The sixth and seventh age

Each day since the last obstruction on Wednesday 16 November, I have been eating baby food. I have bland little purees or specially labelled "for 1 year olds" yoghurts, or for something really daring, some Chinese rice porridge with some tofu broken up in it. Shakespeare understood all this, when through Jaques "All the world's a stage" speech in "As you like it" he wrote of the ages of of man

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Never mind. I survive well on baby food and here I am nearly 6 days later, with the plumbing still functioning.

And there are friends and family to enjoy. On Saturday Merle and Sam came down from Marton. It was a beautiful day in Wellington and I took them to Zealandia, their first visit. They loved it, seeing Tui, Tuatara, Kaka, Takahe and a Kingfisher. Here they are with the female and male Takahe. Only 100 of these birds remain in existence-they were thought extinct until discovered in the Murchison Mountains of the South Island in 1948.

Merle is an embroiderer and quilter. This masterpiece is her latest, the 12 days of Christmas represented in each panel. It won the "people's choice" award in a recent exhibition.

On Sunday we drove over the Rimutaka range to visit Miles and Maria in Featherston, taking in lunch at the Tauherenikau pub (blended soup for Paul). It was a great chance to catch up, and to discuss the current state of politics, the general election being just 6 days away.