We had a relaxing day today. We drove into town & had a Japanese lunch. Then Nina & Frank went to visit a friend while Alison, Tansy, & I did some shopping & exploring.
We walked through an Internet shop that had people lined up along each wall using computers @ $3 an hour. We went to the back of the store to look at a huge map of the world.
We checked out a NZ products store, a bookstore, a wool woven store, a world trade store, walked through a botanical garden, around a cathedral & into a chocolate store. All this without getting into a car.
We met back up with Frank & Nina, stopped at a grocery store & then back to Alison's for a Dutch dinner of eggs, asparagus & garlic butter. Frank showed us how to fix it up on our plates. This is how it's done: take a couple hard-boiled eggs & mash them real fine on the plate. Pour garlic butter into it, mash it a little more, and then lay some asparagus on the pile. One can eat the asparagus with their fingers or by knife & fork. We also had broccoli & cauliflower. New Zealanders pronounce it caulee flower. For dessert we had chocolate from Alison's favorite chocolate shop.
Ed had taught me how to prepare asparagus. Break the thick end off the uncooked asparagus. It will always break between the tough side & the tender side. I didn't know that.
Got to meet David, Alison's Welch boy friend. He seems like a really nice guy. He had dinner with us. We joked about egg timers & such. Had a good time.
We watched a demo video on World of Wearable Art (W.O.W.). It was fantastic! People compete to see who has the most artistically beautiful outfit. It started in the 1980's in someone's garage. It's now presented in Nelson's largest venue, the high school auditorium. People make art costumes that are amazing. There are a few different categories; Bazaar Bras, The Man Unleashed, and the regular wearable art. I'd like to do something like that someday. I wish I could've gotten a video but W.O.W. is not able to sell them because they don't have the copyrights of some of the people who own the costumes.
We washed clothes. The house Alison lives in has solar heating. When the batteries run low, the washing machine stops. We kept having to keep our ears open to turn it back on. It started to rain so Alison set up temporary clothes hangers inside the house.
Frank was cold so he set a nice fire in the woodstove. Most places I stayed in were "no shoes" homes. My feet were freezing most of the time. I wanted to put my shoes on but had to remind myself that we don't do that here. Frank's fire felt so good.
