In other words, flying flytraps! Since we leave the doors open for ventilation on warm days, and have no screens, we often have fantails in the house these days! They are such cheery little birds. They are so friendly they remind me of the chickadees we had in Michigan in the winter. They eat insects, though. As they swoop through the room, you can often hear a sharp little click as they catch another fly! That makes them welcome guests, you can imagine. I’ve been trying to get pictures of them in the house, but they move so fast it’s hard to catch them. That’s how I ended up with a picture of one taking off in flight. If you listen closely to the video of one, you can hear a faint twittering. It was a lot louder in real life, but apparently the sound capture isn’t real good on my camera. If you want to hear it better, go to this page, click on the sound icon, and choose “South Island fantail, male song.” Oh, and by the way, we’re studying birds, insects, bats and flying reptiles this year for science. We recently had a lesson about feathers, and one type of feathers is bristles. Bristles are found around the mouths of insect-eating birds. When we looked closely at the fantails in our house, we could see the bristles! They apparently help the bird to catch insects in flight. The bristles touch the insect and then the bird can turn to grab the insect.
Video
Two Videos
We ended up with two videos worth saving in February on my memory card. I found a lot of other videos, from the evening I let the 5-year-old take my camera outside, but it was getting dark and they were quite grainy, and some were so shaky I felt queasy just watching them! Our latest budding photographer needs a few lessons before I share many of his videos.
This first one shows a science experiment we did. We’re studying Apologia’s Zoology 1 book this year, about flying creatures, and they suggested an experiment to show how lift makes flight possible. Air going over a bird’s wing moves faster than the air under the wing, because the top of the wing is curved. That causes less air pressure above the wing than below it, which causes the wing to be pushed up. To demonstrate this, we cut a drinking straw so it would come just above the top of the water in a cup, then blew across the top of the cup through another straw. Because the air pressure directly above the straw was less than over the water in the cup (because it was moving faster), water blew out of the straw!
This second video is from one evening when Gayle coached the little boys and then brought them to the kitchen to sing “Read Your Bible, Pray every day” for us.
Pancake Rocks
I had checked the tides for Pancake Rocks before we left on our trip, as someone told us once that high tide is the best time to go. High tide was to be around 4:00 the day we visited, so we aimed to get there around 3:30. We had been noticing that the waves were quite high, and the wind was from the north-west, so we were hoping for a good show. We really felt that God blessed us, because the blowholes were spouting quite high. What a sight to see!
The first thing we admired when we arrived, however, was the nikau palms. They are quite an unusual looking palm, and the southern-most palm in the world. We noticed some beginning to bloom, then saw that others had seed or fruit clusters hanging below the leaves. Then, we were tickled to see a wood pigeon helping himself to some of the fruit!
After admiring the palms for a few minutes and poking our heads into the visitor center/gift shop, we went across the road (the main highway) to the rocks themselves. A lovely concrete path has been built through the rocks, with great viewing areas.
James, with his new camera! Funny thing about that is that he is camera-shy! Guess he likes to be on the other side. Isn’t he cute, though?At one of the first overlooks, we noticed how foamy the sea was. The water was extremely turbulent.
The poor littlest boy was stuck going at the snail’s pace of his mom and grandma.
Mom and Esther admiring the rough seas.
This spot, a near-rectangle with walls all around, is in the middle of the rocks. It is aptly named the Surge Pool. Water comes in through two arches, one of which you can see here and the other is roughly under my feet from where I took the picture.
We finally got to the first blowhole! This is called Chimney Pots. If a wave of the right size comes in and ricochets off the rocks at the right angle, over and over again, it will burst up through a channel in the rocks and form a geyser. It was pretty amazing to see the path the waves had to take to get here—there were at least two right-angle corners they had to turn. The power the water still had when it reached this point was awe-inspiring.
I don’t remember what this spot was called, and I don’t know if there is an open channel to the sea or if the water comes through an archway, but it sure splashed up here!
My boys! Left-right: fourth (James), first (Seth), third (Elijah), fifth (Joseph), and second (Simon).
The Surge Pool, from the other side.
The sea on the north side of Pancake Rocks.
After we went all the way around, we decided to go back to Chimney Pot and enjoy the spectacle again. Our second boy found a spot on a bridge where the spray from the geysers blew over him. Not only did he get soaked (and later I noticed salt crusting his face!), but he lured a number of unsuspecting tourists to stand there long enough to get wet as well. I hear that he would ask them, “Do you like showers?” then keep them talking till it blew again!
