The Pohutukawa

For as long as I have been here, Shiv, my husband, has been raving about the Pohutukawa. And no one be put off by the title, this isn't a botany lesson.

It is a very kiwi tree and the name is from the Maori language (Maoris were the original inhabitants of NZ, long before James Cook hoisted the Brit flag here). And as to why Shiv raved about them, that's not very hard to tell. They've got gorgeous deep red blooms and they bloom only in our summer, just in time for Chirstmas.

In fact, I now know that you can now tell what kind of a summer you are going to have here by looking at when and how the pohutukawa flowers. If it is an abundant flowering, and quite early on in summer, say by mid-December, then it's going to be a long warm summer (we should be so lucky!!). That has hap only once after I started living here, when temperature reached the late twenties in summer.

It's because of this that they are the kiwi Christmas tree. The first White settlers used pohutukawa blossoms to decorate their homes at Christmas time, using it as a New Zealand substitute for holly, and they called it the Christmas tree.

http://www.opotiki.com/data/pictures/tunnel.jpg

This year though, the trees have only just started blooming in plenty. Any surprise then, that today is the first day in our summer, when the maximum temperature promises to go upto 20C? And this, when summer is officially half over!! The discount sales on summer clothes are already on. Retailers are grouchy, as they hardly sold any of their summer clothes _ it was so cold, hardly anyone bought any!!!!

But still, looking at the tree outside my window now, and watching the red blooms (Only half the tree is red, showing that blooming is still not complete), I can't help feeling cheerful. The red blooms make a lovely contrast to the silvery grey/green leaves of the tree. It is a mild balmy day, there have been no slugs in my kitchen the last couple of days (fingers crossed) and I have a nice two-day weekend to look forward to.

And even better, us Indians apparently, as doing a good self-reliant job of tsunami recovery that even the US is jealous (at least, that's what the net tells me). And what's more, we are being very neighbourly and helping Sri Lanka. I say, good on us!