Our 40th Wedding anniversary went better then the original ceremony - hmmm perhaps?!?!?!?!

 The Speech I wrote - and then Pam said NO speeches! So here it is - read it at your leisure . . . . .

 

 Friends, Romans - lend me your ears, so that I can paint you a picture or two . . . .
Apologies to Shakespeare

Tomorrow we will have our actual 40th wedding anniversary.
Typical wedding - so it would seem. Let me fill you in on some of the "unusual" behind the scenes happenings

First up - I have been in country for just under 3 weeks and have met already with the young adults at Durham Street Methodist Church- urm - twice - incl Pam when, I got picked up by her family for a post church Sunday picnic - or did I cycle there - can't remember that part. After the meals etc - I asked Pam, if there was much else to enjoy/see/do at the Groynes - so we went for a stroll across the hill to the paddle boats and visited the nearby ice cream shop.

By the time we came back to the folks waiting for us, we were holding hands - (and as Tom Hanks espouses in Sleepless in Seattle:  And I knew it. It was like magic!)
Dads reactionary thinking was, quote -- "My word - he is a fast worker"  - More on that later . . .

Fast forward some months - and I had already suggested / hinted to Pam that we should get married! We would make a great couple . . . .
Now I know; traditionally, the bloke gets on one knee - he whips out a tiny box with an even tinier bit of glittery bling and utters the immortal words - 'Will you marry me?' and the prospective bride blushes and goes all giddy and yes yes yes - huggy huggy kissy kissy . . . . puts ring on and proudly shows it off to all concerned . . .

WELL

Nothing remotely like that happened here.  
First of all - I was poor. I had to sell my hard saved for car in Austria, just to be able to make the flight to NZ for my year-long Order of St. Stephen voluntary service (which gave board/food and "pocket money = an allowance just enough to buy a ice cream and movie ticket or so)
Secondly - we were sitting in the back pew in our Church!! No knee bending there.  I happen to point out to Pam the scripture reading for the day - saying something along the lines of - "that man will leave his family and country and join with a new woman to be as ONE etc" Looking at Pam I say - see even the Bible thinks its a good reason to get married - so shall we???  (looks pleadingly)
Pam goes - oh well - urm - ok - yeah ok
I do not remember much from the service after that - and I am sure the facing choir must have been thinking - why is this dork grinning like an idiot during the entire service?????
We did not say anything to anyone post church service/morning tea! Pam wanted to wait for her University results and have a diploma in her hand when informing her parents of our engagement. She broke the news to her parents the following Tuesday - and I was summoned!  Right there -- an amazing unexpected thing took place!
Pam and her mum immediately went into the lounge next door and despite the wall and door and stuff - I could hear them excitingly jabbering away (all good there) - while I was left to face the Spanish inquisition!!! I mean - as far as Pam and myself were concerned this was a done deal - and still I  had to do this 'traditional' face the father and ask for permission thing!!
It did not go to well - until half an hour later, I pulled a dirty trick, and reminded him on how he came to NZ by himself and later had a bride following from UK and what was he thinking then?????  Score one for me!!
The following Wed we went into town and visited a low-grade jeweler and Pam picked a ring with two glitzy NON diamond artificial stones (probably glass), which needed adjusting for her finger size. I payed with weeks of saved for cash - a lean time with no treats ever. I have to tell you - and this was the first and only time ever, that I felt truly ashamed for being poor or without any means. Further - how do the blokes manage to get a ring that always fits perfectly on the gal's finger!! Do they measure in the dark of the night????  
That Friday we picked up the ring and booked ourselves into a 2 night stay into a Timaru Motel to celebrate and some quite, reflective, reassuring us-time, while the engagement announcement and the storm broke in Christchurch.
By the time we came back the ring was on the finger and it was an accepted thing - nothing much anyone could do . . .

Fast forward to the Wedding. I personally happen to think that the Engagement is a far more important event- after all, it is saying to the world that you are off limits and to be regarded as a couple!! The 'wedding part' is just the public celebration of that fact!! Just as long as Mary is not getting pregnant by Joseph . . . Prior to the wedding . . . or Census

Anyhow

THE day approaches - and to be fair - I had never been to a wedding - most of my cousins/ friends I knew in Austria would get married - while I was working! No Google either and my total sum knowledge of what is going to or expected to be happening was purely from snippets of various conversations!  With the Order of St. Stephen time/work having ended I was practically unemployed and also homeless. Luckily for me - Geoff and Doreen Hill took me into their house the last week prior to the wedding and shepherded me forwards! They became my substitute parents for the day - a relationship that carried on long afterwards.  Still, I missed out on some decent advice despite that; - guess they took things, that I ought to have known, for granted!!

