The continuing adventures of Emily

We've been doing lots of fun things lately--weekend before last, we finally met a couple of real Kiwis (the bird kind). We went to the Otorhanga Kiwi House, a kind of bird santuary/aviary. They have an indoor Kiwi environment where they mix up the poor birds so that they think it's night in the daytime and you can spy on them when they're active. They are shy and reclusive by nature, and very hard to see in the wild. Unfortunately, there was taxidermy present (a couple of stuffed Kiwi and some possums, which are a problem because they eat the eggs), but thanks to a very kind staff person, Emily and mom got to go in by a special back entrance and see the Kiwis, then sneak out to the rest of the birds.

The Kiwi was surprisingly large and almost mammalian-looking--it is a flightless bird, about the size of a large rabbit, with feathers that look almost like fur, and its walk is very unbirdlike; it gives the impression of strength, and apparently they can defend themselves with their claws. They have very long beaks, to extract worms and grubs from the dirt.

And we saw a variety of other native birds, including Emily's favorite, Pukekos, which are not actually endangered at all, and roam around local farms and make pests of themselves, but we enjoy them. They are a nice rich blue color, and I see them sometimes on the way to work in the morning. There were also more conventional duck with ducklings (it's SPRING!) and New Zealand pigeons, which are huge, and some very colorful parrots, and pretty little birds like finches. It was about forty-five minutes south of here, a very pretty drive through rolling farmlands. We'll take you if you come...

And then last weekend, Emily was invited to a birthday party at Candyland, an amusing local attraction that we had visited on our Christmas trip last year, but we didn't get the full tour. We got to see the chocolate-melting vats, and the enrobing machine, and then watch them handling the melted sugar stuff, mixing and folding and kneading and pulling it to make lollipops, and then we each got to make our own lollipop, being handed a worm of hot candy and told we had 30 seconds to shape it into a lolly. Then the party children retired to a party room, ate more candy and cake, and ran around screaming and shooting balloons at each other. Really quite an ideal party plan...as long as it's not at our house.

This week is Halloween, and it is a very minor holiday here, but apparently on the increase. There is some paraphinalia at the local Target-like store (the Warehouse, which Manford now refers to as the Whorehouse), and there is a "Spook at the Zoo" event on Wednesday evening, with apple bobbing and lolly scrambles (I hate to think what that is) so that's where we're taking Emily. They don't do anything at school, but apparently some kids trick-or-treat, so we've constructed a ghost out of old curtains to welcome them to our house, and signal the presence of candy.

And starting next week, Emily starts cricket lessons. Stay tuned...