You've probably decided I gave up on posting. I suppose I did have to give up regular posting, more because of a lack of capacity for additional writing that was not focused on Masters study, but I have had getting update out on my to-do list for awhile.
It feels a bit silly to just say I have been busy, because it seems a single constant in everybody's life is they are "busy." I suppose I may as well tell you what I have been busy with though!
School is ticking along, but continues to take up quite a lot of time, which is really my biggest excuse for neglecting other things. However, the end is finally in sight with things, I have completed all of the required research and over the last few weeks have been writing and revising and formatting and otherwise trying to polish up the long essay. A current challenge is how to structure everything and say what I want to say without exceeding my word-count limit. At the moment I am in danger of that, but there is still work to be done that will hopefully allow me to cut out bits and pieces here and there so I am sure it will all come together. Anyway, two months from now I will submit things for review, so not far to go :)
Amidst all this, there has not been space for too much excitement but a couple of things are worth sharing.
Dad came to visit in September, so we enjoyed getting to show him around Taranaki. Since we decided to stay local I got to be a tourist in Taranaki, which I had not done for about 5 years! It means I got to tick a few things off the Taranaki sight-seeing list that I had not done yet.
Highlights were the Tawhiti Museum in Hawera, which I highly recommend. No photos allowed so I cannot post any, but I can say it is an impressive artistic display of local and Maori history.
We also did a tour around the sugar loaf islands on Chaddy's Charters, where we got to see a baby shark! They reckon the young fella was about 21 years old and just oh so cuddly.
We also explored the Blacksmith Museum in Pio Pio (which is technically not Taranaki but it is a good day trip so close enough, ha!). We had to get a key from the local convenience and let ourselves in with an honesty box donation and had the luxury of being the only visitors that day, so we were able to take our time exploring the old tools and houses, etc.
Labour Day here is end of October, the first holiday since early June when the Queen's birthday is celebrated. Since I hit the big 3-0 the week before Labour Day (we had a pie potluck to celebrate which I highly recommend as an at-home social event!), we decided to enjoy a weekend away for the holiday weekend. We headed over to the sunny Hawke's Bay town of Napier. They have beautiful palm trees, we went to a wine tasting at New Zealand's oldest winery, enjoyed exploring the art deco downtown and had lots of sunshine and relaxation. If only it could have lasted a bit longer, ha!
Hope all is well in your world. We are looking forward to our Christmas trip home (Troway's first winter Christmas!) and then exploring Japan for two weeks so I will keep track of good things to share :)
Happy Thanksgiving a bit early!
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| Seal Colony around here |
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| Baby...Shark..do do, do do do do :) |
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| Blacksmith Museum |
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| Pie potluck! |
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| East Coast at Napier downtown |
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| Napier rose garden |
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| Mission Estate Winery |
