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1969 Hawaii Peace Corps training: Details in Peace Corps Journal.
1970 Ken and Peter's birthdays party. David and I carried a pew down from the chapel and proceeded to show, appropriately, Hell Drivers. I slept through it. It finished at 10:30PM and that's when the party began. Murphys, Kacis, McDs, White, Atmores, Dick and Suli. Joe's cousins and a couple Lawaki boys showed up. Suli was his usual dancing self, basically doing a meke for each song that was played. Most left at midnight. Jo arrived at 12:30AM and from then on it was continuous playing. I used my chair as a drum. White got looped and was dancing with Jo's cousin. I made friends with Luke Roqica and we were toasting each other quite frequently. Suli made a big speech about Fiji and America and then apologized to me in English for acting like such a fool. At this point I was the only person there who couldn't understand Fijian. Word spread that I spoke Hindi and then to my surprize Jo, his cousins, Kalo and Sari also speak it well. So we had some "achi bot". Jo's big cousin, Kalevu, had a tin of fish in his back pocket, so I began calling him "Tin Fish". He would always reply "that's my life" or "home sweet home". Luke had passed out by this time. Sari told Tin Fish, that Dick was her brother and that I was her husband. So he ws calling Dick "bro". Finally got all the Roqicas out the door at 4AM.
Kalevu


Luke

1972 School cancelled and made secure for the arrival of Cyclone Bebe, currently near Rotuma. Storm shutters (metal grids) were hung over windows. I supervised storage of library books (no wall on the front of it and windows to be closed).
1976 Bensons over for an enjoyable evening.
1988 Whites where Navind and his brother Bobby joined us to go to Waiuku Forest, which is being decimated with just a few trees left at shore cliff. From outlook we wandered down and worked our way onto the beach for a couple hours not catching fish (video) and climbing the cliff (video). Saw a pied shag come up with a flounder (video). Back to Whites where I showed them the Heasley video. Barbie time. Tom and Elena, Sharva and kids galore. Helped Tom drink kava which he made too strong and served too much too often. But he did bring some great sausages.

1989 Whites to meet his sister Heather and partner Mary. Heather has been doing a lot of work in their yard. Picked up Leszek and Beata and two vans went up to the Heads. Stopped at a lookout for sandwiches with Arron mustard. Made it to the observation deck at the Manukau South Head (video). Back to Waiuku where Susi cooked supper on an open fire in the garage (video). Joined by Lui, Neli and kids.
1993 Whites joined us at Waharau educational camp. Walked along stream, where Susi found watercress to a cemetary. From there to the beach to get mussels. After supper we went to the confidence course. Matthew and I tried out most of the things. Back to camp to get a fire going and played bingo. Once it got dark we went to the "star finder" (see photo). A little bridge before bed.

1994 Hunuas with Whites. Did the Workman's track to Mangatangi Dam and Trig (very windy). Nice visitors center with a model dam and photos of its construction. Altogether 3.5 hours of fresh air. Interesting pattern on hills (photo).
1995 M - Ian, Jackie, Gail and I walked along Cemetary and Givens Roads. When Gail was telling our kids about the walk she asked me how long did we walk? I said 90 minutes. Gail: "90 minutes? You told me one and a half hours!"
2000 M - Bowling at Pukekohe with Nao, Whites and Tima. (I had 103 with a 13lb ball and 188 with a 12lb - score sheet).
2002 Lunch at Kaiserhoff. Said our tearful goodbyes and left in the rental. Judy's for a brief visit to exchange more family tree items. Got to Suzie's at 5PM too late to rescue the goldfish from the freezing water. Suzie and I did family tree stuff until the men came in from harvesting. Met Mike's brother-in-law, Richard, who is a clam digger and came out from Mass to help. Also met Greg's (excited about the new tractor) classmate, Chris. We had a lively meal. Managed to see a very dark orange Hunter's Moon rise and then the long drive back to Dad's.
2004 Gail and I went for a soak in Needham's hottub then a Canadian Thanksgiving meal with a Timara '03 Reisling. Interesting story about Elaine's long lost cousin (couldn't go to Canada with sister because she had been born in England and basically forgotten by her family). Pumpkin pie and an excellent Mission '03 merlot while watching news programs until 11PM.
2008 Rod installed the heat pump into the livingroom. Took him 3 hours and now we have instant heat and cooling at our fingertips. Joan showed us photos from John's wedding.
2011 Su - Called Dad - he now walks like Tim Conway's old man. Colleen's for curry takeaways with a Kim Crawford '10 chardonnay and Jenny's moist carrot cake filled with sultanas. Frank arrived to watch the RWC final: All Blacks holding out for a 8 - 7 win.
2012 T - Gail and I took Colleen to Hasan Baba after drinks at her place. I had salmon to go with the sweet Matua '09 pinot noir (grapes from Chile!!). We shared a tiramisu dessert. Had a chat with owner/chef Mark.
2013 W - Met Ne at Colleen's for bubbly before heading to Blue where we ate outside. We had an excellent Mills Reef 2011 Cabernet Merlot. Had an affagato for dessert (Jack Daniels Honey).
2014 Th - 3 games of petanque with David. Then Scrabble at Anna's (she and I tied at 170). 8 Minute Empire with David. Then it was Carcassonne and Ora et Labora until 12:30PM.
2015 F - Up at 7:30AM so Gail could get me to Grace Hospital at 9AM. Details are in the MalleyGram.
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