March 5

We all get homesick quite a lot. It’s friends we miss - because as nice as people are here, we know and they know it’s only for one year and somehow that means you don't really make close friends and of course it all takes time anyway. We went to a couple of garage sales on Saturday. We bought some dishes to replace ones I've broken and got some bits of leather and sheepskin. I'm making Stephanie a Womble from the wool. We also got some toys for the other kids.

We went to the Catholic Cathedral in Chch center today to see what is like. It’s similar to St. Paul's Cathedral in London on the outside - basillica dome type stuff. The Stations of the Cross were very unusual. Just a wooden cross and then a framed lithograph of a hand or a foot or something of significance to the station. I liked them a lot. The place had two balconies and we walked around the lower one. All around the altar were rose petals from an earlier Mass when they had an Arts Festival service. There were readings and orchestral numbers and a violin solo and general nice hymns. They have a gorgeous organ and a very good choir- all men and boys.

The Arts Festival goes on for two weeks and is a big effort by the city to promote all the arts. There are daily concerts and plays and art shows in dozens of places all over and lots of interesting things for kids too. Tomorrow and next Monday I take Andrea to a one hour thing called What Can We Do Today? It’s mostly printing and montage stuff I think, specifically for 3 year olds. Then on Friday Stephanie and Jonathan go to the Cushion Theatre for Music, Poetry and Rhymes for 6-9 yr. olds and next week I shall go to several session of' trying your hand at crafts. I shall try spinning and potting and whatever else takes my fancy.  It’s really a good idea and I think this city has a lot to offer. Something always seems to be going on and it’s easy to get to things.

March 10
We're on a picnic and I find myself alone on a hot day with lots of flies around. We don't get. mosquitos here but last week in the mountains and west coast we got sand fly bites - hundreds of' them and they still itch and are swollen.

March 15
We had an enjoyable weekend. On Sat. we drove the Waimakaririe River for a picnic. We'd been there before but this time the weather was much better. This is a very nice spot about 3 miles off the main road west and about l5 miles out of Chch. It is a wood of mainly birch and poplar and the leaves were turning golden.

We drove through the wood to the river and parked and took our picnic out to a sandbank. The river is very swift and deep and treacherous so we fished in it only when we could supervise the kids closely. There is also a side stream which doesn't have a strong current. The kids splashed about in it too. It was sunny and Philip got badly sunburned. The rest of us had enough sun before that it did-not seem to worry us.

Then on Sunday we drove to Governor' s Bay on the Banks Peninsula first of all. We were looking for an interesting bay for the kids. But the only sandy beach was quite dirty and rather limited so we only stayed long enough for Jonathan to catch some crabs. He decided he wanted to keep them as pets.

Then we drove on around the Peninsula to the road towards Akaroa, heading for a place called Birdlings Flats Bay. There is a large shallow lake - Ellesmere - which is joined to the sea by a narrow strait. The seaside cottages looked like shanties, rusty corrugated iron huts that looked balanced together. I couldn't believe anyone would live in one.

Then we changed to a gravel track and we went towards a sheer cliff. All of a sudden the charm of the place became apparent. This cliff was so eroded away and all the layers of mineral deposits were obvious - like a cross section of a model of a mountain and the side had holes worn into where birds nested. There were beautiful V shaped pieces that looked carved and with layers of red from iron deposits about every 12 ft.

The tide was fierce. Huge angry waves. If you stood on the tide line you'd get doused every seventh waves even if the tide was going out. The beach was stones- beautiful smooth round stones of all colors - some semi-precious ones like amber. We collected lots to polish and keep. The waves roared like thunder and we could have watched them for hours.

March. 15
I expect to get my job application off today or tomorrow. I don't really know if' I want to work. It seems so much fuss and bother for so little money. I just hate, driving in the city center too. I did it today and I got so nervous about traffic and packing places. I found out about a possible bridge place in a church center in another part of town but I would have to give up a day of work to do it.

Philip goes to Dunedin for two days then to the West Coast for two days of lecturing and soil sampling in the beginning of April. We won't be going along.

March 21

Jonathan lost his first tooth today. He's very excited He's not sure he believes in the tooth fairy but he's going to try it anyway.

