Harry Potter Week at our library

Yes, we're suffering from Potter Mania here in New Zealand, too.

The final book in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" went on sale Saturday, 21 July at 11:00 a.m. which is midnight in London. Buying the book at 11 in the morning is serendipitously convenient for Kiwi kids because they don't have to stay up all night reading it like UK and US kids who get their books at midnight. However, there were still some NZ teenagers who got in line the night before and stayed up all night on the footpaths outside Auckland's bookstores. Other Potter fans were in line bright and early, wearing various wizard costumes, glasses, and jagged scars on their foreheads.

I was less impatient, waiting until 3:00 in the afternoon to go to the bookshop, and I didn't have to wait in line at all. There was still a huge pyramid of books available. It was fascinating to watch shoppers approach the mountain of books, pick one up, surreptitiously flip to the last page, try to figure out who died, then guiltily look around to see if anyone caught them peeking. I shouldn't complain, though, for I did the exact same thing.

When I got home, I read the last chapter first (Spoiler Alert: Harry lives), then I started at the beginning. Some people are shocked when I admit that I - a LIBRARIAN - often read the ending ahead of time. I've done this for decades, and I don't think it reduces my enjoyment of a book. In fact, I enjoy it more because I like to see the path that the author takes me on as I journey through the plot to the ending. I also like to read magazines from back to front. But that's just me.

When I got to work Monday morning, many of the Potterheads had already finished it (I told them I'd read the first 8 chapters, plus the last chapter), and others were still working on it. It's an amazing and heartening sight to see groups of girls sitting around all reading the same thick, red book. My fellow librarian Lucy outdid herself with a new Harry Potter bulletin board, including twinkling lights and a broomstick flying overhead. I displayed my 6 American Harry Potter books, which all have different covers (here's US#6 vs. UK#6). And one book even has a different title! The first book was originally published in UK as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" but the US publishers thought that "Philosopher" would sound too geeky to American kids so they changed it to "... Sorcerer's Stone." Who knew.

Leilani, our Library Prefect (that means she's the girl in charge of the library's student helpers) planned an exciting week of Harry Potter activities:

Monday: Harry Potter food for sale during lunch. I made Dragon Droppings (chocolate & oatmeal no-bake cookies). My colleague Lara brought Luna's loony chocolate (it was yellow and green). Students brought chocolate frogs, cups of gummy worms, etc. It was a big hit.

Tuesday: Leilani designed 5 Harry Potter pins to sell for $3 each. At our school, the girls all wear uniforms so there are limited opportunities to express your individuality. The only thing allowed is lapel pins. The more pins you have, the cooler you are. You earn pins by being on a sports team, or being in a musical group, or being a student librarian. etc. The girls covet pins. Some of the older girls have about 50 pins on their blazer, and this is a sign of status. Leilani had 100 Harry Potter pins made AND THEY WERE SOLD OUT BY 11:00. So she called the badge-making company and ordered another 100 for tomorrow.

Wednesday: Potter fanatics are in the library at 7:30 asking "Do you have more badges for sale?" "When will the Harry Potter badges be here?" The new pins arrive at about 8:00 and cause a stampede. Leilani arranges to order more, including a new design.

Thursday: There was a Harry Potter debate today at lunchtime. Some of the girls on the school debate team had agreed to debate whether Neville or Harry makes a better hero. The girls representing Neville did a gallant job, arguing that he doesn't get distracted by girls like Harry does, he kept Dumbledore's Army going when Harry dropped out of school, he was the one who cut off the head of the snake, and he was much better in Herbology. But the Harry Potter team won, arguing that he was better looking (like a hero should be), he was the first to learn how to do a Patronus, he was an outstanding Seeker in Quidditch, etc. Harry was the obvious winner. But it was quite entertaining. The Little Theatre was packed with over a hundred girls watching the debate.

Friday: This was the day of the Harry Potter quiz, which had been generating excitement all week. There were 20 teams of 4 girls each, and even a teacher team, including me! The teacher team (The Mighty Muggles) managed to get 32 out of 60 questions right, only because we eavesdropped on the teams around us, peeked at their papers as they wrote, offerred high marks in exchange for correct answers, and flattered the judges repeatedly on the answer sheets. Alas, it didn't help. These little Pottermaniacs knew WAY more than us. The winning team got 59 out of 60 answers correct! Our best excuse is this: We read the early Harry Potter books a decade ago, and have read HUNDREDS of books since then. Plus we're old and our memory is shot. The quiz was fun, though.

