As most people who know me will already know...I LOVE SNAIL MAIL!!!
I had two penpals when I was younger (OK, a LOT younger-in my early teens) but, sadly, lost contact with them in my late teens. One was a girl from Japan and the other a girl from Finland. I still remember Eva-Marja's name and that she sent me the most gorgeous ceramic decorative plate from her country! I wonder where she is now?

A few years ago I discovered a couple of websites dedicated to sending/receiving mail. One is www.swap-bot.com and the other is www.postcrossing.com. I won't go into details as many of you will already know of them. If not, do check them out. And lately I have discovered a new site  www.25stamps.club And, of course, www.leagueofextraordinairypenpals.com.

I collected stamps as a child and then stopped for many years. I passed my collection on to my daughter who has done what I did-showed an interest for a year or so then stopped! So, meantime, I have taken my album back (don't want it to get lost in the debris of her bedroom!!!) and have since rediscovered my love of stamps. This is how I found the 25stamps club-you send 25 stamps to another member then your name comes up and someone else sends you 25 stamps. Perfect for moving duplicate stamps along and obtaining stamps from many other countries!

So, with all those websites (and I am sure there are PLENTY more) I have always got something of interest in my letterbox. Oh yes, almost forgot...every February is LetterMo www.lettermo.com which I have mentioned here on my blog in the past. Anyway, from time to time I like to post pictures of my mail and I just have to show you what I received yesterday. Imagine my surprise, and delight, to open my letterbox and see....not a bill in sight!!

 

 

 

Upon opening all these wonderful envelopes I found the following delights...

 

 

stamps, an RAK from a lovely lady on Swapbot and another from LEP, postcards and a penpal letter. What a fantastic mail day -it certainly brought a smile to my face! Who doesn't like to receive mail?

 

But, of course, as I tell my girls-to GET mail you must SEND mail!!! So, if you would like to have a "happy mail" day check out some of the above websites and ...send some mail! Or you can always write to me...I will certainly send a reply!!  :)

Easter 2016

Once again, Easter weekend has been and gone. As usual, we headed off on our annual family get together...this time it was my turn to choose the location.

Pukawa is nestled at the southern end of Lake Taupo and is a beautiful little bay. It is predominately a holiday spot but there are a few permanent residents in the area too. In fact, Jeff's parents had a section there for many years and he remembers staying in a caravan for many a weekend until they built their holiday bach. So our visit at Easter was a trip down memory lane for him!

Luckily, not much has changed and it has retained its laid back, relaxed feel with children still able to wander around the streets without supervision and people smiling and waving hello as they walked past on their way to the lakefront or along the bush tracks. You can see on this map the many tracks and streets available to wander around.

 

Here is where we stayed; it was a great spot and a lovely set up. It was basically two houses joined in the middle by a (lockable) door so you could just book out one of the units if you wished. But for our large group of 11 we needed both units! With a toddler in our midst now and lots of hungry teenagers it was very handy to have TWO kitchens to prepare food in. And showers and toilets times two...yep, perfect!
 

 

We were blessed with great weather over the weekend with a wee bit of rain not putting too  much of a dampener on things. Check out the gorgeous views we got to enjoy whilst out and about. The kids enjoyed quite a bit of 'water' time, braving the cool temperatures of Lake Taupo which none of the adults seemed to keen to do!

 
 

 

We spent time exploring the many tracks around the area and you can see some of them on this map.  There is a local group dedicated to restoring the native bush and attracting native birds back to the area and they are doing a fabulous job as we could hear lots of birdsong on our walks. I even saw a beautiful kereru (wood pigeon) flying just above my head as I exited a track-just gorgeous to see! Can you see him in the tree?


Nearby Tokaanu  has lovely thermal pools just perfect for soaking in and this is a great evening activity as the cooler air temperature makes the warm water feel fantastic! Nearly everyone enjoyed a soak in these pools. We drove over to the next bay, Omori,  one day and found the following new business to the area.

 

 

 Floating Rock Winery offered great views and food and was a pleasant way to spend a relaxing hour in the sunshine. And the wine tasted great, too! Here is the family with me behind the camera once again!

So that is Easter 2016-done and dusted! I wonder where we will be next Easter? It is Vaughan and Lacreice's turn to select the location so we will wait with great anticipation to hear.

Canada!

I have just returned from the best trip ever!!! Three whole weeks in Canada on holiday :) No work, no routines, no kids to run around after, no husband to organise :) and no worries for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!!!! Oh yeah...and the scenery was pretty amazing too!

On February 22 I flew from Auckland Airport to Toronto via Sydney and San Francisco-what a marathon journey. But after 26 or so hours I arrived in Toronto at 7pm to (thankfully) find my brother, Arthur, waiting for me. It was SO good to see him again :)

We immediately drove down to Niagara to see the falls lit up at night. Soft coloured lights are directed at the falls and it does look pretty but I much preferred them I daylight.  We stayed the night there so I could have a good look around in the morning. What an IMPRESSIVE sight those falls are! I was lucky enough to see them in winter when they are partially iced up and with snow all around-so picturesque!!

