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This is a blessed spot, spoilt only by the people, in the central North Island of NZ. |
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Most of the time for me the glass is half empty. On rare occasions the glass is half full as with news of The Donald's activities. |
| We are truly into mid Autumn now. Daylight saving ended on Sunday. Clocks went back one hour so the evenings are much shorter. It is almost dark by 1830hours now. However weather is holding and we are enjoying a longer "Indian Summer". Getting chimney cleaned tomorrow in preparation for colder weather ahead. Life ticks along and we now walk our dogs earlier but we are still in T shirts for now. Rain badly needed as lake is very low. For me Spring and Autumn are the best times of the year. That's it for now good friends and fellow subscribers. God bless. |
| A nice time of year here. Good for regular bike rides and walking dogs. Together with wife Sharon we take our 2 dogs down to the lake most evenings. It's nice to see the commercial tourist boats returning to harbour. Sadly we have an evolving story where a 77 year old man has been badly beaten by prison guards. Dean Wickliffe has been in and out of jail most of his life. Paroled a few years back his accommodation got sold and he became homeless. He slept in his car. This is a breach of parole conditions so back to jail he went. There was a disagreement about double bunking and the guards assaulted him badly. 77 years of age. Wow. Some thing is badly wrong with our country. The guard/s have not been charged yet. Disgusting and repulsive. Where to now we may ask? Dean is on hunger strike at time of writing. |
| Well here we are. World is in turmoil but Xmas is Xmas. I want to wish everyone on Writing.Com a blessed Xmas and all the best for 2025. I have been sporadic on here but this site has kept my head above water over the years. Retirement is OK and am now embracing the freedom. Money is tight due to a small mortgage but it will be paid in 4 years or less so wife and I have much to be thankful for. We surviving cadets from course 25/20 have a Watsapp group and we have formed a close bond. This is also a blessing for me. Solstice has now passed but mid-summer in Taupo is great. Weather is hot and the lake inviting. Town is full of tourists and NZ holiday makers. Hard to get parking but the tourist $$ coming in are welcome! That's all for now. Everybody please keep safe. God bless. |
| The first day of Summer has arrived and our town is experiencing the beginning of our tourist season. This weekend the Cycle Challenge took place. It is a 160km circuit of Lake Taupo. All went well and weather was almost perfect for this annual event. I am still getting my head round the idea of attaining 70 it is reality. Two days ago I received information confirming, through DNA, that I have an extra sister. A half sister but still a sister nevertheless. She is 96 years old and evidently still active. My wife and I are visiting Auckland mid month to visit her Canadian cousins who are on a cruise. We will take this opportunity if possible to visit my new sister. It is a long story and I may get around to explaining more at a later date. No promises. My morale went up with the recent GOP win and all I can say to those who are disappointed is that the country could not continue as it was. Over the next four years I hope to see USA once again emerge as the best and once again give us stability on a global basis. Apart from my right hip beginning to fail I am in good health and looking forward to a great Summer. God Bless. |
| Much has happened in the world. We are just past the middle of 2024 and are slowly plodding through mid winter in NZ. It has been fairly mild so far but still a fair way to go. My wife Sharon and I are finally tying up loose ends with our business and embracing full retirement. We are now seeing many sunset industries such as print media, regular mail deliveries, the firewood industry and other sectors as technology forces change at breakneck speed. There was an attempted assassination on Trump and Biden has withdrawn from the race. These distracting sideshows are irrelevant in that the USA electoral system is broken. Whoever replace Joe will be the next president due to drop box and mail in voting. Fraud is now embedded. My youngest son turns 25 tomorrow. A quarter century as I head for three quarters!! |
| As we enter last month of Autumn there have been a few setbacks for our household. It is easy to be overwhelmed but I find it best to prioritise tasks and work on them one at a time. I was never a multitasker and leave that to my good wife. Nights are cooler now and we have had a few fires but days are nice and warm. Getting our chimney cleaned next week plus a rear baffle installed. NZ struggles on and new govt is meeting headwinds. This is more due to inexperience than anything else. Our education and health sectors are in crisis and there seems little hope ahead. Here doctors have to meet health targets to get fully paid by govt. So targets become more important than actually addressing any particular health needs one has. A disgusting state of affairs. In education we continue to churn out multitudes of functionally illiterate students. For any work requiring any degree of skill we use immigrant workers. A sad and of course ultimately destructive state of affairs. On a positive note my youngest child, a daughter, has turned 23. I have no idea where all the years have gone. Keep well and God bless. |
| The days are becoming cooler here and nights are dipping to 4 degrees Celsius. A pleasant time of year but a harbinger of Winter . Life ticks along here. We are in throes of winding up our business and so far only a few fish hooks. New government is going ahead with its policies but has a very hostile media. Covid is behind us but is still resurrected when it suits certain parties. For me it was and is the biggest scam ever perpetrated on humanity. I look back with bewilderment on the excesses we were forced to endure. We will be attending a funeral in my home town in a couple of weeks. For my sister in law. It is an opportunity to meet relatives cousins and friends. That's all for now and God bless. |
| This not so New Year is moving at a fast pace. It leaves me dizzy. The world is not in good shape what with Navalny murdered by Putin. Navalny is a hero and showed outstanding courage against tyranny. He is an example to us all. USA elections look to be a contest between 2 old white men alas! In NZ our new government is yet to find it's footing. For my wife and I retirement is a new and sometimes rocky path and we are still grappling with it. We are currently coming up against brick wall with bank and pension provider to have funds released to pay off a small mortgage and so leave us more cash for general expenses. Living on a fixed income is presenting a challenge. However we know we are better off than many. A good description is we are asset rich and cash poor like many Kiwis here. On the bright side Autumn is approaching and it is a lovely time of year. We are cycling and walking dogs daily along our lakeshore and we know we have much to be grateful for. God bless. |
| So far we have had a good Summer and certainly far better than the previous one. Currently we have cooler weather as we begin the transition to Autumn. February here is normally a dry month and heralds the approach of seasonal change. We are doing OK and also transitioning into full retirement. Not as easy as it sounds. Lots of biking and dog walking plus slowly getting around to household projects. Sadly 2 days ago we had to put our oldest cat Molly to sleep. She was over 17 and ended up with almost total renal failure. We are still coming to grips with our loss. It hits me hardest when it comes to meal time for our animals. We now have 4 cats, 2 dogs, 2 budgies and a red eared Slider turtle. Turtle is 26 years old and never had a day's ill health. When we obtained her she fitted in a match box. Now she is the size of a large side plate. All is well and we are blessed. I see my subscription is up for renewal. I believe this site is good value for money. |
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