Otago, in the late 1980s

The days when the snow was too thick to go to school – no school bus run – or even the days when Dad used to take us up to the bus on the main road on the tray of the tractor.

It was nice to reminisce with my two about feeding out with Dad in winter – no big bales and machinery at our place. Loading the small rectangular bales on the back of the ute or trailer on the four-wheeler and off we went, pocket knife in hand, to feed sections of hay out to the sheep (and we always had to find the knot on the “bind-a-twine” (baling twine) so Dad could reuse it).  Numb fingers and noses were par for the course.

We had a winter visit to Tapanui last year (timed with the Young Farmer Contest in Gore).  We got the ice and cold but not the snow. Fancy another visit from us Aunty Keri? Or maybe I can find a farm closer to home that will indulge the memories for a hour or two.