From the Captain

Never gout round to telling you about my pet fish.

It's about a 5 lb Tuna that has taken up residence under the boat and has been with me at least 10 days now.  Apparently this is not uncommon, but he scoots along by the keel, or especially in the evening, right at the surface at the transom, about half under the boat and half exposed, top fin and tail breaking surface.

Anyway, he managed to stay with the boat when I was doing 8+k, getting totally twisted around by wind shifts and motoring at 5 k.  Wonder where he gets the energy / food to keep this up?

Anyway - I do have company out here, and no, I can't get a picture of him, least not yet.

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I'm all thumbs

Damn you autocorrect, mocking my sleep and caffeine deprived thumbs...

The thought of peace is the seed

It's our job to nurture it and help it grow, so that those around us can see how beautiful it is.

Last night Mom and I attended a peaceful gathering, in order to remember what happened at Hiroshima... there was singing, and dancing and a couple of speeches. The main event of the night however was the highlight for me, and renewed my faith in our ability to work together... in small groups ;)

45+ individuals from the crowd... young and old alike, moving together carried 45 floating lanterns down to the lagoon and back.

I think for me that was even more incredible than how magical they looked.

I can't work today...

This was not what I had in mind for this morning, it was not even remotely part of my game plan for today... stupid wasp...

In the early morning pre-coffee confusion that seems to start every day, I looked up to see a wasp wandering across my monitor. I watched it with morbid fascination as my brain tried to dredge up the appropriate response, and concern... 

Everything snapped back to reality along with the gravity of the situation when the damn thing started flying *directly* towards me in a slow drunken hover...

Gah! I leapt from my chair and performed evasive maneuvers... and hid behind my rolly chair :p

The wasp aborted and settled for examining my keyboard... See! I *can't* program today, there's a bug I'm not sure how to fix yet...

Until... he settled on my coffee cup... *evil grin* Hah! I'm not the only one who likes three scoops of sugar in this sweet sweet nectar ;)

And just like that, he was trapped between my cup and Ben's work orders... and we threw him outside by the seat of his britches, and ran away like little girls ;)

And all of this happened before I'd finished my first cup of coffee. Completely unacceptable!

Start at the beginning

Sometimes when you're programming... and what you're doing isn't working, and hypothetically it *should* be working... it's best to delete everything and start over.

I'm having one of those days, things are now working and looking up.

Driving me crazy to vindictive satisfaction in the blink of an eye

Booyah! I just hit a fly out of mid-air :)

#likeaninja

Should have brought the machete

Good story's begin with "Once upon a time..." but great adventures begin with...

Me: "Should I bring the machete?"
Mom: "Where's your sense of adventure?!?"

That *should* have tipped me off... I most certainly *should* have known better, and the ensuing 20-30 minute bushwhack should have come as no surprise what-so-ever... including the fleeting moments of being semi-lost. I say semi-lost because given two hours I can probably get to somewhere that I recognize, and then home having spent hours upon hours doing just that as a kid ;)

Buuuut if we hadn't been lost, we wouldn't have found these pretty flowers!!!

Goooood morning!

I created this panorama with the Photosynth app, I couldn't resist the gorgeous view of Kalmalka lake on the way in to work this morning!

Keep the good memories

We got the news that Granny wasn't doing well and had fallen in the middle of the night. She had then been taken to the hospital, and sedated so they could do a brain scan... during which they found a small brain bleed. The best course of action was to do an assessment once she awoke from sedation.

The first news we heard was good, she had woken up and recognized Aunt Marg. Then I talked to Uncle Joe the next day and my cousin Steph later, and the news was not so good. She hadn't recognized either Aunt Marg or Uncle Joe... she was hallucinating (although it could be the UTI causing that)... and she wasn't eating.

"If you're going to come up, I would do it sooner rather than later."

And an hour or so later and Mom and I were making plans and packing for a road-trip.

She was sleeping when we got there, but awoke when she heard our voices.  There was a palpable depth to 98-odd years of wisdom and a calm peacefulness about her. She was bright eyed and bushy-tailed having just woken up and her eyes held their characteristic impish sparkle...

