Here's our closest fast food place.  Every town has lots of Chinese food + fish and chips take aways.  When Mork and Mindy's is closed, their sign says "Gone Fishing".
Terms and expressions:
say bum bag, not fanny pack!
a bach is a holiday home or beach house
a ranch slider entrance is a sliding glass door
a koha is a gold coin donation (from Maori tradition)
good on you - good for you
I'm poppping out for a bit
cello tape is our scotch tape
Better not take off that pretty jersey; I might pinch it
so flash
#8 wire, like we fix anything with duct tape
haven't seen you in donkey's years - for ages
a grammar school is an academic HS and not a primary school
We started last weekend by going a see The History Boys at the Globe Theatre.  Apparently the play won a Tony in 2006.  It was a community theater production and was very well done.
On Saturday morning we started our drive (went about 350 km this weekend) to explore the Wairarapa region.  When you open google maps, you'll see that it is southeast of Palmy.  We drove on a winding road to Castlepoint and enjoyed the beauty of the Pacific.  Rx REALLY wanted to go swimming, but he had to be satisfied with walking on the beach and the rocks.  On Sunday, we did some wine tasting in the Marlborough region.  We also did some tasting at an olive grove and a gourmet chocolate shop - bought our staples except coffee/tea.  That's all I have time for tonight.  After 2 weeks playing hooky, Rx and I went to dog club tonight for much needed obedience practice.  See ya.

As we left to explore a new region, I was concerned that the morning fog would obscure the sheep sightings.  However, the sun burned through, and I was not disappointed; most sheep so far. Mike, I'm not tired of them yet.

Our Saturday night cottage

Our view walking out of the front door.

The dogs were excited to be included in this weekend's adventure.  Found our accomodation on petscancometoo.co.nz (NZed). 

I'll write about the weekend when I'm caught up and not sleepy; in the meantime, enjoy the pictures.
To see ALL the weekend pics go to:  https://picasaweb.google.com/115133267095590644390/Wairarapa?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Castle Rock

Here is Mike Acocella's comment for our blog:
"I had a very nice time visiting Wellington and Palmerston North. Wellington, for one of the smaller capital cities I have seen is very compact yet has all the conveniences of a large city, with an extensive waterfront. The "suburbs" (Palmerston North being one of them) are "islands" in the middle of a mostly agricultural/rural area. I was a bit surprised how self contained it was, with all sorts of "mom and pop" stores around a town square. It even has some cultural activities going on (i.e. jazz concerts, and live theatre.) There was more than one bookstore within a 5 minute walk of each other, which is something you don't see in the US anymore. Everything is walkable, including a 15-20 minute walk from the center of town back to the house. What a concept - you can actually walk everywhere, and on sidewalks no less. We could take a cue in the US from that."

Think of Mike as he travels back to Virginia.
Palmerston North to Wellington to Sydney to LAX to Washington, Dulles;  long layovers in each city.
Tomorrow, I'll be attending an office staff meeting at noon, and a GP peer review in the evening.   Learned today that having the receptionist ask the patient the reason for the appointment is a novel controversial concept.  I had suggested that care would be more efficient if i knew why the patient was coming in before I brought them into the room.  
Expressions:  It's good as gold.  I feel like a box of fluffy ducks.
Sorry to muck you around.

Saturday, we went to windy Welly.  We took an informative tour of the Parliament buildings.  Took the pic of Kate Shepherd apartments to remind me of the suffragette that helped New Zealand become the first country in the world to give women the right to vote in 1893.  Her image is on the NZ ten dollar note.  We picked up Mike at the airport, and took a night tour at a wildlife sanctuary.  We did see kiwis walking around, but couldn't get pictures since it was dark and we also didn't want to stress the birds.  Sunday, we had a nice walking tour of the city.  The weather was cool; but sunny, and w/o wind!

In this picture, you see Kapiti island to the right.  We could see the South Island in the distance on the left.  We took the picture from Fishermans Table restaurant in Paekakariki.
https://picasaweb.google.com/115133267095590644390/Wellington?authuser=0&feat=directlink         
A few of this week's words:                                     
larrikin      mischievous person
lollies        candy                       
rate payer taxpayer
g'day         hello
see ya       bye
hire            engage

The kiwis are truly appreciative of the Americans that were here during WWII.  These flags are hanging in Old St Paul's church.  Apparently, there were over 20,000 US Marines stationed in the Wellington region.  After watching a video about it (mentioned malaria cases), we thought of grandpa's experience in this area,
and wished he were here to answer our questions.

