The longer the time away the more difficult it is to get home again; especially from a place  like New Zealand. Endlessly varied  beaches, volcanoes, hot springs, impossibly turquoise lakes, the magnificent southern alps, pastoral landscapes, friendly people; every day a new day as we puttered down the road in our feisty little camper van, cozy, contained and contented.

Beyond this, I can’t begin to convey the experience of the last couple of months in any meaningful way with a few short sentences.  Suffice it to say that New Zealand with  all its special nooks and crannies cloaked in chorus after chorus of exotic bird song is a wonderful place to visit

A different reality is so easy to settle into.  New routines soon become habits, new scenes become the expectation of the day, the constant shift of landscape and energy becomes the norm.  That is why there is a jolt when reentry happens.  The free fall of open space  changes into the gravity of regular existence.

So here we are back in the Precipice, lots of snow on the ground, a Townsend’s Solitaire gobbling juniper berries outside my window.  The snow machine greased, oiled and ready to go, the wood heater is blasting out the heat and I’m on my second cup of coffee, trying to figure out where to go from here.

In the meantime here are a few pics…..

Dave