As part of our sabbatical we knew that we would be headed to the south island of New Zealand and that we would be traveling through the location where they filmed the Hobbits and Lord of the Rings movies.  Looking forward to this and wanting to have context to the visit Bob agreed to watch ALL the extended versions of each movie with me (some 4.5 hours long).  It was so much fun!

So once we finished those off we went for broke and watch all the Harry Potter movies. Lord of the Rings was a rerun for us but we had never watch the Harry Potter movies.

It felt like we could finally understand and the giberish our kids use when referencing the story like Expecto Patronum or Horcrux or even Butterbeer.  I remember Katy trying to make butterbeer for Halloween several years ago.  Butterscotch syrup was involved as I remember.

Katy and Annie told me that Harry Potter dies…they were so convincingly sad.  He didn’t die!  I was so relieved because the whole movie I was expecting a very sad ending !!!!

I was facebooking Katy yesterday and shared that I was so sad to see the movies end and I thought about just rewatching them!  She shared with me that this is what they call a “showhole” meaning you would rather stay in the world of the Shire and Hogwarts than reality!  I’d settle for just having those floating candles in the mess hall.  They were obviously drip free and magical (no pun intended).

We are now into American history documentaries.  They have really helped to put context and timetables together.  I’m going to have to lay off the Civil War stuff…I’m having nightmares.  In the end freedom proves itself the most important human need…worth dying for but the suffering is still overwhelming for me to think about.

With history being the theme of this post… we went to visit a local historical sight in KeriKeri.  In this stone shop is a sign that says that as soon as the church bells began to ring on the sabbath the Maori’s scattered!