I wouldn’t call it a case of “writer’s block”, but this week has been slow for inspiration.  I blame the weird weather we’ve been having.  Last night, the wind sounded like it was howling hard enough to scour the Earth, and that I might perhaps wake up to a vacant landscape, reminiscent of the Martian surface, though perhaps less red.  Thankfully, my house is made of concrete, and the wind was actually not blowing in such a fantastical manner.  When I arose in the morning, I was greeted by whitecaps on the lake and, would you believe it, snow-capped mountains.  Not just a silly dusting that was gone by noon either – there is a proper amount of frozen water atop the peaks.  Quite the interesting sight for mid-summer!

Looking up the lake from town on the evening.

  There has been expressed interest in having more photos being shared in these posts (beyond what is already available for viewing on Instagram), and unfortunately for the time being, I am unable to do that due to an issue with the graphics card on my computer.  It’s being sorted out, but it’s going to take some time, and thus, the photos I have been shooting won’t be viewable for an unknown amount of time – so the iPhone shots will have to suffice for the time being; such dire times. 
  In a total non-sequitur, February 6th here in eNZed is a holiday called Waitangi Day.  Reading about it, I kind of wonder why it’s a holiday, especially considering the verbal explanation I was given today was, “…Yeah, basically the British bought New Zealand off the Maori for like, $300, and that’s what today commemorates.”  Right from the mouth of a Kiwi who is 70% Maori – this was explained to several of us (non-Kiwis) and we couldn’t quite figure out why this was worth celebrating…it would be like having a holiday for the sale of Long Island for a handful of acorns and stones all those years ago.  I usually don’t celebrate being ripped off, but hey, traditions vary place to place.
  Similarly, I hitched a ride into town with a Semitruck driver on Thursday, so that was pretty cool.  First time I’ve had to literally climb into a vehicle to hitchhike, and then also the first time I’ve nearly fallen out of a vehicle to disembark from the free ride.  The driver was wicked cool, and also Maori as it were – I meet the most interesting people when I don’t take the bus…