MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM NZ

MERRY CHRISTMAS! it is the big day here and i have started the day with pumpkin kumera (a nz sweet potato) pie and a cup of coffee, streaming christmas songs, and looking at tacky decorated houses on the web... soon biscuits and gravy and then packing and weighing my bags.. figuring out what i have to declare for customs and getting on an airplane to fly back to the states.

for my christmas eve i spent the day ogling giant kauri trees (the 1, 2, and 6th largest as well as some that didnt place) and then going to a museum to learn more about the industry, including harvesting the gum (sap - used to make varnish and linoleum), and drooling over humongous peices of lovely wood and furniture that i could never afford. the best part in the musuem was that there were no signs saying do not touch. dear santa... i want a huge peice of kauri wood to make a table...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!