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That's me... the good-looking one in the middle.

This photo was taken at Shelley's wedding in November 2002. And the two gorgeous ladies are my youngest daughter Monique and my oldest daughter Kim. It was a fabulous wedding set in the beautiful grounds of David's parents in Tauranga.

When we are not posing for photos, I am a manager of a training institute, Monique is in the health food business and Kim is an IT professional currently solving all of London's computer problems... well, some of them anyway. :-)

 Shelley & David:
Here are Shelley and David. Shelley is a real live mermaid as you can see from the tail. In human form, Shelley has her own mortgage broking business, Moneylink Mortgages Ltd. David runs his own network marketing business in the Health & Wellness Industry - that's how they stay so young looking!"

             Lil:
ABOVE:    On the left is Kim when she is not fixing computer problems. Check out her website and CV.   And on the right is Leadboot Lil. (Also known as Eric's mum) Watch her, or she'll take you for a ride! :-) And don't be deceived by that menacing exterior... beneath it dwells a heart as big as the universe. (o: And she is the only 'Leadboot Lil' on the whole internet. Try typing it into any reputable search engine. Here she is again below (right in the middle in the maroon jumper), and can you believe that she's just had her 90th birthday!


                                        LIL'S 90th BIRTHDAY PARTY

Back Row: Stan, Georgina, Hazel, Rosie, Brian, June
Middle Row: Betty Dow, Betty Medhurst, Eth, Lil (birthday girl), Joan, Jackie (with Jack)
Front Row: Alex (with Caitlyn), Naomi, Gloria.

Just to explain who all the people are... Eth is Lil's sister and Stan is Eth's husband. Brian is my brother, Rosie is his wife, Jackie is Brian and Rosie's daughter-in-law (Martyn's partner), and Jack and Caitlyn are Martyn and Jackie's twin children. Everyone else in the photo are good friends of Lil. And a special thanks to the photographer of this excellent photo, Alan, who is June's husband.

                                                                                             

More about me... and here I would like to pay tribute to my dear friend, Hugh Carden. Hugh has now passed on to greener pastures, but not before introducing me to the Baha'i Faith. This brought about the biggest and best change in my life. You could say it completed the jigsaw, and everything now seems to make sense. I could write volumes about it, but rather than do that here, I invite readers to find out more about it by either asking me or clicking on to the globe below which will lead you to a few links which will provide you with more information. I am secretary of the Manukau Baha'i Community, so that keeps me busy, but my friends and family are very special to me, so I will always make time for them.



 

Baha'i Links

                                                                                                                                           

  BRISBANE HOLIDAY



Monique and I recently spent 8 days in Brisbane, visiting the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. It was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to Steph, Dave and their son, Jake, friends I met on the internet, for hosting us for a couple of days at the start of our holiday.

The photo shows Monique, Dave, Steph and me in their garden.


Below is a letter that Steph wrote to their son, Jake, before he was born. Yes, folks, they teach them to read at a young age in Australia. Well done, Steph. beautiful thoughts.

           

Letter to Jake

To My Dear Child

You haven't arrived yet, but your father and I are so looking forward to the day when you do. I have carried you inside me for 39 weeks so far and you have filled my life with such happiness words cannot describe how I feel. To watch my tummy grow and to feel you move, kick and hiccup always makes me smile.

Your father and I have so much love for each other and you are a symbol of our love. Our promise to you is to share and pass on this love to you, to guide you and teach you and to be good parents. There is no rule book on how to bring your children up, we can only go by what our parents have taught us and what we believe is correct.

The world and society changes so much and many things in life seem so unfair and wrong. Our job is to protect, love and help you however much we can. There will no doubt be times when you feel that we have been unfair towards you - I know, because I too was once a child and felt the same way. You must always remember that we love you very very much. We hope that as you get older that you will not only be our child but a friend too. We hope that you will be able to come to us if you need advice or just to talk. Don't underestimate us or pre-judge our response as you may be quite surprised by our reactions - not nearly as bad as what you perceived them to be.