I took a few videos to try to capture the experience. Of course, it isn’t anywhere as good as being there yourself, but these will give you a tiny glimpse of our experience.
This was definitely a highlight of our trip. We felt especially blessed when we were talking to a friend on the way home, who had been to Pancake Rocks a number of times, and he said he had never seen a show such as we described.
Dead Boring Concert
Our annual homeschool group concert was this past Saturday evening. The group is called Dead Boring—but it’s anything but what its name sounds like! There was a wide variety of musical talent displayed; quite a number of piano pieces were played, but also several recorder and flute presentations, as well as violin and even accordian! A few people sang; Esther helped another family do a shadow play about a little boy whose mother said he didn’t even have the common sense he was born with—but she ended by saying she loved him anyway and always would! Several families collaborated to present a play from Winnie-the-Pooh of the story of Pooh-sticks. Our children recited a poem and sang a song. I hope you’ll be able to hear the poem. They didn’t use the microphone this time, as everyone in the hall was able to hear, but the camera didn’t pick it up very loudly.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
After the poem, they sang a song called “Grumblers”.
GRUMBLERS
In country, town or city some people can be found
Who spend their lives in grumbling at ev-‘ry-thing around;
O yes, they always grumble, no matter what we say,
For these are chronic grumblers and they grumble night and day.
CHORUS:
O they grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Grumble on Thursday too,
Grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
Grumble the whole week thru.
(Repeat)
If you don’t quit your grumbling and stop it now and here,
You’ll never get to heaven, no grumblers enter there.
Repent and be converted, be saved from all your sin;
You know that grumbling Christians find it hard a crown to win.
And one more picture: Our youngest was enthralled with the accordion music that was played! A young man and his teacher played a duet on their accordions, and it was very beautiful.
Head Under!
Our littlest came running in tonight, all excited, and told me, “Head under!” while pointing to his wet hair. I asked where he got his head wet, and he explained and demonstrated that he had done it at our water tank. We get water from the county water scheme, a certain amount per day. It comes into a huge concrete tank which is up on a tower. I guessed that he had stuck his head under a leak, although it’s a slow enough drip that I couldn’t imagine how he got so wet. Later, I found out that one of his older brothers had been getting water from a tap at the bottom of the tower, and that is where he put his head under! This video is him telling me about it the second time.
Hot Wire!
Our 2-year-old has an incredible imagination. He really has a thing about lions right now, and frequently shows us a “baby lion” in his hands (invisible to us). He also loves playing with “hot wires”, which are to keep his animals in. Don’t touch the hot wire–you’ll get shocked!
How to Make Egg Cake
Our ducks have been laying their eggs in puddles–especially in the large “lake” in the paddock in front of the house. The boys ate some of the first ones they found, but decided they tasted like swamp muck. We cooked the rest of that batch to feed to the chicks. The next time some came in, I told the boy responsible that either he would cook them, or we would throw them away. My 9-weeks-pregnant tummy couldn’t handle the thought of possibly cracking open a rotten egg! Of course, he opted to throw them away. Boy #4, however, had a brilliant idea: cook with them! Here is the video he and a brother made of his creation. And yes, he is up high in a tree. What can I say–we have real boys!
Lots of Water!
We still have the aftermath of the big flood Easter weekend. Directly out our living room window, we can see this lake; in fact, I took these pictures out that window! Surprisingly, the boys have only played in it the one time. It’s about too cold most of the time this time of year to want to go swimming. The lake is larger now than when these pictures were taken, since we had another torrential rain a week or so ago. Thankfully, the creek didn’t flood around the buildings that time.Our landlord’s cows visiting with our steer.
And, a brief video clip I got of the boys splashing.
Training a Sheepdog
One day a week or two ago, I went into the living room and noticed our landlord on the hill above our house, on his motorbike (4-wheeler). He had one dog with him, and the dog went into the trees near the top of the hill and herded a small mob (maybe 50) of sheep out. He bunched them in a tight mob, then headed them across the hill below the trees. The dog took the sheep back and forth a couple of times, with no apparent purpose, but we found out later that he was just being trained. It was quite fascinating to watch!
My Newest Favorite Movies
Our children made a couple of movies last week. I enjoyed them so much that I want you to have the opportunity to see them, too. I know some of you already have, but for you others–enjoy!