They first met for brunch in N&C's apartment, and Norma cooked a green onion, mushroom, and cheese omelet that was so delicious Sherry decided mushrooms weren't so bad after all. No one could coax Ro into trying a bite, but he'd already had his first and second breakfasts by then, like a true little hobbit. He was more interested in filling in the newspaper crossword puzzle beside Teta's code-cracker with random letters or showing 'Pop' (his name for Grandpa, as all his Kiwi friends use this) his dinosaur and prehistoric animal encyclopaedia from the library.
As the ladies cleaned up and Carver worked on his laptop, Ro began to entertain himself by crawling in the near empty linen cupboard in the wall beside the dining table, calling it his "burrow." He also found three tea lights he pushed around like cars. When he found a box of matches, he dutifully brought them to Mum. Smokey Bear would be proud. Sherry observed that there is something truly magical about grandparents, as Ro was just good as gold, quietly playing and occupying his time with his imagination and tea lights, never once complaining of boredom.
Afterwards, it was off to the quarry park, and what a beautiful day! The weather was just perfect, sunny with just enough cloud cover to keep it cool. Ronan fell asleep on the way over, but woke up in a fair mood that quickly brightened when we said he could go to the playground first.
Sherry had parked next to the "Sensory Garden," and all were drawn toward the smells of the herbs and perfumed plants. Making a quick dash to the play area, Ro clambered onto the dragon sculpture that lies along the stone steps, and went down the slide. As N&C were itching to see the gardens, Sherry lured Ro away from the playground by convincing him to be the leader on the trails with the NZ equivalent of a Fruit Roll-Up.
Carver & Ro checking out the view from the ridge
We followed Ro on the winding path up to the new Butterfly Garden, which Sherry and Mark never got to see last time (Ro had seen it on a class field trip). The cactus and succulent garden on the way to the Butterfly Garden was simply stunning. At the top of the ridge, the Butterfly Garden was a reward indeed. There was a small covered area where Ro lied down in the shade, saying he was going to "have a sleep." That lasted less than one minute, and he was off and running again. Although we didn't see any butterflies, the garden would've been more aptly named the "Bee Garden" yesterday, as fat bees buzzed happily amongst the wildflower garden. It was just beautiful! There was a nice view of the sculpted hedges that line the farms on the rolling hillsides below, giving N&C a taste of the picturesque rural NZ countryside.
View of Mauao and the western BOP
We never saw the bonsai garden, but managed to make it most everywhere else at the quarry. The fuchsias were Sherry's personal favorite, while Norma favored the orchids. Nearly everything was in full bloom, save for the exposed rhododendrons; but as Norma observed, the shaded rhododendrons were blooming nicely. Soon we were heading back toward the play area, where kids from the Tauranga Adventure Club had taken over! Ro happily joined in, while the adults enjoyed a picnic of fruit, cheese and crackers. A group of girls were skipping rope, and Norma waxed nostalgic on her childhood, having skipped rope using a piece of clothesline.
Soon, it was time to head back to The Anchorage to start cooking Carver's seafood bouillabaisse. Sherry copied the essentials in her recipe book, and happily discovered that pre-fish, it would be a nice base for any range of recipes. Sherry doesn't eat seafood, remember? Ronan pulled a chair up beside Pop to watch, and for some reason seemed especially interested to see when the "green stuff" (parsley) went in. Finally, the lure of his latest National Geographic DVD on loan from the library diverted his attention, and he hopped down saying, "When you put the green stuff in, call me!" He snuggled up on the couch and almost fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the plan was to take some of the bouillabaisse out in a separate pot for Sherry to cook tortellini in, and not add the shrimps and scallops until Mark was home from work. Ro had been invited to Trick-or-Treat with Mat at 7pm, so Ro was going to have tea (i.e. dinner) early. Everything changed when Kathryn called Sherry at 6, wanting to know if Ro could come sooner, because the other boys showed early and were itching to go!
Quick! Sherry threw tortellini in the pot for Ro and chopped fresh veggies in record time. He ate his capsicum, broccoli, and carrots while the pasta cooked. Finally, he was so excited to go Trick-or-Treat, he was begging Sherry to serve him the tortellini raw, "You don't HAVE to cook it, Mom."
Once cooked, Ro ate the tortellini in record time, and commented on how good Pop's sauce was. It was so good, Ro said he wanted more later when we returned. Time to go get some candy!
