my bad

Ooops, sorry - the milk we buy comes in TWO liter (litre?) bottles, hope I haven't indicated previously it came in one liter/litre bottles. Town centre is how you spell town center here. More on Kiwi expressions and/or spelling is coming to you from me at some point. We had more heavy rain today - and strong wind and since I prudently did not wear a raincoat my pants were soaked but fortunately I had a dry pair at home I could change into. The sun came out, looked around, then pulled its mantle of clouds back over its face. Last night, though, was brilliantly clear at least around 9 pm when I was leaving the home of a nice lady who hosts a group of meditators every second and fourth thursday. I had not done a group meditation in a long time and it was encouraging to learn I could sit still and (pretty much) stay awake for a forty-five minute meditation session. I did sit in a chair, because it is not comfortable for me to sit on the floor in even half-lotus position for very long (some stiffness from the Parkinson's, but moreso my poor bunged up right knee). Carrie had a relatively smooth flight to Palmerston North, which is in the south of the north island, two days ago, and it was pretty good coming back until they got close to Hamilton, where it turned a little bumpy - she could see through the cockpit window as the small planes don't have a door to the pilot's area - and the copilot was also the steward. Well I have to go pick up Emily from school so will blog you later. Thanks. Manford

Oh, my!

Wow, what a storm last night, starting about 11 pm - heavy rain, thunder, lightning, wind - and we have discovered that Charlie does not cope well with that type of weather, first digging at the closed door that stood between her and her bed (the bed is in the downstairs living area), so I let her go to that, and she stayed a while, until about two forty-five then was up and around seemingly needing to pee but also absolutely refusing to go outside - so little sleep for me last night. This morning she was much more her old self. (Had to take a short break to make Emily some hot chocolate.) The big event of the week (besides the weather) - instillation of two large raised beds, about 4 1/2 by 12 1/2 feet, filled with pea straw then rich compost. It will be interesting to see what we plant and how our gardening grows - just a few winter veggies to start - we will list them after we get them. Just a pause here to consider our blessings - we are well and financially secure and are thankful for that and for all the friends we have around the globe. Well, grocery prices are higher this month, and there has been a rising trend for a number of months - maybe you can translate from metric to USA measures remembering a liter is about a quart and a kilogram is about 2.2 pounds so - regular gasoline two dollars a liter, premium two-fifteen. A litre of milk - varies from a high of 4.25 to a low of 3.10. A 250 ml bottle of maple syrup - 7.99. A bag of mandarins - maybe 15 -4.79. Two long life small light bulbs - 10.99. 120 grams of yeast - 3.62. 6 pack of eggs, 2.99. 500g of flour gluten - 6.29. 500g of cheddar cheese - 7.49. 535g chicken soup - 2.69. Also remember that one Kiwi dollar is worth about 75 cents American. Have fun with your translations. I gave up on the cooking class - was not fun and felt I could have learned as much from a cookbook or two. We are using the bread machine more now, and enjoy home-made bread at least when it rises appropriately, which the last try did not - oh, my. I remember someone telling us they once had a failure making bread and it was so bad even the dog would not eat it - Charlie did eat some of ours, grabbing it off the counter, so must not have been too terrible, huh? Right now, at 4:30pm it is starting to get dark - the temperature outside not bad at 57, but inside only 66, so we dress warmly, and the kids have a heatpump in their rec room that keeps them warm and cozy. We are excited about the forthcoming visit of friends from Topeka, who will arrive here on the 7th of July - will be a contrast for them to Kansas weather. Well, as always, thanks for taking the time to read this - and I am sorry Google makes it so difficult for you readers to respond. My nephew, who will be living in Doha, Qatar for a while uses another blog service that allows comments - but I think he pays a little to use it. We are trying out Skype and will see how that goes - it is easy to get calling cards that only cost two cents a minute, so that is what we use now, since Skype only works if both parties have it. Sincerely, Manford