My dear child, I will and so will your dad do the best that we can to be a good mum and dad. I hope that in your life there will not be too many hurdles and you will enjoy life and succeed in all that you pursue. I wish you luck and good fortune and above all, health and happiness.

All my love forever

Mum xox

And here is my favourite photograph...

Sorry, Mr Wattie, it will cost you heaps of cans of baked beans to buy the copyright on this idea.




This page was launched on an unsuspecting world on 21 June 1997 and was last updated 3 August 2003


Please feel free to send me an email. I promise to reply.

ericneal@ihug.co.nz

Puzzles...

Question 1.

You have a glass of white wine and a glass of red wine (same size glass, same amount of wine in each).
You take one teaspoon of red wine and mix it in with the white wine.
You then take one teaspoon of the mixed wine and mix it in with the red wine.

Which answer is true? ...
1. There is now more red wine in the white wine glass.
2. There is now more white wine in the red wine glass.
3. There is the same amount of white wine in the red wine glass as there is red wine in the white wine glass.

Click here for the answer

Question 2.

A water lily starts growing in the middle of a pond on the 1st day of October. It doubles in size every day. At the end of the 31st day it covered the whole pond. On what day of the month did it cover exactly half of the pond?

Click here for the answer

Question 3.

You have three unmarked containers which when full contain 3 litres, 5 litres and 8 litres of fuel. The 3 litre and the 5 litre containers are empty anf the 8 litre container is full. You have no measuring equipment. Is it possible, using only the three containers, to give your friend exactly four litres of fuel, and if so, what is the smallest number of transfers to achieve this?

Click here for the answer

Question 4.

As a contestant in a TV games show, trying to win a new car, you are faced with three doors. One door has a car behind it and the other two doors each have a goat behind them. You do not know which, but the games show host does. You are invited to choose one door. The games show host then opens one of the other doors which he knows has a goat behind it. You are then invited to either stick with your original choice or change your choice to the other door which has not been opened. The question is... Is it better for the contestant to always change his mind, to never change his mind, or does it make no difference if he changes his mind or not?
Click here for the answer



That's all folks! Y'all come back now, y'hear!


You are visitor No. Have a great day!


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Answer to Question 1.
Number 3. You can work it out scientifically if you have the patience, but the fact is that providing there is an equal amount of wine in each glass, no matter how you mix it up there will always be the same percetage of red in one glass as there is white in the other glass. If you look at it logically, if there is say 73% red in one glass, the other 27% of red must be in the second glass, and the balance in the second glass must be 73% white, the same percentage of red that was in the other glass. Hmmmmmm... I can tell you're not convinced... well that's the best I can do...*smile*.


Answer to Question 2.
October 30th (If it doubles in size every day and it covers the whole pond on the 31st, it must have covered half the pond the day before).


Answer to Question 3.
With the containers on the top row and the fuel on the bottom row....
Starting with
3          5          8
0          0          8


Transfer the 8 gallon to the 5 gallon container
3          5          8
0          5          3


Transfer the 5 gallons to the 3 gallon container
3          5          8
3          2          3


Transfer the 3 gallons to the 8 gallon container
3          5          8
0          2          6


Transfer the 5 gallon container to the 3 gallon container
3          5          8
2          0          6


Transfer the 8 gallon container to the 5 gallon container
3          5          8
2          5          1


Transfer the 5 gallon container to the 3 gallon container
3          5          8
3          4          1


Transfer the 3 gallons to the 8 gallon container
3          5          8
0          4          4


Now, remember that, you never know when it might come in handy! *smile*

Answer to Question 4.
Most people will say that it doesn't make any difference whether you change your mind or not, and that you will have a 50/50 chance. But the truth is that on the law of averages, it is best to change your mind. Apparently this answer caused howls of protests among leading mathematicians, but they were forced to admit it was true after it was proven to them. If you are not convinced, email me and I will explain why this is the case.




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