I am reminded how much mud there is in New Zealand.  Gumboots are standard operating procedure.  We’re not talking about the fancy fashionable ones worn by city slickers - this is the real deal - an essential item to be left at the back door in every size.   The approach to footwear is totally different here. Kids routinely wear bare feet on any outing, presumably preferring the feel of oozing mud between their toes than soggy socks. My highly urbanised 11-year-old nephew forgot to take shoes to school the other day and complained he couldn’t participate in woodwork class. This is the middle of winter and the bitterest cold snap experienced here for 80 years.  These kiwis are made of tough stuff!

I am reminded how much mud there is in New Zealand.  Gumboots are standard operating procedure.  We’re not talking about the fancy fashionable ones worn by city slickers - this is the real deal - an essential item to be left at the back door in every size.  

The approach to footwear is totally different here. Kids routinely wear bare feet on any outing, presumably preferring the feel of oozing mud between their toes than soggy socks. My highly urbanised 11-year-old nephew forgot to take shoes to school the other day and complained he couldn’t participate in woodwork class. This is the middle of winter and the bitterest cold snap experienced here for 80 years.  These kiwis are made of tough stuff!

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The world is our stage…. and this is your place in the world little kiwi birds.   (Ruby told me she could see Australia from this spot on the Matakana Coast.)

The world is our stage…. and this is your place in the world little kiwi birds.  

(Ruby told me she could see Australia from this spot on the Matakana Coast.)

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Uploaded with Naked touch from my iPad.

Uploaded with Naked touch from my iPad.

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Uploaded with Naked touch from my iPad.

Uploaded with Naked touch from my iPad.

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I am home

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How’s this?

Finish work forever - tick
Sushi and ice cream for dinner - tick
Kids in bed - tick
bottle of bubbly - tick
Cheeses and crackers - tick
Fancy bottle of red - tick
Nice chocolate chippy bicky - tick
Feeling good - You reckon!!!

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rhamphotheca: Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) … a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the largest of the possums. In New Zealand, where it was introduced in the 19th century, it is a major agricultural and conservation pest. Like most possums, the Common Brushtail is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals. The tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrive in cities as well as a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, Common Brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids… (read more: Wikipedia)    (photo: JJ Harrison)

rhamphotheca:

Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

… a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the largest of the possums. In New Zealand, where it was introduced in the 19th century, it is a major agricultural and conservation pest.

Like most possums, the Common Brushtail is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals. The tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrive in cities as well as a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, Common Brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids…

(read more: Wikipedia)    (photo: JJ Harrison)

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aurelle: (by look left and look right)

aurelle:

(by look left and look right)

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How do we make this fun?  It’s actually pretty sad. Ruby had a good idea today… she remembered about these lollies.  Of course a 4-year-old would remember these things!  Thank god we are going Air New Zealand. Any other ideas?

How do we make this fun?  It’s actually pretty sad.

Ruby had a good idea today… she remembered about these lollies.  Of course a 4-year-old would remember these things!  Thank god we are going Air New Zealand.

Any other ideas?

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I’m so sorry, Colin

I cried at work today, against all my better judgement.

Yesterday was National Sorry Day and today my colleague Ann gave us cupcakes and told us, by way of building a bridge to understanding, a personal story.

Beautiful Colin, their beloved, gorgeous little baby brother-cousin, about a year old, had been taken one day in front of their very eyes. Chubby cheeked and adorable, black haired and dark eyed, just taken.

Ann and her cousins were playing on the verandah and looked up to their aunty who was holding Colin. Aunty was streaming with tears and Colin was gone. In a white Government truck down the dirt road toward a life with a white family in Sydney’s north shore.

What sort of grief is this?

Unimaginable.

The story declines further into sorrow: Ann couldn’t forget Colin and as a young woman tracked him down, discovering he’d been living only a few suburbs away but was now in a correctional facility. She was making plans to visit him but never did. Colin was a death in custody.

Colin, How can sorry be enough?

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