20 June, 2008 here, June 19, 2008 there

Well. We have been here a year now. I still have trouble getting my head wrapped around that fact, but here we are. I guess moving is in my blood: I was born in Alice Texas because they had a hospital and the town we lived in, Freer, did not have one. We lived in Bloomington, Texas and Refugio, Texas and almost Harlingen, Texas (dad was transferred there and we were building a new house when he got transfered back, to Refugio, I think). Somewhere in there we lived in Mississippi. I went to college in Austin and Kingsville, Texas. I went into the Army in San Antonio, had basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missourik, then on to Army Language School in Monterey, California, further training in Virginia, then shipped to Berlin for two and a half years. During my tour of duty I visited Ireland, Corsica, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden. After discharge I went to Rome, Dubrovnik, Istanbul, north Africa, Marseilles France and on to Paris where I entirely by chance (divine guidance?) ran into some of the guys still in the army in Berlin, and somehow got to England and caught a plane to New York City and from the central bus terminal (freaky deaky place went to a friend's house in Lynn, Massachusetts, then back home for a few months, then to Philadelphia, Santa Ana, California, Dallas, Texas, Gainesville, Florida, Bostonk, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Maryland and finally (I thought) Topeka, Kansas (I may have forgotten a few other places where I stayed briefly) - whew. Then we up and move to New Zealand after 30 years in Topeka. Who knows where next. We plan to explore this small island nation more in the coming months and years, prompted in part by the desires of whomever might visit us regarding what they want to see and do. I don't think I can get in great shape to do serious multi-day tramps of the beautiful areas in the South Island but hope to do some tours or ecotours, and plan to learn my immediate surroungings and the goings on within two hours or so of Hamilton - which includes mountains, lakes, nature walks, hot springs, lots and lots of beach, and maybe even a farm stay or two. Physically the Parkinson's is pretty stable so far. I have lost some weight and was very good about walking a lot until about three weeks ago when I strained my Right knee and for a while it hurt too bad to walk, now just aches some time. I have decided that our dog Charlie is a watch dog, for she loves to sit by the glass door or big window in the living room and watch what goes by, with some unfathomable decision tree going on in her head regarding at whom she either growls, barks or whines or remains silent. We are in the process of getting a couple of raised beds for our garden in the back yard in an area that gets the most sun. That is a sort of birthday/wedding day/getting here anniversary present from us to us and as you might imagine the children currently seem to be underwhelmed so far but once they get the taste of fresh vegetables . . . We are still running into words we don't understand, and Emily knows how to sing the national anthem - I believe it may be unique (though maybe not) in that it is bilingual, first sung in Maori, then New Zelander English. As a last bit of info, the mornings are cold (40 degrees or less in the am) and the days are short (dark by about 5:30 our time) but winter solstice is coming up, and when it is clear the sky is lovely. All is/will be well my friends. Thanks for reading this, and we send all the best from the Barbers to you and hope this has been a good year for you and will continue to be one. Manford

June 12, or 11, 2008

Yesterday, or today, or in some other world, a year ago, we left. Leaving what? What is Kansas? A different sort of grassland, and a different sort of city, but some kind of looking glass effect: they mirror each other. We all speak English, and worry about violence, and global warming, and the price of milk. The Simpsons is on at dinnertime, and the day is gone before you know it.

So we live in the same world. But we left Sue and John (and other Friends), and Potwin (big trees, old houses, neighbors), and it being easy to just go and buy whatever we need: Target, Walgreen’s. More of it than we need, and more kinds to choose from. Triscuits, Benadryl, marshmallows, books.

And knowing that you would know what I was talking about: What kind of kids eat Armour hot dogs? A really sincere pumpkin patch. The lunch lady. High school graduation.

And not knowing what They are talking about: raiding the Marmite jar. Getting ready for Tea. Bring a plate. Bums on seats. Kai. Whanau. 2/6/08.

What did we leave behind? Most things are not things but who’s—but we would miss them whether we were in New Zealand or Maine.

We are learning the language, adjusting to “colour” and “organise”, and putting the comma on the outside of the quotes. Two dollar coins are really quite convenient, and no one really needs pennies any more. Even if we liked them, even if they were what we flipped to decide which way to turn on the penny walk at day camp in fourth grade. There is no fourth grade. Even the people here don’t understand what year the children are in, because they just changed all that, a few years ago.

Things change here: somehow, with four million people, they can make decisions to change things like the money, the way you vote, what the years in school are called, and how you measure stuff. Things it is hard to imagine changing in America, where the way things are is god-given or at least federally regulated, constitutionally determined and bound by 50 different colours of tradition. Is this good or bad, the capacity to change?

There is the capacity to make a difference, which is just more obvious here sometimes. I could become an advocate and expert on maternal stress and infant care, and maybe I could change the way the hospital system works. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be possible. It’s possible there, too, but not so obvious, so you might not get to try.

But a year gone, and we are still Kansans; maybe more so. What shall I bring to the shared lunch tomorrow, in our bicultural practice seminar? What would be Kansan? Sunny wheat bread? Sweet potato pie? What is my culture? The moosewood cookbook? Macaroni and cheese. Tuna Noodle casserole and brownies.

I did write a poem, last month:


My poems are lost.
Not forever—
just now; lost
like the finest roots
of a plant repotted,
wounded, strange, stretching
to drink and live
in new soil.

It’s little things. The pot
is fine—room to grow,
a new location,
more sun, air.

But no matter how much baggage we brought,
so much was left behind.
A thousand tiny broken bits undone
groping slowly
taking root in the dark
rich, moist
autumnal
earth.

