As the daffodils bloom in our backyard, I’m almost convinced that spring is actually on the way. Winter fades gradually into the past, sort of like my last post on this blog.

Where have I been?

For one thing, New Zealand. Our long-planned two-week excursion to the Southern Hemisphere was a great pleasure. I reconnected with the Marsden Old Girls–that is, members of the high school class I joined for eight months in 1963 as an American Field Service exchange student. “Old Girls” is the official name for all former classes, but we are in fact “old girls” now.

We began our visit in Auckland, with an Old Girls picnic on the grounds of the large central park called The Domain. We toured the War Memorial Museum there. Lunch at the top of the Sky Tower the next day afforded fabulous views of the harbors filled with sails that are the soul of Auckland. We toured the Sculpture Collection at a Botanical Garden, as well as neighborhood preserves dedicated to saving the ancient immense Kauri trees now under siege from an invasive disease. Our journey took us to Rotorua and Wellington by car. In Wellington, we visited my old school, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School for Girls. Also, we booked tickets for a nature preserve called Zealandia. For several years, an area near the central city has been strenuously protected from invasive mammal predators (possums, rats, dogs) in order to restore native flightless birds like the kiwi to pre-human populations. So far so good.

Then we boarded the ferry on foot for the trip to the South Island, where we connected with the Coastal train to Christchurch. We viewed the recovery projects ongoing from the 2011 series of devastating earthquakes, and connected with an online friend of mine who was living in the city at that time. Heartbreaking and encouraging all at once.

I can’t begin to recount our whole story here. However, if you’re planning the Trip of a Lifetime, do consider New Zealand. And don’t skimp on the time!

We arrived back in the U.S. just ahead of the curve on the coronavirus panic. Now we are sticking close to home, and washing our hands a lot.

Please stay well.

And in keeping with my ongoing faith: Fear not.