Wasn't a very nice summer was it? I mean, I know if are absolutely honest, we can only bank on about three weeks of really nice weather, usually after the school holidays are over.

I never really believed all those lurid leaflets which show the entire population of our village gamboling about in the surf, together with the dolphins. Swimming with the Orcas and so on, but this year has been a bit much.

Need a good laugh? There’s nothing like babies and animals to cheer you up…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=GMuZdN84PJg - a baby and a dog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWHpcKXt-qQ&feature=related   best baby laughs

David Bainbridge

As a 42-year-old man born in England, I can expect to live for about another 38 years. In other words, I can no longer claim to be young. I am, without doubt, middle-aged.

To some people that is a depressing realization. We are used to dismissing our fifth and sixth decades as a negative chapter in our lives, perhaps even a cause for crisis. But recent scientific findings have shown just how important middle age is for every one of us, and how crucial it has been to the success of our species. Middle age is not just about wrinkles and worry. It is not about getting old. It is an ancient, pivotal episode in the human life span, preprogrammed into us by natural selection, an exceptional characteristic of an exceptional species.

Read more…  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/evolution-has-given-humans-a-huge-advantage-over-most-other-animals-middle-age/2012/03/12/gIQAtVnccS_print.html

Melita Smith

It was Christmas and we were somewhat anxiously hosting our new-found guests, John and Pat, for dinner.

If only I'd known what lay in store...

• More than just an iPad
• Food critics
• Mori the Hori
• Phones out of date?
• Weapons of mass…

Ever wondered what on earth is going on in the Labour Party? Why it seems directionless and leaderless at the very time when opportunities for any Opposition have never been richer? In his latest opinion piece, for the Christchurch Press  political commentator Chris Trotter revealed a worrying intolerance in the parliamentary ranks...

That evening we had dinner in a restaurant which served typical Argentine food cooked on spits over open fires. The tables were big and wooden with bench seats down either side. We grabbed a space when it became available and were given a bowl and a large plate. We weren’t sure what to do so watched everyone else for a while. It was half self-service and half waiter service.

Graham Reid

Ever been in a place where everything is the same, but different? Let me illustrate.

It was close to midnight in Florence and after a fine dinner I went for a lazy stroll through the lamp-lit streets, then stopped at an outdoor cafe in Piazza della Repubblica for a nightcap of grappa.

From across the broad square the distant sound of a woman singing opera mingled with the disco-dance from a bar, but otherwise the night was pleasingly quiet as couples and small groups ambled past. I relaxed into my chair and then glanced around at the other patrons scattered around beneath the umbrellas.

To my left, seated against the wall of the cafe, was a man who looked exactly like the German actor Kurt Jurgens (1915-82), and a little further along Salman Rushdie was chatting with Mr Heppleston my old 3rd form social studies teacher. He hadn't aged a bit.

Read more…  http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/travelstories/560/florence-italy-the-passing-strange-parade/

Kate Frost

The journey up the lake was long but interesting and we were able to see the changing landforms caused by the receding icecap, thousands of years ago. The narrowest point of Lago Argentino is called Boca del Diablo, the Mouth of the Devil, where the sheer scarred walls of rock, rise high on either side of the boat.

KIWIOSITIES Babyboomer nostalgia baby boomer culture

An A-Z of  New Zealand traditions & Folklore by Gordon Ell                

(Published  by New Holland)

Cow Cockies

The expression ‘cocky’for a small farmer, particularly in dairying, is inherited from the Australian vernacular. There, small farmers were called ‘cockatoos’ for reasons still argued over, but it obviously derives from those flocking birds of the countryside. The expression originated before the Australian gold rushes and probably came over to New Zealand with the miners from the Australian fields in the 1860s.

• George Wilder escapes from prison
• NZ nurses detained on way to Spanish Civil War
• Attempted hijacking in Fiji foiled
• NZ's first sheep released
• First NZ Rugby team in action
• Parliament's first sitting in Auckland
• Bastion Point protestors evicted
• Fingerprints help convict murderer
• Auckland harbour bridge opened

Helen Vicary

Weddings then, wedding now – Helen continues the way they have changed from the 1950s to the present…