Love,
Carrie

In which Emily takes a tumble

Emily and Charlie and I walked to school this morning. We have discovered that Charlie likes it when Emily runs while holding his leash. It goes like this: Emily runs, Charlie runs, Emily stops, Charlie stops. Well today it went Emily runs, Charlie runs, Emily runs, Charlie runs, Emily runs, Charlie runs, Emily runs, Charlie stops, and wham, down goes Emily having tripped over the stopped Charlie. But by golly she still held on to the leash. And fortunately wasn't hurt too bad - did not even show scratches on her knees, as far as I could tell (we were on a sidewalk). Charlie has nipped a couple of people, only in our back yard - we feel she is not getting enough exercise. Since there are no fenced dog exercise places in town our current plan is to rig up a long rope and see how she runs. To change the subject, ESPN here on the pay network Sky has been broadcasting the NBA finals and I have enjoyed watching the games. Who will win. And it will be very interesting to see who wins the presidential election in November. Prices here are going up as elsewhere, but they vary from store to store, and even within the same store - our local supermarket sells two brands of milk, one about fifty cents cheaper than the other and you can sometimes get it for even less at some of the smaller stores. Well, Charlie is barking, barking, so will heed her call, or reward her for silence, and see what happens. Thank you. Manford

50.013698631

or, maybe I'm really only 50.0109589041, given that I was born in Connecticut, where it's still yesterday. In either case, I have survived, and enjoyed, my 50's so far, and, as Manford said, we did have a really nice trip to Wellington between anniversary and birthday, and a good gathering of friends at the pub on the day itself. We are approaching a year being here, and find it both hard to believe, and hard to believe we haven't lived here for a long time. I asked Joseph if he wanted to put anything on the blog, and he said, "no, just normal." So I guess we're getting normal. Not that we don't miss people, and some things about America. We do hear just about the right amount about American politics--probably much much less than you do. I'm starting a seminar on bicultural practice next week, in which one of the tasks is to think and write about your own culture. I'm looking forward to it--it's not something you think about when you're immersed in your familiar world.

I have found a writing group, of sorts--I've only been once; it meets every 6 weeks, at the university's continuing education department. There is a theme or assignment for each session...next time is on the Fourth of July (as we scheduled this, one of the participants said "isn't that American Thanksgiving?"), so the theme is independence, and we can also bring a favourite (or favorite) American poem. I did write a poem last month. but it's not on this computer. I will post it someday.

And Manford may be moving toward working a bit more...he had been doing occasional dizziness evaluations for a local ENT, but that is very unpredictable. Then he has been helping a friend of mine, who was getting a hearing aid from the DHB (the goverment health agency)--he went with her to her appointment last week, and got recruited, but he lost the person's card...perhaps a bit of ambivalence, but we'll see. I think he would enjoy a bit of work with patients--

Emily is taking a science class on Saturdays--she's there now--where they are studying light and vision this term. She seems to be enjoying it. Some of the information seems to us to be a bit dubious (e.g., they were told that babies see the world upside down at birth), but maybe that's her spin on it...and she enjoys it. She also has drama after school one day (as if she needs help with drama...) and violin, which is going through a somewhat painful stage...Manford says they all sound like that. He has the pleasure of attending the lessons. Luckily, he can turn off his hearing aid.

As it warms there, it is definitely cooling here--frost on the windshield some mornings, but that is really as cold as it gets. Many afternoons are sunny, so it's just getting out of bed in the cold that can be a bit challenging.

Emily's home, and we will hear what amusing factoids she has collected today--

Carrie

Our trip to Wellington

On Friday, May 30 Carrie and I drove to Auckland and there got on a plane and flew to Wellington. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. It is a swell place. In contrast to Hamilton, which I conceive of as being a modestly large town, Wellington, with a population of around 400,000 people in the immediate area, is a city. It has a number of buildings that only Superman can leap in a single bound, whereas Hamilton has only a few of these, and is much hillier and scenic with lots of interesting architecture. We had a wonderful dinner - fish chowder and Tuna cooked with a Miso sauce, and a yummy creme brule (sp?). Our hotel was in the downtown area, and there were two very nice small museums near by - one with a show focusing on a tribute to New Zealanders who were Viet Nam veterans - the government had only just recently made a formal apology to these vets - as they were apparently reviled upon returning from tours of duty in Nam. The other had a number of interesting displays, including one we could not quite figure out how it was done but there was a small stage with various furniture on it and then there appeared a woman and a man who looked very real though very small - some type of hologram - for they would disappear behind things some times and come closer at times. We also went to another museum, Te Papa, which is like a natural history museum combined with art galleries but our stay there was cut short by a false fire alarm as we had to evacuate the building which is better than evacuating in your pants which might have happened had there been a real fire. On Sunday we took a tour, with four other people, in a small van piloted by a knowledgeable chap who gave us some of the town's history and took us to see various sights, including the largest wooden building in New Zealand, a lovely wooden church, and some incredible views of the city from nearby high points of land. I am not capturing the charm or attractiveness of this city very well, but we really liked it and look forward to going back some day. We had placed the children with friends and they had a pretty good time (Joseph got to see the new Indiana Jones movie)and the dog at a nearby kennel where she got pretty dirty but enjoyed the company of many, many barky dogs. This was a trip to celebrate Carrie's 50th and our anniversary. She continued her birthday celebration with a small party at one of our favorite pub/restaurants, The Cook. We provided some beer, wine and snacks including kumara chips (fried sweet potatoes) and visitors (some anyway) provided company and gifts. A happy occasion. We are looking forward to a visit from a Topeka family, coming in July. The weather has turned cold but sunny. Thank you for reading this. Our best to all of you. Manford