Potpourri

Hello again, and warmest greetings from relatively cool down under, or next to down under, since Australia is what one usually thinks of when hearing or reading "down under" (reminds me of a saying I like - When you hear hoofs galloping you don't usually think of zebras" which leads to another I like - "When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail," and the last one for today, attributed to various authors, "I would have written you a shorter letter if I had more time" or some variation of that. I am going to recommend a book, because I think it catches the essence of some of New Zealand: Long Cloud Ride, by Josie Dew. I could not find it in any Kansas library, but you can get a paperback from Amazon for about eight bucks plus shipping and handling. It was written by a lady who cycled around NZ in 2004 or thereabouts - went in the summer, but rained much more than usual. Some good descriptions of places, characters and events. And dead right. Hope you can find it. Joseph is taking driving lessons, three so far, with some progress. He has already passed the written portion of the license. Emily stayed home yesterday with a modest sore throat, but because of the concerns about swine flu the schools are being more conservative re when you should not attend. I would also, today, like to recommend a video/dvd that I was late to come by, Conversations With My Gardner, a French movie, sweet and sad. And a more recent movie, The Grocer's Son, also French. Fun thing - my sis sent me a magnetic poetry set, and Carrie's created this poem/haiku?/whatever: "zen for monkey look impossible in world of silent grasshopper be now you" and Emily's: "know all when insect grin is at work". Pretty profound, huh. Or not. (Har, har, har). For my birthday I got several e-mail wishes for a happy birthday - thanks to all of you for that, a book on organic gardening, and another that is in the disc world series, and a word game sort of like scrabble called addictionery - starting with a three letter word each player in turn then modifies it by adding a new letter or changing existing ones - e.g. egg goes to beg goes to big, etc. Joseph and I went to the new Harry Potter movie on opening day and liked it. Even though it was not entirely faithful to the book, apparently. Wish I could look a hundred years into the future to see what has been happening to/in NZ and USA. Interesting to think about. We are trying to cook more different things, even though the kids don't always like what we make I think it is good for them to at least have a taste. Emily and I had a good week during her school break - she and I partnered up the first week and went here and there, one of her favorites being Smiggle, a sort of home/office supply of various pens, pencils, notebooks, desk top stuff, in vibrant colors, including pink and purple. Then she had YMCA camp daily the next two weeks. She seems to really like speech and drama class at her school. Joseph is involved with a school assignment for his computer class designing a program that Emily can use to learn to type. I am looking into doing Pilates, or some old geezer version of that. Carrie is very busy at work. We don't have specific plans for the next school break, but will try and go somewhere by the ocean. I plan to get out a little more, see local sights. Most days are book ended with taking Emily to school, then picking Emily up from school, but I can squeeze in some short trips, and on Tuesdays Carrie picks her up which will allow me to go further afield. Well, have to stop now and walk the dog. Arf, arf, arf. Sincerely, Manford. Oh, by the way, Liz we wish you great success and interesting times in Rwanda.