When I knelt down beside Granny, she looked right into me and said "I *know* you" and smiling I said "Yes, yes you do" "Who *are* you?" and when I told her my name she nodded and said "Oh, that's right" like something clicked back into place and everything was as it should be...

It was amazingly incredible, and touched me so deeply I hope that I remember it forever.

I love her so much, just before we left she said something like she always remembers me, or that she could never forget me and I said "Of course not Granny, that's cause I'm your favorite!" ;) and she laughed and laughed and laughed it was an absolutely beautiful visit.

I am so glad that we dropped everything and just went :)

Into the burlap sack with you!

Dear Plastic Milk Jug Engineers,

Please go fraternize with the plastic pop bottle engineers, they figured out years ago how to make a container that holds its liquid contents... even when it falls over!! Like for instance in the front seat, foot area of my car... where I sometimes put my milk when it's just a quick dash-in grab milk and dash-out kind of trip.

You should try it sometime. You might be amazed.

Also, just a note, but if it's the wider mouth of the jug that is inhibiting your ability to make it water-tight? I really don't need that extra diameter. I'm not sure if you know this or not yet, buuuuut it's a liquid, it'll fit and come out as long as you don't let it curdle, and if it curdles you might as well leave it in there anyways.

Now I realize that this shape may be left over from the glass jar bottles, but glass and plastic (especially the way you're making it these days) do not have the same properties.

If the history of plastic milk jug shapes is any indication, I'm afraid you will probably be in the burlap sack for awhile. Think on that while you *ahem* I clean my floor mat.

Welcome to Canada ;)

Bear *snickers* in mind, that I was the very last one off our flight that landed just after midnight...

Canadian customs guy: "Are you bringing anything back with you?"

Me: "Just a couple of gifts..."

Him: "Like what?"

Me: "Ah... Superman underwear"

Him: "Sweet!"

Me: "Yeah!" :) "and um, I can't think of what else..."

Him: "That's okay, welcome home"

From the Commodore

We're still alive, how about you?

We're in Hamilton heading to the Coromandel Peninsula.  Hope you are all well.  I've not had time to do my diary so you'll just have to wait til I'm back and can tell you the highlights. 

Sam's note: Hmmmmmm possibly too much fun... I'm afraid this could be all we get for awhile :p

From the Commodore ... days are running together

Sam's note: Apologies, the notes are getting shorter and fewer and further between. I am taking this as a good sign that the Parental Units are busy and having a good time trying new things like carrot cake ;)

Just leaving here this morning.  Spent 3 nights and 2 full days here visiting the Te Papa museum.  4 stories crammed with NZ history.  Very good!  Horrible city to drive in.  Dad's a wreck as is one of the car wheels after he hit a curb hard.  Good thing for insurance.  Heading North today.

Love and hugs,

Mom

From the Commodore

Staying at a wonderful Backpackers here in Wellington another night to continue seeing the 6 story museum. We got 2 1/2 stories done yesterday but the main floor is just food and stuff and the 5th floor is closed til the end of March so only 1 1/2 floors left.  We're going to do laundry today, get some groceries, do some planning for the North Island, pay bills, etc.

The dolphins were amazing and once I get a proper mask I'll go again.  My mask kept filling the nose piece with water and I kept panicking and trying to clear it and climbing on the boat to clear it with no success so I didn't spend as much time in the water as I would have liked.  We were in a super pod that day 400+ Dusky dolphins, all ages, sizes with males doing courting dances which was so incredible.  I could have stayed out all day watching them!

A simple kindness is sweet like honey

I was at the corner store during lunch today when this older black lady with awesome crazy Einstein hair gave a service guy the last piece of pizza she'd just purchased, and then bought a couple of hot dogs for her lunch...

I found out after they had both left that she'd come in craving pizza...

How sweet is that? :)

From the Commodore - Day 12

 Up at 7, showered, breakfast, made lunches and off by 10.  Stopped at Franz Joseph, the glacier further north and visited the isite (info centre) for details of what to see driving north.  I kept falling asleep in the car.  Too hot. 

