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We're back! and the computer is s--l--o--w because a certain young member of our family has been on the internet about 14 hours a day, using up all our fast internet time until the end of the month...oh well. They will be back in school in a week and half. Joseph starts Feb 5, then the 6th is Waitangi Day, a national holiday that celebrates the founding treaty with the Maori. Picnics, maybe--I'm not sure about fireworks. Then Emily starts the 7th. Joseph got his schedule, which remains marginally fathomable to parents and other aliens, but I gather his electives are computer programming, design (old fashioned not computer, artish), and the Junior Enrichment and Extension programme, which is the kind of like gifted program, but this year is supposed to include going on a sailing ship for a few days, so that seems promising. And we also gather, by reading between the lines but not yet getting any actual information, that he is going camping for a week in March. We are supposed to pay a "camp fee," and there is a mysterious "Y10 OE" on the school calendar for a week on march. Outdoor experience? Joseph claims to know nothing about it, and appears unconcerned--"we'll find out."

Our Outdoor Experience at the Coromandel Peninsula was a bit more indoor than expected--unfortunately, it rained for the first 2 1/2 (of four) days there, and the ocean was so stormy that none of the boat tours were going. They said, "oh, yes, for the last few weeks it's been beautiful, lots of dolphins playing in the bay..." but no go...we tried to go to Hot Water Beach, a beach with an underground spring so that at low tide you dig your own hot tub and hot water seeps up and you mix it with sea water to get the right temperature--seemed like a good activity for a drizzly day--lots of other people thought so, too, but we got there and there was a sign saying that the surf was rough and too dangerous. Other people ignored this, but we didn't...we did a puzzle, and explored several small beach towns, including a museum (at least Joseph and I went in. Emily is still struggling with taxidermiphobia) with a lot of Captain Cook memorabilia--he landed near there. The house we rented was very nice, at the top of a hill in a macadamia orchard. There were wild turkeys that wandered around in the mornings, and other interesting birdlife. When the sun finally came up, Emily and I went kayaking on an estuary near the house, and I had fun retrieving her paddle a couple of times...but that water was nice and calm and fairly clear, and then Emily had fun playing with hermit crabs and there were little starfish around.

We drove back home the long way around, exploring more beach towns on the Firth of Thames--a long, often windy road, with occasional short but nerve-wracking one-lane bits...I am still hankering after a beach house--somewhere where we can walk out of the back door onto the beach, and sit on the porch and listen to the waves. A friend at work just came back from Fiji, where they go to an island called Navini. You rent one of ten "bure" and they feed you and you snorkel and kayak and sit on the beach. You can walk around the island in ten minutes. There is nothing else on it. They have a two-bure-for-the-price-of-one deal on now...anyone want to meet us in Fiji? It's far away from the capital, where they are having a few political irregularities...

Charlie seems to have enjoyed her weekend at her original mama's...she is getting shaggier and bolder every day. She ate the cover off the HP and the Chamber of Secrets. but we love her anyway.

We sold our Topeka house! Finally, cheaply, but we are very grateful to have it done, and to Helen Crow for all her work on it...I guess we are planted here. We hear it is cold in Topeka and wet in California. Here it is warm (up to about 85, which they consider blistering here) in the day, cool at night, and we wish for a bit of rain, but don't seem to be getting it anytime soon.

Come visit us! My cousin Suzy is going to be our first guest, arriving on Feb 7th!
Carrie

The Kittens at Bailey's House

Two days ago, I went to Bailey's house, and there were kittens. The first one was black and white. The second one was grey. THe third one was another black and white one. The fourth one was grey. The fifth one was light brown. I thought they were very cute; I thought the last one was cute, not all of them. I saw three of them get born. Their eyes were closed. And the last one was really cute because it was a different color than all the rest.

From Emily

Diaspora, sun, and multicultural sushi

Just various things I have been meaning to write about:

Yesterday a poster went up in the tea room. They're having an International Diaspora conference--for the Scottish and Irish. Do you suppose we are part of the American diaspora? Is is possible to have an American Diaspora? Second-order diaspora? The more you say or write "diaspora," the more odd it sounds.

We went to the beach yesterday afternoon, joining some friends who'd rented a house there for a week--we're testing out various beaches. This one is an East Coast beach (white sands, supposed to be less rough than West) about an hour and a half from here, through rolling hills and road construction, in Papamoa, just south of Mount Manganui, where we had our first beach trip months ago. Mid-afternoon, mid-summer, this strip of beach initially had maybe half a dozen people in sight--later a few more, but none within a shell's throw. We played in the water a while--Emily loves the beach, and boogie boarded (that's a verb) until she had sand everywhere. Joseph, being 14, stayed home. We have learned our lesson this week about the New Zealand sun, though: A couple of days ago, Emily got a bit too much while sliding on her slippery-slide (whatever it's called--you hook it up to the sprinkler and slide on it in the yard), having applied her own suncreen. Yesterday I was more meticulous with her, but seem to have neglected half of one leg of my own...unfortunately that's the side I sleep on. We will learn. The kids here wear swimming "togs" that go from knee to elbow, and I think I'll go out and see if I can find some for Emily before our trip this weekend to the Coromandel Penninsula.

