Botanic Gardens Lights

Today's post is just a little celebration of nice things we come across. Several weeks ago, I worked very late, trying to catch up on some backlogged work. I don't often do this, as I try to keep work during work hours, but several things had come up that made my to-do list uncomfortably long, and I decided that I'd feel better once I was caught up, and I was right. I left work feeling relaxed and accomplished, and strolled through the gardens to the bus stop. Seeing that the next bus was not for about 20 minutes (as they're less frequent in the evenings), I decided to wander a bit more through the gardens.

I always enjoy time in the Botanic Gardens, and one reason is that there is usually something new to notice and enjoy. That particular evening, I think they must have been preparing for an after-dark event, because many areas were beautifully lit by artfully placed coloured lights in among the plants. It was still fairly light outside, but growing dimmer, and I think the soft natural light made the added lights seem to glow in a soft, more organic way, as compared to the brilliance they would attain in full darkness.

These ones made the trees look amazing. They slowly changed colour through the spectrum, and each hue was fascinating.

This particular view seemed so magical and adventurous! It made me think of Where the Wild Things Are.

This is looking towards the sound-shell, where they often have concerts. I'm thinking that they were probably going to have one that night, lit up in beautiful colours. I thought about staying for it, but was tired from my long day of work and I'm not a huge fan of live music, so I was happy to go home.

These luminescent balls were perfectly placed by the hanging flowers above and the still water below. They reminded my of the jellyfish at the Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park, which I wrote about back in 2015. If you'd like to read that post and see the pictures, you can click here. Of course, that is a much larger scale light event, but this one was lovely as well, both for the memories it brought back of enjoying Pukekura, and for it's own sake. It had an ethereal charm, especially in the twilight.

In other news, my bionic eyes are still doing well. I had another follow-up, and tested at better than 20:20 vision, which is thrilling! The dryness has definitely kicked in, but the eye drops mediate that well. I also discovered, when I drove home after dark on Wednesday, that I'm seeing starbursts around light sources, which is very strange. I told the doctor and he said that that's normal, probably related to the dryness, and should go away naturally. I didn't feel like it made it less safe for me to drive, but it is definitely disconcerting, so I'll be happy as it fades. Otherwise, my eyes are feeling good, the red spots are almost gone, and the doctor says my eyes are continuing to heal very well. 

Bionic Eyes!

I have very exciting news this week: after about 13 years of contacts and (occasionally) glasses, I had laser eye surgery (LASIK) and officially have 20:20 vision! Yippee!!! I have been considering this for a while, and after talking to many people who said it was totally worth it, and doing quite a bit of reading, I decided to go for it!

Last Friday, I had a consultation with the ophthalmologist, who confirmed what my optometrist has said, which is that my eyes are ideal candidates for laser eye surgery. The shape and thickness of my lenses are just right, my prescription has basically not changed for over ten years, and my eyes are healthy. I ticked all the boxes, so I got the thumbs up!

I went in for the surgery the following Wednesday afternoon, and was only in the doctor's office for about half an hour before it was all done. I am fascinated by the medical details of the process, but the vast majority of people do not appear to enjoy hearing about the minutia of eye surgery, so I will respect that and skip right over that part. What I will say is that it went very quickly, with just a few parts that were actively unpleasant. The hardest part was continually explaining to my body that it was okay that there were things touching my eyeball, because my instincts were not impressed, even though my brain was eager.

J took me home, where I was delighted to discover that although it seemed like I was looking through thick fog, things were actually already clearer. I remembered to bring and wear the required sunglasses, but I can already tell it's going to be a hard habit for me to establish. But it's very important, and so I'll get there.

I took this picture as soon as I got home, amazed at how normal my eyes looked and felt.

