Forgotten World Highway

In the Bronx, we had the Bruckner Expressway.  Driving the raised section on a quiet Sunday morning toward Manhattan was amazing.

In San Antonio we had... hmmm.  Huebner Road!? ...and a bunch of other roads that had German names but non-German pronunciation.  Actually, driving out of town in any direction was always pleasant.





In Germany, we had the Romantic Road, and enjoyed many happy times admiring the little villages and cross-timbered buildings.

In Utah, we had the Alpine Loop, a stunning drive around Mount Timpanogos.

And in Taranaki, we have the the Forgotten World Highway.
(We also have the Surf Highway 45, but I'll leave that for another day...)
.

The Forgotten World Highway winds through secluded and pristine country -  a few clean white sheep, big green Mother Earth, and lots of ponga.

Whangamomona has been called the "only significant settlement" along the Forgotten World Highway.

Here's the downtown area of this "significant" settlement:

View from our hotel window:

I literally left my mark on the hotel, by accepting Mike's challenge to try my hand at a game of darts.  

The next morning we decided to return to New Zealand and go on a hike...




Whangamomona Pass - 3 hour tramp.

The orange markers marked the way - trail was unmaintained and obscure and awesome.

Since Mike had just returned from a 2-week trip to the USA, we each had a lot of interesting things to talk about!  

Forgotten World Highway is one of my roads.

What are yours?

"Messiah"

Oak and I joined the local Ars Nova choir for the rehearsals and performance of Handel's "Messiah." I hope I never forget how I felt.  I loved sharing the moment with Oak.   It made it all the better that he met me at the performance venue covered in mud after just running the Pouakai Circuit.  (I wonder how long it's been since someone actually used the shower in the Green Room...?)

I thought this program was a perfect chance to highlight the English names that I have enjoyed since moving here.  Names like Bryony (soprano),  Linden (alto).  

Here are some other names that I regularly enjoy here:

Raewyn, Poppy, Robyn, Imogen, Kianh, Niamh, 

Callum, Graeme, George, Geoff, Lachlan (Lachie), Flynn, Angus, Dominic

(Mom and Dad, is it the same in England?)

Islander names are pretty cool, too:
Paora, Maihi, Kaihiki, Tofa, Nimei, Kahana, Awanui, Rani, Suni, Tubare, Wiremu, Hemi, Tui, Ariki, Sione, Silote, Tuni
(These happen to be names of people in our branch.)

I sometimes feel that our "Jones" surname receives more appreciation as a solid, interesting name here than it has in other places I've lived.  For example, Danny's basketball team played at the nationals and it was televised.  When Danny first went on, the announcer paused to speculate on Danny's Welsh name and possible heritage, like Danny's name was actually quite fascinating...

Big Bang

Mercy's first adventure race - the 6-hour Big Bang!

Mercy and her team.  Mike raced along with them as a minder.  I really like these girls - Mercy, Bree, Julia, Taylor.
Notice that Mercy is the same height as the other girls - I can't remember ever having this experience at her age!?

Oak's team and a few photo-bombers.  They're fun kids, too. 

camera tricks

The earthquake...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/86460020/whats-happened-to-the-cows-stranded-on-a-quake-island

koru time again

Pumpkins

I can't believe that it's taken me 3 years to make friends with the local pumpkins.
I have been MISSING OUT!

You can buy pumpkin whole or split.  

Pumpkin makes a delicious and filling stir-fry.  For example, I ate this for breakfast with my eggs: 

...but PUMPKIN SOUP is New Zealand's favorite way to eat pumpkin.

Improvising, we cut local pumpkins into jack-o-lantern's at Halloween.

 (I've never seen anyone else do this.)  

Books: 

Mormon Women and the Priesthood

Mercy and I have been listening to a Great Courses class on American History on her way to school every morning. (Thanks, Nana and Gramps!)  The class this morning was about the 19th amendment, ratified in 1920, which made it legal for women to vote.