My enthusiasm for sea kayaking has been muted slightly since a series of stories this week in the paper about sharks cruising various beaches. No one has been attacked, but one did take a bite out of the lifeguard's boat that was trying to chase it away, and there was a picture in the paper from the air of about 20 sharks in the water just a couple of hundred meters from the beach just north of where we're going...

We are thinking of going in a glass bottomed boat (seems sharkworthy) tour, where you are apparently likely to see at least sea birds, possibly penguins and dolphins. Someone on the beach at Papamoa the day before we were there had found a little blue (fairy) penguin, apparently exhausted (we hear they do wash up there not infrequently, but usually dead...); they took it to the animal rescue. Emily would be enchanted to see a fairy penguin, if it was alive...

Finally, sushi. I have been meaning to write about sushi for months. I like the sushi here, though I'm not sure that real sushi die-hards would approve. You can get sushi in lots of little places--I haven't seen a sushi drive-through, but it is practically fast food. Some of it is fairly normal sushi--salmon, various raw fish. But they also have teriyaki chicken, smoked chicken, and fried chicken (kid you not) sushi. And Barbeque beef. And sometimes they just take the whole thing and deep fry it, and god knows what's in it (this, even I do not approve of).

Next week, maybe we will have tales of adventure...
Carrie

Brief Addendum

Keep your ears posted for Santiago Canon Valencia - I heard him here - only 12 and a brilliant cellist - from Colombia. There is a brief sample of his work on You Tube. Thanks, Manford

Greetings from Manford

Season's greetings. I hope all who read this are well and happy. We live in a house without screens on doors and windows, and recently have been plagued with many flies who are not attracted to the fly strips Carrie hung by the window with care but like our bodies a lot. We may get screens, or some UV fly traps or some Venus Fly Traps or ??? Will let you know. I thought you would be interested in what kind of news the Auckland New Zealand Herald delilvers - headlines from Dec 26 on the front page were NZ study finds way to diet and stsay thin, 1 billion shopping spree to keep rolling on, a picture of a sealion on the beach with the heading just lion around on a day of beach bliss, all night bus ride to sing the message of Christmas, and inside, stealing a march on mall rats, officer uses education to change taggers (graffiti artists), teen falls 6 meters down blow hole. They do have an international section that is following the us elections pretty well. No comics! Sports reporting on rugby and cricket that I do not understand. Ah, well. I am to get an OT assessment to determine if I can drive ok and will let you know how that goes. At summer gathering (see Carrie's latest post) I walked a lot and got athlete's foot on the left one but not the right. Otherwise it was a positive experience. This month we are working on getting stuff organized and will decide if we are going to park one or two cars in the garage and what else we might do with it if we don't. My Parkinsons medicine helps me move better but can't tolerate more than 1 mg of Requip at a time - more makes me sleepy and feel weird. Charlie and I are bonding more. Next month we start obedience lessons with her and me and Carrie. Has anyone seen the movie Once? or read a book Antarctic Navigation by Elizabeth Arthur copyright 1994? They have Manford's stamp of approval. Replies or recommendations for other books or movies can be sent to manford_barber@hotmail.com. Well gotta go. Take care. Manford

We're Back!

And it's 2008; happy new year! We have just returned from a computer and TV-free week at the Quaker Summer Gathering, and we didn't even miss them...or at least I didn't. Joseph got home and was glued to some internet thing immediately, and Emily has been watching Nickelodeon...but we all had a good time in our various adventures. Adventure was the theme of the gathering, and the camp we were at had a lot of adventuresome activities, at least for us fraidy-cat Kansans...no bungee jumping, but there was a flying fox, which in this case consisted of a long cable going down a hill and across the pond (they called it a lake, but in Kansas we'd call it a pond, and it was definitely pond-coloured, on the brown side); the rider was hooked into a harness and flew down across the pond and slammed into four tires (tyres) that were threaded on the cable. Then you rode another, smaller one back across the pond. It was that last jolt that deterred the older members of the community from trying this contraption. Joseph and Emily did it, and about the third time the landing coaxed Emily's stubborn front tooth out. This was a relief for me, as I was kind of tired of seeing it sticking out at a crazy angle...

I did try the kayaks, and found them very easy to manipulate and comfortable--I think I can do this! At least on the tranquil but somewhat crowded pond. We'll see about Milford Sound in the rain--but there are a lot of kayaking opportunities here.

The kids also swam, slid down the hill on a long makeshift waterslide, kayaked, and Joseph and the other JYF's (junior young friends) tried to tip each other off rafts. There was a "confidence course" with various mysterious activities involving balance and agility, and archery, and go-carts careening down the hill, and a tippy bridge, and a friendly neighborhood goat.