About 15 minutes later, the numbing eyedrops wore off, and I was significantly less amazed at my eyes' normality. The doctor said I would be "uncomfortable" and have foggy vision for about 5 hours. He was exactly right on the time frame, but I would have chosen a much stronger word than "uncomfortable." It felt like I'd gotten an extremely astringent liquid in my eye and couldn't get it out. So my eyes burned, throbbed, and streamed tears, and the foggy vision was irrelevant because I couldn't open my eyes. I forced them open once an hour to put in eye drops, and otherwise laid still and tried to focus on my audio book, although that was a bit of a struggle because the pain was distracting. To be clear, on the grand scheme of pain it was pretty reasonable, but eye pain is hard to ignore. But after almost exactly five hours, I opened my eyes to put in the drops and discovered that I could do so with much less discomfort. I sat up and looked around, and discovered that that was also manageable, and in fact, I could see clearly! Incredible!!! 

I checked my eyes again, and the left one didn't even look bloodshot anymore, but the inner part of the right one was much more red. J says it's a scleral hemorrhage, which just means a blood vessel broke. It looks a bit yucky, but I can't feel it.

I have to tape on eye protectors every night for a week, so I don't accidentally rub or bump my eyes while I'm sleeping. I think they look hilarious, and was delighted to discover that they don't impede my ability to sleep at all.

When I woke up the next morning, J called, "Come use your bionic eyes to see the sunrise!" And there we have it: my first opportunity to see the sun come up from our amazing deck without first having to run and get my glasses or contacts! How wonderful!

Also, I told J that this surgery would give me bionic eyes, because a person in a song we both love has bionic eyes, so I thought that would be awesome. J disagreed, as he is determined to someday get real bionic eyes (artificial lenses that are super accurate and make your vision clearer, sharper, and more intricate than is possible for a real, human eye). So I was shocked and delighted that he referred to my eyes as bionic. He has apparently decided that my eyes can be bionic until real bionic eyes are out of experimental testing and available to the public, at which point I will have to surrender the title. I can live with that.

Days three and four, I have no pain in my eyes, and am only still using the eyedrops because the doctor said to, because I don't feel like I need them. Apparently, dry eyes are the most long-lasting and frustrating part of LASIK, so if I continue to not have a problem with it, I will consider myself very lucky. I still have the bright red scleral hemorrhage, which J says will last a couple weeks. I also have lighter marks in a semi-circle above each iris (you can kind of see the start of it on the eye without the hemorrhage), but that will go away, too. And I have no pain. Amazing.

I had my checkup on day three, and tested at 20:20 vision! I'm still having some slight fluctuations in clarity and sometimes some glowing kinds of effects, but that's all normal and should go away soon. The point is, 20:20 vision! I have another appointment next Wednesday to make sure everything is still going well, and I'm confident it will be.

In conclusion: Laser eye surgery is miraculous, and I'm so glad that I did it!

Kupe: A Waka Odyssey

A few weeks ago, J and I joined over 20,000 others on the Wellington waterfront to watch Kupe: A Waka Odyssey, the launch of the New Zealand festival. It was an amazing endeavour, involving thousands of people and journeys on traditional boats from as far away as Samoa and the Cook Islands, as well as many parts of NZ. Unfortunately, it was hard to see and we couldn't hear much, so as a spectator sport, it was a bit difficult, but you can't have everything.

I took some pictures, which I'll share here, but if you'd like to get a much better idea of the event (and be able to see things I couldn't in real life), you can click here for the official video of the event. It is too long to watch the whole thing (and there are rather long periods of inactivity), but I'll suggest specific parts to watch throughout the post. 

The man in blue and gold who talks first is Kupe the first Polynesian explorer to come to NZ. There is some blurring of legend and history in the accounts of Kupe, as well as in the dates when he might have arrived, but he is a strong and inspiring figure when it comes to seafaring, bravery, overcoming the odds, and exploration. The lady in red and gold is his wife, Hine-te-aparangi. You can watch Kupe's kōrero (speech) and Hine-te-aparangi's waiata (song), by skipping to 27 minutes.

I got to the harbour very early to save a spot for J, who joined me later, and saw one of the waka in the little lagoon off the harbour that I love so much.

I also saw hundreds of school children from around the country practicing their haka (traditional war or challenge display), which they performed during the event. It was really cool to see how empowered they all felt to be part of this.

 There were varying degrees of traditional dress, including these beautiful outfits with piupiu (traditional skirts made of harakeke flax).
If you'd like to watch their haka (which we didn't get to see at all in person, as we were too far away), skip to 1:28:30 in the video.

I saw these waka getting into place, and then proceeding regally back during the show, but they actually looked more beautiful at this time of day, with more sun on them. Also, I could hear their chants better then, before there were so very many people.

The harbour is so stunning, and it was inspiring to see these traditional waka in it.

This one really reminded me of Moana's little waka in the movie (although her sail wasn't red).

It's hard to see, but there are kayaks flanking a bigger boat, which is trailing dry ice. The effect was pretty amazing.

We could barely see Kupe from where we were, and we couldn't hear him at all, which was a pity. But I think if we'd been closer to him and the speakers, we wouldn't have been able to see the waka as well, which would have been unfortunate as well.

The next several pictures are of real, traditional seafaring vessels, and some had really just completed voyages from Samoa and the Cook Islands, and some have sailed from other places around NZ. Unfortunately, I don't know which ones are which, but they're all very beautiful, and it's incredible to think of them coming thousands of miles across the ocean!

You can see waka coming in in the video between about minutes 45 and 56.

 At the end, I did wish we had chosen a spot closer to Kupe and Hine-te-aparangi, because all the waka clustered over there, and we couldn't tell what was happening at all. I watched the video later, and learned that that crazy, angular golden waka, with a lady in white on it, is representing a being from across the galaxy who comes to give us a star to guide voyagers to Aotearoa (NZ). Maybe the waka is the star? It's unclear. If you'd like to watch this part, skip to 1:16 in the video.
 As you may know, the traditional Polynesian wayfinders used the stars to guide them as they discovered new islands.  (I know I've mentioned it in other posts, but you should all really watch Moana.) 

For me, this event celebrated many things that I love about the legends and history of the Polynesian peoples around the Pacific, and of NZ Māori in particular. However, it didn't resonate with me the way I was expecting it to. I'm not sure why, but it just didn't quite work for me. If you think you're noticing a lack of enthusiasm in this post... you're right. It's exactly up my alley, but it just missed the mark for me. But others seemed to really like it, and it's wonderful that over 20,000 people came to celebrate Māori and Polynesian history and culture! That I do find wonderful!

Dragons!

Some of you will know, J and I have been considering adopting Guinea pigs for a while. We've always enjoyed having pets, and have missed having a furry friend around since our wonderful dog Holly passed away in late 2015. We've discussed lots of options, and decided after much deliberation that we were ready to be pet parents again, and that Guinea pigs were exactly the right choice. Guinea pigs are very social, and love human company, but should always live in pairs, as they are not happy or healthy on their own. In fact, we learned that it is illegal in some countries to have one Guinea pig by itself. We decided to get a pair as our Christmas presents to each other. We wanted to find some who someone already owned and was trying to find a home for, but after weeks of searching, we'd come up with nothing.

Then one of J's colleagues said there was an adorable brother-sister pair that was 6 weeks old at a little local pet shop in Upper Hutt that doesn't even usually have Guinea pigs, and that we should go get them right away. We went to just have a look, and then immediately fell in love and took them home. Not exactly how we intended it to happen, but that's how it goes. We were hoping for a brother and sister, so I think it was meant to be.

This is Roxim, the brother and J's special friend. He was about 450 grams when we first got him, and has now grown to about 800g. (This picture was taken at about 600g). He's got a gorgeously big, round tummy that we love.

This is Kazul, my beautiful baby girl. She was about 350g when we got her, and was up to about 550g before her surgery, but then went back to 450g as she healed and had to take antibiotics. We were a bit worried and started feeding her special weight-gain foods (like sweet corn and sunflower seeds), and she's up to 600g now, so we're hoping we're back on track. 