The idea of women's suffrage was a radical and completely unpopular notion among most Americans, including women, until the late 19th century.

Why was women's suffrage so radical and unpopular? According to the Great Courses history class, most Americans initially opposed women's suffrage for these 3 reasons:

• Giving women the vote would destroy the traditional family.  (Having two voters in the family would loosen the family cohesion.  In addition, women's suffrage would bring women into unseemly contact with other men and possibly even lead to women being elected to public office.  Nothing should be allowed to distract women from their vital role: creating a home, raising children, and exerting a civilizing influence on their husbands.)
• Women didn't need the vote because they already had power to influence society through their husbands' votes.  They already had access to power through their husbands.
• Giving women the vote would emasculate males and leave a vacuum in society.  Men would lose desire and impetus for being engaged in creating a better society.

Do these arguments sound familiar to anyone else but me?   

My opinion is that we, Mormons, should avoid using these reasons to explain to ourselves - or others - why women don't hold the priesthood in our church.  Unless we believe them?!

Spark Joy

I used most of my spring break holiday tidying our home using the "spark joy" method.   We only made it through the first big category (clothes), and it feels great. 

 sorting one category at a time - SHOES.  

I enjoyed taking time to sit with our kids and watch them sort their stuff, join the banter, and read out loud to them from my tidying book (which they enjoyed mocking, of course).  

By discarding items that don't spark joy and by folding clothes vertically, we discarded over 100 hangers and ended up with extra space in our drawers and closets.

Even little Joyce enjoys finding just the right way to fold something so it will stand up.

looking down into a drawer from above

New Plymouth Young Men - Labour Day Campout

The person taking the video is Maihi Brown, our new branch president.  The other adult is Harry Gaastra, our district president.  Boys: Oak, John, and Tubare.

Danny wasn't on the campout because he, Mike and I attended the posh Tiger Jacket dinner for all the boys at his school who have earned a Tiger Jacket.  

I sat next to a very interesting evangelical preacher. ("I have been blessed with the gift of wisdom from a young age...")

Here's a link to the video on YouTube in case the embedded video doesn't work out:
New Plymouth Young Men - Labour Day Campout

Election Thoughts

Living abroad as an American during this election has been frustrating. Trump acts like a thug, yet it's obvious that he has the support of millions of Americans. New Zealanders keep wanting me to explain how this could be, and I'm at a loss. I feel very sad at the way this election, and, in particular, Trump's candidacy, has shaped attitudes about what America values. 

I feel that the local outrage about Trump colors how I'm perceived as an American. Yesterday a gas station attendant asked about my accent. When I told him that I am an American, he asked, "Trump supporter?"
"No."
(shaking his head) "137 million Americans are supporting him, though. How is that possible?"
I've had ongoing variations of this conversation with New Zealanders for months.  The day before the gas attendant, it was a man with a baby in Bunnings, a hardware store.  The day before that, it was another mom as we picked up our daughters at dance class.  

The average New Zealander doesn't know any more about the philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats than most Americans know about the difference between Britain's Labour and Conservative parties, so all they see is that Trump stands for personal indulgence, bigotry, and anger and that millions of Americans support him. These are not American values. American values are freedom, optimism, creativity and hard work.

Many conservative Americans are inflamed about Clinton, but outside the US, Clinton seems like a typical career politician - someone who's made compromises, but who is experienced and canny and dedicated to her party.   No one has ever asked me about Clinton at the checkout counter when they hear my American accent.  

Why do New Zealanders care?  I've asked this questions, and the answer always is, "America is the most powerful nation in the world.  Of course, what happens there affects us here in NZ."  New Zealanders hear about the election every day on the news, just like most Americans.  In New Zealand, most international news comes from international news sources (mostly from the US and the UK).   

A couple of weeks ago I attended the speech finals at my boys' high school, and 4 of the 12 students jabbed Trump in their speeches.  Oak might have, as well, if I hadn't advised him against getting some easy laughs at someone else's expense.  One of the boys' speeches was entirely dedicated to Trump and why he would be bad for the world.  

