I don't know how long I've been off line....not too long to be beyond describing the length in hours. Like, it may be approaching 48hours. And it has begun to feel as though I've dropped off the planet.....or the linked planet anyhow.

I am staying with a lovely couple, not kiwis, they are from scotland and england. They asked us what country we were from before they agreed to take us on and I wasn't sure if being american was a good or bad thing. Turns out, as long as we weren't french it was all alright. Apparently the french have attitudes not conducive to humbly doing that tasks needing to be done around here.

Moving right along, let me just say the scenery is spectacular, as expected. Our room has gorgeous fat paneled genuine wooden walls and sloped ceiling, but that isn't the important part. One wall is a window looking out on to a little table and worn wooden chairs and beyond that is a small mowed bit and then a fence row of lovely bushes and flowers....and beyond that is a spectacular over view of lake Rotorua and the surrounding city. The lake has a few green mountain bumps called islands. Off in every distance are these green mountain bumps. I suppose they are mountains, but they are nothing like anything I've called mountain before. They are green and rolling, dotted with grazing animals. They are of various heights, some look like I could climb them in an afternoon, some might take a weekend. There are random rocks interspersed along them, of various sizes. They reach up to the sky when the clouds are thick, which seems to happen often, and together they create this sense of being in an imaginary land created on a tv show for children. It feels as though you could run up them and roll down laughing. I'm describing as best I can without pictures or video because our lovely camera has nothing we can charge it with, but rest assured, I'm falling short of the task.

Today Chris and I were dropped off by a fellow beekeeper at a place called “the redwoods”, a park not too far from the house. It was beautiful there, but as we have no transport back, we had to leave earlier than we wanted in order to catch a bus which we didn't catch anyway. That left us walking the entire way back, which wouldn't have been bad had I been wearing a pair of shoes meant for walking in. As it was, I was wearing my Chacos. I bought the Chacos because they were recommended to me by several people in the most glowing terms. They are cute. They are loved by those outdoor types who put packs on and get dirty and wet. I am often that type. But these shoes are the worst thing that has ever happened to my feet. They have a sort-of famous way of loosening and tightening which supposedly allows for optimal fit and comfort. But mine will not stay put and every quarter mile or so end up way too tight in some places and way too loose in others and the pain eventually has me bent over readjusting.

When I tell other Chaco wearers of my dilemma, they say “oh ya. Mine do/did that too and I had to wash them/soak them in solution/rub them in dirt to make them stop.”

Well, I have done all that. And what I was wondering today after readjusting for the 30^th time, was why should anyone call them so amazing when it seems pretty universal to have to fidget with them so much to make them work. Very perplexing. My final opinion....Chacos are not the shit, they are just shit. Expensive adorable shit.

Well, it's another early day tomorrow, so I'd better be getting to sleep.

Big giant wet kisses to you. And goodnight.