 

The Wanganui River meets the Tasman Sea

After a rainy cold 3/7, the sun came out and I had a brilliant day.  I dropped Rich at the hospital, and spent the day exploring.  I had a wonderful dose of sheep, cows, interesting sights and beautiful scenery.  Enjoy the pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/115133267095590644390/Wanganui2?authuser=0&feat=directlink  On the way home, we stopped for a cuppa in Bulls.  Welcome sign as you enter town says "No udder place like it."  Work tomorrow and then Wellington on Saturday.  Looking forward to having Mike A here for a few days; sorry that Bobbin couldn't come with him.  Missed obedience this week, but had a good agility drill tonight.  Rx did all kinds of weave entries, but doesn't like the collapsible tunnel here either.  I want to hear how everyone did at the show in Albuquerque last weekend.

Live, from the state supreme court of New York!
Sorry we couldn't be there when Lauren was sworn in to the Bar this AM,
but glad that Mike was there to represent the family.
Lauren is now officially an esquire.
Here is the link to our weekend pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115133267095590644390/Taranaki?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Not in the mood to write too much this time, but I'll give a brief summary.
It's been raining for 2 days, and I got an unsettling e-mail related to my Pres office.  Doesn't sound like my practice will be waiting for me when I get back to Alb.

We postponed the river ride and went through Wanganui to Hawera where we climbed up the water tower.  Drove along Surf Highway 45 (look on the map) up to New Plymouth.  Enjoyed rolling hills, but saw fewer sheep; lots of cows.  Took Chaddy's charter around the Sugar Loaf Islands.  Look closely on the rocks to see a few seals.  Caught a salmon that we would have taken home if we had an ice chest for the next day's car ride.  Enjoyed a little of the award winning coastal walkway.  Look at our pic in front of the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge.  Had lamb shank for dinner (feel I should try lamb at least once or twice while I'm here).  Sunday, we enjoyed Tupare, one of the local gardens, and drove into the National Park to have no visibility.  Had lunch in Stratford; saw the clock tower, but we weren't there to see Romeo and Juliet come out of the glockenspiel.  Then went to Nigel Ogle's Tawhiti Museum (no time for Traders & Whalers).  Between the Puke Ariki museum at the New Plymouth i-site, and this one, we learned a lot about NZ and Maori history.  Interesting to think about the land wars here going on around the time of the US Civil War.
Road signs: slippery when frosty; merge like a zipper; sealed roads (vs paved)
Lauren, I did make a dog friend, who said "bet your kids aren't keen on your shifting here".
The fair-weathered American didn't go to dog club last night because of rain.

Friday, I got quite frustrated at work.  The terms, meds, and management differences started to get to me.  I think the fact that I had 3 new patients that were elderly with long problem and med lists contributed to the irritabilty.  Today, I saw 19 patients (1 no show) and did a procedure, and it all went smoothly; kept me quite busy, but it was enjoyable.
Some of the med stuff:
Monofeme and Levlen Ed   levonorgestrel 150mcg, ee 30 mcg
Noriday                                norethisterone
Pintarsol                               pine tar soap for dermatitis
Menthol 0.5% in Nutraplus Cream
Gees Linctus                        cough med with morphine and squill
Dermol for eczema              clobetasol
Duride Cr                             isosorbide mononitrate
Flixonase                             fluticasone
Glytrin 400 mcg/dose spray prn NTG
colecalciferol 1.25
seretide                                 fluticasone salmeterol propionate
Diastop                                 diphenoxylate, atropine
Diamide                                loperamide
etidronate cyclycally with Ca and cholecalciferol for osteoporosis
dothiepin for depression       TCA
still using triazolam
Mimms said valciclovir was subsidized, but had to change to aciclovir
HoLEP for BPH
saw Urol 2/7 ago
put in the IDC in the theatre (operating room is OT)
Kenacomb ear drops             triamcinolone, nystatin, neomycin, gramacidin
check for STIs
BP^ so commenced bendrofluazide 2.5 1 tab od
grommets                               pe tubes
symptoms were going on for a wee while
Alanase                                  generic Beconase
job done 4 weekly
"Hoffmann's negative"              same as Tinel's?
"cross adductors negative"        what does this test?
I've been studying the "Best Practice" recommendations for treating infections on the EMR here.  Won't list them all, but first line for dental is metronidazole 400bd + Pen VK 500 4x/d x 5 days.  Boils, cellulitis, sinusitis, conjunctivits - all different;  they do use Lotrimin for tinea, but of course it's called Canesten or Clocreme.  Too much on Friday, so I was frustrated.  OK now.
Time to go read about the FODMAP diet for IBS treatment.