Last night was full of conversation, laughter and more than 3 years of catching up.
I met Clare and Hunter in my Te Anau life. We had moved from the airforce base in Marlborough down to Fiordland New Zealand and were still taking the first steps towards the very small population of the small town nestled in the mountains on the edge of a massive lake, massive in both terms of size and beauty.
Hunter has a lifetime of stories of growing up in and around the mountains and knows the places he knows like the back of his hand. He was also the man who later brought me fresh venison steaks after I moved to the peninsula in Dunedin city.
Amongst his first words yesterday were' Sorry, I didn't bring any venison this time'. Not only did he used to bring the venison steaks, he also used to cook them, creating sumptutious pieces of yum with those steaks.
However, they had brought two huge jars of Vegemite which is almost as good when you're living in Belgium, cut off from anything but the occasional, very expensive small jar of Vegemite.
Last night's dinner, for 8, was a massive feast of stoofvlees and frieten ... traditional Belgian food welcoming them to the flat lands of Flanders.
A few years ago, Hunter and I spent a few days on his farmhouse balcony while I interviewed him about his life ... a long and interesting one but I'll save that for another day.
Tot ziens.
Ah, there's more than way to be a "woman wandering." One can entertain "guests wandering" too.
ReplyDeleteClearly my guests don't suffer from the standard homestay experience ... they've got to find us first.
ReplyDeleteSeems like huge batch of homemade lasagne is brining everyone home from all over today ;)
It must have been great, finally being reunited with the Shaws. What an adventure, and such wonderful memories you all share.
ReplyDeleteAfter flying in from the other side of the planet, losing them between Brussels and Antwerpen is pretty special indeed :-)
:) is there a mocking in there Peter?
ReplyDeleteDo you know, they wandered around Bangkok alone and had a fabulous time. We're still talking of their time of being lost to me, there were so many factors ... both normal and surreal.
The plane late, the Scotsman who brought them into Brussels in his small Golf, who then got lost, so they missed the train, then the 5 of them at North Station on the street of the prostitutes and etc ... memorable for sure.
You have the strangest stories. Good to see yet another back of Newzees has made it safe and sound to Antwerp.
ReplyDeleteSent a message but it obviously did not get on somehow.. Say hi to Hunter for me! I shall always remember my lovely time at his house. And you have a good time tonight,, sorry I missed you.. welcome back Jesse!!
ReplyDeleteStrange stories ... me?
ReplyDeleteLol, maybe.
And I passed on your greeting to Hunter, ML and he returned it.
Sorry to have missed you. I had this little patch of calm and thought we could catch up. Hope all the moving is going well. xo