 

The appointed time was 1.30pm!! It was a hot day and it got more uncomfortable as time passed! Durham street Methodist church had this clock facing the Minister officiating and also to the choir! It had to be manually wound up and I am convinced that it was possessed by some evil spirit!! It runs like a Hare when things go well - songs etc - but puts to shame a tortoise when the minister is preaching! I am convinced the hands slow down just to tease you! So here is me standing at the appointed time and the clock already slowing to a standstill -- and no Pam!!!!

Do you know how  l o n g   a minute is?????

Me to best Men - 'you got that ring safely stashed??" -- yes
   Should we be standing or sitting?? -- dunno
   Is that clock properly wound up?? -- yes
   About that ring -- yes its safe
   Both of them??? -- yes
20 seconds later - Hot isn't it -- yeah
30 seconds - no sign of The Bride ae - yeah no sign of her
35 seconds - Is it traditional in NZ that Brides are late -- dunno
40 seconds - Is that the intro to the service that the Organist is practicing?? -- I dunno
45 seconds - What could possibly keep her???  Flat tire?? -- Dunno
50 seconds - sighs
60 seconds - so about that ring -- shut up
1 min and 20 seconds - if she is real late - do I have time to go for a whizz???? NO - be patient
2 minutes - Rings have not fallen out through a hole in your pockets??  --Dude?!?!?!?! Chill out . . .
3 minutes - no sign of her . . . silence from best man.
3 minutes 20 seconds - These rings - they are  . . . .    Shut it
4 minutes - You sure this clock is wound up properly - seems awfully slow today!! -- Sighs
4 minutes 30 seconds - MAYBE she got cold feet???? Maybe she came to  her senses and changed her mind???  -- Yeah she could have. .  Hey - that's not reassuring!!
5 Minutes -- Dude these rin- - - -  wait - is there some excitement at the front door?? Yeah the camera guy is running out and the organist is perking up - yess - we are in business... Phew

Pam will tell you that there were some last minute dress-fixing things to be done - like removing sewing pins left behind by the seamstress who altered / fitted her dress!! Other then that - she was perfectly on time! Reminds me of that song from "My Fair Lady"!!

So the service starts late - it should be the story of my life - I am always ready and have to wait for Pam to catch up.
Anyhow - the Service starts and everything goes swimmingly. Clergy does his bits and sermons and we say the usual I do's and 'till death parts -and so forth -

WHEN

the Minister says " Now you  m a y  kiss the Bride" - Don't mind if I do . . .
Hey WAIT a minute - What, N O W  I may 'legally" kiss my wife????  You mean to tell me that the previous 10 months or so we snogged ill-legally?????  Where is the nearest confessional???? Also -  I have an Immigration dude meeting to determine my residency application - and if he hears that . . ..  ok- I deal with that later . . . 

Last act of the service - being marched out to the Tune "Austria"!! Now to be fair, - not a lot of resources to check up on - no google - and It IS appearing in the Methodist Hymn book and the Author  I S  listed as Hayden (a native Austrian; so a fair assumption that this Tune could be the actual Austrian National Anthem - sooo a natural easy pick - yes???  Pfft - My Parents who got a tape of the service did ask - WHY we walked out to the German national anthem!?! Imagine a kiwi getting married in Lithuania and they play the Aussie national anthem; - close - but not close enough! Still; it could have been worse - we could have marched out to Stars and Stripes!!! Or in Raukura's place to the glasses clinking from all the aftershocks from the September shake!


Now we come to what Grandad always affectionately called " The AFTER match function!!"

Two things stick out from there.

Everything ran according to convention 'till we got to the Cake cutting time.  It might explain why sometime last year, at dinner, Michael suddenly asks"  What do you do in the morning?? Flick a coin??"
Ok - wait what???  -- Michael:- " Do you flick a coin in the morning to see who gets to wear the pants for the day??? I never know who is in charge or makes decisions between you two!!" Poor Michael.
I had to go and dig out the wedding pictures to  be 100% sure!!
N O R M A L L Y  - one picks up the knife by the handle (often the bloke) and the other (often the Gal) places gently a hand on top of the knife holding hand - this is usually a very keenly observed event, because it tells the public who is the "in charge, wearing the pants"  person and who is the "shepherding/guiding" person!!  Useful to know later on, when meeting etc . . .
Anyhow - I had to be sure - really sure, really really sure,  and yup - looking at that picture -  there are one, two - wait , three and yes four hands round that very sharp knife!!
Not only that - I seem to remember that there was a brief - urm - tussle - urm discussion on, we cut here - no there - no really here - ok there . . . . . . .   
Sorry Michael - we still toss a dice - sometimes twice or three times a day!!

