Ents

A couple last thoughts about New Zealand before the memories fade into the mist of my mind:

• New Zealanders seem to be very conscientious about trimming their trees. All the pine trees that we drove by (be it pine trees in forests, pastures, or alongside the road), all had their dead lower branches trimmed off. We didn't see much of the landscape that was featured in the Lord of the Rings trilogies, but seeing these forests jogged my memory of the scenes from the Battle of Helms Deep (I think). Why don't Americans take better care of trees? I guess it's probably laziness, but still...

• It's always interesting to visit grocery stores ("food store? food market? supermarket?" "supermaket!") in other countries. For instance, Qiwis (the people, not the bird) seem to really like chocolate cereal. And chocolate on their bread (I bought some generic Nutella in a moment of weakness). And drinking chocolate (why is this not called hot chocolate you ask? Because you can make it hot OR cold!). Also, they don't seem to refrigerate their eggs. Do that many people eat that many eggs that the store never has any that go bad?

After seeing such a beautiful landscape, it got me thinking. Do visitors to this country think that the landscape is pretty here? I know that we have a very diverse countryside, but when I drive from DC to New Jersey, for instance, there is nothing all that interesting to look at (unless you take the Del Mem Br across the river and admire the DuPont chemical plants).