23 January: Monday. More rain. More reading. Finished The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

24 January: Tuesday. Today we took a ride up the Pohongina Valley Road. This is the area Buzz served when he worked for the Feilding and Districts Vet Club (1972-74) We first stopped at the Raumai Reserve and walked down to the river. Then we drove on to the Totara Reserve and walked along the Fern Walk track. It is a well maintained, easy walk with the odd steep bit but was quite muddy because of all the rain. Buzz sloshed through the muck in his sandals, I tried my best to stay dry...not too successful. It is so beautiful in the bush here. I came to the conclusion that I would rather walk through the mud in the shade than be out on a dry track in the hot sun! Along the drive through the Pohongina Valley, I had to take some photos of the fields of huge round hay bales...I think I have an obsession.

25 January: Wednesday. More rain. Super market. Baking. Reading Rosemary - The Hiddne Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson about the daughter of Joe and Rose Kennedy. We are keeping tabs on Max's recovery in Denver through the miracle of technology. He improves incrementally each day.

26 January: Thursday. Sunshine! Got the laundry on the line and went to the NZ Dairy Event at the Manfield Park. It is so interesting to watch all of the people with their best cattle compete for recognition. Cattle owners from all over the country come to Feilding for this event which takes place over three days. Today we saw cows of several breeds. They are judged in groups according to breed and age on stature, skeletal configuration, size of udder, and more. Buzz and I try to pick the best ones in each category with varying success. The handlers range in age from about 12 to adults. After the individual categories there is an overall "best in show". Before tourism ramped up in NZ, dairy farming was the biggest industry.

27 January: Friday. After a quick stop at the farmers market, we called in on Cathy's friend, Jean Sherrard, to drop off the books for their book club since Cathy won't be home for the next meeting. Jean welcomed us into her home and we visited for almost three hours! We've made a new friend. It turns out we know a number of the same people, and she is a very good friend of Alex Mc Cool's sister, Margaret! I have a feeing we'll get together again. I did some cooking and baking in the afternoon, and we had a quiet dinner at home.

29 January: Saturday. It's a beautiful, clear, sunny day. This morning we drove to Turakina to spend some time at the Highland Games event. The morning was individual pipers and highland dancers. We enjoyed the cacophony of so many individual bagpipes being payed at the same time. We asked a young man to tell us about his bagpipes. The wood is African Blackwood, fittings are silver and imitation ivory, the bag is a heavy corded fabric, and the total package costs about $9000! We watched the Highland dancers as well. The little girl in blue in this photo fell early in the dance but picked herself up and continued like a champ...only to dissolve into inconsolable tears once she reached her mother when the dance was over. We left before noon so we could get home and prepare for guests for dinner. On the way home we could see The Mountain (aka Mt. Ruapehu) almost 200km away (120miles)

In the evening our friends Lloyd and Krista Evans and Jo and Rauf Rangooni came for dinner. It was fun to make a "party dinner". We had a good meal (if I do say so myself) and excellent conversation, but we all missed having Cathy ad Max with us.

30 January: Sunday. The day started out breezy but sunny; so we packed a picnic lunch and set off for the day. Our first stop was at the Sanson marked where we got a few fruits and veggies and caught up with a woodworker we had met before. Next, the Cloverlea Sunday Market in Palmerston North. Here we found the treat of the day in the form of Cook Island doughnuts being made by hand by three young men. One made the dough, one manned the fryer, and the third sprinkled the doughnut with icing sugar and took the money. They were charming, and the doughnuts tasted divine. Back on the road we drove to the beach at Tangimoana. We drove down one road which took us to a boat launch and an area where people were fishing, but not a beach to walk along. Try as we may, we couldn't find the rest of the beach! We stopped for a short walk through the Ellison Reserve and then drove to Himitangi. Ordinarily you can drive right onto the beach at here, but it was high tide, the sea was rough, and there was a ford to cross. People in SUVs were fine, but we elected to leave our little sedan up by the road and walk to the beach. It was a very blustery walk. The first thing we noticed was a huge increase in the amount of driftwood debris since we were here last year....including the bit pictured that reminded us of a sea serpent. The beach is actually considered a roadway. There were people in cars, on dirt bikes, four wheelers, and horseback as well as walkers. We had our picnic up off the beach and headed for home...and a nap. All that fresh air will makes me tired.

Cathy called to say that Max is improving each day. She and Maria are settled in for however long he has to stay in Hospital. Heather and Kevin are going to Denver to see them next weekend.