"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."

-Abraham Lincoln

Don't worry, Abe, you won't find many people around these parts without a vice...er, vise. I was thrilled to discover that an antique vise and anvil (who owns an anvil?) were squirreled away in the basement of our 1930's-era home. After living with a vise for two weeks I've begun to wonder how I ever managed without one in the first place. International travellers, take note; you need to bring a leatherman with you. If you are lucky enough to have both a leatherman and a vise, the world is your oyster. As it turns out, this hasn't been our only encounter with a vise in the last two weeks.

You may have heard that New Zealand is significantly less litigious than the US. This has some noticeable effects on everyday life. Amy takes Quinn and Amelia to a local co-op preschool and she was rather surprised to discover that the playroom included a shop complete with real vises, hammers, nails, and saws. Yeah. The two-year-olds here entertain themselves by nailing things together with real nails and real hammers, then sawing their creations to bits. I'll say this: they do seem to find it quite entertaining.

I'm sure there's a downside to living in such a carefree culture, but the benefits thus far are obvious. You can have more fun if there are fewer rules. Today we took the kids to the botanic gardens to play on the playground there (incidentally, we did this in the rain. For those of you keeping count, we've been here 16 days and have yet to see a single full day without rain. That's two sunny days with rainy nights and 14 days of rain). The playground is a lot of fun because it includes attractions like a zipline.

Amelia hasn't quite adapted to the reckless Kiwi lifestyle. She spotted the zipline and the following conversation ensued:

Amelia: "Mommy, what's that? I'm not doing it."

Amy: "Well, thats-"

Amelia: "I'm not doing it."

Amy: "Okay, you're not doing it. It's called a zipline."

Amelia: "I'm not doing it."

Amy: "That's fine, dear."


"Swinging in the rain..."