9 January: Monday. Another cool, blustery day, but the weather didn't bother us. We spent a delightful day with Howard and Jackie Williamson at their home. Morning tea morphed into lunch then afternoon tea. These friends, in their eighties, are full of vitality. The conversations ranged from family to politics to personal histories and then some. Jackie is still painting, and they have just published a book titled Hold Your Horses. It is a biography of Jackie's life and career as an artist. When you visit us you will be able to read it.

10 January: Tuesday. More cool weather. I am getting impatient waiting for real summer to arrive. We went to Palmerston North today because I thought there was a woodworkers exhibit at the Te Manawa Museum. I was mistaken. We had a look around the Art Gallery as long as we were there, did a bit of shopping, and came home for more reading. Not much else to do on a dreary day. Cathy made Quiche and salad, and I made a bread pudding for dessert. I bought some yeast today in anticipation of doing some bread making.

11 January: Wednesday. Today was laundry, errands, and taking Cathy and Max to the Palmerston North Airport for the first leg of their trip to Stamboat Springs, Colorado.

12 January: Thursday. We took a drive to Whanganui. It is a lovely city about 80km northwest of Feilding. Had a walk along the riverfront, watched the coal fired paddle steamer Waimarie return from a morning excursion, saw an artist panting a mural on the outside of a building and hit a couple of second hand stores for fun. On the way home, we stopped for a walk on the beach at Turakina. The west coast beaches are black iron sand. It was so windy on the beach that it felt like our legs were being sandblasted! There wasn't another person on the beach. This beach is only accessible on foot or by 4 wheel drive vehicle. Kiwis are very fond of being able to drive very close or onto the beach in their cars.

13 January: Friday. We made a quick stop at the Farmers market for fruit, veggies, and some venison sausages and then went to Manfield Park to watch the NZ National Horse and Pony Show for a while. The day is cool and blustery, and we didn't stay long. Most of the spectators were family and friends.

14 January: Saturday. We drove to Ashurst today to see the Community Market. There were about a dozen vendors selling plants, woodenware, toys, baked goods, and more. A pizza place had a food truck set up. I noticed a family with a pizza that seemed to have marshmallows on top. I enquired. It was a S'mores pizza. The marshmallows were pink. Not appealing to me. I took a photo! Back in Feilding we bought meat and spices to craft our own Sweet Italian Sausages. We are not enamored of the texture of sausages that are made here and thought we'd try our own. Bin Inn is a shop where you can by all sorts of foods from bulk bins. I was able to get just a couple of tablespoons of each of the spices I needed. Of course there are also nuts and lollies in these bins. Buzz chose peanuts and chocolate covered hokey pokey candy. Hokey pokey is what we would call sponge candy at home. Here they over it with chocolate or put it in ice cream. It's Buzz's favorite NZ sweet.

15 January: Sunday. Another cool, windy, rainy day. I just smile and say, "it's not snow." We went to the Sanson market...few vendors because of the weather. Home again for reading and keeping dry. We even got a bit of late afternoon sun.