Rabbit, Rabbit

or, good luck for the month ahead. Personal experience would suggest that in northern New York, no one says “bunny, bunny” or “rabbit, rabbit” or “white rabbit” (x’s 3) at the beginning of the month to wish themselves and/or others good luck. (I first heard this expression in my twenties…) By the way, if you missed out saying this first thing at the onset of the new year, do not despair but do be sure to say “tibbar, tibbar” as you drift off to sleep tonight (“rabbit, rabbit” backwards…). [If your curiosity is piqued, you can learn many useful tidbits about all of this by going to dendritics.com/scales/white-rabbits.asp ]

On the local front: one of the pleasant plusses of life in Waikikamukau is the ease of available, attractive exercise. The steep ups and downs of our locale turn an innocent twenty minute walk into a handy, mini-workout. Normally we go left out the door, down steep stairs to a dead-end road that goes steeply up to the left. The small villas along the next bit of sidewalk look as if entry would be simple for goats only. People living there must have their groceries delivered by Sherpa guides. We then go down another set of stairs and continue down Queen Street to the Woodaugh Gardens. This is apparently the same street that disappears at the crest of the previous hill and transmogrifies into a walkway…? Now it gets interesting. We next stroll alongside a creek. The creek is referred to as the Leith (pronounced like Lethe, the Greek word for oblivion). I checked the map to find out how to refer to the Leith ‘creek’ properly to find “Waters of Leith” indicated.

[As you know, the Lethe is a river in Hades whose waters caused forgetfulness. It was on the banks of another Underworld river called the Styx that the shades, or ghostly remains, of the dead congregated to seek passage to the Afterlife. Unless they bribed Charon to ferry them across the stream, they wandered aimlessly on the near bank forever. But those who made it across the Styx did not have much more to anticipate. Once they had drunk from the waters of Lethe, they were left with nothing to reminisce about for eternity.]

Were you to approach the Woodaugh from the direction George Street, you would walk past a sign announcing 'Welcome to Leith House Rest Home'. Indeed! Waters of Leith meander on through the Botanical Gardens and through the grounds of the University—hopefully the students avoid imbibing these waters…

Eschewing the Leith/Lethe, we bid farewell to 2006 with many fond memories and greet you in 2007 with “Rabbit, Rabbit”: good health, good luck and best wishes to all for the New Year!

Ford--the view from waikikamukau

hopefully somewhere in blog world, someone will be writing about the Ford remembered by those of us who lived through his years of prominence. in those days his smile was associated (okay, by democrats) with excessive blows to the head from playing football at Michigan. we all said he could not walk and chew gum at the same time. Ford was not outshone as a language mangler on the public stage until the arrival of Dan Quayle. he was a successful congressman from the car state of Michigan in the years that Detroit was riding herd with a blind eye to the fact that the Germans and Japanese were forging industries that would make US autos into also-rans. his signal act that will be bandied about in the obits--the pardoning of Nixon--is still light years away from being digested by pundits. i did read a review fairly recently of a book detailing the cabals/coteries of advisers swirling around the White House in the days immediately before and after Nixon's exit. the group that espoused the pardon included young partisans by the names of Rumsfeld and Cheney--surprise. things have been twisted ever since--i predict this will include the three days of the current news cycle with much Ford talk. if Blair's plane had gone a few more meters, Ford's death would have been on the lower half of the front pages of today's papers. (if one were searching for something really mean to say about Ford, it could be pointed out that as with Regan, it is difficult to know when senility set in since there was never a point at which acute thought could be seen to weaken.) my memories of Ford are conflated with the impersonations of Chevy Chase who utterly channeled Gerry...tripping towards the lectern for a press-briefing, dropping papers once there, slipping on the stairs of the presidential jet. Ford's most endearing pratfall was bouncing a golf ball off the earnest forehead belonging to a member of the press corps. this was the moment that confirmed hope for all--yes, any child can grow up to be president. a president is just one of us. it was the common touch in Ford that aroused our affections--the feeling that after all is said in done, he was a decent man and his heart was in the right place...where are his kind when we so desperately need them?

Acclimating to NZ…

Some people have told us it will take a year to ‘settle in’—to feel at home. We have been here long enough to have tomato sauce (ketchup, as you remember) on the shopping list for just the second time, the need for a second container of salt is not far off and a second bag of sugar is in the closet. Our rate of sugar consumption has increased since Tessa started making sugar syrup for the birds. This syrup draws Tuis and Silver eyes. The blackbirds prefer breadcrumbs, fatty bits, apple cores and seeds. [Blackbird is not a pejorative moniker in NZ. The NZ blackbird might be related to the English type. It is not a raven, not crow and has better manners than the starling. Its beak is orange and the bird displays a certain intelligence—the poodle of the bird family. We see many well-bred blackbirds here.] The birds are perhaps quicker to feel settled in with us than vice-versa…

Item from the Southland Times: “It’s no bull that Southland males are overworked and struggling to keep the ladies happy. The failure of many Southland bulls to perform, because of poor health and having to service too many cows, has farm consultants and vets worried.”

