Better late than . . .

Hello gentle reader(s). We got into Auckland International Airport a little before 5 am on Sunday, and I still have some jet lag, having not slept any significant amount of time on the good ole big iron bird in the sky - but did watch most or all of four (possibly five) movies including one Japanese, one Chinese (with subtitles), Yes Man, and something else i may remember some day. How wonderful it was to see old friends, and it was not without a touch of sadness that we left. I think that was the happiest time I had had for a long time, for adjusting to NZ has not been all peaches and cream (though it is pretty tasty here at times). We had roast chicken to eat for dinner Sunday night. The house was so pristine thanks to the house sitter and her friend. The dog was retrieved sunday late afternoon from the kennel where we take her, and looked a little shaggier but was otherwise recognizable - there was a real bark symphony (maybe Beethoven wrote a symphony for assorted size and voice barkers - one seemed to have a hoarse voice from barking so much). There are tiny, medium and large dogs at the kennel - a pretty cool place - we like the people who own/run it. Back to the past - i really wasn't sure how it would feel to go back for a visit, but it felt right. Of course, I wish we would have had more time, but we feel we did ok with what we had. Contact with old friends certainly measured out in generous dosages the value of friendship and family. I did at times feel I was in a foreign country - possibly from the differences in appearance of USAers vs. Kiwis? And the stores have such a rich bounty of things compared to NZ, which seems rich to people from a lot of countries. There were so many cars in Los Angeles (do the angels cry about this?) that I almost couldn't count them. Same for some areas in San Francisco. Fortunately more were heading north when we were heading south from Sac to SF. I found I did miss walking, since I am not very good at working things in when there are such nice people to be with. There is new construction on a major road that is about two blocks from our house, started today, i believe, and will go on for a while. I will avoid it, taking long cuts if necessary since no short ones seem to be available. I did learn from this trip - one thing being that I need to get out more, be more in contact with others, socially and intellectually. And I needs to get me muscles stronger, a la Popye (sp?). Maybe I could take up an instrument - eg gong, bell, glass bottles, stems of grass, or humming? The options seem endless, and may end my existence if i annoy others too much. Hmmmmm. Better rethink that. I will go on reading, and will try and post a list at some point of ones I especially liked or found very interesting. Emily and mom, mostly, are getting ready for her birthday bash somewhere around May 3. She will be 40 (in 31 more years), and we hope she enjoys her youth before aging kicks in. I am reading a couple of interesting nonfiction books that talk about the brain, CNS and socialization aspects. I may get to tell some people about Fast ForWord, a remedial program i like. Well, my boots and tennis shoes are made for walking, so that's what I'm gonna do and one of these days they'll walk right back to you. Salud and love to all. Manford