For the last 455 days, one very settled position (we bought a house!) offered unexpected views, and a brand new perspective on what I’d previously considered familiar scenery. . .
The perfect Kiwi woman knows the tricks of a perfect pavlova. But I’m only an immigrant, so I cheated: with $4.95, 5 minutes and the premixed Edmonds Pavlova Magic.
Terrific idea, tiring practice. If your first experience camping with baby was similar to ours, it went something like this…
I imagine giants above us, and stare up the narrow cliff sides as if up their bare legs; for the mountains of rock debris could be some fantastical gate destroyed by enormous hands.
In the South Island, I console myself with another summer of surfing Santas and that pinch of white dandruff clinging to the mountains. This is Christmas in New Zealand.
Queenstown’s aluminum roofs shrink to bread boxes, then postcards, as we gain height; at 4,500 feet, it’s a crumb-sized civilization clinging to Lake Wakatipu’s eastern shore…
Butter. What survived thousands of miles and months of transportation in order to reach New Zealand’s soldiers in World War I? Love, hope and a lot of butter.