We decided to move to a different house but not until July. The new house was advertised in the University paper. It is only about a mile from the Uni. It’s also in a much nice and prettier part of town and the rent is the same. The house is smaller but plenty big and the lady is leaving me a lot of equipment and toys. They are going to Italy for 6 months. The yard is very big and beautiful. The kids are excited by the idea because the house has a sand pit and swing and climbing trees and a blackboard and bunk beds and loads of lego.

We are making some wine with the 50 lbs of pears from our tree. Some we can freeze and some can and some just eat but a lot have wasp grubs in them.

March 22

We had a nice day out yesterday. We took a picnic lunch out by a lake on the way to the Banks Peninsula. Then we went to a terrifically steep hill - our poor car over heated. It was a dirt road - very steep grade - steepest Philip says he's ever driven up. But the view from the top was terrific. In the direction we looked into a lush valley with the ribbon road winding down and the other way you could see the sea and several little sandy bays with rock cliffs and the waves breaking on them. We drove down to the nearest bay. The kids and Philip collected mussels. It got coldish and windy.

I joined the bridge class. It starts two weeks from Tuesday. It costs $1 per time, 9:30-11:30 with babysitting and tea provided. I'm pretty happy about that although it takes away from potential work time.

We went to a lovely park on Sat. It has a super bicycle track and the kids had such a good time. It was lovely weather and the park was full of' beautiful huge trees and we just hated to leave. It will be nearer the other house we may rent. Then there were miles of bike tracks up hills and down gullies and sort of an obstacle course and lots of flat straight areas. There is another park near there set up with mock street and stop signs and lights and lanes. We were trying to find it when we came upon Burnside Park but liked this so much we stayed there.

Andrea had a friend to lunch on Friday and she's going to this girl’s house on Wednesday for lunch so she's very pleased. Jonathan had a club meeting on, and thank goodness two boys came. It would have broken his heart if they hadn't as he'd painstakingly written invitations the day before and personally delivered them The meeting lasted about two minutes and then they went away to play.

March 27

It’s going to be a big day for Jonathan on Friday He is going to read one of the bidding prayers at Mass. Stephanie has never done this so she is a bit jealous.

He did very well. Spoke loudly and clearly.

We have some Univ. friends whose 10 yr. old son had a stroke the other day. I was at a coffee party with Margaret when she got a call from school because her son was incoherent. It was a very hot day and he'd just had P.E. so everyone assumed heat exhaustion. Then his whole right side became weak and they took him to a doctor. They though it might be a brain tumor. But now they've diagnosed CVA and he apparently had a second one the next day. But he now has some functions back on his right side but his speech is still pretty bad. He is a very bright child so one hopes he won't have had any brain damage. We are going out to dinner tonight for the first time we've had a babysitter( 60 cents an hour) .We got a teenage friend (and her boyfriend)who is the daughter of the sister of a dietitian from England.

29 March

We 'v e had grey rain days for awhile. What a let down after 10 days of the most beautiful autumn weather imaginable. But I guess even N.Z. has to be allowed off days. We had such a lovely evening out. Andrea cried when the babysitter came. She' s a 17 yr old we met once before but A has never put up such a fuss before. We went to a dinner party and met some people who play bridge and agreed to have a game with us. The next day we had a phone call from the babysitter’s mother. Apparently she had scorched her blouse by sitting too close to our open fire. I think she wanted us to offer to replace it, but we didn’t think it was our fault.

Stephanie had her first N.Z. Brownie meeting. Next week she has to sell cookies.

This afternoon we found the bicycle-training park again. It was fun - about 8 pretend blocks with all sorts of traffic situations. Stephanie did pretty well. Jonathan went on the wrong side of the road, through all the stop signs and managed to pick a fight with the other kids there. He has a real gift for being ornery.

I haven’t had my credentials accepted yet. On Friday I got a letter saying they'd received my application and would send it on for an evaluation so I may have been too late for this month - which suits me fine.

I start my bridge class soon and Easter is in a few weeks. Our Easter lilies are in bloom which seems so odd as they are supposed to be spring flowers and it is autumn here. We're definitely having that other house and plan to move July l. But if the kids don't want to change schools we may try leaving them in this one but it means a lot of driving for me.