Item from the Otago Daily Times: The adult minimum wage will rise 9.8% in April…the minimum youth training wage, at 80% of the adult, will rise to $8.20 and $9 and hour. The adult rate will be to $10.25 and 11.25 per hour. (The US rate stands at …?)

Willem’s awards made the paper over the weekend. I was mentioned Monday in the ODT for my accompanying of the young Marama String Project students. (“Professional accompanist JVB enhanced items by the seniors as they strove to match him with phrasing and nuance…”)

It is difficult to predict what Christmas is going to feel like. (Word came down today that chicken has been rescinded and that turkey is now on the menu for Christmas dinner.) We are not on an upswing at the moment but there is plenty of time left for an updraft. Wim and Lily are recovering from colds that started one day apart. Tessa is at the height of hers so I could be next. Our dishwasher just quit for the second time. The repair bill first time around was $350. The dishwasher is old and should probably be replaced. Prices for appliances here are high...higher by a factor of three. Dishwashers are in the $1300 to $1500 range. The father of one of the students I accompany is in the heating business. He is coming around tomorrow to talk to us about getting a proper furnace/boiler to heat the radiators—he has one coming to him second hand…the entire business with installation will be in the c.$6,000. A lottery win would be useful just now.

Monday, as I stood up from resting my helmet on the floor of the bank the friendly teller began a string of social chirps, which seemed to end with ‘bike’. Armed with my best imitation of a cheery kiwi bloke smile, I squeaked out ‘sorry?’ “A good day for getting out the push bike” (she repeated…good--I caught it this time…how did she know I was not out on a motor bike?) “Yes, it’s a beautiful day” I agreed. The temperature range was from a low of 42 to a high of 64. ‘Fine’ meaning sunny with ‘North easterlies’. Tuesday was a sunny day with temperatures in the 48 to 68 range… ‘Cloudy, patchy rain later, Northwest winds’. Variety is definitely the watchword as to weather here in Waikikamukau! Looking ahead, as we are, instead of a white Christmas, the ideal down under is a bright sunny day when you can wear shorts (a bathing suit?) We’ll keep you posted…

let's talk turkey

On the Monday following Thanksgiving the Otago Daily Times announced various contests with prizes of free Christmas hams or turkeys. So, things are looking up, there is TURKEY in New Zealand although it was not all in evidence when we needed it--Thanksgiving. A last minute item available at Pak ‘n Save the week before though was—guess what?—OceanSpray Cranberry sauce or jelly. (Packed in Australia by or under the authority of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. or its subsidiaries, One Ocean Spray Drive, Lakeville-Middleboro Ma or level 37, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000 Australia)

Okay, the awards for Willem and Lily. At Columba College, Year 3, Lily won one of three commendations in her class. She also won the Scripture Prize. Willem achieved Merit (which means he was in the top three in his class in each of these subjects) in Social English, Art, Maths and Science. He also got a ‘book’ award for general excellence (being one of the overall top three in his class (the final book in the Lemony Snickets series)). The fact that our children are happy in school is wonderful. Their doing well is an amazing bonus.

The daily paper in addition to news from every financial market in the world has a couple of features new to me. One is the farm news page. One might read on this page that the price of hoggetts is holding steady (that would be a headline). Really important farm news makes the front page of the paper, par example: lamb drops (births) up 2% this year to 43.2 million!

If you are aware that there is a hole in the ozone layer nearby (centered over Antarctica), it will not surprise you that the daily paper predicts the UV index for the day on the weather page. I have yet to see this figure under ‘8’. Today’s reading was ‘11’, the highest rating. (“Reschedule outdoor activities for early morning and evening. Shade essential between 11 AM and 4 PM. Re-apply sunscreen regularly.”) Public service TV adds remind you to ‘Slip, slap and slop’ (slip on a t-shirt, slop on the sunscreen and slap on a hat?…possibly)

Okay, the slang seems familiar here but in many cases a bit behind the curve. Cool is still in.
“Just a sausage roll then?—cool”.

“How you?”
“Great, how are you?”
“Super. Just the paper then? Cool”

Yesterday, the girl in the shop finally used an older expression that I had heard the removers saying to Tessa on the day the furniture arrived.
“Just the paper? Sweet as…”

I point this out because it was a mystery why I kept hearing it said to Tessa and never to me by the removers when our furniture arrived. They kept saying something that sounded pretty much like ‘sweet ass’. Later discussions with new friends revealed, after much hilarity, the explanation that this was a piece of slang mostly out of fashion now. What was said was merely ‘sweet as…’ (like, sweet as candy? paralleling ‘good as gold’?) The explainer said that if the movers had said what I thought I heard, there would have been an ‘r’ (along with the ‘a’ and ‘s’—sweet ‘arse’ in case you didn’t follow)

Temperatures: last Friday was okay (temperate). Saturday was cold, rainy and damp—44 degrees. Sunday was sunny, temperature in the 70’s. Monday was cold. Tuesday was sunny off and on. Wednesday, yesterday, was sunny in the morning; the temperature got to 80. Tessa and I ate lunch outside under our new ritzy umbrella. The wind then shifted from Northwesterly to Southwesterly. By 3 PM the temperature was down in the 50’s.

