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16th	17th	18th
1965	Card, note and $5 from Grandma Lieb. Kincy, Steve, Kincy and Christmas shopped at Southdale and bowled. Plan was to get rid of Steve and then cards with Terri and Genell at Daniels. Finally got rid of him and beat it to Daniels but the girls were gone. Watched "Hogan's Heroes" episode Oil For the Lamps of Hogan. Went shopping with Mr Daniels at GEM and didn't get back until 11:30PM so no cards. Terri had on a formal dress and if she wasn't the best looking knockout I ever saw. Slept over and we stayed up until 3AM singing into the tape recorder. Bought Love is Strange by Caeser and Cleo and Knickerbockers' "Lies" for 77¢ each. Also got Herman's Hermits "Best of Vol. 1" album for $2.79.
1969	Hawaii:  Details in Peace Corps Journal. Card is from Gail.
1970	Cyclone Priscilla flooded bridges by 4' to 10' and many land slides.
1971	Had a good time seeing my old things. Angi came over with Tom Barrett as did Jim and Pat and we set up and decorated the tree. Mom had a cake for my homecoming. Chris has a good sound system and some good albums.
1975	Newstroms. Had a Black Russian to get us started. Then a French Columbard with the meal. Looked at their slides of Seattle trip. Photo	Gene
1976	Trish and Doug over for a meal with their exploits at the Las Vegas strip club.
1977	Sa - Michewski's over for a Montana sweet sherry, supper and screaming kids.
1978	Su - Went to a private farm "zoo" at Tuakau. Whangarata Zoo Gardens featured donkey, deer, wallabies, possums, fish and birds (emus). [ed. - 2009 it is Franklin Zoo which closed in 2012].
1979	M - Train into Auckland. Farmer's top floor to look at model train display and have a snack. Elevator to basement - very old and friendly operator. Walked through an excellent "Major Marmalade" winter display.
1980	W - Treated myself to a chocolate icecream cone and while in the cafeteria a big black gorilla wearing a top hat sang "Happy Birthday" to someone. Mom, Angi and Brenda visited. Ne gave Angi the grand tour.
1986	W - St Mary's thanksgiving Mass and senior prizegiving. Another lovely Mass by Father Ryder. David was recognized for being a quiet boy. Lia won a special award for excellence. Vince Welsh thanked me for the card but I hadn't sent one. He said "You are John M, aren't you" which means he does know my surname name - so I promised to send him one.
1987	St Mary's graduation ceremony and Mass. Nice family feel as usual. Kids were dressed in national costumes. Mary Benson was given a book and was emotional about it. David led the student candle procession. He was top in math and in science and won a special award and trophy for being prox (second in graduating class) just behind Judith Pryor. It was a surprise to the proud parents and Mary was also pleased. Ne was most improved for her grade.
1989	KV - no sleep last night. We brought a couple car loads to the end of the road and from there tramped up the gorge (video) for a picnic on the rocks. Susi went for a dip in the freezing water (video). Rain came and sent us back. Kids (Chardy inside Ne's jacket) and I double-timed it for first ride back to camp where we surveyed the damage and closed up the windows/doors on the tents. I went back to pickup the others who were completely soaked (video). After changing clothes and drying off, Ian, the kids and I went to see the model dam be tripped (video), have a look in the Info Center and buy a bag of firewood ($2). Supper, bridge - Ian and I winning. I left at 8PM.
1993	TP at our place with Dad joining. I broke a bowl over Ann's head when she asked how school was going.
1997	W - Waiuku (in Ian's car) to meet Susi's father Pio, Steve, Sally and Christian. Played two on two with Dale Oliver, David and Matthew.
2007	Big breakfast on hand from Nasa. Checked out Port Macquarie. Driving the residential area was painful because of the frangipani scent. Large shopping area. We did a stretch of the Kooloonbung Creek Nature Park walk (flower). Drove to Laurieton and up North Brother Mountain in Dooragan National Park for a lovely view of the coast. Had a soak in the spa.	Laurieton
2009	Th - David and I played billiards and snooker until supper. Off to the airport where we were joined by the Whites to see David off.
2018	M - We left at 11:15AM and got to Whites by 2PM. After catching up they taught us Kingdominoes. Had a sweet McGuigan 2017 shiraz with a chili meal. Roche's and had him demonstrate his barista skills. Exit to Tauranga closed so I followed a detour which only brought us back to Ridge Road, so we drove down to Te Kawhata and I showed Gail Russell's house on the way home.
2022	Great pains all night. Fell and crashed into walls a couple times. Head hurting big time. Spent most of the day in bed.
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