And I even learnt something! I thought Niagara Falls was just ONE waterfall-the curved one. But no, there are TWO waterfalls that make up the "Niagara Falls" - the 'American Falls which are just downstream of the 'Horseshoe Falls' (the curved one). Americans will tell you 'their' falls are taller but we all know which one is the most impressive :) Yeah...go Canada!! So I came away from Niagara more educated than when I arrived-travelling sure does broaden the mind.  :)
 

             

I spent a night in Quebec City and thoroughly enjoyed exploring this beautiful city. I just loved seeing the St Laurence River all iced up! As for the Notre Dame Basilica-I just stood inside it, speechless! The photos just don't do it justice-it was stunning.
 I enjoyed wandering around all the 'French' streets both in Quebec City and Montreal-the French influence certainly is noticeable!

  

Here I am geocaching...in the snow! And enjoying a snow shower in downtown Arnprior. I LOVED the snow-it is SO soft and fluffy. I was always jumping in it or touching it or 'drawing ' in a fresh, clean snowdrift :)

I managed to talk some random guy into taking me for a snowmobile ride on a frozen lake. Let me tell you-it is quite a mind game to step out (or in this case, ride out!) onto a lake knowing that there is only alayer of ice separating you and FREEZING cold water! Every time I did it, I would get freaked out for quite a few moments while my brain tried to convince me it was not natural to be walking on water! :)

This was the most gorgeous lookout-so worth the beautiful hike in the snow to reach it. It was situated on Mt Calabogie and is called "Eagle's Nest Lookout". I've since seen stunning photos of the same view in autumn colours-I will have to return to see it for myself! It certainly was magnificent in winter - quite an awe inspiring place!

I certainly didn't let the snow keep me inside! I was outside whenever I could; luckily my brother is just as keen on being outside as I am :) We spent a great morning cross-country skiing. It was such fun! It would certainly be my sport of choice in winter if I lived in Canada! It is VERY cardiovascular exercise!!!! I was going to try my hand at ice fishing but the guy we arranged to see was not 'home' when we called out to his ice hut :( Oh well, we had a good look through the window and could see the hole in the ice and his fishing pole nearby., complete with sofa to ensure a comfortable time while sitting there for hours.




On the edge of Arnprior is a beautiful nature reserve-McNamara Reserve. Arthur & I spent a morning walking through it and were lucky enough to run into a lovely lady who was very familiar with the birdlife and wildlife in it. She told us the mess we saw around the bottom of a tree came from a porcupine, who actually climbed the tree! Did not know they could do that!! She also gave me peanuts and I HANDFED A SQUIRELL!!!!! It was SO cute!!! (Can you tell I am STILL excited about that experience??!!) He was SO quick, darting from tree to tree almost like he was flying. And he even had tunnels in the snow and would fly down a tree, disappear into a tunnel and then pop out a few seconds late and race up another tree! Adorable to watch :) The lady also told us about all the birds we could see and hear and thanks to her, we even got to see bluejays! Apparently they can be a bit shy so we were lucky she told us what to do to see them. I thoroughly enjoyed that morning spent in such a beautiful spot.




We spent a couple of days in Quebec City...a beautiful city! We ate in a very 'French' style bistro and enjoyed a lovely meal after walking around the city at night. It certainly looked beautiful all snowy and lit up. 
 

 

Just as it looked gorgeous the next day in daylight! Such gorgeous OLD architecture-just stunning to see. And, again, that French influence everywhere-I loved it!

 

 

Well, this is PART ONE of my holiday...stay tuned for PART TWO when I have organised more photos! :) Hey...be thankful I haven't posted ALL the hundreds I actually took!! :)

 

 

It's February...

and you know what that means! Yes...LetterMo is underway for 2016 :)

What??? You DON'T know what LetterMo is? Well, I suggest you quickly go and have a look at this site and see what it involves.

 

And, yes...I am participating again this year. I have already written at least one piece of mail every day so far. Obviously I don't SEND it on the weekends when the Post Office is closed (as per the 'rules' of the challenge) but I find it easier to tell myself that I must write EVERY day because if I stop for weekends my motivation stops and has trouble starting back up again!

 

Who do I write to? I send letters to my pen pals...I always have replies that I need to send! I also correspond with other LetterMo participants. Often these are just one-off interactions but I have gained a couple of new pen pals from this site. And, of course, there is always PostCrossing - a website dedicated to the sending and receiving of postcards. So I have no lack of recipients to write to!

Other countries have organisations such as PostPals who organise for sick children to receive cheerful mail to help brighten their day-what a WONDERFUL idea! I have looked and looked but cannot find anything similar in New Zealand :( I would SO take part in something like that for Kiwi kids! (Yes, I could, and probably will, send international  mail but would really like NZ children to benefit from the joy of receiving snail mail).

So, as you can see, there are no end of people I can send mail to! Woohoo!!!!

Why do I take part in this challenge each year? Well, apart from the pleasure of seeing exciting, colourful mail in my letterbox (as opposed to boring old bills) I love to send out cheerful, happy  mail to brighten other people's day. And, contrary to some people's beliefs, you can and do make a connection with a person even if you have never met them personally. I write to a couple of ladies who have children and I feel like I am watching them grow up like my girls are, as I hear about incidents in their lives. Plus I love to learn about other places in the world-it is the only way I can travel at the moment!

I have introduced one of my daughters to the joy of pen palling-yay! She gets so envious of  the mail I receive and wants some of her own. So, via LetterMo she has now got a girl from the United States writing to her. Another generation of snail mailers :)

So maybe after reading this I have inspired you to write a letter? Tell me about it in the comments below-I'd love to know I have inspired someone! And if you would like to receive some 'Happy Mail' in your letterbox, just ask! I would be happy to oblige :)