Last Sunday Jeremiah went up to Kaikora with some guys to take a charter boat out for some sea fishing. There’s an incredibly deep ocean trench just a couple kilometers off the coast at Kaikora, so boats can go deep sea fishing without actually going that far out. Brrr, it was a brisk morning up there with new snow on the mountains. Winter is a-coming.

Most of these crayfish had to be dropped back into the ocean to grow some more, but each member of the party did get to keep one.

Fish, Milo says. Look at his mouth. Jeremiah brought back a “crayfish” (as they call these clawless lobsters here) and it fidgeted around in the pot trying to kick the lid off before we heartlessly steamed it alive. I remember Uncle Stewart bringing back lobsters to cook at Cape Cod when we were little. I remembered the horror of cooking the critters alive so vividly that I didn’t eat lobster until I visited Maine as a hard and calloused adult. Milo had absolutely no such qualms, and no sympathy for the live (or dead) lobster. I hope he turns out all right…..

The hubbies went out charter fishing and us wives had a left-behind-party with the kids. Really, just a trip to Willowbank nature preserve with a special coffee thrown in. Look at the long-suffering patience of those donkeys. The kids stuck flowers behind their ears, pulled their tails, petted their necks and squealed in their ears, but they never even flinched. it was impossible to get a photo with everyone looking, so we just settled for one with almost everyone present….including nine-year-old Joe whom I had to manhandle into the frame.

Look at this cool cat. The girls were getting decked out with marigolds behind their ears, so Milo wanted one too, then he sauntered around nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets, practicing looking hip.