Cobbers

My Dad and his 'cobbers' are pictured here at Dad's 21st Birthday party! When we were children one of those 'cobbers' used to send us a sackful of sweetcorn in late summer all the way from Sunny Gisborne. I think they traveled on the NZ Road Services bus! We would munch away at the sweet, juicy kernels with melted butter dripping down our little chins. To this day I always think of 'Uncle Keith' whenever I eat corn on the cob! He also used to send us lumpy sacks of pumpkins. Beautiful, deep orange, dry but sweet pumpkin that Mum would roast to perfection - YUM! The other 'cobber' drove trucks for Refrigerated Freight Liners and we would look out for him whenever we traveled the Napier-Taupo Road to visit our Nana, and our aunties, uncles and cousins. Dad would say, 'Hey, I wonder if that is Uncle Charlie?'

The really special thing is that these three men here pictured all went to school together and are still friends to this day! They and their wives still get together about every 6 months for a weekend in some interesting place. They have now all moved on from their hardest days of toil to more appropriate retirement activities, although Mum and Dad did pass one of Uncle Keith's lovely pumpkins onto us recently so he is still involved in farming to some extent. Uncle Charlie painstakingly restores old cars into purring things of beauty. And my own lovely Dad (far right) is no longer organising runs for Fonterra Tanker Drivers but now drives City Buses in Rotorua. I feel very proud of my parents and their ability to maintain long term friendships. I also admire their friendliness towards and genuine interest in new acquaintances. They have set us a good example to follow.

All reminiscing aside.... sweet corn is in season - we eat it as often as we can while it's fresh with lots of butter and salt. AND I'm sneaking a bunch of cobs fully clothed in their husks and silky tassels into our freezer to microwave and add to winter soups later on!