Merry Christmas--it's still Christmas in the US, just barely, and we're finishing Boxing Day here in the bottom of the world. Boxing Day is an excuse for another day off, and is celebrated mostly these days with a shopping mania similar to that seen in the US, except that it is warm, and the hot items are barbeques and swimming suits ("togs"). Originally, it had something to do with boxing up the Christmas leftovers for the household staff. In England, of course, which some old-time native New Zealanders still refer to as the Home Country.
The household staff here is a bit tired, but content. Santa brought us a croquet set, some bocce balls, a kite, and some other outside stuff, and Mom's been reliving childhood summer days. The kite was not terribly successfull, but that is familiar, too...maybe too much wind, today. Maybe we will find some kite consultants at the Quaker summer gathering we're going to in a couple of days.
We had a miniature turkey (about 7 pounds), and it was just right. Sticky buns for breakfast, and the leftovers for dinner, in honor of Sarah Wine. We were going to make Pavlova, but we haven't gotten around to it yet. We keep just eating the strawberries and blueberries we buy for it.
On Christmas eve, we went to the races--a family affair, quite casual, in a small town nearby--harness races alternated with greyhound races. We didn't win big...though Emily almost won a bag of popcorn in the children's pool. We didn't lose, either. Didn't bet, actually, but had fun watching for a while, a distraction from the agonizing wait for Santa.
I seem to be working backwards, so I'll keep going. Let's see...on Friday, the university kicked us all out at noon, and closed the doors for almost two weeks. It seems that half of the country has taken off for the beach, though they say the weather is really much better for it in February. Now it is variable--can be clear and beautiful, crisp, windy, hot in the sun, but cold at night, and it rained yesterday afternoon, which was ok for us Yankees used to a cooler Christmas.
And Charlie is settling in, getting a bit bolder in tasting toys of all sorts...she got a few more of her own, and we are working on helping her to recognize (and respect) which is which...she likes to sleep under our bed, but is also happy that the presents have been removed from her second favorite spot, behind the Christmas tree.
I'll post some more pictures...
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Anniversaries
Yesterday, here (which is today, there, or something) we had our six month anniversary here, which we celebrated with a cheesecake (I believe it was called a Mississippi cheesecake, for some reason). I suppose we should have had half a cheesecake (which you can buy here), but I was also belatedly celebrating my half-birthday, so we got a whole one. It may take us all week to eat, as it is so rich none of us could finish our piece last night. There is no shortage of cakes here. Bakeries in every little shopping center, and two outlets of the Cheesecake Shoppe, which has all kinds of creations.
We also realized that it has been almost exactly a year since we came to visit--last year at this time we were stumbling around Hamilton, mixed up and jet lagged and trying to visit schools for Emily on their almost last day of school. It was colder and wetter last year than this, though we have had a bit of rain this week, for old time's sake. Emily had her last day of school yesterday, and seems happy and sad, since she did like school, but is also looking forward to summer and unbearably eager for Christmas. Joseph has been out for a week, hanging out on the computer and video games, with or without friends. He was going to go bike riding with a friend on Tuesday, but it rained, so they were forced to play games...
Charlie is settling in and getting bolder. She ate two candy canes sometime last night. She carried Emily's Cabbage Patch doll into the back yard, but didn't eat it. She is very sweet and playful. I think she misses being with other dogs, but will make do with us.
I think we've decided to have a turkey this Christmas, in spite of the heat generated by the oven. It is cool in the mornings, so maybe we'll have an early meal. Maybe next year we will be real Kiwis and do it on the Barbie. But we don't have a barbie yet. Perhaps they will be on sale after Christmas, and we will be capable of making a decision then. They range here, as in the US, from flimsy things to gleaming $2000 contraptions. What I want is one that is already put together.
We hear that New Zealand is Santa's first stop, and we expect we'll lighten his load a bit as he works his way toward colder climes...the helpers in the malls look hot in their traditional garb. You'd think he could leave his coat in the sleigh.
The university is closing up and battening down the hatches today--everyone is encouraged--well, required--to go home and not come back until at least January 3rd, when summer school starts. There is a Holiday Tea at 11, to which we are asked to bring a plate. I was thinking that this was interesting, possibly very green and all that, bring your own plate; then luckily I remembered that this means bring a plate with something on it. Pot luck. So I've brought a plate of cookies (biscuits). And then I will shut down the computer, gather the stash of gifts Santa has been storing behind the chair in my office, and GO HOME.
Carrie
We also realized that it has been almost exactly a year since we came to visit--last year at this time we were stumbling around Hamilton, mixed up and jet lagged and trying to visit schools for Emily on their almost last day of school. It was colder and wetter last year than this, though we have had a bit of rain this week, for old time's sake. Emily had her last day of school yesterday, and seems happy and sad, since she did like school, but is also looking forward to summer and unbearably eager for Christmas. Joseph has been out for a week, hanging out on the computer and video games, with or without friends. He was going to go bike riding with a friend on Tuesday, but it rained, so they were forced to play games...
