The beach, barbecue, and better blues notes

Otaki beach after a full moon low tide with Emily, baby Bonnie, Sarah, Tony, and Gregg

 The full moon gave us a very low tide and Carla was able to gather an abundance of pipi clams for a barbecue. Gregg grilled a lot of them with apple cider basting that was yummy. I had gone out for another sea fishing jaunt but the conditions were not favorable this time, and as I jumped out of the boat to help us get in from the fishing I took a spill in the surf and moments later realized that I had lost my eyeglasses in the surf. After hours of searching and no luck I made up two signs with Gregg's help to post on the beach in case anyone found the eyeglasses washed up, but still no luck. Perhaps there will be a new kind of sea glass, with wire frames, that will turn up in the driftwood pile years from now.

barbecue fun with Danny, Sarah, Haki, and Carla

Carla's marae "before"

Carla's marae "after"

 These shots have been in the blog before but for fun I put them side by side here. The marae is now fully loaded once again with all the appointments of home and office.

Gregg telling stories at home, he said he needs another haircut.

Gregg's apple press, recently hand sanded and waxed by MBHIII

The apple picking bags just power washed and ready for the big picking weekend coming up.

Rainbow bolt shooting out of Gregg and Carla's

The driftwood wall at Te Horo beach made for great beach combing. 

 My dad had his bladder and prostrate removed early on Tuesday April 10th. His bladder was full of cancer and fortunately the cancer seems to have been contained to the bladder. I had given a lot of thought to going home early in part so I could be there with mom and dad when he left the hospital. Recent exchanges with my family however suggests that Dad came through the surgery really well. Mom is coping quite well too. Dad has been out of the ICU for a couple of days and is walking quite a bit. It is likely to be several more days before they let him go home, but my sense of things now is that I can stick it out here in New Zealand until May 10th as originally planned. I am off to the island of Kapiti, about 3 miles off the coast and nearby, tomorrow. It is primarily a bird sanctuary, a dedicated nature preserve. Carla made the arrangements for the boat permit and visitor reservations. Her dad Maurice is visiting and will go with us. He is probably the healthiest 90 year old I have ever met. I'll hopefully get a lot of good pictures that I can post here in the near future.

Traveling on the train can be a lot of fun with unexpected treats like a mandolin player