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!
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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…