Visit to the clan

I have twenty one cousins, nineteen of whom live in New Zealand. Not only that, but I have met all of them many times, and used to spend summer holidays with quite a few of them when I was a child.

So when Evan decided to go to Mexico for a month, mostly to learn spanish, it didn’t really work if I went. He wanted to speak spanish as much as possible, and I have a lot of work in February. But I realised that there was a week that I could spend anywhere – although I had a bit of work, I wasn’t going to be physically present for it even if I was at home.

So I’m just on my way home from a lovely week in New Zealand. I caught up with eight cousins and an aunt, which is not bad for a week. It was helped that I stayed with two of my cousins in Langs Beach, the beach where my dad grew up, for most of the time, near which several of my relatives still live.

It is a long time since we used to spend long summers up there doing not much but swimming, playing cards and jigsaw puzzles (and having morning teas with an endless supply of relatives) and we pretty much did the same this time, with the bonus that I appreciated the baking for the morning teas a bit more. One of my cousins appointed herself as social organiser and cook, and she is very good at both.