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Birthday #6 New Zealand
Every morning the song from WW2 goes through my head as I try to get up the courage to jump out of bed into a cold room and run to the hot shower. The song is “Oh how I hate to get up in the morning! Oh how I’d like to remain in bed!” On the other hand, I hate losing a good hour or two of the day—especially at my age. Every minute is precious!
Yesterday I had planned to take care of a lot of errands, but friends advised me to make sure my car was completely fit. So Bill, the mechanic, ordered a necessary part, but I had to wait most of the day for him to bring it here and put it into the engine. Then, just as I was about to take off, my nephew, Richard Conarroe, telephoned me from Chicago. He doesn’t call often, but when he does, it is a real treat because he is so blasted funny!! It’s such wonderful therapy for me to laugh and laugh and laugh. We talked for an hour, and he has promised to come visit sometime. By then it was too late to go out, so I spent the time until bedtime straightening bureau drawers and watching my two favorite TV shows—FRIENDS and DR. PHIL
Today I started out about noon, visiting the post office, library and bank before driving the 15 miles to Santa Rosa and Costco to leave reprints to be done. The best thing that happened today was discovering the complete reading of Charles Dickens’s BLEAK HOUSE on cassette tapes in the library. For me it was a find! I’ve read and listened to this story many times, and I think I have even seen it on BBC TV, so this will be about the umpteenth time for me. As soon as I was back in my car I popped the first tape into the receiver and sighed with contentment as the story started. Incidentally, my car s now running like a dream after about $800 worth of work was put into it. Oh dear! And I did so want to have a little stash for Vietnam.
One of my daughters, Monique, her husband and her two children are all living in Christ Church, New Zealand now. It makes me think of the Christmas and birthday I spent in the south island of Otago with Ivy Hansen and her husband and grandson.
I first met Ivy when, together with my daughter’s Mother-in-law, I took a week’s coach trip to and around Scotland. Sometimes on the bus Ivy was my seat mate. She had been visiting her son who worked on an oil rig in the North Sea, and she was taking the Scotland trip before returning to New Zealand
When I returned to Japan I started a correspondence with Ivy, and about a month before Christmas she wrote and told me she had just finished making her Christmas cakes. Immediately the thought popped into my head, “Why don’t I go to New Zealand and eat some of Ivy’s cake?” So that’s exactly what I did. Before going to the south island, I toured the area north of Aukland and also visited the cathedral and the botanical gardens in Christ Church. It was summer in that southern area, but in Otago and down at Milford Sound it wasn’t very warm. Christmas trees were decorated with balloons, and besides the Christmas fruit cakes, each New Zealand housewife made her own version of a Pavlova dessert—named for the famous ballet dancer who once made a visit to their land. This was absolute murder for the waist line because it was meringue filled with heavy whipped cream among other things.
The Hansens’ 12-year-old grandson had Downs Syndrome, and I shared a bedroom with him. I have so much admiration for the patience and love people give to their not-so-perfect relatives. Christmas day was spent quietly at home with a visit or two to friends, but on my birthday Ivy and I started out on another coach trip which took us on a boat through Milford Sound and to some caves, black as coal, but with millions of Glow Worms alight. We viewed them from a boat, and we had to be very quiet because the least sound would turn them all off. Awesome!!! One of the things I will never forget, besides the thrill of watching Ivy’s sheep herder brother shearing his animals, was the quantities of food the New Zealanders can pack away at a meal. I couldn’t start to keep up with them at the inns where we stopped for the night. And…..I managed to resist the Blood Pudding! Ugh! All in all it was friendly and educational visit. Ivy still sends me a New Zealand calendar every Christmas. |