The Wedding,,.Part 2

I was suppose to post this quite a while ago, but didn't get to it. I also did not get around to ordering our official certificate, which Greg reminded me of a thousand times, which I didn't do because I thought the certificate we had on that day was the right one, turns out he was right and we need the official stamped one for the states. So I owe Greg a huge apology for being a jerk about it and am off to the offices downtown to correct my stupidity. 

Wedding ceremony for Kelly and Greg

Saturday 20 March 2010

Celebrant: Ruth Gardner

Ceremony will take place on Brighton Beach, just south of the Surf Club at the end of Bridge Street.

The couple will mark out a space with three concentric circles beforehand.

Couple and celebrant will stand in inmost circle.

Witnesses will stand in middle circle.

Purification:  Ruth to light white sage smudgestick and walk around outside of outer circle, saying:  I banish all negativity from this sacred circle.

Then move to the inner circle and say:

I welcome the energy of Earth to this circle.

Earth which we can feel solidly beneath our feet, and which holds us as this circle holds us.

I welcome the energy of Air to this circle.

Air which inspires us as this circle inspires us.  Air which reaches up to the sky and forms our wedding canopy today.

I welcome the energy of Fire to this circle.

The fire we can feel in the warmth of the sun.  Fire which warms us as this circle warms us.

I welcome the energy of Water to this circle.

Water which flows with us as this circle flows with us.  Water which reaches to every part of the planet and unites us with those who are far away.

I acknowledge the tangata whenua of this land, and all the ancestors who have walked the path of life before us.

Today we stand at the equinox, the time when dark and light are equal, and the world is in balance, both here and in the northern hemisphere that is your home.

When an man and a woman unite in marriage, their personal union draws its power from the cosmic marriage that underlies the whole of existence – the bonding of the divine masculine and feminine energies emerging from the Creator’s infinite light to generate existence, a world, and life.  On each level, masculine and feminine energies unite to give birth to the next link in the chain of spiritual worlds that channel the flow of divine vitality into our world.   This means that we can use our own marriages as a metaphor through which to better understand the divine reality.  And, because we know that human marriage derives from the cosmic marriage of God and creation, studying the mystical texts which scrutinize these divine processes allows us to better understand the foundations of our gender differences, how to become better husbands and wives to our spouses, and to better actualize the tremendous potential of marriage.

Love is the language of the soul, and the more in tune a person is with the soul, the greater the capacity for pure love, unsullied by ulterior motives and ego. 

As you prepare now to enter into marriage let us consider four aspects of God.

Let us now consider those Aspects of God which have special significance on this day.

The first of these is Happiness, Vav Hey Vav.

To experience happiness we must first drop our ego.  This enables us to move forward towards actual and lasting fulfilment.  We restrain our selfish longing as we ask for what our soul needs, not what our ego wants.

Looking ahead, we seek elevation doe the soul and real transformation.

We restrict our dark impulses and tendencies towards negativity and complaining.

We appreciate everything around us and reach into our soul at the deepest level to connect with real happiness and true joy.

Pause

The second Aspect is Sharing the Flame, Mem Lamed Hey.

With this aspect we tap into the infinite, the hidden dimension, the ultimate source of strength and light, and imagine sharing that joy with all those around us.

Darkness recedes as we see candles burning across the universe, signifying the spread of joy and light.

We ask for the strength and certainty to go out into the world to share goodness and create greater opportunities for Light, love, and compassion.

Pause

The third Aspect is Angelic influences, Hey Zayin Yud.

With this we will transform our character.

As we close our eyes and reach out into the network of angels in the universe, we see particles all around us, and we commit to connecting with good forces.

We will be more tolerant, sharing, and compassionate.

We see an abundance of po0sitive angels and welcome them into our realm, shutting out the negative influences.

We will drop our ego and allow room for the universe and its good angels to bring Light into our life.

Pause

Finally we consider the Power of Prosperity, Damech Aleph Lamed.

We transcend our financial burdens and allow the Light to provide for us.

As prosperity grows, we continue to share, to give back more to others.

We will not obsess about money.

We distance ourselves from our money issues, acknowledging that in our desire for it, perhaps we have lost out on other parts of our life.

And as we open up the channel for actual prosperity, we feel even greater abundance, and endless supply of Light.