PS - I finally finished HP#7 Thursday night. It ended just the way I expected it to.

Whooping it up at the Librarian Conference in Wellington

After a prolonged debate, it was finally decided that I would get to attend the School Librarian Association of New Zealand (SLANZA) conference in Wellington. At first, my colleagues and I assumed that the boss would go. Then she didn't want to go. Since it looked like nobody was going (and there was money in the budget), I told her that I was interested in attending ... but I was the employee with the least seniority, so she needed to offer it to Lara, Barbara, and Lucy first. Eventually it was decided that Lucy and I would BOTH go, which I never imagined would happen. We hurriedly reserved flights, booked a hotel, and registered for the conference before anyone could change their minds.

The big adventure began with me having to get up at 4:30 to get to the airport by 5:30 for a 6:00 flight. I am NOT good at getting up early. I am SO not a morning person, and I reminded Lucy of that repeatedly throughout the day. On the other hand, I could hardly believe that you only needed to check in 30 minutes early for an NZ flight! It's great living in a small country that isn't hyper-sensitive about security and terrorists. Curiously, Lucy and I were not seated together, but that's OK because I probably wouldn't have been very good company at that hour of the morning anyway.

Once we landed in Wellington (1.5 hours later), Lucy escorted me into the Koru Club, Air New Zealand's first-class lounge. Lucy's husband is a more-than-frequent flyer and he's a gazillion-mile member of the Koru Club or something like that. Anyway, Lucy gets access too, so she suggested that we go there for free breakfast. I'm all over that idea. It was my first time in a first class lounge and now I know what I've been missing all these years: cushy armchairs, hundreds of free newspapers, unlimited free food and drinks, fancy restrooms ... the works. I ate some really good muesli (granola) with yogurt and was tempted to find out which brand they serve because it was the best muesli I'd ever had in NZ. Mmm mmm. Alas, we had to get to the hotel before I could gorge myself further.

We took a taxi to the hotel, dropped off our bags, and walked to the high school where the conference was being held. We arrived just in time for the powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome ceremony. After the keynote speaker, it was time for morning tea: scones. Then we headed off to our first session. I went to a session on copyright laws in NZ (I know it sounds boring, but it's stuff I need to know) while Lucy learned about new IT developments in libraries. Then it was time for lunch: mini quiche and tarts. There was another session, then afternoon tea: muffins. Don't you love this country! After our 3rd session, there was even wine and cheese. They sure fed us a lot.

Like most conferences, some sessions were better than others. One frustrating presenter told us how to use an online database, but didn't even let us log on and try it ourselves. We just sat there in the computer lab and watched him do it. Ugh. The same is true of the different speakers; some were fascinating, some were funny, and some were boring. I still like going to conferences, however. There's things to learn, and new products to see, and inspiring speakers. Either I get great ideas for what I'd like to do differently, or I get validation that I'm doing some things well already.

My favourite speakers are usually the authors. In May, I went to the Auckland Writers and Readers Conference and got to hear about 25 different authors speak in various sessions. Joanne Harris (Chocolat) was wry, and Lionel Shriver (We Need to Talk About Kevin) was appropriately intense. Joy Cowley, an NZ children's author, told about her childhood when she always read a book while walking, and even read a book while riding her bike! (then she crashed into a parked car). I know it's nerdy, but I like to hear authors speak. At this conference, there was an entertaining speech by author Kate DeGoldi, and also Apirana Taylor, a poet who played various flute-like instruments as part of his poetry performance.

Often, the best part of a conference is the vendor tables with all their exhibits. I know they're just trying to sell me something, but they give away so many freebies that I don't mind stopping to talk to them. Lucy and I ended up with a shoulder bag full of pencils, pens, rulers, bookmarks, posters, hats, jelly beans, books, reading lamp, calculator, and notepads - besides the product information. We made a haul.

The conference ended early on the second day so the participants would have time to enjoy Wellington. You'll never guess where Lucy and I ended up - the Wellington City Library. We tried shopping, and even went into a store or two but then decided to see what the city library was like and ended up staying there the rest of the afternoon. We were interested in how they displayed their books, what kind of signage they used ("Dewey Love Non-Fiction? Dewey Ever!"), and the names of the various sections (Nostalgia Collection = classics). Lucy even took a few pictures, which brought a supervisor over who asked what we were doing. When we explained that we were school librarians admiring their set-up, she was really nice and said she was happy to answer our questions. (In America we would have been questioned to see if we were making plans for a terrorist attack) We browsed their shelves until we got bored and then started walking back. We're such library geeks. In our defence, we did go to a Belgian pub for dinner, which sounds much more happening than it was. I better skip the part about dancing on the tables and picking up cute (younger) guys in case our husbands read this. No, seriously.