New Zealanders will talk to you how about how cold it is in New England. In New England, by contrast, our houses are heated and we dress well for the cold. Windy days in winter are not the norm, unless there is a blizzard and the damp is rarely spine-chilling. (Actually, New York City often feels colder than New England.)

will summer come? will we have a string of warm days? (do you people looking at the approach of winter truly empathize?)

more minutiae…

the local pharmacy has a blend of functions. There is a ‘traditional’ counter for filling prescriptions but the store is filled with homeopathic elixirs and vitamins as well as health foods. Having maxed out on ‘Delish’ peanut butter from China we found Organic Peanut Butter with a ‘distinctive, rich flavour’ there. Ceres organics is the brand—the company proudly informs the buyer that Ceres is the Roman goddess of grains and agriculture (for the benefit of those of us with no classical education). It is pretty tasty! Also available: Bragg organic Apple Cider Vinegar ‘with the Mother’ (contains no preservatives). Apple cider being a necessity for long life, we consider it a prime dietary supplement—Vermont farmers swear by it for healthy cows and cowherds. (Imported by Ceres--product of California.) The bottle helpfully informs the buyer that in 400 BC, the great Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, used apple cider vinegar for its amazing cleansing and healing and energizing health qualities…(this does suggest external use…?)

We patronized the farmers’ market yesterday for only the second time. Two cheeses (cheese curd!), leeks, red lettuce, baby bok choy, carrots, garlic chives, rhubarb and strawberries were the choices. The latter two items are filling our family room/kitchen at the moment with a delightful odor…a strawberry rhubarb crumble is cooking in the oven…(prep of fruits being carried out by the sous-chef, moi; assembly and final touches by Tessa, the queen of the kitchen).

Your observer started writing early today, Sunday, with the family asleep. Wim and Lily both went to parties yesterday and we had dinner guests. Later sleepers lazed long...Also yesterday morning, I went to a great movie about the life of an orchestra. The music was beautiful and inspiring, the dedication of the musicians to the music and to their jobs was reinvigorating. Keep your eye out for it because I think you would like it too--'Five Days in September'. (It's a documentary.)

Christmas day seems far off still but all signs suggest the day will arrive suddenly and all too soon. On Thursday, Lily's entire school had a Christmas service at a beautiful cathedral downtown (St. Paul’s). Readings, carols, lighting of Advent candles and a tableaux of the Nativity. Lily was chosen to be one of the four angels, something she entirely delighted in. (Her school and Wim's both are religiously affiliated. They have a class in religion, par example.) This next week is their last week of school. The final assemblies include many awards and much prize giving but probably not at Lily's level. We had tried to dampen Wim's expectations about receiving any prizes at all (because he only entered the school in the middle of the third of four terms). His teacher then told him to be sure his parents came to the assembly because he was up for prizes in two categories! We are proud in advance.

Did I notice this before? On the way walking and running to the latest church we are trying out—not exactly certain if I remembered where it was (others having gone on ahead) a fire engine drove by. It was not ‘operating’ in extremis would be my guess—it was leaving the ‘car park’ (hopefully all the fire people had returned their trundles to the trundle park) of the super-market. The vehicle was identified with a bright international yellow/green background highlighting the signage “New Zealand Fire Service”. (?...they service your fire?...tend it, feed it, watch it or what…? Okay--the answer is obvious but the moniker is remains strange...)

Your writer has taken to moving about Waikikamukau on two wheels. The same hills and gradients that can turn a 20 minute walk into a major cardiovascular experience create a hill climb on a bike that would prepare you for the tour de France. I am now able to ride from George Street up the hill to our house, a fact in which I am well pleased (especially since initial attempts found me dismounting at one third the way up the hill). There is no discernable effect on the old waistline but I am in better ‘shape’ than I was. One plus of cycling is that one can practice turning a corner and thinking about which side of the road continues to be the ‘right’ side. The pace also gives opportunity for closer observation. For instance, I passed a school the other day. The signage on one door announced ‘inward goods’ (referring to spiritual matters?) This information triggered the New Yorker cartoon caption portion of the old gray matter…was this a school of philosophy? possibly theology?

Time to get away from the computer screen, pick up pizza (while children are chomping down their salads) and tune in to Top Gear, a British car show. Lily usually gets a bit sleepy but Willem eats it up. They are both showered and ready for their big, partial but final weeks. Two months of summer vacation coming up next!