Infinite fulfilment awaits us.

Pause

With our hearts and minds focussed on these four aspects, we move towards the purpose of today’s ceremony.

Kelly, do you come here freely and without reservation, to give yourself in marriage to Greg?  I do

Greg, do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself in marriage to Kelly?  I do

It is now time to make your sacred vows to each other.

Greg, please take Kelly’s hands, look into her eyes, and repeat after me:

I Greg Lenier Miller, take you Kelly Marie Carter, to be my lawful wedded wife, to love, to honour, and to cherish.

Kelly, please repeat after me:

I Kelly Marie Carter, take you Greg Lenier Miller, to be my lawful wedded husband, to love, to honour, and to cherish.

Do you have the rings?

For thousands of years, people have exchanged rings as a symbol of their commitment to each other.  Rings are a visible sign of the love which binds two lives together.  The ring is a circle and it is endless as we are all part of the circle of life and the eternity of love.  May these rings be blessed by the love which unites your both, together with the love that surrounds us all today.  As often as you see these rings may you be reminded of this moment, and of the endless love you’ve promised to each other.

Greg,  please put this ring upon the finger of your bride and repeat after me:

“Be thou consecrated to me, as my wife, by this ring, according to the Law of Moses and of Israel.”

Kelly, please repeat after me: May this ring, I receive from thee, be a token of my having become thy wife, according to the Law of Moses and of Israel.

Kelly, please place this ring on Greg’s finger and repeat after me:

This ring is a symbol, that thou art my husband, in accordance with the

Law of Moses and of Israel.

Kelly and Greg, because you have chosen one another, honoured each other with the gift of rings, and pledged to love each other it gives me great pleasure to announce that you are now husband and wife.

Traditionally this announcement is sealed with a kiss.

As is customary within the Jewish tradition, I now invite you each to recite the seven blessings:

First Blessing:

Greg:  Baruch Ata Adonoy

            Eloheinu Melech ha’olam

            Sheh’hakol bara lich’vodo.

Kelly   Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has created everything for His glory.

Second Blessing:

Greg:  Baruch Ata Adonoy

            Eloheinu Melech ha’olam

            Yo’tzayr ha’adam.

Kelly:  Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who fashioned the Man.

Third Blessing:

Greg:  Baruch Ata Adonoy

            Eloheinu Melech ha’olam

            Asher yatzar et ha’adam b’tzalmo

Kelly:  Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who fashioned the Man in His image, in the image of his likeness and prepared for him – for himself – a building for eternity.  Blessed are You, Lord, Who fashioned the Man.

Fourth Blessing:

Greg:  Sos tasis v’tagail ha’akara

            B’kibutz ba’neh’ha l’tocha b’simcha

            Baruch Ata Adonoy

            M’samay’ach Tzion b’vaneha

Kelly:  Bring intense joy and exultation to the barren one through the ingathering of her children amidst her in gladness.  Blessed are You, Lord, Who gladdens Zion through her children.

Fifth blessing:

Greg:  Samay’ach t’samach ray’im ha’ahuvim

            K’samay’chacha y’tziri’cha b’Gan Eiden mikedem

            Baruch Ata Adonoy

            M’samay’ach chatan v’chala

Kelly:  Gladden the beloved conpanions as You gladdened

            Your creature in the Garden of Eden from aforetime,

            Blessed are You, Lord, Who gladdens groom and bride.

Sixth Blessing:

Greg:  Baruch Ata Adonoy

            Eloheinu Melech ha’olam

            Asher bara sasson v’simcha

Chasan v’chala

            Geela, reena, deetza v’chedva,

            Ahava v’achava, v’shalom v’ray’ut.

            M’hayra Adonoy Eloheinu

            Yishama b’aray Yihuda uv’chutzot Yerushalayim

            Kol sasson v’kol simcha

Kol chatan v’kol kalla,

Kol mitz’halot chasanim may’chupa’sam,

Un’arim mi’mishtay n’ginatam.

Baruch Ata Adonoy

M’samay’ach chatan im hakalla.

Kelly:  Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who created joy and gladness, groom and bride, mirth, glad song, pleasure, delight, love, brotherhood, peace, and companionship.  Lord our God, let there soon be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the grooms’ jubilance from their canopies and of the youths from their song-filled feasts.  Blessed are You, Lord, Who gladdens the groom with the bride.

