Update 4

Okay well I'm feeling great - we had a long weekend (Taranaki Anniversary)
with another 4 day week next week (Good Friday) and then a three dayer the
week after that (rest of Easter).

Back to my weekly update about nothing (stolen from George Kastanza -
everybody's doing something - we'll do nothing! - fans of Seinfeld will
understand). This weekend I managed to stack a truckload of firewood, put
down a concrete path and revamp some gardens - also took some photos with
Jade's camera - see attached. That doesn't sound like a lot when I see it
written down but it took three days along with some school work - A Board
report and a Ministry report on our targets from 2007. I tried to get the
mountain into the picture but it was cloudy. I'm reading a history of NZ
at the moment and apparently when a long ago explorer(pretty sure it was
Abel Tasman but could have been after him) sailed up the west coast they
left Mount Taranaki - then an active volcano - off their map!!! Apparently
covered in cloud and
invisible.

My boycott of the news continues - Samantha will be thrilled to know. When
I came back from the UK I missed the Guardian and BBC news a huge amount.
Times that by 100 when confronted by the pathetic Taranaki Daily News and
our TV news. We're so small on a world stage - always have been - and we
indulge in tabloid rubbish on a tiny scale. I hate it and decided to
boycott newspapers and TV news. And I feel great for it - no longer petty
small-minded stuff and death and violence on a daily basis.

Weather report - brilliantly fine weekend - sun tan style. This morning
was really cold though - now sunny and hot. I've switched to tank water
(tank pictured in the background of Ducky the cow) coz it was forecast for
rain - never happened.

Things we've noticed since Samantha went to Wellington: it's quieter (a
lot quieter), the daily parade of wet flannels in the bathroom has
stopped!, the washing pile is hugely reduced, we have to cook all of our
own meals - means Subway (Stratford's one and only fast food emporium)
once a week, the TV isn't going until 1 in the morning, my Killers Cds are
not littering her bedroom, the car doesn't need as much petrol and is home
more.

Messages for Adam/Keegan - mum lost her mobile while horse riding - hence
not responding to your txts. We need Keegan's home number (was on the
missing mobile) and we need to plan for your graduation KW - if you have
three tickets it means me/mum and Adam but if you get more it can involve
the girls. Please let us know - just by return email.

Tom got in touch with an opportunity to hear his (and Lewis?) music -
google 'silent alliance' (lewis has moved on from + special guests but
google them too for a bio etc).

The photos Ducky the cow and me on tractor. We have 6
paddocks and it would be a tad boring
showing you all 6 pictures of grass and trees (which I actually took - how
sad is that), so instead a pic of Jacky's horse (Dylan) and Jade's pony
(Cash) in the horse yards that Sallie and I built. Mount Taranaki in the
background. Flash eh. Next time - chickens, the hay barn and more!!!

That'll do it for now. Currently grooving to Joni Mitchell's older stuff -
Court and Spark and especially the Hejira album - for me definitely her
best - great on a sunny day while you're doing the gardening. I'm
perservering with her latest "Shine' but it inevitably drew me back to her
old stuff. So give me 'Raised on Robbery' over a retake of 'Big Yellow
Taxi' any day!!

Love and peace - W