The other ever larger looming event - was - what is known as the "speeches"!
First up was Grandad - and he remembered the "my word, he is a fast worker" thought!! Hilarious! Grandad always had a way with words!! Hard act to follow he was. .
Looming up fast was the grooms speech!! I dreaded that - firstly because I always preferred to be in the back ground - never have liked public speaking - always been bad at it - making a royal meal of it right now -
and - without any clue or help from the non-existing google - W H A T does the Groom  a c t u a l l y   say!??????!  I mean, I heard stories of NZ blokes (having enjoyed the liquid nectar) going : urm - yeah - cough so yeah and pause - yeah!! Dreadful
So I did what most self respecting blokes would do in my place - I chickened out!! 

 

Well - I could do that because I had an ACE up my sleeve!!!  
I muttered two lines and then handed over to my freshly minted wife - whom I knew well enough to know, that she wanted to have a place/time to say a word or two on our behalf as well! My marriage would be off to a bad start if I denied her the opportunity. So two lines from me and I sat down and I could feel the ripples of some astonishment running through the attending guests - which also quickly were washed away with - ah well - he is from another country after all and they MAY have different customs! - We do actually!! Certainly NOT being conventional today!! I have the image here too - Pam standing in her finest - hands on table and in all earnest delivering her thoughts!!  Saved by -- the wife!!! yussss


Now that you are nearly asleep or bored enough - let me paint you the last image before I hand over to my darling wife so she can give her witty insightful wisdom to impart - urm - yeah that thing!!!

Lastly - we had our honeymoon!!! Not much that can go wrong there - right!?
We had booked ourselves into a cheap hotel in Oxford and stayed 1 night! The building still stands; the businesses is long gone!!
Weirdly enough - I seem to remember that we were  t h e  singularly only staying guests - not another soul to be seen!
Time to come back to Chch and pack up and face reality as a married couple! Grandad had kindly transferred ownership of the Vauxhall Viva  "Family car" to Pam. Neither Mum nor Rachel would ever drive it so it seemed a good fit! We crammed most of our belongings (80-something % wedding presents) into the boot and headed away in search of a Ferry in Picton!! Luckily for us - The Peaches gave us access to their Batch up near there and we could gather our thoughts for a few days, before we hit Wellington and a new life/reality.  Pam had already started her job up there, and prior to coming down for the wedding had organized a rental - a 2 bedroom flat (modern woman she is) and then went in search for a bed, which was found at a second hand dealer in L Hutt - who promised an overnight delivery - which turned out to be 9 days later!! So the poor girl had: Timber floor - sleeping-bag and that's it for 9 days!! Talk about roughing it - ALONE no less!!  
The day dawned that we had to catch that tiny boat. We decided to be a little early (just in case) and I went out to car and - "Honey does this look ok to you???  Seems it is on a weird lean!"  

Walking around it, we found the rear tire had sprung a leak!!  N O  big deal - I had plenty of tire changing experiences in Austria!! easy peasy . . .
Honey where is the spare tire in this car???  What -- you kidding me - in the BOOT?????? Scratches head!! Ah well - there is nothing for it.

I open the boot and start unloading and you stand there and receive and hopefully remember more or less the order all our wedding presents (many still in their wrappers) come out - because - that's the order they have to go back in!! We packed it so tightly, fully up to the roof, that you could not plunge a knife-blade in in-between the items!! I had visions of some things not making it back into the boot and we might have to strap some pots and pans to the roof or have them on our knees in the passenger seat!! 

 

Visualize that scene - a mountain of household items / linen etc piled feet high, good looking girl looking on, while the handsome bloke gets his hands and shirt dirty!!!  You know - - not a single unkind word was said - it went like clock work!! I still believe that the ol' dude upstairs - or his helper - my far to early departed brother - looked out for us that day!! Thanks ol' Dude!!!  BTW - Thanks to David and Dale not only for the batch - but also for the Pots and Pans - which we still use today after all these years - well - they got a new handles, but yeah!! So everything fitted back into the boot and we found the boat in good time to cross the Cook Straight . . .

