Adventure Mom

Afflicted New Zealand is supposed to be one of the safest places on earth. It consistently ranks on those travel website/magazine lists, thanks to geographic isolation, nuclear-free status, and low crime rate (no mention of the fact NZ is riddled with fault lines and sprinkled with live volcanoes). http://www.expatify.com/advice/10-best-places-to-live-for-escaping-world-conflict.html Anyways, I feel safe here. But even a safe place has sand traps – benign pockets of silica that can ensnare you (such as NZ's 10,000/16,000 miles/kilometers of coastline). Before you know it, you're affected, or even worse – afflicted. I may have caught something here. I'm sure it's not serious, because I've only had it a few days. These bugs can stuff you up, though. I know exactly where I got afflicted- in the middle of downtown Mt. Maunganui, on the sidewalk. It was dark, I'd had some wine, and maybe wasn't as cautious as I should've been. My big feet have a way of t...

Butterflies.

Autumn in Aotearoa Autumn morning, fresh and cool. Kids splashing in tub/Gather, gather, gather – drive to school. Children yelling, laughing in the courtyard, chasing balls. Smiling mums, kissing, waving goodbye. Running in the sand, crunching shells. Smooth ocean, bright sun, long white clouds. Strong legs, sore back. Green mountain, blue water, grey rocks. Couples snapping pictures on the island. Up the hill. Pause. Harbor ship. Ocean freighter. Up the sidewalk, to the little orange car. Pause. Water, newspaper, bench. Smooth ocean, bright sun, long white clouds. Dread-headed, bed-headed backpackers, cradling coffee. Memory, moment, anticipation. Circle of mums/circle of bubs. Singing, laughing, crying, chatting. Baby's blue eyes/Baby's sweet-scented head. Homemade scones with dates and butter. Words of encouragement and praise. Long hug, big heart, reaching out. Bubbling soup, baking muffins. Clearing cobwebs from the clothesline. Hanging wash in the sun. Last stra...

Start the Journey The rest will follow I was sitting in the auditorium of the Tauranga parish I think of as the "rock band church," this morning, when the vicar said something that hit home: "Start the journey...and as you're going, you will be shocked at the coincidences that come up." Doesn't that sound like life? Ever take a journey, move to a new town or visit a new place and feel like you're supposed to be there? That's how New Zealand has been for me since we arrived 3 months ago. Several weeks after arriving in the Bay of Plenty, I started running into people I knew – at the grocery store, at concerts, while running the Mount. Yes, it's a small town (population, 120,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga ), part of which explains how I keep bumping up against the same crowd time and again. One of my friends in Spokane has started dating a Kiwi (living in California) who grew up in this area. His sister still lives in Tauranga. Turns...

List Mania- Songs Heard 'Round the World Music makes the moment. You remember where you were and who was there when a song played on radio, at a concert, on CD, cassette (if you're, ahem, older than 30), or lately, on the Internet. Here (in no particular order) is a partial list of songs we've heard on our round-the-world trip. Most have hit radio pop charts on several continents. Other artists, like TKZee and Brooke Fraser, I've learned about only after attending concerts in South Africa and New Zealand. Some of the older stuff – Seal, Simply Red and Mariah Carey – are cassettes I bought in New Zealand to play in my 1986 Honda's Alpine stereo system. Rock on, world. Rock on. Just the Way you Are- Bruno Mars What's My Name? - Rihanna Future Love Paradise – Seal Enough – Simply Red Anytime You Need a Friend; Now That I know; I've Been Thinking About You – Mariah Carey Love the Way You Lie – Eminem (with Rhianna) California Gurls – Katy Perry There...

Short & Sweet: The Appointment I brought Fiona to the doctor's today. It was her first visit to a doc in New Zealand. She wasn't sick - she just has a mole on her foot I wanted checked out. Nothing about the spot looked suspicious: It was symmetrical, evenly colored and wasn't growing. No worries. Except, we're living in a country with one of the highest incidences of melanoma in the world, thanks to a giant hole in the ozone layer above. You can't open the newspaper or turn on TV without hearing about skin cancer. A national ad campaign tells us to "slip, slop, slap and wrap," (slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, and wrap your eyes in sunglasses). http://www.sunsmart.org.nz/being-sunsmart/slip-slop-slap-and-wrap  The problem was, I couldn't remember how long Fiona has had the mole. Since birth? Nope. Since before this trip? I think so. I started to wonder if the innocent-looking brown raised dot could be something more sinister....

(No) Ordinary Day – Part 2 Continued from previous post ...Ordinary days are magic, if only for the fact you faced neither calamity nor miracle. The "no calamity" part is self-explanatory. No miracles, from where I hang, upside down at the bottom of the world, suits me just fine. When life floats on an even keel, you don't look for miracles; You seek instead to adapt to the inevitability of change. So here, in a paua shell, is my ordinary Kiwi day, April 6th, 2011: (continued from previous post) 10:30 a.m. Help in Fiona's classroom. Her teacher is having the kids write an 8-line poem (an "octopoem," he calls it) about their backyard. Fi's backyard is pink, sunny and has a TV. One of Fiona's classmates gets in trouble for talking/walking/not paying attention and is made to sit outside the classroom to finish his work. Fiona, Bree and Ruby at lunch outside their class room 12:30 The bell rings. Lunch time. I brought my lunch so I could eat ou...