Just finished reading #18

Limestone - Fiona Farrell

After an intense and very satisfying stint in Sweden I am now NZ bound with three kiwi novels on my bedside table. I am breaking up the serious stuff with a Sarah-Kate Lynch at the moment and I can hear it calling me so this is going to be brief.

Now, Fiona Farrell is a really good writer. Won stuff and been the writer in residence at UC some years ago. Limestone is beautifully written in a way that is both lyrical and local. I wondered aloud to my friend Bev (who is a friend of hers) about the total lack of explanation about the NZ references. We both thought this was great but also acknowledged there could be some danger if people didn't understand the references. Then I thought about Steig and how he wrote in detail about Sweden and just assumed you just knew about it. I liked that and think that this lack of regional explanation shows Fiona is an international writer who makes no excuses for where she writes about. Cantabrians will get most of the references as Fiona is a local writer.

Anyway, Clare is looking for her dad as he buggered off at some point in her life and she is in Ireland following the trail for a relatively short amount of time. There is a ton of back warding and forwarding and I must say I was a bit lost some of the time but that is more about me and not about Fiona. There is some relationship stuff and family politics and other bits and bobs. I would say check this book out at the library and see if you are interested. I did enjoy this book - considered but natural, lyrical but not too waffly. A nice New Zealand read and some lovely writing to boot.

Cleaning Sunshine

I went with my friend Alex to the preview of this film the other night, thanks to TV3 Film3 tickets I won through their competition. Thanks guys.Made by the same outfit that made 'Little Miss Sunshine' it has that same real quality of warts and all lives, not sugar coated and not a spangle in sight. It could have been a gloomy tale and although not funny at all, there was a feeling of hope for the characters. Alan Arkin was superbly understated as the widower trying to keep his family together and I was mesmerised by the two women playing his damaged but loving daughters (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt). There were some 'eeeeew' moments as the Sunshine Cleaning company cleans up after dead people and we are not talking drifting off in their sleep dead people. It was a tiny bit predictable but the characters and filming made it a sweetie.

I cried quite bit too which is unusual and that set me up for a big boo hoo when I got home and watched the first episode of the 'last season' of ER. Oh dear. I was pretty worn out by the time I went to bed, having expended quite a bit of energy crying for a bunch of pretend people. Sigh

150

This is the month that Christchurch City Libraries has turned 150 years old. There have been heaps of celebrations around the city's libraries and this week has been the week for staff to celebrate. Last night we had a giant party in the Central library where 300 people gathered to catch up and enjoy lots of reminiscence, food and wine. During the week we had a party for the city where we launched our FREE INTERNET service for the city. The National Librarian Penny Carneby spoke and in her enviable way had many of us tearing up with pride in being part of such a fantastic and important profession. We are a self effacing lot and it was fantastic to take a moment to reflect on all the cool things that we have done over the years. Can't imagine that I will ever be able to do anything else. There is so much still to do. One of the highlights of the festivities as been the 33+ tukutuku panels created by all the teams in the network. We were given some 'training' and understanding of the tukutuku panel as an historical story telling mechanism for Maori and then let loose with all that info and a bunch of modern materials to develop a panel that best illustrates our teams role in the city. They are on show at South library and are just amazing. I worked hard on our one and with such a small team it was a very big effort. I loved it and I know every team found this to be a very bonding exercise. The communities were also involved at libraries as they did weaving and talking with staff as they went.
Here is our one. As you can see it clearly represents our role as the buildings people for the network and there are all kinds of things woven into it that represent the detail and behind the scenes nature of our role. If you want to see more detail go to the link above and you can see all the bits and pieces on every one of them. If you want to see what the traditional tukutuku panels look like then here is a link to some we have in the library.

And finally, log into our Flickr and see a whole heap of photos that have been digitised mapping the people and buildings of our library network. There are some really funny images and some lovely heartwarming ones as well.

Finally, I wanted to say to all the lovely people, staff and customers whom I have met over my time in the library that my life has been hugely enriched by the friendships and interactions I have made and had and that is a gift I have for my whole life. I am very grateful.

Just finished reading #17

Careless in Red - Elizabeth George

The girl who plays with Fire - Stieg Larsson

Not really just finished but just remembered I had finished reading these two books. Both are huge and both are mysteries or some other descriptive word for murder hunts. I read the Elizabeth George because my mates at work love her. I obviously started at the wrong end of her writing career. I read 265 pages in agony and then just flicked to the last 20 to see what happened. I know you that you need lots of characters and multiple motives to make a detective novel any good but Elizabeth needs to work much more closely with her editor. Say no more.

Moving on to Stieg. Everyone who reads these books loves them. I read this with veracity and had to slow myself down so that I could live in his world for as long as possible. It is violent, frightening and sickening in some places but the characters are compelling and diverse. It is about sex trafficking and a stuff and I am not going to go into all that as it is really complex. however, if you want a good synopsis go here

So go to the library to get this book. You will love it.

I have book group at my place next month and have no thoughts about what I should buy. All suggestions welcome.

Pass it on

A friend sent me this list today. I am not really a pass it on person generally but I did and I think there might be some useful things in the list. I thought you might like it. There are some good reminder lessons in there for me...good timing too.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 44 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:"

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step...
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
34. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

30 seconds of fame

A funny thing happened on the way to lunch the other day with Carolyn. We bumped into some friends of mine. One a photographer for the Press and the other a journalist. They just happened to be taking photos for the Zest supplement in the Press and they just happened to snap us. We turned up a week later and we gained our 3 seconds of fame.

So many observations

1. Everyone reads this part of Zest. I love it and look for people I know and pore over the details. Blokes read it and notice things.

2. Some people really really want to be in it....I am still mortified at the disgusting state of my pants. Need to take them up and in. I look like a hobo

3. Being 'famous' incites some fun communications and a few coffee dates

4. Your mates love taking the piss out of you - it has been a funny couple of days

5. Some people are very kind and complimentary - it is important to not take yourself too seriously, luckily I don't

6. Bit of pressure to wear nice clothes each day...eeek. I bought a pair of white jeans at Ballantynes Sale yesterday. Always wanted a pair and Trinny and Suzannah said I could

7. There was another librarian in the same section that day and another a month ago - good publicity for our oft maligned profession....tee hee

8. Never ever stand next to a tall glamorous woman in a photo...oh dear god...what a short arse!

Diversions

It has been awhile, my attention has been diverted by house selling preparation, cold weather freezing my creative brain and very tiredness. However, tonight I have been gifted a diversion of another type. I was fortunate enough to be invited to see Slava's Snowshow and it was fantastic. Part of the Christchurch Arts Festival it was a total delight and was mesmerising from start to finish.Now, I am not a clown kinda girl normally but I just loved this and not a word was spoken. I so desperately want Jonty to see it but it is sold out for the rest of the season. Nic would love bits of it too but it is VERY loud and a bit scary so perhaps he can see it when he is older.

Here is a link to youtube so check it out. I didn't know anything about it before I went which is always my preferred way of seeing things. I love the surprise....life has few of these as you get older. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE4GURNBoEM. I cant work out how to embed the clip in this post and I am too tired to bother but check it out anyway.

Girls are fancy

We had an interesting discussion about the fanciness, or not of girls yesterday. How things are changing in our house with Nic just growing up and sounding more like a teenager everyday. Anyway, Jonty and Nic were talking about how girls have fancy toilets and boys have ugly smelly ones. I proffered that girls were fancy and deserved fancy things. They have perfume and jewellery and lovely things and Nic said 'Dad has moisturiser and so do I and dad has perfume and so do I' (he doesn't actually have perfume, he just helps himself to mine - no boundaries). So with the argument almost over, Nic then said ' Those girls on Mamma Mia doing all that screaming? That is NOT fancy'. True, I thought.

Then we did a Wordle talking about girls- then I put it in here. The reason being, that I am doing a learning thing at work and embedding some HTML in my blog was eluding me, so now I have done it, excellent. This is what Nic thinks girls are all about - today

School Holidays - Day One

Nic at the Kidsfest Kids Market, next to the Kidsfest Car. Not sure which one is cutest. New hat bought in Q'town.

Amazing Race - the final episode

We made it to Queenstown and here, in pictures, is what we did.

The sun also shines

Jeepers it has been hard to find anything to post about these days. Winter hibernation is well underway. Jonty and I were commiserating today about the dire state of our collective well being brought on by sun deprivation in the weekends. Dull, cold, grey and windless - utterly dire. Reading over my last posts you would get the feeling that we were just living at the airport and feeling sorry for ourselves. This is partially right, however, there have been some highlights punctuating the weeks and weekends and it is time to let the sun shine in and forget about the crap weather. Having a terrible couple of weeks at work hasn't helped either. Wish I had won the 36 mill. I have drawn the curtains and have the fire cranked up so I can ignore the world outside. Sharing some highlights of the past few weeks.

1. Movie - The Grocers Son

Jonty and I went to see this film on my birthday. I love the movies and could go a couple of times a week so always jump at the opportunity to steal a few hours in someone else's reality. Set in Provence it is a pretty and evocative film about a son returning home to help his mother run the family grocery store and mobile grocery van after the his dad has had a heart attack. He is the 'disappointment' of the family so this is a bit of an ask and there is a tonne of under explained family history stuff going on through out the film. He brings with him his neighbour who he is secretly in love with as she needs a quiet space to study in preparation for entrance into a Spanish university. His brother, the 'good one', is living a 'successful' life but for the fact that his marriage has been over for years and his parents don't know. There is a raft of eccentric country characters and some good yuks but overall I thought the film was a bit vapid. Sometimes you can leave too much out of the film and it ends up being a bit dull. I think there is a balance to be had between block buster films that leave nothing to the imagination and this film which is entirely left to the viewer to interpret. Still, lovely scenery and the lead bloke and chic are pretty cute.

2. Upholstery

I have a new project to rush through until the end of the year sees the demise of adult education in New Zealand. The all knowing Anne Tolley (minister of ed) has decided adults, gifted children and those with severe learning difficulties are not worthy of education funding anymore and has just chopped it either all off or down by 80%. Yikes. Private schools, however, are feeling pretty buoyed with a giant handout of many millions. I guess those poor kids need all the help they can get. The bitterness of my anger for this old fashioned attitude sticks in my craw, as it does with the many 1,000s who consider life long and life wide education to be a fundamental for ongoing non-work related learning and skill development. However, there isn't much to be done so I am going to make the most of this last opportunity. Feel really sad that my sanity space and community connection opportunities are just disappearing before my eyes with barely a mention.

Moving on and back to my new project. It is my Granny's old chair that I inherited when she died 20+ years ago. It has been lumped around all 12 of my flats and is pretty shabby. Yesterday I went to Fabric House and indulged in some fabric therapy. I chose a fabric that is reversible but haven't decided which way to go yet. We are painting our bedroom a lovely light blue so this fabric should be perfect for the chair in that room. I know it will become a clothes horse within minutes of being proudly placed in the corner. Never mind.

3. Art - We love our gallery and had spent a few very happy hours visiting 'Rita' a few weeks ago. I think I might have swooned and felt breathless a few times. Bloody fantastic. I took a few pics of the gallery itself which are fun.

4. Friends

Last night we had a pot luck dinner with some friends, the theme being 'food from you childhood'. I think we all called our mums for family favourite recipes and turned up with everything from pizza to mushy peas, fruit sponge and savoury pinwheels. The only 'non childhood' ingredients were the wine and beer. It was a real hoot and I am still a bit full. Late night though. Has been a slow day today.

aah, that feels better. Blog therapy.

Just finished reading #18

Girl with the dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Big books frighten me. This is due to the slowness of my reading and often the immense amount of padding hidden in the middle 50 pages. My personal theory is that it is all about publishers wanting to make bigger books for a higher price, or very bad editing. I digress. I had already attempted this book earlier in the year so it was with trepidation that I had another go. I loved it and read the last 50 pages in the ads last night, that's how engaged I was. I have a deep interest in books set in Scandinavian settings so there was an added layer of interest for me.

The story is about a journalist who works for a financial magazine and has just been done for libel by a very dodgy business man. Although importatnt to the plot, there is a giant family mystery waiting to be solved and another business man nabs the journalist to get invovled in solving this mystery while taking some time out from journalism for a while. There are tonnes of characters in the book and trying to remember them all is just not worth the worry. The important ones come to the fore, Lisbeth the odd but brilliant PI, Berger the journals and sometimes lover of Blomkvist, the entire mad Vanger family for which the whole story revolves around (and there are tonnes of them) and a range of other goodies and baddies.

Not a great revealing review, I know. The plot to me is less important than the enjoyment. The enjoyment is the great great writing, the clever twisting plot, complex and interesting characters, detail without too much detail and the setting. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a mystery in the modern sense. Shame that Steig died after only writing three novels. The good thing is that the next one is out and that it is part of a Trilogy so my newly engaging 'friends' will be back and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Amazing race Part 2

I bet you are surprised to hear from me from Queenstown! Would be a surprise if we were actually in Queenstown. Instead we are at home again. Second weekend in a row that our flight has been cancelled. Felt a bit like groundhog day. Turns out that being an Aussie airline the Jetstar pilots fly to Aussie rules and they don't land in fog so we missed out on our adventure again. Sigh. Nothing else to report.

Birthday

Thank you to all my lovely friends and family for my birthday texts, cards, presents, phonecalls, wall posts, coffee visits and cupcakes. I feel the love and send it right back. Nice.