And so - we settled into Wellington!
We had each other.
We had a roof over our heads.
We had a bed to fall into.
We had, thanks to Pam, an income that let us buy food!!

We did NOT have: a lounge suite, or a coffee table to rest your feet on, or a dining table or chairs, no fridge, no washing machine, no Ironing board, no Wardrobe or drawers for clothes (living out of suitcases for a while).  I had no job, so every morning said goodbye to Pam as she trundled off to her employer and banked the nations electricity (feeling super rich carrying banking cheque's to the various banks worth 5 or 24 or 70 million NZ $$$). My time was spent straightening out the Flat - saying hello to our neighbors and their brute of a dog, and apart from job hunting being the "domesticated" partner of the marriage!!  VERY conventional!!!
Everything we have / own now, has been a 40 year long slog!! 

Still those of you still awake and insightful will have noted that some things have not changed - I am again the domesticated partner of the marriage and woo me, if dinner is not on the table when Pam gets home from work!!!
And you know what ---I would not have it ANY other way!!!

Honey - wanna wrap this up with a couple of insightful, witty sentences, so these good folks whom I have bored to sleep, can have their cake and go home????

Before you do - I once again saved some of my "allowance" dollars for this special - true 40th color stone - its the real thing btw, so if you please crane your neck and let me hang . . . .

Cheers to you all and thanks for being part of our (non) conventional lives, and having helped to celebrate our milestone!!!

PS - that is - was - the ONLY time  e v e r  in my life - that I got a Telegram (at my wedding)!! 

Honey - over to you






Have fun!

As a white dude - I am a minority - kind of

This might be a touchy subject for some.

May even offend, feel free to counter the argument . . . 

 

Much is being made in USA and parts of Europe of white people and ethnic minorities . . . impacting job hunts, preferential treatments etc.

Which goes begging the question  - what is a "WHITE" person actually exactly ??? Given that the USA is counting Hispanics (or whatever the current labeling says) as different from "white"  - would that mean any person residing / being native to or from Spain / Portugal - even Italy is now counted as non-white???? Turns out that even Jesus was - nicely tanned - yes?!

Interestingly - this website ----->  https://www.infoplease.com/world/social-statistics/ethnicity-and-race-countries

talks about the difference between Race and Ethnicity!!! If you scroll though you will see that there are native "Austrian" or "Germans" etc - BUT only the USA and the UK and oddly enough Uruguay/ South Africa/Cuba/Brazil count "white" in their population data sets.   Yet most of Europe is generally being described as White!    A few South American countries count Amerindian+white as Mestizo . . . 

Russia of course has a very mixed population with most of the Siberian / Asian population (in their territories)  being from well -- ex-Asian descent!

If we are talking about REGIONS  - then

Rank	Region	Share of Global Population (%)	Population
#1	Asia	60%	4.5 billion
#2	Africa	16%	1.2 billion
#3	Europe	10%	729 million
#4	North America	7%	534 million
#5	South America	6%	424 million
#6	Central America	1%	47 million
#7	Oceania	1%	42 million

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_world

Australia + New Zealand are listed as ZERO . 39 percent and given that we only have about 5 million people vs Australia with some 26 million . . . NZ would be even less on its own!!  Spare a thought for the Cook Islands with some 11000 folks . . .

Anyhow - if you brake it down and broadly accept Asia as mostly non white and same for Africa and most of the (south and middle) Americas - then that leaves just USA/Canada and parts of Europe and that is some 14% - less if you discount the resident 'colored' Hispanics or other colored immigrant communities etc . . . There is certainly a melting pot argument to be made for both UK and USA

75% of the world population live either in Asia or Africa!!! Just stop and think about that one for a minute!! 

North America AND Europe combined (forget for a moment their racial makeup) EQUAL the population of Africa - give or take a few thousand folks!

 

 

 

Given my fair haired freckled sometime sun burned tanned skin - I am definitely in the minority!!  Hmmm wonder if I can get that job on the DEI program after all????

Where is the local tanning bed ? ? ?  - I need to "blend" in . . . . . 

PS - Non of this is even remotely a NEW thing - watch www.The Secret of my Success where the hero of the story gets denied a job because the one thing he could not be was:  being a ethnic minority and the firm had a hiring quota for those!!  The film reflecting the current reality - was made in . . . . . . . . . 

Drum roll please

ratatatatatat

 

 

 

1987


 

Have fun!

Oldest brewery in the world

Naha

I am not a beer drinker! Many of my cousins are - not me thou - I am more - *cough*  urm yeah - Avant-garde??? Cultured??? drinker?!?!?