The truth is that I'd been sneezing and blowing my nose all day so I took some antihistamine back at the hotel and fell asleep while Lucy was still watching CSI. Sharing a hotel room was not a problem for us, but I'd asked Curt if he ever shared hotel rooms with other guys when he went on site visits and he said No Way!. Apparently sharing a room is a girl thing.

On the last morning, the alarm went off as scheduled. I hate alarms. I hate getting up. At home, Curt gets up first, takes a shower and turns on the heater in the bathroom (this way it's nice and toasty when it's my turn). When he comes out, he gets dressed and starts to make the bed ... except I'm still in it. He folds up the duvet. Brrrr. Finally, he has to "hug" me, then sit me up, then stand me up (still hugging), and finally send me to the now toasty bathroom. It's our tradition. In the Wellington hotel room, I didn't have anyone to drag me out of bed. I explained the routine to Lucy, but she refused to perform Curt's duties. Anyway, I had to get out of bed all by myself and I performed admirably. Lucy threatened to tell Curt that my whole routine is fake, and that I'm perfectly capable of getting out of bed by myself. Uh oh.

On this particular morning, Lucy turned on the TV to watch the replay of the America's Cup race that took place in Valencia at about 2:00 in the morning. We didn't care enough about the race to stay up and watch it live (although lots of Kiwis did) but we wanted to know the outcome so we watched the replay. At this point, the New Zealand boat was down 4-2, and the Swiss boat only needed one more race to win overall. When we turned it on, the Swiss boat was ahead. It looked like it would be all over for the Kiwis. But no. Something happened to the Swiss boat ... they were losing ground ... the Kiwis passed them! It looked like the Kiwis might win after all. The Kiwi boat kept gaining ground (do they call it gaining ground or is it gaining water?) and had a comfortable lead as they neared the finish line. But apparently the Kiwis had a penalty against them from an earlier infringement. This meant they'd have to make the boat do a pirouette! So just before the finish line, they cranked it hard to the right (starboard? port?) and the boat turned in a tight circle. Unfortunately, this allowed the Swiss boat to catch up and pass them BY ONE SECOND. The Swiss boat won the America's Cup.

That was a pretty exciting finish, considering I don't even care about this sport. But boy, the rest of New Zealand sure cares. The whole country would be in mourning after this. If it's any consolation, most of the crew members on the Swiss boat were poached from New Zealand (but everyone here considers them traitors). I guess New Zealanders dominate the crews on pretty much all the boats. Sailing is HUGE in NZ. One more thing - why does Switzerland have a boat when there's not even any oceans in that country???

Today's date was July 4th, which doesn't mean anything in NZ, but would be a big holiday in the US. Since Wellington is the nation's capital - and the location of the American Embassy, I wondered if there would be some sort of 4th of July celebration there to mark the occasion. Coincidentally, the US Ambassador is from Portland, but he was appointed as a reward for his service to G. W. Bush as campaign finance chairman or something. So he probably wouldn't be amused but my explanation of why we moved to New Zealand. I guess it's just as well I didn't try to attend anything at the embassy.

Back at the conference, we had one more speaker, morning tea, another sessions, lunch, one last session, and a closing panel. Done. Our flight wasn't until 7:00 so we had some time to kill. No, we did not go to the Wellington City Library this time. We went to Borders Books. Which is almost as pathetic, I guess. For dinner, Lucy proposed that we go to the airport early and have free dinner in the Koru Club. Sounds like a plan. I got to gorge myself one last time before we flew home. This time, Lucy and I were seated together and we debriefed: good conference, lots of loot. We can't wait to share all our new ideas with our colleagues. Lucy said she'd make a Power Point of the pictures she took. I told her to remember to remove the picture of the cute guys that we picked up at the pub, or our fellow librarians might think we had too much fun.

Hard of HearingKiwi

We've been living here for 1.5 years now, and we really are better at understanding the Kiwi accent. I swear. But at times, it still stumps us. There have been three recent events that reminded me just how muddled I can get.