Seventh Blessing:

Greg:  Baruch Ata Adonoy

            Eloheinu Melech ha’olam

            Boray p’ri ha’gaffen

Kelly:  Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine.

Kelly and Greg:

Now you will feel no rain,

For each of you will be shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold,

For each of you will be warmth for the other.

Now you will feel no loneliness,

For each of you will be companion to the other.

Now you are two persons,

But there are three lives before you:

His life, her life, and your life together.

Shalom aleichem

The West Coast...or How I finally got over my fear of driving in a foriegn country!

Well I finally did it, I drove here. I have been terrified of driving here since the minute we got in the first taxi to at the airport. Why? Well, one, they drive on the left side, two, all the road signage is totally different, and three, kiwi's drive like total nuts! So all of this combined left me stubbornly refusing to drive here, much to Greg's frustration. Can't blame him, especially with how ridiculous it seems now . Well one of the things we really wanted to do was see the West Coast. The scenery out there was suppose to be amazing with rain forest, glaciers and unique coastal rock formations. Now you can take a tour out there, but they are ridiculously over priced and limiting on what you can see and do. So finally after much prodding Greg got me to agree to rent a car. Of course agreeing doesn't mean I wasn't still terrified, I actually puked before we left the beach house to pick up the car because I was so nervous. One of my absolute requests though was GPS and it totally made the experience an easy one. So we got the car, got the GPS programed and off we went. I was pretty tense until we made it out of Christchurch, which in hindsight really wasn't that bad. I have never used GPS before, honestly I think it makes people back home a bit lazy on natural navigational skills, but in a foreign country, its an absolute must. It made everything soooo much easier. I could just focus on staying on the left instead of worrying about missing roads!


DAY 1
 
So off we went for a two day exploration of the West Coast. To get to the West Coast from Christchurch there are two ways, Authur's pass, the directest route, and Lewis Pass, the long one everyone takes in winter due to black ice on Aurthur's. Now the locals had been giving a definite impression that Authur's was scary and looking at pictures of the viaduct online, that certainly seemed correct. After you get out of the Canterbury plains its right into the mountains all the way to the West Coast. The plains were nice because the nice flat stretches let me adjust to the car before hitting the reputed hard parts. But the mountains proved to be no problem at all though! The roads are very very winding and very narrow with 180 degree curves back and forth all up and down. The speed limit on all hi-ways here is 100 km, unless marked for the taking curves, which while in reality about 60mph, seemed a lot faster given the width and nature of the roads. Luckily traffic is pretty light in this country, so I could putz at speeds I was comfortable with. So our first amazing sights were Authur's pass itself. 

Now if we had stopped each time there was something beautiful and picture worthy on this drive we would have never made it to Greymouth, our hotel destination! There were amazing rivers, waterfalls, and lush rain forest covered hills all around. Before we got to the point pictured above, there were also hills that reminded Greg of Scotland with these awesome rock formations called Castle Rock. Unfortunately the camera was acting up at the point so can't share that view.

We continued on through the mountains, enjoying the great views while I navigated the crazy roller coaster roads and were in high spirits. The drive took about 4 hours so we arrived at our Greymouth accommodations around 2pm and promptly checked in, dropped off unneeded gear and headed out again to grab some Domino's Pizza before heading out to Pancake Rocks, these really kewl rock formations on the coast north of Greymouth. Celia talked me into trying Chicken Feta pizza and I have to say I'm totally hooked and craving one even as I write this. :)

Pancake Rocks on Dolomite Point are one of those little natural mysteries here in New Zealand. They are limestone, which isn't really anywhere else on the coast and formed into strange layers like stacks of pancakes. No one knows how they formed, but they are just amazing to look at. The whole place had an enchanted ancient castle/temple feeling though none of it is man made. We really enjoyed exploring this area. Greg got a lot of really awesome shots, these are just some.

After exploring this amazing natural wonder we drove about five minutes north of here to do a little cave exploration. Punakaki Cavern was definitely on Greg's to do list and I actually had never been in a cave at all so it was lots of interesting fun. The cave itself wasn't terribly large but had several different areas to explore and also the added fun of glowworms! When we turned off the torches, that's flashlights to us back home, the glow worms lit up the ceiling of the cave like stars. It was very groovy!

