Happy Birthday, Vince!

I can't believe it's March 18, and Vince (my stepfather) is 86 today, or really tomorrow, because it's only March 18 here, not in California...but it will be, soon. And it was my mother's birthday Friday, which was Saturday here, and I am not as confused as it may seem. We are hoping they will be coming here to visit very soon. The weather is lovely here, 25 in the daytime (that's 77), cool at night, no rain in sight. That isn't good, for the drought, but it is lovely, anyway. Emily had the grand finale of school swimming lessons yesterday with a "water day" in which they all squirted each other with water bottles. They do have a small swimming pool and have been having swimming lessons every day over the last month and a half--I'm not sure whether she's learned much in the way of swimming, as all I hear about is how long it took her in the dressing room, and how she has to hurry up...but she seems to be having fun. Except for the lice. We don't have lice (knock on wood), but they are going around at school, and now she is alert to their presence, and worried about blood-sucking things in general...and she's supposed to have her hair put up in pigtails, or some variation of that, so I have to get her hair done before I leave in the morning, as that is not Manford's forte. It's not mine, either, but I'm getting better at it.

Charlie's hair is getting longer, too, and we tried to get her an appointment for a grooming, and found we needed to schedule it six weeks in advance...so she will be a really shaggy dog, and I'll try to get a picture and put it up--she looks quite different from when we first got her, and I can't imagine how people do it who show these dogs and let the hair grow out for two years. I think you'd have to spend at least an hour a day brushing the dog's hair. All the people in our house don't spend that much time on grooming all put together...

Yesterday was St. Patrick's day, and I searched around and found something green to wear, and then found that I was alone in this preoccupation. It apparently is not the thing here. I was wondering if this had to do with the British Dominion thing, and whether Ireland is a political issue, but it is really just kind of a blank...they don't even pinch each other in school if they're not wearing green. I'm afraid Emily may have started something, though. We'll see if it spreads.

They do have Easter, though, and I have so far resisted buying an easter egg the size of a rugby ball (larger than a football); I did buy some chocolate chickens, in homage to my childhood Easter traditions, but then Emily came in and I hurredly shoved them in the closet, and forgot about it, and Charlie came along later and all that was left were some suspiciously coloured bits of foil. Luckily, they were not big enough to cause serious illness, or any obvious discomfort at all. Charlie has been sniffing hopefully around the closet every chance she gets, though.

We are going to Wanganui for Easter; there is a Quaker family camp there. We have five days off, and apparently that is generous even for New Zealand--most people only get Friday and Monday, but the university, and the schools, take Tuesday as well, so we are doing a little exploring. Wanganui is about five hours south of here, where a river meets the west coast. It is supposed to be some very beautiful and rugged country. Emily is a bit worried the Easter Bunny won't be able to find it, but we think it will be ok. Although we hear that some of the families have Concerns (in a Quakerly sort of way) about chocolate (we assume it is the volume of chocolate, not the mere existence of it) and so there is no organized observance, and we'll be on our own.

That reminds me, I'd better be off to run to the store and get something to replace the poor chickens...

Carrie