Meh - I never liked beer - and wine seems so - cool - to drink!!

THAT said - there is this Brewery in Salzburg (my old stomping ground) and after some  research - voila

https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/12-of-the-oldest-breweries-in-the-world/

 

 

YAY --- Fourth oldest continuous brewery in the WORLD !! 😇 😜 😇

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Excellent: So in order that  is: Germany /Germany /Austria /Austria- in my birth-town (Salzburg)! 

 

 

First brewed there in the same year as Columbus sailed for "West Indies"

I used to cycle past there almost daily . . . . . . 

 

Okay - so 2040 - to get there I need another (uses toes and paws to count) - urm - 15 years!!!

So God willing - 

I shall be 'round for that (hopefully), and no doubt will raise a glass of --- WINE in its honor!!! 

Prosit!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.stiegl.at/die-brauerei/privatbrauerei/geschichte/





Have fun!

I am dreaming . . . . . . .

Yeah - head in the cloud stuff this is!!

Major pre-note - O N L Y - if ever - we win some lotto . . . 

That does not stop me from drooling . . . . . 

 

Meanwhile - in a land down under - I had this conversation with my wife (she of freak fame) and asked her to name all the license plates from all the work cars she had driven . . . And she could recall all 9 of them - all in order from oldest (Oct 1987) to current . . . .

Damn - some wife I got!!

Ok; it helps that almost all of them were Toyota Corolla's of some sort, with a very fondly remembered Honda Shuttle in-between the various Corolla's - which we eventually bought off work, for our own private car!

THAT got me thinking about the cars we owned ourselves . . And we had to do some digging and searching - 

For myself - I owned a little red 800cc Mini - followed by a much loved Citroen (which I had to sell to make the Airfare for my supposedly one year long sabbath in NZ).  

We got married and the Vauxhall Viva family car was 'donated' to a good cause - us; as a wedding gift!! Don't  worry - it was an ancient beat up oldie - but reliable car, ok - for Christchurch! Once we moved to Wellington and the City council bus overtook us going up the hill on the Ngauranga Gorge - that was it!!! 

https://Ngauranga_Gorge

We upgraded to a yellow Toyota Corona! It had grunt!!!! That then got sold in order for us to make our first big 6 month long OE trip - and we came back car-less - something that lasted (some 10 years)  'till we picked up the Honda in June 1996 - ish! 

Crashing that and having written it of - next  in line was a white Mazda (Feb 2003) automatic - which got upgraded to a MANUAL hot red Nissan (so the boys could learn on a manual car) and once that was done, we bought in April 2017 a Black as out of Africa Toyota Fielder wagon -mainly because it had the biggest boot lid - entry (for my woodworking timber purchases!) 

However that is not all of it - as for our Euro trips we "bought" twice a Renault and once a Peugeot! Actually, it was a rental agreement - with a pre-agreed re-purchasing price! Legally though, we did own a brand new car for the 5 weeks we were in Europe!! Check this out - its still a thing!!!

www.Eurodrive.co.nz

 

 

Then there is a VW based Motorhome (the original Bearmobile #1) and of course the current Bearmobile #2 ( A Ford based model)

MEANING - we had 5 Japanese cars and 7 European made cars/vans and a singularly USA made version!!  We should spread our wings a bit and aim for more US made vehicles - 

and luckily for me . . . . . 

I just    K  N  O  W    which  one!!!!

Hubba hubba

 

 I so could see myself driving one of those!! Even better if they come in the purple - or Gold - or Ferrari Red!!!

Sighs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A56HyoAEBsk&ab_channel=ICON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnhm2V7V4VY&ab_channel=ICON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNceug04-Cw&ab_channel=ATPMonsterGarage

The notion of an old design - muscle car no less along with the Mod cons - (power steering, new engine - disk brakes and USB electric connections etc etc - D O E S  have a lot of merit!! I could easily see myself in a .....  yeah - that too!!!!

I also fancy a very first ever  original Jeep made - the very first design the Army commissioned - it is indestructible and just perfect for the various beach hops - urm outings!! 

 

 

 

 

NOW - what are my chances for a Steering wheel column shift and also the gas pedals etc to the right hand side, and once it's all built - shipping to NZ?????

Where is my lotto ticket ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 

Have fun!

Well this is just nuts!! Whatever happend to Morality????