Charlie is settling in and getting bolder. She ate two candy canes sometime last night. She carried Emily's Cabbage Patch doll into the back yard, but didn't eat it. She is very sweet and playful. I think she misses being with other dogs, but will make do with us.
I think we've decided to have a turkey this Christmas, in spite of the heat generated by the oven. It is cool in the mornings, so maybe we'll have an early meal. Maybe next year we will be real Kiwis and do it on the Barbie. But we don't have a barbie yet. Perhaps they will be on sale after Christmas, and we will be capable of making a decision then. They range here, as in the US, from flimsy things to gleaming $2000 contraptions. What I want is one that is already put together.
We hear that New Zealand is Santa's first stop, and we expect we'll lighten his load a bit as he works his way toward colder climes...the helpers in the malls look hot in their traditional garb. You'd think he could leave his coat in the sleigh.
The university is closing up and battening down the hatches today--everyone is encouraged--well, required--to go home and not come back until at least January 3rd, when summer school starts. There is a Holiday Tea at 11, to which we are asked to bring a plate. I was thinking that this was interesting, possibly very green and all that, bring your own plate; then luckily I remembered that this means bring a plate with something on it. Pot luck. So I've brought a plate of cookies (biscuits). And then I will shut down the computer, gather the stash of gifts Santa has been storing behind the chair in my office, and GO HOME.
Carrie
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Attachment
I have celebrated the completion of most of the year's academic duties (we spent most of last week torturing the poor clinical graduate students with make-or-break oral exams) by wandering over to the library and checking out a stack of books on various aspects of attachment theory. This has relevance to my teaching and research, but maybe most immediately, to Charlie.
Charlie came to our house on Monday, after an unsettled early life. She lived with Pam, her breeder, until she was 12 weeks old--I think Pam planned on keeping her (and had named her Ella), but then Pam's father was dying, and she decided she didn't have time for a puppy, and a promising family came along, so she sold her. They lived by the ocean, in Russell, which is a small, historic town north of Auckland. The father, a Kiwi, had grown up with a bearded collie, and wanted his son, who was 6 or 7, to have a similar experience. Seemed good. But then a divorce ensued, and mother and son went back to England (where I presume she was from), leaving Charlie (they changed her name) with Dad. He had to travel for work, and couldn't take care of her, so finally contacted Pam, who took Charlie back--but she was about to be off for the US for a month, so she placed Charlie a bit quickly with a lady who lived on what they call her a "lifestyle block"--some land in the country. Charlie sounds like she had a grand time, chasing ducks and getting all muddy in the pond, but this was not to the lady's liking, and a month later, when Pam got back, she talked to the woman once and ran right up there to rescue her baby (Pam is clearly very attached to her dogs). We heard about Charlie when Pam contacted one of the grad students in the department, who has another bearded collie, to try to tempt her to take Charlie. We visited the next day, and decided to take her after our Christmas party and subsequent trip to the beach (maybe that'll be the next post).
So Charlie came home to us on Monday, probably quite confused about where home is. She came with a great big basket and her own blanket. She seemed a bit tentative, but we really didn't realize how timid she was until we were trying to train her about our new invisible fence. We had this put in because the back yard is fenced, but at some parts it is pretty low, and she is quite capable of jumping over it--we read about the invisible fence, and one of Emily's friends has one, and it works great. Basically it is just a big wire that makes a circuit, usually buried underground, and the dog wears a collar with a receiver, and if the dog gets near the wire, it beeps first, and then gives a shock (which can be adjusted from very mild to much less mild). We thought this would be good because it would not only allow us to circumvent digging in the vegetable garden, but also expand the area available, because we've got a pretty big side and front yard she could run around in...anyway, you start the training process without the collar, by putting up little white flags all around where the fence is, and then taking the dog out on the leash and playing happily in the yard. When they go near the flag, you wave it at them and growl. The fence guy growled twice at Charlie, and she became afraid of the whole front yard and hasn't gone out there since...
Maybe we shouldn't have done this on the first day. Live and learn. But she is settling in now, and playing happily inside the house, anyway, with her ball and rope toy and any socks she finds around...and she has started to venture back out onto the grass in the back yard. Manford has been taking her when he walks Emily to school, and Joseph is done with school today, so he'll be home to play with her. She loves to be scratched, and is getting used to the noises and life in our house. Emily says she is the best dog in the world. In spite of having seen the arguably adorable two-week old puppies at the breeder's house...
Anyway, it may take a while to establish a really secure attachment, but we are all willing to try, and we will continue to post pictures as her hair grows longer. I don't think we will be able to handle it really grown out, given that I can barely get Emily's hair detangled once a day, and it is only on the top of her head...