After all this exploring we were pretty tired and rather filthy so it was back to the hotel which had great comfy beds and nice hot jacuzzi to make a perfect end to a great day!

DAY 2 

We got up pretty early the next day to head out toward our next West Coast destination. Three hours down the coast from Greymouth is the Franz Josef Glacier, an amazing place with glaciers and rain forest. This seemed pretty strange to me because when you think of rain forest you think of humid warmth and glaciers you think arctic cold, but they are weirdly right next to each other. I have decided in my granted limited experience that so far rain forest is my favorite terrain on the planet. I just love the feel of it for some reason. Maybe its all that super oxygenated air, not sure, just know it make me happy. The road down to Franz Josef was even more narrow and winding then Authur's Pass but went through ever more amazing terrain of road clinging rain forest. Some of the weirder things about NZ country side hi-ways are they pretty much have no road shoulder and one lane bridges. These things are everywhere! I think we crossed about a dozen of them on the way to Franz Joseph. They are narrow, a bit unnerving and frankly strike me as foolishly dangerous for public hi-ways where people drive like nuts. Its not just my opinion on that one, there are signs and commercials on tv constantly about how speed kills in this country.

We arrived at Franz Josef around 1pm and stopped into the visitor center to check out the various tramp, that's hiking paths to us, that lead to the glacier. After getting directions to the glaciers main car park we headed out. Now the road to the car park was rather weird because it had at least a half a dozen one lane speed bump things, and not single concrete raised things, but rough stone in cement double risers. These were really irritating to drive on. But once past that we parked and headed out to see a glacier. 

We opted on the Glacier Valley walk which promised to give a nice walk through the rain forest and then out to the glacier itself with a round trip time of an hour and a half. Unfortunately this is the moment when the camera died. Completely, totally. We bought new batteries in Greymouth, but by time we got to Franz Josef it was obviously a lost cause. That camera gave us trouble this whole trip, but I was hoping it would hold out until we got home. But being the resourceful people we are, we did not accept defeat but instead emptied the backpack, put in the laptop with its handy-dandy webcam camera, grabbed the battery from the other laptop and headed out on our hike. The webcam wasn't great so these pictures don't do the experience justice at all, but at least we tried. Celia also got some video on her Ipod which I hope to upload with some other ones she's taken sometime in the next few days.

The glacier was really an amazing and unique thing. On the way there we went through some really beautiful forest, then out onto the dry rocky river bed part of the trail. On either side were rain forest covered hills with many waterfalls cascading down. One point there was a section where you could sit on a big rock in front of a multiple water fall and see the hills, glacier and listen to the falling water. This was the perfect spot! The ice is actually blue in color and at the bottom there was a river rushing out from underneath it. Really, an amazing day! :)

After the hike, which actually took us more like 3-4 hours, we were all pretty tired, so we headed back into Franz Josef village and grabbed some dinner which we ended up eating picnic style on the road side then headed out on the long drive back to Christchurch. It took about 6 hours to get back but wasn't too bad of a drive. The only real issue was possums! These suicidal little cute buggers were all over the roads and I almost hit a half a dozen of them! Luckily I didn't though and we made it back to the beach house safe and sound around 11pm. Overall it was a really great two days and I wish I had gotten over my fear of driving here a long time ago! Cheers! :)

Art all around...

One of the things I've loved here is creative expression everywhere. From outdoor sculptures to graffiti art to the personal artworks that are people's homes, I just love how much I find to look at. One of the more amusing issues local New Brightoners were concerned about when we arrived here was tagging, or the habit of juveniles to sign walls, windows, mailboxes, fences and anything else possible with creative signatures of their initials or nicknames. In reading a local article about it I just loved one business owner's solution to the problem, murals! The taggers never mark up existing artwork. Of course being an artist I just adore a solution that brings more art into the world. Coincidentally last month while coming back from the grocery store I happened by the local bakery where they had decided that solution was a good one as there was an artist there hard at work on a building side mural. So of course I had to stop and chat since I've always been curious about murals, would love to do one someday. The artists name is Richard Baker, or PopxArt on his Facebook and Myspace pages. He is originally from London and part Brit, part Jamaican and married to a Kiwi lady, so they spend a couple years in Britain then come down here for a few. We chatted a while about art, murals, NZ and other stuff. Definitely a groovy person I was happy to meet. Here's a few shots from his Facebook page, Enjoy!

Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat

Tonight Greg and I went and saw Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Issac Royal Theater in Christchurch. We both love musicals and wanted to have a nice night out to ourselves to enjoy it so we bought Celia a Thursday night ticket to go with her friend Sam. 

Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical based on the biblical story of Joseph, who is given a coat of many colors by his father, betrayed by his brothers, has the gift of prophesy through dreams and with that gift rises to become a successful man and reunited with his family. The musical is one of many collaborations between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice who have brought to the stage productions like Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, two musicals that I love so I had high hopes for this one. But while those musicals are moving and emotional experiences, Joseph is much more of fun family romp. Once I got into the idea that this musical wasn't exactly emotional soul food I had a pretty good time. The parody aspects of different music types and sight gags including glittering camels,giant corncobs and an Elvis like Pharaoh were pretty funny. 

The Issac Royal Theater

But regardless of how the musical met expectations the best part is, as always, getting to go out for a night on the town with my hubby. We always have a great time when its just the two of us. If the show is great, we talk about what we loved about it, if it's not so great, then we have a great time talking about that too. I have to say we were a little surprised about some of the things about the theater here. While it is a lovely and obviously old theater they still had a full concession going offering things like beer and ice cream during the intermission. I can't say I recall seeing such offerings at US musicals nor could Greg recall such things and European shows. We honestly thought it a bit tacky. Also, no programs. At every show I've ever been too, Greg too, you always get a little program. Yes, there are usually the nice detailed glossy souvenir ones they sell, but they still give you the little free one with the show. Not here though. It was $15 for a program on top of what we already paid on tickets. We obviously passed. But that one struck us as a bit tacky as well. 


But all the same it was a great night out with my hunny and I can't wait until we get another opportunity to see a show again.

100 Cool, Funny, and Lovable Things about New Zealand

...in no particular order :)

1. Eating souvlakis from Dmitri’s on the banks of the Avon
2. Wandering around the Arts Center
3. Walking on the beach when the sun makes the water sparkly
4. Being on the beach at night when the moon is full and magical
5. Collecting 1000 perfect white seashells
6. Finding paua shells on Kaikoura beach
7. Hector’s Dolphins in Akaroa
8. Wanding around Akaroa on a sunny day
9. There’s no hiding upstairs
10. Carmel Fudge Ice Cream Cones
11. Snorkeling with upside down seals
12. Feeding the ducks Domino's Pizza crust
13. Painting in the courtyard
14. Listening to street musicians downtown
15. Screaming during the Ghostwalk at the Arts Center
16. Riding the bus and watching it plow throw a minivan
17. Squished in with smashed Kiwi's at Sullivan's on St. Patty's Day
18. Riding through the mountain roads to Kaikoura
19. Manta Rays at the Aquarium
20. Waking up to coffee and a smoke in the morning sun filled courtyard
21. Playing in the ocean on a moonlit night
22. Having random old ladies stop on power scooters to tell jokes
23. Listening to Stig, the piano player, croon old American and British songs at Fat Eddie's
24.  The awesome fries with crave worthy dip sauce at Fat Eddie's
25. Spicy Wedges at the Aroma Cafe, Kaikoura
26. Watching Oystercatcher birds on the shore
27. Black swans floating on the Avon
28. Walking, walking, walking
29. Canterbury Museum
30. Crazy costumed girls running around Cathedral Square on a scavenger hunt
31. How the downtown benches light up at night
32. Drunk middle aged women shaking it to congo drums downtown
33. Kelly’s first Guinness at Sullivan's
34. Fish & Chips
35. Drunk on Rum & Coke on the beach at night
36. Laying in soft tall grass listening to the iPod
37. Tsunami freak out!
38. Beach Haven, even if it is haunted
39. Purple centered daisies
40. Rainbow lights under New Brighton Pier at Night
41. Buskers
42. Outdoor sculptures downtown
43. Flowers, flowers, flowers
44. No cookie-cutter houses
45. Silly Kiwi Birds
46. Wall Murals
47. Tai Chi on the Beach
48. Burger King, the only food that tastes like home!
49. Being offered a getaway car for the Tsunami
50. The beauty of Christchurch Cathedral
51. Bicycles and Mini Coopers hung on building walls
52. Ring Tailed Lemurs
53. Kelly making a fool of herself trying to twirl poi!
54. Maori Tribal Patterns
55. Watching Sand Artists paint in the sand
56. Kea Birds
57. Kelly finding a new painting style
58. Finding random creativity and writing on the beach
59. Sound of the waves
60. Wallabies (Greg's Roos!)
61. The tire swing on Southshore beach
62. Getting Married on "Our" Beach
63. Having a totally unique wedding ceremony
64. Fitting into a wetsuit for the first time
65. Watching seals argue over territory
66. Watching seals watch you like you’re silly to be swimming with them
67. Looking at the mountains around Kaikoura from the Jacuzzi
68. Nerding events
69. Sweet Chili Sauce!
70. Being stalked by Storm troopers
71. Cruising Akaroa Bay
72. Climbing Cave Rock, Sumner
73. Christchurch Botanical Garden
74. Amazing trees
75. Reading on a beach blanket on a warm day
76. Arts & culture shows on TV
77. Indian Curry
78. Our stuffed Kiwi
79. Random Graffiti, Artwork, and Stickers around downtown
80. Chinese food
81. Florescent Sunsets
82. Aloe Drinks
83. Photos, photos, photos
84. The Edge FM 88.9 and more power on 95.3 :D
85. Window cat, the black and white cat who jumps our garden fence to come visit through the windows
86. Martial arts classes
87. Random hidden antique shops
88. Free music downloads with every purchase of Mountain Dew
89. 4"x4" perfect square canvas
90. Giant Whittaker's Chocolate Bars
91. People watching at the Bus Exchange, i.e The kid with the angel wings
92. The haunted gift giving book shelf
93. Clove Incense and candles
94. Thick white living room carpet that Celia loves
95. Celia's artwork development
96. Learning, learning, learning
97. Recycling
98. Meeting random people at the beach
99. Cannibals!
100. Becoming closer as a family