 

 

Dang

 

 

Compare the written articles from NZHerald and Stuff:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360549327/police-probe-former-mp-after-complaint-shoplifting

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/police-investigate-paknsave-shoplifting-complaint-against-former-mp/F54FO2HDCFG3BC43YV3C45DBGQ/

Clearly the Herald site was more restraint! Have to admit - my thoughts were going directly to a certain former MP!! 

It goes begging 2 questions:

1 ; -- Who squealed to the news-media in order for them to go and ask both the Police and Foodstuffs for a confirmation of the name???? And why did the Police confirm that name in the first place - on what grounds???

2 ; -- FAR more important is the numbers of reported "retail crime incidents"!!!

Think about that for a minute;

That is some 20 000 for the year - laid over 300 stores! That works out at near enough 55 incidents per DAY!!! If you want to be generous and say that's near enough a quarter of stores one incident-- per day  ( I am sure some stores will have more then one a day). . .  No doubt that is one reason why grocery prices are so high (cost recovery??)

Morality is the thing you are doing when you think NO-one is watching you!!!  

 There is a reason why Abraham-ic faiths have the -- "Thou shall not steal" tenet!!!

Given that less then 47% of Kiwis admit to be adhering to ANY religion let alone
Abraham-ic faiths - this is what we can look forward to - an increase in NO morality along with  the 'I can do whatever I want to' attitudes . . .   Sad times are ahead!!

Have fun!

Annual Christmas Epistle 2024

2024 Christmas letter

Howdy,

There is almost a feeling of de-ja-vu as I am sitting here and type! We have gone away again in our Bearmobile #2 – and yup – we left Christchurch in teeming rain – just like last time I drafted the letter! The alpine passes and certain parts of the McKenzie district all got snow – Twizel had some 15 cm of new snow! Not unheard off – certainly rare events for OUR spring.  To put this in European terms – imagine if snow falls in Salzburg in the middle of July!!!
And where has the year gone????  Last March, Pam and I quietly celebrated the 40 years since I first grabbed her hand during a stroll we took at a Church Picnic – and she never has let go of said hand since!!!  Amazingly you can still find us strolling along various places holding our hands! How romantic!?!?
Longevity is something that also happens at her place of employment – although in April we said goodbye to her former boss who passed away after a long battle with various health issues! Thirty-six years is a long time to be working with someone! He was missed when the company celebrated 100 years of operating – and Reinhold had to dress up in order to attend the “birthday” party!

In July I started to receive some txt’s on my cell phone that just did not feel right. In the end, it turned out to be from one of my many cousins – daughters – so that makes me an hmmmmm – grand/once removed/ something!!  We hosted Leah and her partner Immanuel and had a great time catching up with family news!

Michael had saved enough $$$ living on the cheap with us – and managed a 4 week trip to Austria in September!! He had a great time catching up with some of the many relatives, including his Oma as well as re-visiting Legoland!! A wonderful experience for him given the health issues he had to put up with in the last few years!! He was kind enough to bring back a treasure trove of Mozart kugels – ex Groedig/Salzburg!  Given that the factory is shifting to someplace near Prague post this Christmas, me thinks that will be the last ever treat we will have here– so are rationing them out to make them last as long as possible!! I trust Pam enough, that there will be no secret midnight raid on my stash . . . . .

Jonathan is settled with his two jobs. In the winter season he works on the ski fields – repairing the ski gear that the tourists hire and break! In the summer he is a tourist van driver – taking a mini van with folks to either Milford Sound (a place he knows too well – so lots of anecdotes and jokes to tell) and to Mount Cook!  He came and stayed with us for a couple of nights picking up an additional van and drove that back to Queenstown – saving the company Motel costs and gracing us with his presence!!    
We keep using our Mobile home from home – and had 11 trips away this year including a 2-week journey south! We booked ourselves into a Camping site at Frankton – a mere stroll away from were Jonathan lives and caught up with him for a luncheon meal! The planes go overhead (wind depending) at certain times – and so low – you can almost touch them!! From there other places were conquered – including a place called NIGHTCAPS! Yes that is an actual village – and it is a very appropriately called place! It was also very warm – some 33c at 9pm, perfect for doing some house-keeping/washing!! Most of our trips away are weekends mostly – although sometimes we can squeeze in an extra night away IF Pam takes a day of leave from work.

We are both keeping well – mostly, apart from the usual old people aging folk’s things! We now have a competition, who has more pills to take, in order to keep well!! Touch wood we will both stay healthy long enough in order to enjoy our old age life! Pam did find it hard once she celebrated her 61st! Suddenly there were unusual memory lapses; – so much so, that I keep joking who is she and what happened to my wife!!

