Happy Easter

The last 10 days have flown by and Easter is upon us already.  We now have less than a week left in New Zealand before we head home.

New Zealand is in a transition to digital TV, and I helped Margaret get a new antenna installed to receive the digital chanels.  Choices for digital TV are - Sky TV or Freeview.  Sky is a satellite service offering many channels and you pay a monthly fee as we do in Canada.  Freeview is a free service offering about 10 TV channels plus some radio channels, and is provided via satellite and from ground-based transmitters, depending on your location - all you need to do is install a small antenna or dish.  I like the idea that you can get a reasonable selection of channels on Freeview without any monthly fees.

Last Saturday afternoon we picked Tricia up and the three of us had a great trip to Napier and Palmerston North, seeing several relatives and friends.  In Napier we stayed two nights with my cousin Denzil, visiting with her and Maureen, and also managed to spend an enjoyable afternoon with Glenys and her husband Alan.  Glenys and Marlene have kept in touch since Heather was a baby in Palmerston North.

In Palmerston North we visited Auntie Bridie and took her out for lunch to celebrate her 92nd birthday, which is coming up on the 5th of April, and also got together with Judy Eden, a neighbour from our time living in Palmerston North in the late '70s, and also with her extended family.  We also managed a few walks and a little shopping.

On the way back to Wellington we spent a night at Tricia's home outside of Featherston.  The main focus was the building of two raised garden beds so that Tricia can grow some vegetables in her retirement, which starts on August 1st.  It was 28 degrees in the shade that day, so even though I started early in the morning, it was a tiring job.

I find it interesting to see how various cities and towns market themselves, or what they are known for -

• Napier, in the heart of sunny Hawkes Bay, is the Art Deco capital of the world - the city was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931and was rebuilt largely in the then-current Art Deco style.
• Waipukurau, a farming town in central Hawkes Bay, having no other claim to fame, stresses its location on the 40th parallel - this sign is in the Latitude 40 Cafe.

• Woodville, the southern entrance to Hawkes Bay, seems to have an over abundance of antique stores, but at least one business is trying to portray the livelier image seen in the photo below.

• Palmerston North, capital of the Manawatu region, has a slogan of "Young Heart, Easy Living", capitalizing on the large numbers of young people attending the local university.  But it is much better known for its wind, hence the hundreds of power generation windmills on the hills above the city.

Tricia is joining us at Margaret's today and will stay for most of next week, so that we can all spend some time together before we head home.  It will be a crazy busy week, with lots of visiting and chores still scheduled to be completed.  But if we do not get them all done, there is always next year!