Author Archives: newenglandkiwi

Some History

Posted on May 1, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

One of the things I still get a kick out of here, even after nearly three years, is driving past the town signs (every little bit of land in Massachusetts is part of some sort of town or city, jurisdictionally … Continue reading →

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Swings and Roundabouts

Posted on April 17, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

It’s been a curious sort of week from where I’m sitting in Western Massachusetts. I always tell people in New Zealand that I’m in “the part of Massachusetts that isn’t Boston”, but whether you like it or not (and a … Continue reading →

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The Blizzard of 2013

Posted on February 11, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

It might have caught the attention of some of you that we had a little bit of snow here in New England over the weekend. We actually got off pretty lightly here in Western Massachusetts, and by “lightly” I mean … Continue reading →

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Colds

Posted on January 22, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

I think I said something last week about it being really cold. Everyone: I was wrong. Now it’s really cold. The wind chill tomorrow morning is supposed to be -15F. If I didn’t have to leave the house FOR SCIENCE! … Continue reading →

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Taxonomy By Night

Posted on January 17, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

We had a brief thaw here last week, enough to melt almost all the snow (though it was replenished quickly enough). Turns out one of the side-effects of “warm” (translation: above freezing) temperatures and low winds on an area with … Continue reading →

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Twenty Below

Posted on January 3, 2013 by newenglandkiwi

The serious part of winter has arrived here in Western Massachusetts – we got a foot of snow between Christmas and New Year’s, and it is, admittedly, very pretty. It’s also sticking around, because along with the snow, we’ve also … Continue reading →

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Merry Christmas, Everyone

Posted on December 23, 2012 by newenglandkiwi

This is the view from my kitchen window. This is the forecast for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day: Many, many Christmas-related movies have taught me that it is common, nay, traditional, for the “white” part of “white Christmas” to be withheld until … Continue reading →

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The World’s Best(???) Christmas Shop

Posted on December 18, 2012 by newenglandkiwi

You know that thing where the closer you live to a tourist attraction, the less likely you are to actually visit it? Like how I lived in Christchurch for six years and never visited the Antarctic Centre (although that had … Continue reading →

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Niagara

Posted on December 12, 2012 by newenglandkiwi

Niagara Falls reminded me startlingly of Las Vegas, for all that it’s several thousand miles and a number of ecosystem types away; in both places, someone looked at a breathtaking natural wonder and decided what would really enhance it was … Continue reading →

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Toronto In A Day

Posted on December 2, 2012 by newenglandkiwi

In a practical sense we only had one day to see Toronto, so we settled for two things: the Royal Ontario Museum and the fifth-tallest tower in the world. (If we’d been two years earlier it would have been the … Continue reading →

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