There's a great kids' book called Millions, written by Frank Boyce. It's about two young British boys who found a bag of money and had to figure out whether to spend it, how, and on what. Eventually it was made into a movie, and my library purchased it. So I decided to bring it home on Friday and watch it. All good so far. In the opening conversation between the boy and his dad, I understood exactly 0% of what they said. Curt didn't fare any better. The boy's voice is kinda high, and he mumbles a little. Maybe that's why we missed it. We re-wound it and watched the scene again. Nope. Nothing. This movie takes place in Northern England and is about a low-income family, and their accent is absolutely unintelligible to us. There seems to be a lack of consonants in their speech. We finally resorted to subtitles. I'm so ashamed. We had to watch an ENGLISH movie with subtitles!

Also this weekend, there was the national spelling bee going on in Washington DC. Curiously, a New Zealand girl had qualified to compete, and it was a big news story around the country. I didn't even realise that the American spelling bee allowed kids from other English-speaking countries, but I guess they do. It seems like it would be a bit of a disadvantage for her because there are so many things spelled differently (like manoeuvre and kerb) that she had to learn. There are also words that sound significantly different (like furor in US = furore in NZ which has 3 syllables fyur-OR-ee). And she has to be able to understand the word that the judges are saying. That actually turned out to be easier than the judges being able to understand what SHE was saying.

The Kiwi girl made it beyond the preliminary rounds and into the televised finals, where the judges constantly struggled to understand her. For instance, they couldn't tell if she was spelling a word with a G or a J. G/GEE in NZ sounds a lot like J/JAY because E sounds like A. The judges kept asking her to repeat it. She'd say JAIE - or something like that - and they were stumped. Finally, they asked her to give them another word that starts with the same letter. She said giraffe. Ah hah! She was spelling with a G after all. The New Zealand news was having great fun with the judges' ignorance. They interviewed Kiwi schoolmates who all agreed she'd clearly said JAIE and why couldn't the judges get it?

The third incident happened at my school (which is named Diocesan School, but often called Dio for short). One of the teachers came in to the library to do some photocopying and struck up a conversation with us:
Teacher: Do you have a Dio beer in the library?
Lara, a fellow librarian answers: Nah.
Teacher: I have one beer, but I need about 4.
(I look puzzled)
Lara: Where'd you get yours?
Teacher: A parent of a student gave it to me.
(I'm still looking puzzled)
Teacher: I was going to be teaching a unit on storytelling, and thought it might be fun to use Dio beer.
(I'm extremely puzzled)
Lara: I think there's one downstairs in the office, though.
Teacher: Yeah. Theirs is all dressed up in school colours.
(I am beyond puzzled now)
Teacher: Remember when they were taking pictures of the beer and emailing to everyone?
Lara: People who dress up their beer must be sick.
Teacher: You sure have a funny look on your face, Megan.
Me: I'm still trying to figure out what this conversation is about. Usually if I listen long enough, I can use the context to fill in the blanks. But I'm lost. Are you talking about Dio beer???
Teacher and Lara, laughing hysterically: No, a Dio BEAR! You know, a stuffed teddy bear with the school insignia!

As you can tell, I'm still not quite fluent in Kiwi. But I did have a small success recently: I commented on the lovely scones that we had for morning tea, and Lucy said I pronounced it exactly right! (I've only been practising every Monday morning tea for the last 10 months!) Scone in Kiwi is pronounced about halfway between SCUHN and SCONN. And I did it right. Once.

Listmania

I am a listaholic. I love grocery lists, to-do lists, book lists, staff lists, travel lists, and obscure lists of any kind. So naturally I was thrilled when Lucy said she was going to do a bulletin board display in the library about lists. Brilliant!

We included books like 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and The 10 Best of Kiwi Ingenuity. In addition, she found some lists such as the biggest libraries in the world (Library of Congress is #1) and most common baby names in New Zealand (Charlotte & Jack). And the best part was that Lucy wanted each of us to submit some lists, too.

