All Saints Eve

Today is Halloween, and what a difference from the US!  This is our first halloween here in New Zealand. Last one if you recall (and if you don't go look up the blog entry) was a party at a friends house.  This is our first one trick-or-treating around the block.

So how is it different?  I am glad you asked, let me tell you.  The first thing that strikes me as strange, which is the same of all these fall/winter (or shall I say spring/summer holidays) is the light.  As I type this it is 8:15pm and still light out.  Second reason is that when Dennis and I went out door to door we only went to 13 houses in an hour of walking.  Granted that hour had a few good conversations with neighbors I had just met, however it did include a fair bit of walking.

We did not knock on every door in the neighborhood, someone had canvased the neighborhood asking adults who wanted to give away candy to identify the houses by balloons on the gates and for the kids to come between 4-6.  Really nice touch.

While Dennis and I were out Chris manned the fort here at home.  She had two groups of children show up.  We didn't expect a large turn out but that was pretty small!  But not to worry it did double while Chris and Dennis were at the Church All Saint's Eve party.  Two more groups of kids showed up!  I think we had a total of 14 kids at the door this year.

Our next door neighbor lilly thought we would get 20 kids showing.  So in the ball park just a bit light.  I do hear some children running around outside but I have taken our balloons down so maybe they are just passing us by.

Very low key holiday by US standards.

My respect has gone down a notch ...

While the chips were pretty good I can't imagine why in the world they have to import them from literally the other side of the world.  New Zealand is a huge exporter of food their potatoes are as good as any Idaho Gold I have ever had.

(See the bold type in the picture below ...)

Saturday 24 October 2009

Today was a lovely day.  The weather was perfect and we spent a considerable amout of time outside enjoying it.

Early afternoon while Chris was going door-to-door handing out flyers for the annual Quilt sales event here in Wellington; Dennis and I were playing base-ball at one of the few flat pieces of land here in Wellington.  Later in the day we went over to the city library and learned about Galileo and his telescope. I got to hold a strut from the lunar lander.  I mean a real strut that was on the moon!  Quite cool.  After a few hours talking to the presenters we went home but not without having found out another set of activities for the day.

This evening we went to the King Observatory over at the Botanical Gardens.  http://www.was.org.nz/01TKOImages.htm  The 1870 telescope was open to the public!  We saw the moon up close and personal through a 140 year old telescope!  On the way out of the Botanical Gardens were were able to look at Jupiter through a modern telescope or two.

Dennis had a great big grin on his face for most of the evening.  He really liked looking through the telescopes.

For the last part of the evening we sat around the house reading books and making blog entries.

You can't beat a good day in Wellington!

Until you have been here you cannot appreciate the phrase "You can't beat a good day in Wellington!"  Today is one of those "good" days.

It is perfect.

Today it is sunny and mild.  As we had rain all weekend it has the fresh damp look to it.  There is  no wind it will be a high of 61F however with the sun it will seem like mid-70's.

The plants are in bloom.  Everywhere I look there are blossoms of all the colors of the rainbow and more.

It truly is hard to explain come on down and enjoy it for yourself!

Bush Walks

In preparation for Outward Bound I'm doing more walking through the bush. Near us is Otari-Wilton's Bush. Today I got a great workout climbing up and down hills. The trails are stair stepped in many areas. As an added bonus I saw a mother duck and her two black-and-white ducklings. They weren't too sure about me, so I changed direction. Other bonuses on my walk were seeing frilly fungus on a tree and smelling flowering bushes.

World of Wearable Art

Last Sunday we all had the treat of seeing the World of Wearable Art show (WOW). See my previous post about my involvement as a dresser.

It was neat to see it all together. Actors and dancers were milling around doing a bit of a preshow. I got a kick out of the lady dressed in a bathrobe, slippers, and hair curlers; she acted like I was an old friend she hadn't seen in a while. Dennis enjoyed it and wants to go again.

Being behind the stage, I saw the costumes but I didn't see the choreography or the props. It was quite a show; the time flew quickly. I hear from Wellingtonians that it keeps getting better. I bought a DVD featuring some of the past shows.

Traffic Jams

About two weeks ago, Dennis and I were in an unusual traffic jam. Usually it takes us 10-15 minutes to get to Karori for our taekwondo class on Mondays. So we left at our normal time. It took us 45 minutes to get there and then I found out why it took so long. One of the main roads that leads to the motorway was closed due to a truck oil spill. That meant a lot more traffic was using the back roads which happened to be in my neighborhood!

Earthquake Today

We felt a 4.8 this evening in Wellington. Dennis was eating a bowl of cereal at the time. It scared him a bit when I told him to stand in a doorframe. Tomorrow we will ask our friends, "did you feel the quake?" Some areas of Wellington feel them more than others. All's well here.

Kiwi psyche

It is hard to describe the kiwi psyche.

There is the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" of which I often hear.  That is defined as taking someone who is successful down a notch or two.

However it is not what I think of most when I think of the difference between Kiwi's and American's.  What I think of most is the Kiwi's ability to laugh at themselves, and it comes out in some of the most delightful ways.

For instance ... http://blandforddailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/09/843-spotted.html

Yesterday when Chris and I were walking around we walked by this building.  It is surreal.  We rounded the corner and there it was.  A huge building covered in polka-dots.  It is definitely a kiwi thing.

I truly love this place!

St. Johns on the water

Last night we went out to celebrate our anniversary (anniversary was Monday) as Dennis is at a friends house for the afternoon and evening.  Truth be told our choice of restaurant was primarily driven by the coupon book we purchased to support Dennis' soccer club.

St Johns is located on the water front just west of Te Papa (the national museum.)  The restaurant is setback a distance from the water itself; however it has great views of the mountains across the water.  As it was our anniversary we did not go to the restaurant to look at the water or the mountains (we can do that from our lounge) we went for a quiet evening celebrating 24 years.

The food was very good.  Chris had an entree of tomatoes and basil, followed a main which was the catch of the day (some fish whose name I cannot remember;)  I had capriccio followed by pan friend pork belly.  We shared a bottle of French wine and a chocolate cake for desert.

After dinner we wandered on the water front and reflected on our life together over the years.

Traffic Jam

Today I hit a traffic jam on the way to the Hutt Valley from Wellington.  This is the road that runs North along the bay.  About one Kilometer from the exit the traffic came to a grinding halt.  As I was running late I looked at the clock and saw it was 9:30am, which gave me little comfort as I wanted to be at my destination at 9:30!

So I sat there fuming until the traffic started to move again.  Unfortunately for me it was an unusually long traffic jam.  Not that we have many, just the occasional in the city during rush hour.  This one really surprised me given the time of day and location.

As would be expected the traffic cleared just before the exit with everything running smoothly again.  I had to sit through the whole thing!  While on the exit ramp I checked the time again and saw that it was 9:33am.

I couldn't believe three minutes to go what should have taken about 40seconds.  Sometimes Wellington deals bum cards.