From the words of my FIL. He writes beautifully. His son took after him. No wonder I was smitten. “The nine-day vacation in New Zealand was a leisurely trip to a postcard-pretty country, highlighted by a spledid cruise on a huge lake in Milford Sound surrounded by virgin forests, snow-capped mountains, glaciers, fiords, and waterfalls while the sun refuses to set past 9pm! The stars were brightest past midnight on this blessed spot between the equator and the South Pole. Imagine an educational lecture on stars, constellations, and galaxies while gazing skyward, flat on one’s back on the ship’s deck as it glides lazily along the glacier-fed lake. Another cruise on a 1912 steam boat took us to an island with a sprawling Victorian hotel where we had a lakeshore lunch, followed by a farmer’s demonstration of his sheepdog corraling and pasturing a huge flock of sheep. Several sheepdog puppies were passed around while a sheep was being shorn of her 8-month wool. One black-and-white puppy was handed over to my 5-year old grandson Raf, who cuddled and caressed it throughout the mid-afternoon lecture. They were inseparable. Two tiny hearts were broken when it was time to let go. Grammy’s not-so-convincing line to a sobbing grandchild was that the puppy cannot join us because it did not have a Philippine passport!” Turn on your speakers for the full experience.