We had great fun looking at lists online. The best site by far was Mc Sweeney's. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/ McSweeney's is a publishing company founded by Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) whose mission is to support new writers and to promote writing to kids. They wanted to open a writing center for kids in San Francisco, but because of zoning regulations, they were told they had to be a retail store. Their solution? After careful deliberation, they determined that there was a distinct lack of pirate supply stores in the Bay Area. Their writing center now sells pirate supplies at the front of the store, and is a drop-in center for kids at the back. Curt and I went there once and bought loaded dice and an eyepatch, but declined the puffy shirt. As you can tell, they're a bit quirky, and their website is too. It has loads of funny lists submitted by readers such as:
TERRIBLE NAMES FOR HAIR SALONS by John Moe
Shear Hostility
Get The Hell Out Of Hair
The Mane Reason My Parole Was Revoked
Nervous McStabby's Hair Care Place
Reason Has Been E-Clips-ed by Rage
Running With Scissors
In No Conditioner To Drive
Hair Commandant
Cuts & Bruises
Dude, I'm So Buzzed
The Viet-Mane War Memorial
I Hate My Mother
George Hair-ison's Solo Career
Why Won't You Dye?
Mein Coif

Oh boy. I went home and immediately started brainstorming possible lists. When Boone (#4 son) was little, he used to read the dictionary for fun (!) and make lists of all the words that you could type using only the top row of keys on a typewriter (like troupe), or words that begin and end with the same letter (like alfalfa and ammonia). So he was my inspiration on a few of the lists. Being an English teacher also guided my choices, I think. Eventually, I chose the following lists:

PALINDROMES:
Some men interpret nine memos
Dennis sinned
Don't nod
Too bad – I hid a boot
Rats live on no evil star
No trace; not one carton
Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?
Murder for a jar of red rum
Never odd or even
A man, a plan, a canal – Panama!
A man, a plan, a cat, a canal – Panama!
A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal – Panama!

OXYMORONS:
Jumbo Shrimp
Pretty Ugly
Definite Maybe
found missing
exact estimate
alone together
original copies
genuine imitation
sweet tart
peace force
seriously funny
liquid gas

Worst movie titles:
Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death
The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!
To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar!
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid
Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood
Phffft
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
How To Stuff a Wild Bikini
Half Past Dead

Celebrities who go by one name:
Madonna
Jewel
Eminem
Prince
Sting
Bono
Beyonce
Pink
Moby
Beck
Usher
Oprah
Cher

Besides finding and writing our own lists, we invited students to add some to the bulletin board. They have included Favourite Songs (of which I was not familiar with a single one!), Places I'd Rather Be Than at School, and Best Fantasy Authors. It's been fun to see the students' responses to the display - both reading it/chuckling at it, and writing a list themselves. Coincidentally, there is a new TV game show in NZ about making lists called The Rich List. Lists must be the latest rage, and Lucy was obviously ahead of her time.

I made one last contribution to the bulletin board - a list of all 50 states in alphabetical order. My Kiwi colleagues were (mildly) impressed.
What lists would you include?

Senior Citizen

Curt went to get a haircut yesterday, and the lady gave him a Senior Discount. He's 52. He debated whether to correct her, but he was too cheap to give up the $7 discount it proffered.

He hates paying $20 for a haircut anyway, since he doesn't have a lot of hair to cut. And there's not much styling involved since all it takes is a #4 guard. It's all over within 5 minutes, and he doesn't like paying $20 for it.

A few months ago, he talked me into cutting his hair for him. I reluctantly agreed ... with the condition that he would not yell at me. He reluctantly agreed. Sitting in the kitchen with a towel around his neck, I dutifully shaved his head with the #4 guard. So far so good. This is kinda fun. Just a little messy. Next, he wanted me to use the edger to trim the bottom and his sideburns. OK. I can do this. Finally, he wanted me to use the #2 guard to blend the edging with the #4 guard section. Huh? I did my best, and he claimed he was pleased with the outcome. Uh oh. I feared I may have just gotten myself a job.

But wait. The second time I tried to cut his hair, I was not as successful. The edging was a little crooked. And when I was supposed to blend the edging with the other section, I slipped and made some obvious gashes in the hairline. I didn't draw blood, but the hair was clearly missing at an angle above his ear. Oops. I tried real hard to blend the gash by making everything shorter on that side. Hmm. He tried real hard not to yell at me.

Eventually, he started hinting that he needed another haircut. I pretended I didn't hear him. He brought it up again the following week. I dragged my feet. He finally got tired of waiting for me to do it, and went to the beauty shop. This is when the Senior Discount surfaced. What do you do when someone offers you a lower cost because you're old? Is the discount supposed to compensate for the fact that you're now balding and greying? Should he be offended or should he be appreciative?

Well, you know how this ended. He smiled and took the change. He has no self-respect.

Farewell

We said good-bye to Nolan and Erica at the airport this morning. And I didn't cry too much. I'm quite proud of myself.

Last night, we went out for a farewell dinner at an Italian place down by the waterfront. This area is known as Viaduct Harbour and was redeveloped to host the America's Cup in 2000. Besides all the restaurants and bars, there's a marina, boat charters, and the maritime museum. More importantly, it's still Team New Zealand's headquarters. If you're lucky, you can watch their boat going out for practice runs. At the moment, however, the boat and the entire crew are in Valencia, winning the America's Cup semi-finals 5-0 against the Italian boat, and preparing for the finals against the Swiss boat. The newspapers are already assuming victory, and the subsequent right to host America's Cup in 2010. New Zealanders are definitely fanatics about sailing and yachting. I'm not much of a sailor myself. It's just that owning a boat always seemed like a waste of money. Plus I'd get seasick. However, I still cheer for the NZ boat, and I still enjoy walking along Viaduct Harbour with the lights sparkling off the water at night. It's a great location for a farewell dinner.

At the restaurant, we had an authentic Italian waiter who was really good. I liked his accent. After exotic main courses like pumpkin-stuffed cannelloni, we still succumbed to our penchant for gluttony and ordered dessert. Chocolate of course. Yes, we ate too much, but walking back up Queen Street to get to our car helped a bit. Plus I saw a great bomb in the window of a store on Queen St. I'll have to go back tomorrow (when stores are open) and buy it.

Once we were back at the house, Nolan and Erica had to pack. It was sad to watch them closing down their life here with us to go back to life in Bellingham. Their most challenging packing problem was how to get 6 bottles of NZ wine and mead safely to America. So they'd bought a special box with polystyrene inserts to protect the bottles. It should all survive.

This morning, Curt made tates and eggies for brekkie for them one last time, then loaded all their (large) bags in our (tiny) car. At the airport, there was even a special counter for them to check their fragile wine box, along with people's oversized surfboards and such. It seemed promising that the wine bottles might just arrive intact.

All week, I had been threatening to refuse to take them to the airport, or to hide their passports, but in the end I accepted the inevitable and I'll have you know that I delivered them to the airport without a scene. Because of my earlier threats, though, they thought we were kidding again when Curt said, "You probably don't know about the $25 Departure Fee." After smiling knowingly at each other and a few nudges, they realised we were serious. There really is a Departure Fee.

As you can imagine, it's been really nice to have them here for the last 2 months. We've enjoyed their company. I try to tell myself that it'll be good when they're gone, too, because ... umm ... there'll be less dirty dishes? But I will miss having them around. Note the sad look on my face in the photo above. Then note the happy look on Nolan's face. He seems to be a little too pleased with the notion of leaving us. Hrmph. Well, I'm absolutely ecstatic that there will be less dirty dishes AND that I will have more time on the computer now that they're gone. So there.

PARTY!!!

Erica and Nolan chopped and mixed and assembled and cooked all day. And they made every dish into a work of art! Curt cleaned the bathrooms, replaced light bulbs, and picked up 2 cakes from a fancy bakery in Parnell. I hoovered (vacuumed), but that was the extent of my contribution. Then I took a nap.

Everything was ready, everybody came, and everything went perfectly! On top of that, Curt said really sweet and heartfelt things about me at the party and he earned some big-time brownie points. What more could I ask for?

Everyone raved about Erica's food. Grant ate 20 or 30 chicken skewers. Mark liked the marinated mushroom antipasto skewers. Barb was impressed by the tortilla roll-up sandwiches. Erica had also made crostini, mushroom croustades, cheese platter, veggie platter & hummus, fruit platter & yogurt dip, and my favourite - Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies. I had told everybody specifically NOT to bring any presents, but a few guests brought chocolate anyway. They know me so well. Almost everyone brought a bottle of wine. I think we ended up with more bottles left over after the party (10) than we had bought before the party (7). Net gain in the wine inventory.

Upstairs, I'd put out a few toys and art supplies for the 7 kids who came. The kids kept busy most of the time by making me scads of birthday cards using fancy scissors and coloured paper and stickers. It was sweet. The oldest 2 girls, Emma and Isobella did a good job watching over the younger ones, although the playroom was still pretty messy in the end. Then Emma and her mom (Lucy) picked up all the bits of paper for me. True friends.

So many people were there! Of the neighbours, there was Matt & Maree (from whom we bought this house and who still live nearby), Brendan & Melanie, Annette, Gabrielle, and John & Margaret (a teacher at my school). Mo (a Canadian) & Simon were there, fellow expats we'd met through an expats internet forum who coincidentally bought a house right down the street. They were pleased to meet the Gowing Street neighbours, but they also connected with another Canadian (Joanne), who is married to our choir director (Mark). Besides Mark & Joanne, from church there was Ivan & Anne, Vicky & Graeme, and Jenny & Marston. Work friends included Jon & Suze from Curt's office, plus Lucy & Grant and Barbara & Derek from my library. I was especially glad to finally meet Barbara's husband, Derek, because I'd heard about him but had never actually laid eyes on him; I call him Barbara's "alleged" husband. Best of all, we got to see Rick & Bev for the first time in over a year. They had hosted us, guided us, and helped us move to NZ in 2005 but lately we've been embarrassingly lax about keeping in touch. When you add in Nolan & Erica's presence, plus me & Curt, it all added up to 30 people. I ended up with quite a collection of birthday cards, too. Of course, it helps if you provide supplies and instruct the kids to make lots. Overall, it made me feel all warm inside to look around my house, crowded with well-wishers, and see evidence of our first 1.5 years here: good friends, good jobs, good church, good house, good son who just graduated. Not bad.

But it got even better: At about 9:00, Curt and Erica brought out the desserts, one chocolate cake and one cheesecake. Excellent choices! Everyone sang Happy Birthday, but with the room full of choir members, it was a far fancier rendition than your average refrain. Then Curt handed me a glass of champagne and proposed a toast ... but first he wanted to say a few words about me. Really? I knew nothing of this plan. He went on to say that I was a wordsmith, and that I had taught him to appreciate the power of words. He said the word he associated with me was "muse" and that I'd been his muse for 29 years. He noted that muse is also the root for the words "music" and "museum" - both important words in our lives - and the root for "amusement." I do make him laugh. I'm funny. I wish I could remember everything else he said that night, word for word, but I was shocked ... SHOCKED that he would open up and profess his emotions. It's just not his style. So I can't remember how it ended. I think he wished me well for the next 50 years or something. I was touched. Then I grabbed the first piece of chocolate cake and chowed down.

After the party, Nolan said that it was the best time he'd had in the entire two months they'd been in NZ. He especially liked our neighbour Brendan, who invited us over to his house the following night to watch the rugby game/drink beer. Earlier, Brendan and Nolan had drifted over to Brendan's and so they missed the cake and the toast. Brendan's partner, Mel was furious with him for stealing Nolan when he should have been here, but I wasn't. I'm glad he got to talk to people and meet people and enjoy himself, even though he and Erica were working in the kitchen most of the evening, heating more crostini and barbecuing chicken skewers. After everyone left, we tidied up a bit and did one load of dishes. We finally got to bed about midnight which is WAY past the appropriate bedtime for an old geezer like me.

Lovebirds

Carlin emailed twice yesterday. He asked Kristen to marry him, and she said yes! He took her up to Pittock Mansion in Portland, the location of their first date, and proposed there. He's so romantic. The Pittock family were newspaper barons and the city later bought the house and extensive grounds, restored it, and it's used as a park and wedding venue. It's pretty flash. Apparently, when Carlin and Kristen went there for their first date, it was muddy and wet - so muddy that Kristen's shoes were ruined and she had to throw them away. They managed to have a good time together in spite of the soggy mess, so it must have been true love. Aahhh.

Besides getting engaged, Carlin & Kristen both graduated today - he with a Bachelor's in Music and she with a teaching degree. I wasn't there for the graduation ceremony but his little brother and his grandma were. Grandma even gave him a graduation quilt which is a really special tradition of hers.

Kristen's family is from Phoenix, so the wedding will be there in October or November. I am excited to start making plans for us to travel to the wedding. It'll be another chance for the whole fam damily to get together. The brothers will all be in the wedding party, wearing tuxedos and looking handsome. Nolan says if he's the Best Man, he wants to listed as Best Bud in the program.

Now Grandma has to start making them a wedding quilt!

on bended knee

I called #3 son, Carlin, tonight, and he said he's going to propose to his girlfriend, Kristen, tomorrow. I'm so excited!

My 50th birthday

Well, today is my actual birthday. Fifty. It sure seems like a really big number. I'm old.

Erica made dinner tonight and they'd stopped at the local bakery to get some fancy chocolate tarts for dessert. Mmmm. We also opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the half-century mark. They gave me a birthday card about old people's eyesight being so bad that they can't read the fine print, but the print was so small, I couldn't read it so I didn't get the joke. Oh, the irony. They also gave me a new bomb for our collection. Curt wrote a note at the bottom of his card that said, "You look pretty good for 50, but then again, my vision isn't what it used to be." I am not kidding. He wrote that on the card.

Then we headed downtown to go see Fiddler on the Roof! Lucy had told me that her favourite part about going to the big theater downtown was the stars that lit up the ceiling, and Lara had said to look for the lion statues with glowing eyes. The theater was indeed impressive, designed like a Moorish garden, with turrets, minarets, spires and tiled roofs. It's pretty remarkable.

Fiddler on the Roof turned out to be as good as I hoped. Topol owned the character of Tevye. He was full of energy when needed, yet old and dejected when needed. His voice had lost none of its power. It was incredible. Erica's eyes were bright and sparkling throughout the performance. She loved it. Nolan would never admit it, but he liked it too. I only sang along a few times, but I couldn't help it. Who can resist Sunrise, Sunset? Or If I Were a Rich Man? Besides, I sang real quiet, under my breath. I didn't ruin the show for anyone.

Once in Portland, I actually got to sing as loud as I wanted - we went to the Sound of Music Sing Along. It was great. They had the lyrics on the screen ... but I don't need them. I know all the songs by heart. Heck, I know all the dialogue by heart! There was a costume contest during intermission and some of them were pretty creative. People had dressed up as nuns, or goatherds, or girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes. The theater also distributed a little goody bag with props: edelweiss, drapery material, and an invitation to the Baroness's party. We had a blast. If only someone would produce a Music Man sing along ... or Fiddler on the Roof sing along.

Even though I didn't get to sing If I Were a Rich Man at the top of my lungs as I would have liked, it was still a great birthday. Sadly, 50 is also still a very big number.

Mueseum/ Mother's Day

We had another busy weekend with Nolan and Erica. Saturday we went to the Auckland Museum. Sunday was Mother's Day. Then my birthday was 2 days after that. Busy week.

1. We went to the Auckland Museum, a huge building with a brand new dome addition. I always get lost in there. The museum's displays include nature, culture and history, but Erica liked the nature stuff the best (naturally). There were all sorts of plants and animals, including fish. There were also plenty of gross-looking bugs. Nolan liked the wetas the best (naturally). There was even a giant stuffed moa - an ostrich-sized flightless bird that was hunted to extinction once humans arrived. We all liked the Maori display, especially the giant waka (canoe) and the elaborately carved marae (meeting house) that you could walk into (if you take your shoes off first). I liked the historical displays (naturally) about WWI, Gallipoli, and WWII. It was only 2.5 weeks since ANZAC Day, and there were still wreaths on the memorials and red poppies affixed to the marble wall listing lost soldiers' names.

Everyone's favourite, however, was the volcano exhibit. Curt and I are from Washington, the home state of Mt St Helens, so we have a long history with volcanoes. In 1980, we heard the BOOM, even though we were 200 miles away from the big blast. Then from 2001-2005, we had a great view of Mt St Helens out the picture window of our house in Portland where we could watch the mountain every time it decided to wake up and spew some more, which happened every 6-12 months.

In the museum's exhibit, we sat in a fake living room while watching fake news of an impending eruption in Auckland's bay. The news showed people evacuating the city, and experts evaluating the latest seismograph. There was footage of steam coming out of the bay, and then there was a huge KABOOM! The fake living room shook and nearly scared the pants off me. The lights went out and the TV screen went black. Looking out the living room's fake window, you could see the eruption, the destruction, and the ash. It was quite realistic and rather sobering. Auckland is built on 50 volcanic cones, after all.

After getting our thrills at the museum, we went to Devonport for fish and chips, with a slight detour to Devonport Chocolates (naturally). And another detour for crappuccinos (naturally).

2. Sunday was Mother's Day, which (naturally) is not a very big deal around our house because Curt doesn't want to make any holiday a big deal. He doesn't get me a present or a card or anything. (This explains why I was determined to make my 50th birthday a bigger deal by buying tickets to Fiddler on the Roof and by planning a party for myself.) Happily, this year Mother's Day was a little more special than usual because Nolan and Erica were here. I made them come to church because it was Mother's Day. Lots of people wanted to talk with them afterwards. Everyone at church always makes them feel special. That evening, Erica made salmon for dinner and it was excellent (naturally). And they got me a card. Then we watched Heavenly Creatures, which is a great NZ film, but probably not a good choice for Mother's Day because the characters in the movie kill their mother. I just hope Nolan doesn't get any ideas.