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My Blog. Generally Intended for Reading-Not Eating!. |
Rose-Tinted Ramblings ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** A Little of What You Might Expect & A Lot of Everything Else that You Don't!. My writing style for my blog is invariably 'snarkastic'. This is because I am a nice, unassuming and quietly-spoken person IRL-and this blog is where my innermost moments and torments happen. Trust me, I am no exception to that delightful rule. Greetings! Welcome to my THIRD blog here on WDC. A re-incarnation of my earlier version of my Blog, here "Insanties and Sensibilities" this v.03 should prove to be equally...challenging and hopefully, entertaining. That said, life often weaves through our writing in mysterious ways, and this Blog will probably prove to be no exception to that. We are very likely all quite different, yet the same, us writers and our collective little whims, fascinations and insecurities. |
September 11, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 50 (F) Cloudy and foggy. Events of Note: Reflecting on seven years past. In the Nudes: Everyone's still talking about Palin ![]() ![]() |
September 10, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 56 (F) Sunny. Events of Note: Completing one project, moving on to another. In the Nudes: Bolivia asks U.S ambassador to leave; protests mount. ![]() ![]() When in doubt-take a tub. |
September 09, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 49 (F) Foggy and chilly. Events of Note: Constantly wishing it's Friday. Shedding my skin... In the Nudes: Notorious couples: Ike and Texas. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Have a starry night!. |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Great Southern Land-Part One Welcome to the first in a twice-weekly series about my most recent travels, “DownUnder” –back to my home-country of New Zealand. It had been three and a half years since I’d been back. At the time that I’d left New Zealand last, I was five- almost six months pregnant with my daughter, Anya, and, after only a few weeks of marriage had been apart from my new husband for three months of my pregnancy, while we waited for approval on my immigrant visa entry to the U.S. My mother had never met our daughter in-person before now. In addition, in the intervening time, my brother’s wife had given birth to our niece, Arwen, just four months after our daughter was born. So, after abandoning our earlier (and disappointingly futile) efforts to get ourselves down to New Zealand in the past two years, this last June, we were finally on our way!. My in-laws drove us, and a frightening amount of luggage, from the steaming hot inland mountains of North-Western California, through to San Francisco International Airport, to catch our evening flight out on Air New Zealand-a direct flight from SFO-Auckland, New Zealand, non-stop. Total flight time: 13.5 hours. Little did we know, on passing casually through security at SFO, that our dearest, darling daughter had packed a shiny, nine inch nail (“borrowed” from her father’s toolkit) into her cute, co-ordinating lime green and pale pink rolling backpack, complete with detachable lunch-bag. Our “Beanie” ever the charmer, promptly struck up an extremely serious and pressing conversation with the female security officer who was now meticulously searching her bag. “We’re going on a big, special plane to New Leazland!” she declared triumphantly. “Did you know about this?”, the security officer asked us in a bemused tone, holding up the offending sharp object in a rubber-latexed hand. I looked at my husband, and he looked at me, and we both couldn’t help laughing in a cautious-kind-of a way. “Noooo, we didn’t-what’s she doing with that in her pack?”. Anyway, this deadly discovery was clearly so compelling that she had to call her supervisor over for a more detailed determination. “Does da kid look like a threat to you, Tony?.” ‘Tony’ blinked owlishly and smiled somewhat a few times, as “Beanie” hopped first from one foot, then to the other, confirming exhuberantly, “That’s from my Daddy’s toolkit!” Yeah, no kidding. “You can go ahead and confiscate it.” I suggested. “Ahhh-doesn’t matter-don’t worry about it.” the security officer shrugged, quickly packing the nail back into “Beanie’s” pack. (Several days before our departure, I’d had a pre-conversation with my daughter, explaining how her bags and her shoes might be checked by security-she had seemed cool with the whole situation). So, onwards we went. We’d forgotten how tenuously tiny those Economy Class seats can be, especially if one is overly tall (as all three of us are). Poor “Beanie” squirmed, shifted, wriggled and grunted, but however much she contorted herself into any direction-she was distinctly uncomfortable. Eventually, out of sheer desperation, she crawled underneath the seats in front of us, and fell asleep for the entire duration of the flight!. After 12,500 miles of flying (and a mostly sleepless night), we touched down in Auckland, New Zealand. It was “Beanie’s” third birthday, so a double-celebration. That ‘unfortunate’ nail was back to haunt us again. Before catching our domestic, connecting flight from Auckland to Christchurch (see map on title banner) we were stopped by New Zealand security. “But, why would you pack something like this into your CHILD’s carry-on luggage?” Well, how about, we, her parents, had no knowledge of the fact that our CHILD packed it?. Suddenly, there were additional questions-Mr. Rainbowapple’s occupation?. Did he use these types of implements in his work?. Why were we in New Zealand?. Eventually, we were allowed on our way again, but not until the security officer had called all of their colleagues out to, “Look!. See what I found!”. Yes, the nail was finally confiscated. Apparently, national security doesn’t care as much if you’re leaving with something dodgy on your person, but they are positively rabid about you entering a country with same-said object. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** [Our Air NZ plane at SFO] Our domestic flight from Auckland (in the North Island) to Christchurch (located in the South Island) seemed to take forever, despite only being an hour and a half. We were each exhausted, nursing blistering headaches, as well as daunted by a heavy dose of anticipation. Would everyone be the same as we remembered them?. What had changed and why?. Well, by the time we reached Customs and Immigration, and “Beanie” had unpacked her entire collection of Play-Doh in the immigration holding area, “Beanie” was hysterical and in no mood whatsoever for playing Miss Nice, anymore. Meanwhile, I’d been ‘processed’ somewhat faster after officials found out that I was a returning kiwi Medical School graduate (education gets you absolutely everywhere in New Zealand-it’s a measure of status, integrity, character…). Once we were all back together at Customs, the officials were friendly and expeditious, and after such a long, long wait, we could at last see my 6’9” tall brother peering at us expectantly from the other side of the international Arrivals Terminal. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** [L to R-our SIL, Jenn, Arwen and Anya-and the offending rolling backpack!] On Day Two after arriving in Christchurch, we awoke to discover a light dusting of snow. It was quite unremarkable as snowfall by U.S standards goes… ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ["Beanie" says, "Meh" to the GodZone version of snow-Christchurch, June 07, 2008] Part Two-That scenery that LOTR made infamous.... |
September 07, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 59 (F) Sunny with low clouds/fog Events of Note: Catching up with "WordPress" In the Nudes: US govt intervenes with Fannies and Freddies. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
September 06, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 70 (F) Mild and sunny, sunny and mild. Events of Note: Quiet day-usually the way I like it. In the Nudes: Don't get sick in Zimbabwe-the hospitals are a shambles. ![]() ![]() |
September 05, 2008. Whether the Weather: 78 (F) Grillin' Events of Note: Still stuck inside, beating off panic attacks with a lollipop stick. In the Nudes: Rice lands in Libya - one last "Hurrah"?. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
September 04, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 68 (F) Sunny, warm and pleasant. Events of Note: Stuck inside, writing a report, polishing my resume. In the Nudes: Latest Hurricane and presidential predictions. ![]() ![]() |
September 03, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 60s (F) Sunny and mild. Events of Note: Contemplating the serious issues in life.... In the Nudes: Hanna, Ike, Josephine. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
September 02, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 50s (F) Cold and clear. Events of Note: Re-invention. In the Nudes: Palin's future SIL is a self-confessed red-neck. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |