Warm Feet, Happy Wife

Campfires; we all love them. The smell of wood burning, the sound of crackling and popping; it all conjures up memories of roasting marshmallows, star gazing and simpler times. The wood-stove fireplace may be our main source of heat, but you won’t find us sitting around our living room singing Kumbaya. Surely there must be some way to have this fire continue burning throughout the night. Our considerations at this point are to:

a) Set the alarm for every 2 hours, in order to regularly stoke the fire.
b) Move the master bed into the living room.

Both seem equally undesirable and inconvenient; therefore Kristine has embraced her hot water bottle, a sure-fire way for feet to stay warm. You know what they say: “Warm feet, happy wife; happy wife, happy husband.”

In a new and ever constant mission to stay warm – Our breakfast staple: piping porridge, eaten while shivering (sticks to your ribs?!). Our supper staple: Peasant Soup, eaten while slightly shivering. Yes, this winter cottage living means a certain amount of shivering. Goosebumps are a new appendage, especially while enjoying a hot and steamy shower.

But enough about how we wish we were more like the early settlers! We are starting to feel quite at home here. Kristine has booked a coffee date, a walking date and an after church lunch date; all quite exciting! We enjoyed a Sunday night Fish & Chips party at the fire hall; a good opportunity to match names with faces. The best part of the night for Kristine; meeting a local Dane! Marianne and her German husband, Peter, live just across the road and we share much in common.

A ’95 Toyota Camry is our new travel companion! After forming a two car convoy, (in order to drop of the car on loan), and driving through Palmerston North, the two of us were badly in need of a massage. The tendency to turn into right-hand oncoming traffic is remarkably strong! A simple honk and we were back on track – foreigners! Next thing on our list of to do’s; car insurance!