We meet a Texan...

In New Brighton Mall, the open plaza of shops that we took pictures of the first week here, there is a Tex-Mex café. Now if you know me, you know I love Mexican food, but for various reasons I never got around to checking out this café.  Last week while out, Greg reminded me of it while we were debating lunch and so we decided to check it out. It was a surprise when I went to place my order to hear the familiar patterns of American English, Texan English to be specific.  The restaurant is owned by John and his wife, Texans who immigrated to New Zealand three years ago. The food was pretty good and we got to talk to John for a while only to find out he and his wife with their three kids would be leaving New Zealand this month. Why? Because the New Zealand government is making them.

When John and his family originally came over on work visa he worked as a plumber. He made good money and his family made a life here. His kids love it and the schools are great for them.  His five year old is already fluently reading.  But unfortunately due to the global recession he lost his good paying job plumbing, just before it came time to apply for full residency.  So in response to this he and his wife opened up the Mexican café, which while not as popular as the ever present fish and chips, seemed to be doing ok. But despite this and the three years spent here the government has denied their application for full residency/citizenship. John told us that when they first came here the government was much more foreigner friendly, but since the last elections, those in power are now pretty against foreigners and immigration.

I found his whole situation pretty sad and frankly wrong. It just doesn’t seem right to me to let people come and make a life somewhere, open a business, raise their children, then just yank it away. It’s not like they were leaching off the system, they were business owners, contributing to the community. It made our small bid to make a life here seem rather pointless because if someone with that situation can’t stay, what chance did we ever really have.  Though I do wish I had managed to wander into the Tex-Mex café earlier because John seems a pretty nice guy and Greg has been hanging out with him a bit.  The other night Greg came home with stories of the cannibals on these islands. Apparently the Maori cannibalized who ever lived here originally and munched on quite a few Europeans before they got entrenched here. I have no idea how true these things are, but Greg’s been having a blast making endless cannibal jokes. :)
 
Other then hanging with new friends and working on school and illustration stuff, we’ve been wandering a bit. The other day we checked out the Botanical Gardens. A little late though, it would have been nicer last month when it was in full bloom. But oh well, still a nice place to wander for the afternoon.  Here are some pictures, Enjoy!