Segue by Sherry:
As I sit here writing this, I feel compelled to tell you that as a driver, I have prided myself on not hitting anything since a cement parking-lot thingy when I was 25. That was seventeen years ago. And when I received a speeding ticket on Maunganui Road via a speed trap camera, I felt so bad about it! Maybe it was the look Mark gave me over his glasses when he opened the ticket that arrived by post. But later, when Mark backed into a concrete support column in our garage, I would tease him about my ticket, saying "At least I didn't hit anything! And my ticket was only $80.00!"
Oh how those words mock me.
End Segue.
Pulling out of the garage parking space driving N&C's rental, Sherry misjudged exactly where she was backing up, and thinking she'd cleared the support column, she backed right into it with a sickening crunch!
Time stopped for a moment. Ro screamed "You hit something, Mommy!" Norma and Carver's hearts fell into their stomachs while thoughts of rental insurance contracts and excesses (i.e. deductibles) danced in their heads. Sherry wanted to get out of the car, lay down in front of the car, and ask Carver to run over her. Feeling all of the blood in her body rush to her face, she held her breath as Carver got out to inspect the damage.
She was praying to God for all she was worth but her heart fell when she heard something fall off the car and hit the concrete floor. Carver got in the car and calmly strapped on his seatbelt. "So, how bad is it?" Sherry asked, cringing. "Oh, only a couple hundred dollars of damage." American.
Sherry looked, but there was no hole in sight to crawl into. So, she kept driving since no one actively stopped her from doing so! When they got to Kathryn's house, three kids bounded down the steps, engulfing Ronan, and running out of the front gate. They were off! Heatblast, a Scream ghost, a red devil, and a Charlie Brown-ish bedsheet ghost with misplaced cut-out eyes. Halloween isn't nearly as big here as it is in the States (i.e. no college towns block off their downtowns for drunken revelry), but the kids didn't care.
The Trick-or-Treat posse
The one or two houses Kathryn previously mentioned going to soon turned into a dozen, and Sherry began to worry about how much candy Ro was getting. Every time Sherry looked at Ro or asked him a question, there was drool coming out of his mouth from chewing on candy. Finally, they went to the Tay Street Dairy (a favorite after-school ice cream stop) on the way back to Kathryn's, and were given even more candy!
On the move. Note Mauao in the distance
We scored on that one, heh?
Flowers abound on Halloween here
The whole experience was bittersweet for Sherry, who still wanted to climb into a hole and stay there for a while. When they were almost back to the rental, the crumpled bumper and broken tail light taunted Sherry from afar. Goodbyes were said, and Mark rang Sherry to say he was almost home from work. On the way back, Ro kept asking broken-record style if he could have more candy from his sack. Norma discreetly took the bag once home to help Sherry out of that jam.
At The Anchorage, N&C went to freshen up and meet back at our place in a few minutes for dinner. Sherry had texted Mark to "look at your parent's car bumper," so he would be forewarned. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Ro was begging Sherry for "one more lollie," and Sherry started crying. This put an immediate end to Ro's whining as he said, "What's wrong Mommy?" "I hit their car!" Sherry sobbed. Ro gave Sherry a big hug, "Oh Mommy, we can get Daddy to pay for it!" This only made Sherry sob harder. Mark came home to find Ro and Sherry in the bathroom, Ro happily taking a bath, Sherry red-eyed and listless.
Sherry told Mark what happened, adding, "I teased you because I never hit anything. Well, I out-did you on that. Not only did I hit something, I was in my in-laws car!" Mark gave Sherry a big hug, saying, "Oh honey, in ten years no one is gonna remember this!" Sherry looked up, cringing and only half-joking, "Oh, no! It's going to take THAT long?"
We all congregated in the kitchen socializing as the bouillabaisse simmered, and after a few Sapphire and tonics, all was forgotten. Mark and Carver had a medical interlude, providing an impromptu dermatology consult to a neighbor. Ro watched his National Geographic DVDs, pausing occasionally to tell us, "I can't hear, can you stop talking!" Ahh...how liberating it must be to have no social filter.
Carver cooking his semi-famous fish stew
After dinner, Sherry put Ro to bed as Mark and Norma cleaned up. Carver nodded off on the couch, but woke up in time to catch the start of the All Blacks game from Tokyo's Olympic Stadium. Norma wasn't about to stay for the whole thing, so Mark's parents said goodnight and retreated to their own apartment. Carver stayed up to watch the first half, including an amazing Sitiveni Sivivatu try, but the All Blacks were still down to the Wallabies at halftime 16-13. He missed the All Blacks strong second half, taking their 7th victory in a row from Australia 32-19 and becoming the darlings of Japan in the process.
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