Tirau is a small New Zealand town. It's pronounced Tee-rau 1. Tirau, originally referred to a hill three miles southwest of the village, is covered with cabbage trees where Maori trapped the keruru (wood pigeon). It was first settled by the Ngati Raukawa, although various tribes won the area in battle before Europeans purchased the surrounding district in 1868. 2. Tirau has always been a rest...
This week's photo for Camera Critters is a rhino mother and baby, taken in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We rode elephants into the park and were able to get quite close to the one-horned rhinoceros, which is an endangered species. I badly wanted to see a tiger, but...
Number eight wire is a gauge or thickness of wire used for fencing. In New Zealand it's also a term used to indicate a can-do attitude. A number eight wire mentality means that a person can turn their hand to anything or will attempt to do anything even though it...
I was thinking this morning about the ways in which people are rich. Here's what I came up with. Thirteen Ways to Get Rich 1. Money - that's the obvious one, not that money necessarily makes you happier as a person. Money makes life easier. 2. Family - people who...
When I was a kid there were quite a few vegetables I didn't like. My parents, however, had rules. If my brother, sister and I didn't eat our vegetables, we didn't get dessert. It was as simple as that. I learned to slog through cauliflower and parsnips, very grateful...
Mr. Munro and I watched a food documentary about the history of ice cream during the weekend. It was fascinating, charting the history of ice cream in Britain and giving us a glimpse of Walls, the ice cream people. It's said that ice cream was first invented by Roman...
Our local council runs a program called Women on the Move. Each month they organize a day trip to help women get out in the great outdoors, exercise and have some fun. I took a day off writing today and joined their day trip to Tiritiri Matangi. Tiritiri Matangi means...
