It's May. Sorry.

I'm sorry I've been so remiss...I think New Zealand is mostly feeling like just life now, and it feels like not so much to write about, though we have been busy. My mother and Vince visited for 10 days in April, and we all went to a bach (house) on the beach, including Charlie, and had a nice time. It is Autumn here, but the weather in April was still unseasonably lovely, little rain while they were here. It was cold at night (New Zealand Baches, in particular, have little heat. New Zealand houses barely have heat. The bach had a fireplace, and Manford made fires), but when the sun came out, it warmed us up. Charlie and Emily had no trouble immersing themselves in the surf, which was just out our back door, but the rest of us were a bit more tentative. Charlie chased seagulls and rolled in the sand, and generally got really really messy, so when we returned she went to the groomers and got a really embarrassing haircut, kind of a doggie buzz. I have finally posted pictures from this, after some technical difficulties...

and we also went to visit a Kiwi grower, learned many sound bites about kiwis, which, according to the guide, are the world's most nutritious fruit (he cited a Rutgers Univ study, so maybe that's true...), and are BEST grown here in New Zealand, on volcanic soil...and got to ride in the Kiwi Cart, a kiwi-shaped train...then, a few days later, we visited the other sort of kiwi, the original, bird kind, in a facility where they hatch kiwi eggs that have been stolen from the poor kiwi dads, who sit on them in the bush but are not very successful at helping the little ones to survive the first six months of introduced predators and other stuff--so they hatch them and raise them for six months, and then set them loose (complete with microchips and all)--it was a really interesting place, and we got to see several kiwis, which is very difficult to do in the wild, since they are nocturnal, shy, and rare. In the photograph, they were administering ear drops to one of the birds who lives there full time since a stoat ate its foot off...

Then Grandma and Grandpa left (still recovering in Sacramento, though they said the flight really wasn't so bad), and Emily had her 8th birthday. Small party, by Topeka Collegiate standards--there is no school directory, and it was over school holidays, and we managed to get some invitations out before the end of school, but I am feeling somewhat at sea without her friends' names and phone numbers...anyway, we had a good time at the New Zealand Magic horse show, at a thoroughbred breeding and sales place about a half hour from here--they did a very nice show, with several kinds of horses, from miniature to Appaloosa to Thoroughbred, and the kids got to pet most of them, and ride one at the end, and the fellow who did the show was the horse trainer (and Gandalf double) for Lord of the Rings (they say half the people in New Zealand were extras in Lord of the Rings, and I'm beginning to believe it. the psychologist who spoke to our students yesterday was a hobbit). and one of the horses we saw was a unicorn in Narnia.

Joseph is off tomorrow to a three day camp with his school Enrichment programme...they are to hobnob with each other, contemplate the meaning of their giftedness to society, and experience "flow." All that is not very New Zealand, really; they call people who stand out "tall poppies," and often try to cut them down. I am afraid Joseph is ducking a bit, but he does seem to be happy, has nice friends, and is maybe a bit excited about the prospect of the project they're to start at this camp, called the "in-depth study." Study of what? not clear. Undecided. Maybe he will decide. He says it's like History Day, but there is no paper involved, and no project, and no competition. The camp is New Zealand enough that they are to bring swim suits ("togs") and swim in hot springs. And they actually did have a meeting at the school (the first we've been invited to since we've been here) to answer questions from the parents, and I got to speak with one of his teachers...

And Manford and I are planning a getaway to Wellington (the capitol, an hour's flight south), to spend a weekend doing grown up things and eating grown up food. The national museum there, Te Papa, is supposed to be very good, though the main thing they have been in the news for lately is defrosting (the hard part) and dissecting (interesting to some) the biggest giant squid ever caught. Which I suppose means that Emily would never set foot in the place, but we CAN, if we want to. we could even look at the squid. Or not.

Take care, and enjoy the sun, or spring rain, or whatever comes--
Carrie