Meanwhile, other family events from the last few weeks:

Danny and I spent the weekend in Nelson.  Very fun-  Another Prokofiev performance, an English essay, some hiking, a street fair, the World of Wearable Art.  

We billeted for 3 nights with the symphony's clarinetist and her husband.

Instead of flying home with me, Danny flew to BB Nationals in Palmy.

I happily gave in to Sue's insistence that we dig up a winter's worth of weeds in front of our house and put in a veggie garden.

Before and after shots

some strawberries, too

 It's finally warm enough to start up the Sunday afternoon volleyball again.  We have only played once since Noah left for Bulgaria in February.  Lucky for us, Mercy has grown a heap taller AND completed an actual volleyball unit at school since Noah left, so we can still carry on a family game. She may be playing in Noah's spot on the court, but she still has a long way to go to match Noah's ability to talk smack or gloat after a big play...  

Mike's idea of a game for family home evening last week.  

Some of the best lesson ideas don't take any prep.

Oak took the photo

 

Homemade Therapy

Joyce took it upon herself to make a "loveing list," as she called it, on her whiteboard.  She collected her data by telling everyone in the family "I love you," and then recording the various responses. None of us knew that she was compiling this information until after her experiment was complete.

Here are the results, with a translation below:



I love you too! Mom
I Love you so so much J! Dad
Love you too Bebes!  Mercy
I Love you so so much too!  Sage
thanks Bebes!  Oak
I Love you too Bebes!  Danny
Love you too!  Joyce

I can only imagine what would happen if I followed her example and picked 7 significant people in my life, wrote them or told them how much I love them, and recorded their responses.

Mike and I have made our own 'Homemade Therapy' by sitting on comfy chairs in our den once a week or so and listening to an online course by Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife.  It's pretty fun!  Usually.



Two Excellent Books of the Week:





I also finished "A Fall of Marigolds" on audiobook in the car, and, although enjoyable, didn't feel that it was quite into the 5-star range, like the other books that I post.

View from the Oak Tree

It was about 8:30PM last Sunday evening.  Girls were in bed.  Mike, Danny, Oak, and I were sitting in our living room, each of us working on our own laptop.  It had been quiet for a while. Randomly, I asked Oak what he was doing, and he said something I was NOT expecting.   

"Writing a poem." 

NOT what I was expecting, but very cool!  

The Jones Fam

This is the Law of the family, as old and as true as our name

The house that keeps it will prosper, but the house that breaks it is lame

Like Mom driving us kids to school, the Law runneth to and fro

For our memories grow from us, and from our memories we too do grow

Memories of times in MAVY, Cape Reinga to renowned Milford Sound

The Mav sits us tightly together, keeps us close knit as we drive around

Our habits, hobbies, jokes and teasing, and Dad’s photos I have to admit

Keep us on edge but loving each other, although sometimes it takes some grit

Our travels from Turkey to Tonga, New Plymouth to good ol’ New York

Are like the meat of our Whanau, taste good and are filling like pork

There’s also the quiet evenings at home, playing Boggle or just sitting around

That are important to our unity, and are often the most profound

Our religion makes us peculiar, but a stronger family everyday

Where we learn the family’s eternal, how to act and what to say

The bad times we share are important, just as much as the good times are fun

For it’s then that we truly are tested, on our stickatitutti and devotion

For what really makes us family, isn’t our similar skin, brains and bones

But the experiences we share together, that’s what really make us The Jones

- Oak Jones

Here are some pictures from Oak's camera, taken in the last month or so....

Back Beach

The Foot

In order to take this sunrise picture last week, Oak climbed out of one of his bedroom windows onto the roof.  It was 6AM in a massive windstorm, and, unfortunately, a gust of wind slammed the window on its hinges and it blew off the house and landed on the ground.  

see the window on the ground