For years before we ever even considered Guinea pigs in our lives, we've had these names picked out. They are the names of two dragons in one of J's and my favourite book series, The Enchanted Forest Chronicals. Kazul and Roxim are among our favourite characters in these books, which we've both read multiple times (and both liked before we knew each other, which is amazing, given that they're fairly obscure). So we knew that our next pets would be Roxim and Kazul if at all possible, which is part of the reason we wanted a boy and a girl. And it all worked out.

We brought Kazul and Roxim home and set them up in their little inside habitat that we got at the pet shop, and they were skittish, but did well. They are such cuties!

We also got them a beautiful outdoor hutch, which we built for them because we're such good parents.

Here we have J, great father that he is, modifying their hutch to have an attached base and fences over the doorways. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

We got our new babies on Saturday, and spent the rest of the day cuddling them and admiring them and falling completely in love with them. Then, on Sunday, we decided to see how they'd enjoy being outside, and put them in their outside hutch. They explored a bit and ate some grass, so far so good. But then when I opened the door to check on them, Kazul bolted right out and disappeared into the undergrowth! I have never been so shocked and horrified! The wooded area you can see all around J in the picture extends for a long ways in multiple directions, with no fences or anything. And little Kazul weighed about 350grams and has no natural defenses or survival skills of any kind. And our neighbourhood is full of outdoor cats! I will let you know now that despite all odds, we did find and rescue her in the end, but not before spending 7 harrowing hours frantically searching and trying not to give up hope. J was alternately helping me to search and monitoring our community Facebook pages, where we'd asked people to keep their cats inside and for any advice on how to rescue her. People were very nice and supportive, and her eventual rescue was as a result of one of their tips, so yay for social media doing some good! I was in the wooded area the whole time, alternately tromping around the incredibly steep hills covered in thick (and often sharp) undergrowth and sitting completely silently in the hopes that she'd move and I'd be able to hear her. The silent moments were even harder, as I struggled to keep from crying. I was wracked with guilt that my momentary lapse in vigilance was going to result in the death of an innocent baby if we couldn't find her soon. I couldn't figure out how to come to terms with that, especially as the hours built up and it became increasingly impossible to believe that we'd find her. After about 6 hours, J said that someone online suggested putting out food (which we'd already done), and waiting with a towel to throw over her if she came out. Apparently, Guinea pigs will feel hidden and safe under the towel, so you can grab them without them running away at unbelievable speeds. I was completely exhausted, and sitting quietly near the food was a technique I could manage, so we tried it. And after an agonizing half hour of inactivity, out popped Kazul from the undergrowth! I was ready with my towel, but before I even moved she was gone again. That might have been the worst moment of it all. But after another 20 minutes, out she popped again. I hurled the towel from quite far away, and it miraculously landed right on top of her. I then launched myself across the hillside, landing with my arms and chest forming a triangle of walls around the bulge in the middle that I hoped ferociously was her and not a vine or something. Too afraid to move in case she could make a break for it, I managed to call J, who came down and reached under my arms and pulled out Kazul! Seriously, it was a miracle! I've never been so relieved! We rushed her upstairs, and neither she nor Roxim went outside again until we'd made their outside hutch fully escape-proof.

After that, I was painfully conscious of the fragility of these little lives, and we still had one more trial to get through - spaying and neutering. In addition to not wanting babies, male Guinea pigs are calmer, happier, and nicer to their fellow Guinea pigs once they're neutered, and females need to be spayed to avoid developing polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can be fatal. So they needed surgery. But general anesthesia on such a tiny creature is not without its risks, and I lived in a fairly high state of anxiety for the several weeks we had to wait until they were big enough and old enough for the surgery. Fortunately, our miraculous luck continued, and they both came through surgery extremely well. Kazul's incision was colossal on her tiny body, and we did have to go back for antibiotics, but she's healing fine now. We took this picture once she was healed enough not to mind being held up like this, so it's hard to tell how intense the incision looked at first, but still, imagine an incision from pelvis to mid chest - that's huge!

