Magnolia in bloom

I flew to Palmerston North this morning. Palmy gets a bad wrap but it's a lovely place, just as flat as Christchurch, about 1/3 of the size, decent hills nearby and a couple of mountains not further north. It's like the NZ I grew up in. Not too big and busy and little if any infill housing. I've decided I rather like it.

The purpose of this visit is to celebrate 2 50th birthdays for my cousin Andrew and his wife Avril. Andrew knows about the party Avril not so much :-)

I'm staying with another cousin who has kindly checked out where my missing tooth used to live. Fortunately it's at the back of my mouth and you can't see it. Unfortunately the root resorption dissolved some of my jaw at that point and it's marginal for an implant. That's where the bit about it being at the back of my mouth is handy. I can live with it as is.

So, happy days ahead for me as I catch up with all but one of my cousins, see my aunt and uncle and generally have a very good time :-)

And yes, I was in the mood for a bit of twirling with a magnolia tree in bloom.