More soon.
Carrie
Charlie came to our house on Monday, after an unsettled early life. She lived with Pam, her breeder, until she was 12 weeks old--I think Pam planned on keeping her (and had named her Ella), but then Pam's father was dying, and she decided she didn't have time for a puppy, and a promising family came along, so she sold her. They lived by the ocean, in Russell, which is a small, historic town north of Auckland. The father, a Kiwi, had grown up with a bearded collie, and wanted his son, who was 6 or 7, to have a similar experience. Seemed good. But then a divorce ensued, and mother and son went back to England (where I presume she was from), leaving Charlie (they changed her name) with Dad. He had to travel for work, and couldn't take care of her, so finally contacted Pam, who took Charlie back--but she was about to be off for the US for a month, so she placed Charlie a bit quickly with a lady who lived on what they call her a "lifestyle block"--some land in the country. Charlie sounds like she had a grand time, chasing ducks and getting all muddy in the pond, but this was not to the lady's liking, and a month later, when Pam got back, she talked to the woman once and ran right up there to rescue her baby (Pam is clearly very attached to her dogs). We heard about Charlie when Pam contacted one of the grad students in the department, who has another bearded collie, to try to tempt her to take Charlie. We visited the next day, and decided to take her after our Christmas party and subsequent trip to the beach (maybe that'll be the next post).
So Charlie came home to us on Monday, probably quite confused about where home is. She came with a great big basket and her own blanket. She seemed a bit tentative, but we really didn't realize how timid she was until we were trying to train her about our new invisible fence. We had this put in because the back yard is fenced, but at some parts it is pretty low, and she is quite capable of jumping over it--we read about the invisible fence, and one of Emily's friends has one, and it works great. Basically it is just a big wire that makes a circuit, usually buried underground, and the dog wears a collar with a receiver, and if the dog gets near the wire, it beeps first, and then gives a shock (which can be adjusted from very mild to much less mild). We thought this would be good because it would not only allow us to circumvent digging in the vegetable garden, but also expand the area available, because we've got a pretty big side and front yard she could run around in...anyway, you start the training process without the collar, by putting up little white flags all around where the fence is, and then taking the dog out on the leash and playing happily in the yard. When they go near the flag, you wave it at them and growl. The fence guy growled twice at Charlie, and she became afraid of the whole front yard and hasn't gone out there since...
Maybe we shouldn't have done this on the first day. Live and learn. But she is settling in now, and playing happily inside the house, anyway, with her ball and rope toy and any socks she finds around...and she has started to venture back out onto the grass in the back yard. Manford has been taking her when he walks Emily to school, and Joseph is done with school today, so he'll be home to play with her. She loves to be scratched, and is getting used to the noises and life in our house. Emily says she is the best dog in the world. In spite of having seen the arguably adorable two-week old puppies at the breeder's house...
Anyway, it may take a while to establish a really secure attachment, but we are all willing to try, and we will continue to post pictures as her hair grows longer. I don't think we will be able to handle it really grown out, given that I can barely get Emily's hair detangled once a day, and it is only on the top of her head...
More soon.
Carrie
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
potpourri or miscellany
Warmest holiday greetings from the Barbers in New Zealand, including Charlie who landed here last night. We had a good walk this morning except when any large vehicle came near for she seemed cowed by them. Carrie will no doubt have more to say about this and more about her as time goes by. It sounds like Topeka had some nasty ice and we hope that will clear up soon. I won't say too much about our beach trip this past weekend other than to note that Emily is an enthusiastic boogey boarder and that I was within about a yard from a pair of rays crusing along the ocean floor in about four feet deep water! Gave me a start - one being I think about 4 feet wide. Stories like the one in today's paper make me count my blessings - about a 4 year old with multiple complications from Crouzon's syndrome - currently with a shunt a tracheostomy and a feeding tube - poor thing. We bought a bread machine a while ago and have been enjoying good bread since while the children like it ok they prefer softer commercial stuff. Joseph won two chess games against a school in Auckland - the only one from his school to win both, so his team lost. He has established himself as a smartie making his mom and dad proud but still a challenge to get him up some mornings. He has a new video game - Assain's Creed - with just amazing graphics! My Parkinson's seems pretty stable now - using Sinamet and Requip. It is interesting how hot it feels here when the air temp is only 70 or so. Intense sun rays. There is a meditation group near by that meets on Friday evenings - I will go this week. Joseph's school ends this week with not much going on academically til Friday, and Emily has about two weeks. She has been in a drama camp and has her play tonight. Well I have bread to make, lawns to mow, floors to vacuum, clothes to wash and dry and some thinking to do so more later. We miss our friends and like our new ones and wish all who read this a safe, healthy and prosperous new year. Manford
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