My grandmother Patricia never had a bad word to say about anyone. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” she’d declare, though anyone who has ever found a rotten banana at the bottom of a fruit bowl knows this to be blatantly untrue, for acetic acid is to blowflies what nectar is to honey bees.
To be fair, Grandma Pat’s kindness didn’t extend to the actual flies in her often-quoted proverb. A farmer’s wife, she was as handy as anyone with an aerosol can, because blowflies and country life are incompatible in late summer. Not only are flies the bane of sheep’s backsides, they make a beeline for the preserving pot when I’m churning out litres of plum chutney.
It doesn’t help that my tiny kitchen, situated on the opposite side of our house to the prevailing sou’wester, turns into a blowfly bordello whenever anyone dares open a window in summer. In they fly, seeking shelter and sustenance, and it’s a devil of a job to entice them back out again.
But as I grow older, I’m getting softer. I don’t like to kill anything, with the exception of weeds and rats. In my spray-free garden, I let birds and beneficial insects tackle the bad bugs, while my eldest son Lucas’s carnivorous plant collection is now doing a sterling job indoors.
Denne historien er fra March 2020-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 2020-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.