Pottering, and potting

This weekend was full of doings. I've had a list of things that I want to get done, and we knocked off quite a few of them. The most satisfying was organising our herb and spice drawer. Years ago, we got a whole lot of round pots (the sort you used to get Chinese takeaways in when we were kids) and put all the herbs and spices in them. We needed a lot of pots because we have a lot of herbs and spices and we buy them in bulk because it's cheaper (and we use a lot of flavours in cooking).

The problem started when we moved to Rotorua. The drawer we use here for herbs and spices is smaller than the one we had - narrower and not so deep. We had to stack pots two high, and they stuck on the drawers, the lids flicked off, herbs and spices were self-combining in unplanned ways in the bottom of the drawer. It wasn't working. So we've been watching for a while until our favourite little stacking boxes with clip-on lids came on sale again and we got little pots and boxes. We relocated herbs. I wrote lots of neat little sticker labels. Boxes won't come undone. They stack - neatly. The whole thing looks like a work of art and it is so easy to find the herbs we want when cooking now.

We also weedmatted and barked another chunk of the front garden, I tidied the bathroom cupboards, and pottered around making things. Planted a lot more herbs (we like them fresh as well as dried!), and am hoping the oregano will stand up and be counted soon: it's looking a bit dismal...

Yesterday was also my first time shooting my compound since it became mine. I bought it off a club member who was selling it for her son: it was an astonishingly good buy because it came complete with arrows, sights, bow bag, release aid, quiver - the whole lot, pretty much. I shot it outside at 25m - my first time outside and at that distance - and it felt good. Took a while before I got the sights in but then the groupings began to come together and it started to get tidier. I love the total presence that I have to be to the bow and the arrow: it is very contemplative. The more still I am inside, the better my shot. At least that part of archery is not something I have to learn!

This coming weekend is the welcome of our new Bishop to the Bay of Plenty part of the Diocese of Waiapu. Looking forward to meeting him, and it's quite appropriate that it's on Advent Sunday too!