A good buddy of mine is a fisherman – and he never caught anything (yet) so the two of us went for a weekend fishing trip to Twizel in the bearmobile#2. His in-laws own a holiday rental that we used as a base and visited all Canals – where it is rumoured that there live some gigantic Salmon! Yeah right!! We came home empty handed!! We made up for it with some red wines and good home cooked meals – so not all was lost!

We are looking forward to 2025 for a number of good reasons (40 of them to be precise)! We trust this letter will find you in a good place and life is peaceful and prosperous for you!

Wishing you all a festive Christmas season and a happy new year (the same procedure as every year)!

Pam and Reinhold 

Have fun!

The old bear saw some stars

Howdy

Yeah - it is not what you might have thought - I DID NOT bang my head on anything - recently! Even though I have a scar ala Harry Potter (just not as descriptive) - that was from a VERY long time ago!

Still

In NZ the matariki stars are visible from sometime June on-wards - and so everyone says are clearly visible with the naked eyes! Well - I have, thanks to my previous birthday present - seen them with strong binoculars! Naked eye???? 

Yeah nah

 

I am to lazy and old to get out of bed and go outside in my dressing gown - in mid-winter no less!! So out the bedroom window I keep looking -  I F - I happen to wake up at the suitable time!!  With all the street lights and sometime moonshine and somewhat clean double glazed windows - not to mention the various cloudy condition it is really a potluck event that may or may not happen.

Today - after a warm-ish Nor-west wind (similar to European foehn-winds) which tends to blow out to sea any and all mucky pollution not to mention making the air less humid and the promised rain-clouds holding off just long enough - I got lucky! So I grabbed my cell phone and tried to do the impossible - taking a picture through the window - yup - you guessed it - reflections from the glass!!

STILL

For the first time ever - I have seen the faintest of faint stars !! You can clearly see Orions belt and Jupiter and Taurus - leading to a fuzzy Matariki.

Go me!!

Ok now I am awake - better keep quiet and let mamabear carry on sleeping!!!

PS - for those star nuts - there is this very fantastic website that will give you an up-to-date star map from your location!!




Have fun!

Can - or should the whole world have a say in USA elections ? ? ?

This is sooooo

I n s a n e

No - really - this is insane on so many levels!!

I did not listen to these blokes chat away - the raw data presented was enough.

 

Snip snip ---  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyGz3MEZ3Ro&ab_channel=TheHeartlandInstitute

 

Heartland recently commissioned some polls with our friends at Rasmussen Reports – together, among the only organizations doing serious polling research on election fraud. Our latest finding: No less than 62% of likely voters are concerned that cheating will affect the outcome of the 2024 election in November. And why might that be? Maybe because nearly 20% of those same voters said they received multiple ballots in the mail in 2020. Committing voter fraud has never been easier in America. It’s a national crisis few are brave enough to talk about, and fewer with the power to fix our elections are lifting a finger to stop. 

 

 New Poll Shows Americans Are Very Worried about Election Integrity https://heartland.org/opinion/new-pol... 

 

Heartland/Rasmussen Poll: Large Majority of Voters (62%) Are Concerned Cheating Will Impact 2024 Election 

 https://heartland.org/opinion/heartla... 

 

Heartland/Rasmussen Poll: One-in-Five Mail-In Voters Admit to Committing at Least One Kind of Voter Fraud During 2020 Election

https://heartland.org/opinion/heartla... 

 

Heartland Institute Poll Shows Nearly Three in 10 Voters Would Vote Illegally in 2024 Presidential Election   

https://heartland.org/opinion/heartla...

 

According to the poll, conducted by Rasmussen, approximately 44 million Americans would vote illegally in 2024 election “to prevent other side from winning” (three in ten as per poll = 44 million) 

17% of mail-in voters admit that in 2020 they voted in a state where they are “no longer a permanent resident”

21% of mail-in voters admitted that they filled out a ballot for a friend or family member

17% of mail-in voters said they signed a ballot for a friend or family member “with or without his or her permission”

8% of likely voters say they were offered “pay” or a “reward” for voting in 2020.

Taken together, the results of these survey questions appear to show that voter fraud was widespread in the 2020 election, especially among those who cast mail-in ballots.

 

End snip

 

 

How crazy is this???? 

 

 

You would have to ask the question why the Democratic Party of US is fighting tooth and nail against tightening up the election rules etc????  Further you would have to ask why so many Republicans are quietly acquiescing to this as well?!