Drove north and stopped in Harihari for dad to have a coffee and I had a boysenberry bar.  Very tasty.  Very cloudy once we left the valley. 

Stopped at Lake Ianthe for lunch which we’d packed.  Water in lake very warm and lots of people swimming there.  Drove on and stopped in Ross an old gold mining town.  Walked part of the trail but it’s over an hour long and it was hot and late and I wanted to get going so we could find a hostel room. 

Stopped in another community that is called the jade capital of NZ.  Saw how they cut the jade, polish it and bought some cute souvenirs for people.  Also found some colourful wool socks for myself in a sock museum across the road.  Had a long conversation with the man painting the souvenirs I bought and he warned me about the bridge to the north which is a one lane bridge (most of the bridges in this country are one lane, even the long ones) that also takes the train. 

We got ahead of the train and then went to cross the bridge and dad stalled the car right on the tracks!  A little flurry of excitement!  Got safely across ahead of the train then stopped on the roadside to call up different hostels.  The ones by the pancake rocks where we are going tomorrow were all booked up so we drove into Greymouth looking for the info centre and found a lovely hostel full of art work and got a room there. 

For $2 we washed a load of laundry, made dinner, hung the laundry to dry and dad got the pictures from my camera onto his spare hard drive as well as the computer.  After dinner we drove out to the point to see if we could see any dolphins (no luck) and watched the fishing boats coming in over the bar. 

While typing this addition I found my stupid watch battery has died and so I’m watchless again!  What a pain in the rump!  I think it’s bedtime. 

From the Commodore - Day 11

Slept poorly as it was quite noisy in our room and I’d already slept 3 hours in the afternoon.  The kitchen dining area was directly below our room and the music didn’t get turned off until the wee hours of the morning.  I put in ear plugs at 1:30 a.m. and got some sleep. 

Up by 7 and itchy as all get out because of all the sand fly bites.  Got a shower and breakfast then walked to the glacier tour office to find out what time their tours were running and if they were running as there was quite a fog in the valley.  Booked to go on the afternoon flight at 2:50 and then we drove to the parking lot which led to the trail up to the foot of the Fox Glacier.  Hiked up to the lookout point which was about 200 m from the glacier’s toe.  Much the same as the Columbia ice fields in the Rockies.  Dad was interested in the slope failures, the glacier sheer, etc.  Some poor lady lost her glasses and they were sitting on a post at the side of the trail.  What a nuisance! 

Back to our room by 11:30 and I had a short nap in preparation for my glacier tour.  Up by 12:30, ate lunch, got my boots on, packed extra clothes and got out my camera and goretex jacket.  Got to the booking office by 2:45 as per instructions only to find they hadn’t checked with the pilot yet to see if they could fly us up to the glacier.  The morning flight had been cancelled due to the cloud cover so it was good we booked the afternoon flight.  Dad rushed back to the hostel to see if he could find my sunglasses (they had fallen out of my purse in the back of the car and we hadn’t noticed as I hadn’t needed them) and brought them back in time to see me off. 

The tour didn’t leave til 3:15.  They bussed us out to the chopper pad and there gave us leather boots with heavy socks to wear on the glacier and instructions on flying in a helicopter.  I was on the first chopper out and landed at 3:45 but then had to wait for the other 3 chopper loads of people on our tour to get ferried up to the glacier.  The ride up was a bit nauseating as the chopper pilot decided to give us a thrill and as he circled the landing site, he turned the chopper sideways.  Like an amusement park ride but they always made me sick and nothing to grab onto and I was in the outside seat right against the door! 

However we landed safely and tried not to get hit by flying ice crystals as the next 3 choppers came in.  Then we met our guides.  I got Passang from Nepal with an accent and 13 people in our group including a bratty little Chinese boy with his parents and grandparents who was spoiled completely rotten.  They all had difficulty with English and following instructions which slowed us down a lot.  We got to put on crampons on our boots and grabbed a ski pole and set off to a tunnel through the ice which we crawled through.  I almost didn’t go but remembered our trip last summer Sam and so I crawled through, got ice abrasions on my palms and my pants soaking wet. 

