Here I sit . . .

Hello, good readers. Here I sit, in the dining room, listening to a sudden, pounding (but intermittent) rain as it splatters against our metal roof (this is the most common roofing material in New Zealand, as far as I can tell). Well, all of a sudden, quiet. The afternoon was characterized by immense, powerful, largely white clouds in the West and South, and by even more coverage of the East and North by big grey swatches, so I am not surprised to have the rain - and we can use it. No wonder NZ is so green in most places. The big news of the week is that I have had my last amalgam filling replaced, and no longer have a mouth full of metal crowns, all replaced by porcelain. I struggle to keep still in the dentist chair, and am rewarded by his telling his nurse that I am his best patient - true or not is flattering, and he may have been obliquely referring to the payments I have made which might help him send his kids to the Uni! So far so good. Next week a visit with the doctor in Tauranga who started the whole thing, so I can learn a detox regimen that theoretically will remove mercury remaining in my body. Even if it is not the whole case, I do feel better, more alert and less tinnitus and word finding problems, and better more confident driving, and just happier in general. I have a question: what do the following words have in common? Grand, Hyatt, Sheraton, Oscar, George, Fat Hippo (Fat Hippo???) and Frank. If you guessed they are the name of tents shown in a recent advertisement by a sporting goods store here in Hamilton you win a prize. Many of the ads we see on tv here are funny or clever, and we enjoy that. Emily is back in drama class once a week where she is honing her already prodigous talents, preparing at eight for teenager hood, I suppose, with big ups and downs. Joseph seems to be getting invested more in some of his school projects. I do the odd VNG, and wish I had more because I always feel a little rusty, and doing several in a pretty close row at least shakes some of the cobwebs out! Carrie is working really hard. I am hardly working. Har, har, har - see. Some trees are still blooming, but many are now leafed out as we head toward summer. We will go to the South Island in late December, early January for a Quaker gathering, then have about a week to tour around before coming back. I am sure we will have lots of pictures and we are trying to figure out a way to get more of them into the blog - anybody used the Google Picasa program for this? I am still not very good with it, but then they don't seem to be able to spell, or they are sort of creative with their name? I am trying to take pictures of flowers and tree blossoms, and sometimes, using the autofocus program of the camera get really clear pictures of leaves below the blossom. Oh, well, har, har, har. I am very happy that we get the New Yorker - always something interesting in each issue. Anyone know about the painter Elizabeth Peyton? I weigh in around 180 these days, and at least to me seem to be walking better due to instructions I have received from a lady who is versed in the Alexander Technique. I don't think I have yet completely found my place in this small nation of around 4,000,000 (human) inhabitants (lots more sheep) but am gradually working my way out into the public and maybe for the next year will be more of a tourist, if gasoline prices don't get much higher. I am very sorry about the rough financial times so many seem to be going through recently, and look with some dismay at the latest news from the companies we have invested in, but am hopeful that in the long run things will get better. Last note - Joseph and I watched Breaking Bad, a new tv show for NZ - interesting and will be interesting to see what happens next. Thank you for reading this, and our best wishes to all who do. Manford