You will see that our address has changed again. After all those years of living in the Marlborough Sounds, we needed to move so that Terry could be nearer medical services. An apartment in Wellington was fine for a while, but as Terry's health deteriorated, the stairs and traffic became too much of a challenge. So now we are tucked away in a quiet cul-de-sac in a small town about 50 minutes from Wellington city. We have a little yellow cottage with yellow roses in front and a giant cabbage tree that loses hair every time a wind shakes its many heads. The back yard has a few fruit trees and a vegetable garden that is my delight. I didn't realise how much I missed going out late afternoon with a basket for fresh vegetables for dinner. Terry enjoys walks without stairs or hills, and I have another added pleasure. I'm now living close to the shed where I have my lathe and woodturning tools. This year, writing, retreats, talks and workshops have dominated so I wasn't surprised to go out last week and find a big cobweb on my lathe; but that has since disappeared and I'm making wood shavings again.

2011, though busy, has been packed with beautiful experiences, and promises many more. This year I will be back at the Highlights Writing Workshops and I lean towards that with great pleasure. The July visit to the United States, has been made possible by Terry's sister Mary Ann who will be with him while I'm away. It will seem a little strange at Chautauqua without Terry but we are both accepting of the fact that he can't travel long distances. I expect that I will have to make the same adjustment as the years pass. I'm in good health at 75 but I'm not making any long-term plans.

Early February, Mary Ann was with Terry while I attended the Reading Recovery Conference in Columbus Ohio. I also visited to Birmingham, Alabama for a talk to teachers arranged by my friend Dr Maryann Manning. A wonderful surprise was the presentation of the Maryann Manning medal for Outstanding Literacy Scholar. That was one of those moments of mixed unworthiness, gratitude and awe. On this trip, there was time to stay in San Diego with Ray and Christine Yuen of Hameray who are publishing the new early readers in the States. I'm getting lovely feedback from teachers, especially about the new books featuring the old Story Box characters like Mrs Wishy-Washy and The Hungry Giant. Ray and Christine had me record these stories. I did wonder if my New Zealand accent would be understood in American schools, but I must say I enjoyed doing this. The rest of February was taken up with the move from Wellington to Featherston.

March was NZ Book month. As 2011 honorary president of the NZ Society of Authors, I was active, talking in libraries and delivering the Janet Frame Memorial Lecture at Te Papa. Traditionally, this lecture is on some aspect of New Zealand literature. I chose to talk about the rapid growth of children's literature in the last 60 years, and for those of you interested, I'll ask my web manager to put the notes on this site.

April was catch-up month, mail, emails, some story edits, and work on new early material for Clean Slate (NZ) and Hameray (US). The editing job included work on five chapter books, The Wild West series, about a riotous family and their politically correct cousin. The books, published years ago, grew into a series by demand and it wasn't until Gecko Press wanted to reprint them all in one volume, that I realized I had written some of these books in the past tense and some in the present. Unfortunately there is no computer programme that will change tenses, so the editing took a while longer than anticipated. I think the result will be worth it.

New books? Two picture books will be released in August 2011. One is "The Easter Story," the meaning of Easter for young children with lovely illustrations by Donald Morrison. The other is "Robby and Hoot" a rhyming story about a robot whose best friend is a little car he has rescued from a dump. Phillip Fickling has done wonderful illustrations for Robby and Hoot. Phillip is a very talented paper engineer who makes paper sculpture and pop-up cards and books. A serious accident severely damaged his arm and, while he was having surgeries to correct the damage, he had very little movement in his fingers. But he could move a computer mouse. I knew that Philip liked robots, and wrote this story for him to illustrate. Penguin NZ are publishing it and I think Phillip has made it a very special book.

I've previously mentioned that every now and again, I arrange publication of outstanding work by a young author or illustrator. Generally publishers do not accept children's work. We can get around this with personal design and printing and then the child's family can sell the book on the young artist's behalf. Last year I wrote a story for talented 11 years old artist Amber Edwards, and it has made a very nice picture book. I shall have this book "Too Many Cats" on the website list of picture books, with contact details for the Edward's family should you with to purchase a copy. The illustrations are amazing. Amber has been asked to demonstrate with adult illustrators at the Storylines Children's Literature Festival.

I've probably left out a lot of news, but it is time to draw this letter to a close.

All that is left to write, is a huge thank you to all for the gift that you are to children. Without that, the world would be a sadder and more difficult place.