Residents in Aotearoa

Thursday, 4 December 2014

We are truly strangers in a strange land. We have been living in New Zealand for over two years now but are still settling in to a new hemisphere, and country and life-style.

This blog is a continuation of the many e-mails I have been sending to family and friends. This makes it possible for those who want to follow our adventures, trials and tribulations as we move into the future.

I will be writing much of the text, but Jeanne will add her own thoughts whenever it suits her. I imagine that her descriptions and insights will come as a welcome relief to my ramblings.

At any rate, here we are hiking on Rangitoto amid the lava fields and sipping a flat white at a cafe just off Queen Street in downtown Auckland. Come on along on our continuing adventure in Aotearoa.

7 comments:

Allie4 December 2014 at 18:32
I'm the first commenter! I love your new blog, Dad and Mom, and I love sharing these adventures with you!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Dianne4 December 2014 at 19:33
Hey, this looks familiar!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Cudabearmama5 December 2014 at 14:03
The two of you are looking happy and healthy. Glad you are there with your daughter and babies! Much love, Candice
ReplyDelete
Replies
Unknown5 December 2014 at 19:05
Great idea!! Thanks!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Dianne6 December 2014 at 17:26
I'm eagerly waiting for your next post Doug! I love the picture of Jeanne - I don't think we visited that place when I was there or I would have remembered the checkerboard table!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Mike and Kim from da UP and TX11 December 2014 at 04:07
We love your ramblings. It's as though you and Jeanne are still just "up the road" from our place in Carney. :)
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

My deer blind, a place outside of time and space.

This is a picture of my deer hunting blind. I built in in 1975 and used it until about 2010. I'm publishing this picture and text on November 15 of 2022, the opening day of Michigan's rifle deer hunting season, to remember all the years I spent sitting there and occasionally harvesting a deer. I think that the meat I provided for my family was only a small portion of the benefit I received from hunting in this manner. Of greater value to me was the time I spent alone, watching the forest and its many components interact. I had time to unwind from the stresses of my work, to appreciate our world, and even sometimes to pray. That blind was a refuge to me. It was cozy, and comfortable and I spent much more time filming the activities of not only deer, but bears, racoons, turkeys, squirrels, hawks, and once, even a snowy owl, than I did harvesting deer. May I suggest to all of you that you try to find some time and a place, where you can be alone, and where you can ponder and appreciate your life and your place in the world. It does a body good. -djf