Oddly enough Donald Trump may have a point here when he talks about election fraud?!?!?!  

Lastly - as whoever wins the races to the Presidency / Senate / House DOES make policy that does (in-) or directly affect the rest of the world - should therefore the world not have a say in this too ????  oooooh - that would put the cat among the birdies!!! 

ANYONE from NZ - I encourage you to become an election poll/worker at our 3 yearly election cycle for parliament!! It is an eye opener in terms of election integrity!!  If as a nation / country the population has no faith in the integrity or fairness of the election - well - guess what the outcome of that might be....

Look at last Venezuela elections . . . . or previous Uganda . . . . 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ypOZk7Jhks&ab_channel=CBCNews

Oddly enough some of the systems used in Venezuela are "sold" ex USA - ponder this for a moment . . . . 

Have fun!

World Famous Gardens

Oh yeah - oh Yeah - OH YEAH

3 out of Ten!!!

so a link send me to a link and so forth - you know how this online browsing works - and I found this

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2-most-beautiful-gardens-world-us-others-scattered-globe

OH YEAH

2 From Austria and 1 from New Zealand in top Ten Gardens in the World

Go us!!!!!

Mirabell Garden is of course my old stomping ground!! 

 

Snip

2 of the most beautiful gardens in the world are in the US, the others are scattered across the globe
Google searches, social media posts, Tripadvisor reviews and more helped drive the list
By Brittany Kasko Fox News
Published June 22, 2024 3:58pm EDT


Now is the best time to plant a garden for ‘supercharged growth’: Gardening experts!
This summer, people are on the hunt for the best outdoor activities to enjoy.

Visiting a park, taking a swim and enjoying a walk through a botanical garden are popular ways to get outside this season, assuming the weather cooperates, of course.
With this and more in mind, a travel service agency, Titan Travel, has put together a list of the top 10 most beautiful gardens across the world based on an array of criteria. 

The company compared Google searches over the last two years, the number of gardens tagged on TikTok and Instagram, Tripadvisor reviews and more to build this list. 

Of the top 10 winners, two of the gardens are located in the United States — and one of them has the most expensive entry cost of all.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden came in 10th on a new list of the top 10 gardens in the world. Can you guess the rest of the winners?

See which colorful gardens made the ranked list.

Here's the countdown …
World’s Prettiest Flower Gardens :

10. Brooklyn Botanic Garden — New York City
9. Gardens by the Bay — Singapore
8. Mirabell Palace — Austria
7. Botanic Gardens -- Singapore
6. Dubai Miracle Garden — Dubai
5. Volksgarten — Austria
4. Kenroku-en — Japan
3. Pukekura Park — New Zealand
2. Shinjuku Gyo-en — Tokyo
1. Longwood Gardens — Pennsylvania

The Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, ranked first on the most beautiful gardens list for its 1,077 acres of florals and meadows.
Titan Travel noted that the gardens are home to over 10,000 species.
The space has a five-star rating with 19% of reviewers classifying it as "beautiful.
It also has the highest volume of posts on social media with over 300,000 Instagram posts and over 6,000 TikTok tags.

The Shinjuku Gyo-en gardens in Tokyo were ranked second on the list for its high number of social media mentions — with many people pointing out the gardens’ cherry blossom collection.  It costs just $3.23 to enter the gardens, which makes it an inexpensive place to explore nature.  Shinjuku Gyo-en was also ranked among the best gardens in the world.  

The third-place selection, Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, New Zealand, ranks high for its positive Tripadvisor ratings, according to the new list.
The gardens include two lakes; guests can rent rowboats to take on during the summer.

Titan Travel also found that four of the gardens in the top-ranking list had no admission fees: Mirabell Palace (No. 8), Singapore Botanic Gardens (No. 7), Volksgarten (No. 5) and Pukekura Park (No. 3).

The Dubai Miracle Garden experienced a 265% increase in annual search data over the last two years, according to Titan Travel.
The gardens have over 150 million flowers in full bloom and over 775,000 square feet to explore, per the Dubai Miracle Garden.

Brittany Kasko is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital.
 

Have fun!

Nevermind Mars or Venus - Moon is the thing to be racing round with

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoooosh - did you see that???

The Moon raced past you so fast . . . . . 

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350235656/moon-needs-its-own-time-zone-says-nasa

Space missions are based on Earth time, but time on the moon moves around 58.7 microseconds faster each day!

How dare he? ? ? ?

 

 

Strap yourself in - its going to be a very fast race!!





Have fun!