We have a wonderful time cuddling our amazing dragons. Yes, somehow our delight in finally getting to bestow our dragon names on real creatures has evolved into our referring to them as "the dragons." I think it started as a bit of a joke, but it turned out to be a glorious indication of how exciting and wonderful we find them, and it stuck.

Randomly during my day at work, I suddenly think, "When we get home, we can cuddle the dragons!" and it brings a smile to my face every time!

At first, they were quite nervous, and needed a lot of reassurance. You can see in this picture that I'm holding food out to her, but she's not taking it. It took time to convince them that we're not as scary as we seem, but they're learning.

You can click here to see a video of Kazul discovering that my giving her food (and cuddles) is a pretty nice thing, also that lettuce is the best! If you turn up the volume, you may be able to hear her adorable bubbling noises, which are awesome!

And click here for a video of them delighting in their outdoor hutch and expressing their youthful enthusiasm for life by running around all over the place. I pretty much managed not to laugh, partially for the benefit of the video, and partially because sudden noises like laughing used to scare them into hiding. Not so much anymore, although they still don't like coughing.

Pretty soon after we got them, I started worrying that their indoor habitat wasn't big enough for them, especially if it was too rainy and/or cold for them to be outside during the day. So after some looking, we found this used cage, and once we removed the top and added a cloth to cover the storage underneath, and rearranged the lounge to accommodate its enormousness, it was perfect. The dragons love it, and now we don't worry if they can't go outside for a few days. Also, it looks like a crib, which is hilarious. Also also, notice the cool, curvy piece of driftwood I found at the beach, and which they love hiding under and climbing on. Also also also, notice the wooden ladder I made for them out of sticks I found in the backyard. They love climbing it, hiding under it, and chewing on it. Grand success.

Click here for a video of Kazul enjoying the ladder (and checking the driftwood for food) and Roxim demonstrating his disinclination to be as adventurous as Kazul when someone is near the cage. He is actually more adventurous than she is when they're out of the cage, and will do almost anything for food, so I'll have to get a video of that at some point. I do realize that they're not doing anything that exciting, but for some reason I can watch them every day and never get tired of it! I just adore having a window into their little lives in their little world.

One day, when the ladder was on the driftwood, we looked over and discovered that Kazul had jumped all the way on top of the house! I wouldn't have thought she could do that! Ever since, she does it from time to time and seems to enjoy it. Roxim did it once, but we think it must have been an accident, because he seemed surprised and unhappy to be up there, and immediately jumped down and hid. Hilarious.

Kazul has also discovered the joys of proper cuddles. When I hold her, she'll often spend a little time exploring around my lap, maybe have something to eat, seem a bit lost, and then appear to remember that if she nuzzles up again my chest, I'll put my arm around her, and then it's the best thing ever. She is so happy when she does this, and even sometimes falls asleep. It's so cute I almost can't handle it!

Roxim has a much more fiery temperament than Kazul, and he and J commiserate about how difficult the world can be and have worked out a system on which they can agree. One of their more adorable pass-times is sharing celery, which they both love. Roxim loves all food (except, inexplicably, courgette/zucchini), and will test anything near him just to make sure it's not edible.

Dad and Lucinda got to meet the dragons when they were here, and of course they loved them, too.

As I believe I mentioned after our trip to the States, I re-did my Whānau (Family) Leaf at work. My children were delighted to learn about the new additions to my whānau, and often admire them in their place on the tree.

I am fully willing to admit that my singular obsession with the dragons is a bit over the top, but I'm okay with that. I thought that I'd enjoy having Guinea pigs as pets, but I had no idea how much delight I would take in them! What a lovely surprise - although I should admit that J told me I would be obsessed before we even got them, so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. He's usually right about these things. I don't think I realized how strong and unique their personalities would be, or exactly how good they would be at cuddling. J says that Guinea pigs are the only small rodent pets that really enjoy cuddling with people, and it sure seems to be true! We're very lucky and happy!