On New Year's Day, we all (about 130) went on a picnic to a local park with a waterfall and swimming hole. Joseph opted to join a group of trampers (we do not hike here. we tramp) who left early (about 9:30) and were supposed to join us after a 3-4 hour tramp through the bush (woods). Not being well prepared for this sort of thing, Joseph did not have a water bottle or day pack for food...and he refused the sack lunch I tried to thrust upon him. He did eat an apple before he left.

Meanwhile, back at the picnic grounds (which we lazy ones had driven to), there was a large grassy area, and we set up our blankets and croquet and chairs and enjoyed the beautiful day, occasionally hot but interspersed with cloudy periods that cooled us down, and a cool breeze. Emily had made friends with a little boy, Ryan, about 5, and they were exploring the perimeter of the field, which was bordered by trees on three sides, beyond which was the river on one side, the access road on another, and some woods on the third. They puttered around nicely for about a half hour, obediently staying in sight. Then Emily started coming back toward us, and Ryan was still near the trees, so I shouted to Emily to go back and get Ryan. She did, and they were both headed toward us, and then I turned to talk to someone, and a few minutes later realilzed that they hadn't gotten back. And weren't visible. Ryan's grandmother and I (he was there with a large extended family, but no parents) walked off, calmly initially, to look for them. But they were nowhere to be seen. We walked to the wooded end, and a couple there said they had headed back toward us. We walked, accumulating searchers, callers, looking and calling all over the park...this is not like Emily; she does not go off; she would not go near the river--would she? After a very very long half hour, they came tramping out of the woods with a family from the Gathering...they had run into them on the way back, and the adults thought we knew they were with them, and Emily and Ryan thought they were fine because they were with familiar adults, on a flower-picking expedition...and I thought that was enough adventure for me.

Then we tried to relax and await the big trampers. Emily and I went down to the swimming hole--the edge was very rocky, and I wished I had those water shoes. She had her trusty crocs, so she played in the shallow pools and I watched for a while, but then the spirit of adventure seized me and I thought I might regret it forever (or at least for a little while) if I didn't take my first opportunity to swim in a water-fall fed swimming hole on New Year's Day. So I stumbled over the rough rocks and jumped in, swam about ten feet, and my lungs were frozen and my limbs rubber, and I dog-paddled back, climbed out, and sat in the sun. Ok, that was enough adventure. When Emily got bored of schlepping water from the big cold pool into the "warm pool" in the rocks, using her crocs as a vehicle--amazing how long it takes to be bored of that sort of thing, as contrasted with waiting for dinner--we went back to the picnic area, which was now filled with cars. The grass where a group had played soccer in the morning was covered with cars (they have no compunction about parking in the grass here). There was barely enough room for the cricket game being played at the end...apparently it was as crowded as the ranger had ever seen it--I guess a beautiful New Year's day, less than an hour from Auckland, was the perfect spot for anyone who hadn't taken off for the beach already.

But the trampers were not back. We waited, and waited, and some people went back to the camp. The old hands were not worried, and I had my worry all worn out for the day, so I didn't worry too much, except that it was on past 3 and Joseph had no lunch...they tramped in, muddy and exhausted, about 3:30. Joseph did not say much, just drank three glasses of water and ate his sandwich...apparently he did share food and drink on the trail. Someone told me later that they had been going at quite a good pace, and Joseph kept up with the tail of the young, fast ones...but was a bit wobbly by the end. They took one wrong turn, and had to backtrack, and stopped to eat...it will be interesting to see if he wants to do that again. I hope so--but maybe a 2 (translate 4) hour beginner's tramp this time?

Joseph turned 14 at camp, and he is growing taller and fuzzier all the time. I am hoping he will outgrow his aversion to hugs one of these days. He seemed comfortable, after the first day or so, hanging out with the group of kids, playing soccer and pool (it was a well-equipped camp) and doing god knows what. Emily still goes to bed quite early, so I am very vague about his whereabouts in the evenings, but it all felt quite safe and so he had a lot of freedom. The last night it is the tradition for the JYF's to stay out very late (about 3:30, this time) and play the kissing game...don't ask too much about this. Apparently it is a worldwide young Quaker activity that involves more violence than sex, as the aim has something to do with grabbing and wrestling the player to keep him/her from kissing someone else. There were no injuries this year.

The rest of us spent the last evening at the camp concert, a kind of talent show, in which Emily sang "When you wish upon a star" very slowly and very quietly, to loud applause, in a dress she made in the earlier craft activity. My camera seems to have done something weird to the last half of the pictures, so I may not have documentation of this event.

Then we cleaned up, and packed, and came home, which was very convenient, since were only about an hour away. It is cloudier here in Hamilton, though. We grew two huge and one moderate cucumber while were were gone. The cucumber vine and the one tomato plant with a head start (the one I did not grow from seed) have taken over half the garden. Weeds are working on the rest. I have quite a lot to learn about gardening here. But I will. Charlie came home in the evening, after a week at doggie camp with her cousins (she stayed with the breeder); she is a little shaggier, and seemed very happy to be home.

I hope you are all well, warm, and happy.
Carrie