Fact.....or.....Fiction

The average New Zealander walks 100 K/hour (fiction - it is 101.4 K/hour): The average consumption of beer at the 21st birthday celebration is 101 bottles (fiction - 101 cases): It takes at least twice as long to complete a road trip than the mapquest/google/etc. web sites say it will (fact), no matter where you are going (fact) : Emily won best player of the day ribbon at her latest soccer game (fact - though it may be the case that they like to spread that award around - she was goalie in the second half and even got recognition from the competition's coach for one save!): there are no earthquakes in New Zealand (fiction - recently mild earthquakes near Lake Taupo caused the evacuation of a small community because of fear of a landslike (these have occurred in the past)). And so on, and so on. Well greetings. It has been the coldest winter in 50 years, the locals say. We get frost on the car even the though the ambient temp is above freezing - I am sure the brighter readers can explain that. Emily is home this week - she gets a three week break from school - will go to day camp most days starting next week. My car is in the shop for its biannual (? - every six months) checkup. Finally had to buy some rear tires last week - Toyos or something like that. We are thinking about getting a wireless printer. Carrie has now had basic training in how to assess little, teeny babies using the Braselton scale. Joseph is off to Auckland at the end of July for a chess match. Manford is doing well, and is out more often, helping trim plants for propagation at the local Hamilton Gardens (they are a must see for visitors though none of our visitors so far have seen them), once a fortnight, and Thursday goes to a lecture about godwits, birds that fly from Russia (Siberia) to NZ. I still don't understand cricket, as well as some newspaper reporting of the goings on of rugby players during a game, but at least some of the local teams are doing pretty good in that sport. We are welcoming a new psychology staff person and his family today, so have to stop here and take a shower and wash my hair. I was pleased to read that Bill is making progress, and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to him and his family. We also read that Liz is leaving for Rwanda in August: good luck and best wishes - what an exciting adventure. Sincerely, Manford