From there we climbed up and across to see Victoria Falls which flow down from Victoria Glacier which used to flow into Fox Glacier but don’t anymore due to the shrinkage of both.  The falls flow into a river that flows under the glacier.  Then we went to a crack in the glacier and our guide took a picture of each of us.  My battery died and I’m very thankful, Sam that you gave me one of your spare batteries when you ordered some a couple of years ago and it still had juice in it after sitting idle for 2 years in my camera case.  Saved the day!  Got lots more photos on the glacier and off. 

Disappointed in that my 4 hour tour turned into 1 ½ on the glacier with a lot of that time spent stopping, posing and taking pictures.  As dad pointed out, that’s why he avoids those touristy tours.  But I did get to climb on a real glacier which is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time. 

Back to town dad met me at the office and walked me back to our hostel.  We went to the grocery to find some oats for dad and I got an ice cream bar and he got a beer and we wound down nicely.  Had to wait to get into the kitchen at the hostel as it was a complete zoo.  Got dinner about 8.  Works well for me as I find I don’t eat before bedtime as I’m not hungry.  After dinner we sat and read a bit before bed at 10.  Another noisy night.  We filled out a survey complaining about the noise, poorly stocked kitchen (broken appliances, missing tools, etc.) and lack of bug screens on the windows.  Didn’t rate the place very highly.  (Dad gave it a 4 out of 10). 

The Roadtrip - July 17th - Leg III - Part D

At some point on this day of much driving, we saw another billboard and got it in our heads that we should have BBQ or some kind of grilled dinner... (obviously didn't learn our lesson the first time) Because it manifested into a full blown womanly craving,

"I will have grilled BBQ or HEADS WILL ROLL!!!!" *peaches and cream voice* "Have I made myself clear? Good."

Cue the clown music. After driving around literally following Doug-Doug in circles, and stopping to ask two different sets of random town-folk directions we *finally* found this BBQ Grill place... only to have the bartender tell us that the kitchen was shut down and that he couldn't even serve us a beer :(

In an attempt at humor he said if we'd gotten there 10 minutes earlier, he might have been able to serve us a beer. Having driven in circles for 20 minutes this only served to further stoke the fire of Burning Stoves & Stuff.

He redeemed himself in our books though, by pointing us in the direction of Famous Dave's. Of course we promptly got stuck behind a train, and then experienced a textbook definition of hangry.

hangry: han·gry (adjective) \ˈhaŋ-grē\

1. When you are so hungry you're angry
2. Angry and hungry enough to chew the arm of the next person who talks to you.

Examples:
"Sorry,  I didn't mean to yell at you.. I think I'm hangry"

 Beer; a good start to curing someone who is hangry, especially if it's promptly followed by an enormous platter of delicious foods.

Mmmmm beer....

Not gonna lie, I was so hungry right here that I was thinking "I know this needs to be documented but pleasepleaseplease take the picture so I can eaaaaat!"

Mmmm foods

Happy Moose with a full belly

End of day three and we've driven from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to Billings Montana

Daily dose of driving: 934km (~580mi)
Trip total thusfar 2434km (~1512mi)

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The Roadtrip - July 17th - Leg III

We discovered that Doug-Doug can calculate a route to somewhere along the way to your destination... like stopping for gas. This gas-station/casino set the precedent of finding places with funny names ;)

I guess this is how you leave your options open for when you find yourself wanting to sell something other than Burning Stoves...

The Roadtrip - July 17th - Leg III - Part C

Fast forward through the actual driving part... we saw some beautiful sights and found out why Montana is called "Big Sky Country" I think what makes it look so big, is that you can still see the mountains *and* what seems like the entire sky at the same time!

...and some more cool rocks ;)

This was when we realized, we might never get there...

As beautiful as this is, we were a little distracted... trying to find somewhere to eat. Luckily for you though, Faith wasn't too distracted to take pictures.