Amazing Race

Seated on the sofa at 9.30 this morning, Nic and I received the news of our day. 'Nic, come here and read this'. 'Sally and Nic's Amazing Race'. We read the first clue and ran to the silver car and headed out to Springvale Gardens where we had to do some letterbox number addition and then go to a house with our answer and get our next clue. Fortunately it was at our friends house, another birthday girl, from whom we received our next clue on bright yellow paper.

Head towards a road that is related to harvesting, find a big blue building with a map on it and say the name of the continent out loud. Ooops, in typical 'Amazing Race' form we had to take a detour on the way to get more petrol. After finding the Antarctic division of the NY Air National Guard we received our next clue from the 'camera man' in the back seat. Off to the airport to check in for our flight to Queenstown! Excitement extreme. HALT.....fog closed airport in Queenstown. Five hours later we arrived home a tiny bit deflated but still with a buzz of excitement. Yay Jonty for being such a wonderful person. All the work he put into this was amazing. Packed bags, tooth brushes, clues with numbered stickers. Just brilliant. Nic was beside himself with excitement which quickly turned to 6 year old boy boredom after hours in the airport. I must say I was having mild conniptions at the thought of heading away for the weekend with only one pair of shoes and not knowing which clothes I would have to wear, but I decided to go with it. We hemorrhaged more than a few $$$s but it was still an adventure....I think we might have another episode next Saturday. Stay tuned.

Just finished reading #17

The other hand - Chris Cleave

Wow, this was a page turner. Loved it and recommend it. Interestingly, the blurb refuses to tell you anything lest the story be ruined for you. I think this is just a marketing ploy to make you read it, luckily the book lives up to the hype. Interestingly the Christchurch City Library catalogue entry for the book gives you the whole story in one hit. I intend not to but a brief flick through the plot wont ruin the story for you. It is about Little Bee a Nigerian refugee and her connection to a middle class English woman called Sarah. I loved Little Bee's narrative and her gentle admonishing of what is upsetting for those with everything compared with those who have nothing. It is horrific in places, funny as anything in others and utterly compelling as the stories unfold. I read it in four days flat and that is fast for me. Put it on your list. I think I would read it again, which is unheard of for me.

David Bain - Not Guilty

Wow, what an intense time this has been. Having a friend on the jury and working so close to the court as well as the media and giant nature of this case has made today's decision like a watershed. I didn't have a view on what the outcome should be although I kind of knew what it would be but on the face of the evidence I knew 'reasonable doubt' would be the key to the case. I happened to be at the pub when he came out of court and started walking down the road so I took a photo on my phone. It is a very tragic photo but I was there and love being on the tippy edge of something big and interesting.
Actually, this is almost embaressingly bad but he is in there.

My Saturday so far

This is why we LOVE Saturday and why we LOVE the sun!

BTW...post number 250. Yay me, yay you, thanks for dropping by.

Just finished reading #16

The sorrows of an American - Siri Hustvedt

Before I started to write this I decided to check out a few reviews of the book. They were very complimentary which was nice. I found the book interesting and enveloping but thought the plot and range of characters was very complex. Thankfully the other reviewers did too. Phew. I read slowly and with this book it took a week to read the first seven pages. That is more about being exhausted at night than being a pedestrian reader. I read somewhere that slow readers retain less information. True about me. I digress.

Erik, the main character, is a psychiatrist who is dealing with grief over his father's death and the break up of his marriage, finding family secrets, supporting his grieving sister whose famous and fallible historian husband has also died and falling in unrequited but sensible love with Miranda, solo mother in the flat below. Add a raft of patients, a movie star, stalker photographer boyfriend (of Miranda) a chubby sweating friend, a bunch of oddball family members in Minnesota and a darling little girl, Eggy, and you have a really complicated and slightly over blown plot. In saying this, I got the characters on a surface level although I believe there was much more going on in their heads. I must have missed those bits. I also forgot who some of the characters were by the time they popped up again. Oh yes, Erik and his sister Inge are of Norwegian heritage.

In saying this I did enjoy this book, obviously from an entry level perspective, and loved the writing. Siri is a stunner in the sentence structure zone. If you think this is a book you would like to read then log onto your library catalogue and get yourself a copy.

Footstool

Just home from upholstery and have plonked my latest project on the floor and Georgie has claimed it for herself. She loves it so it must be good. It matches my piano stool and is supposed to be for Nic's room but I think it might not be so great for sitting on. It is a footstool after all. It has only been a three week project which is nice as my other have taken ages. Before

After

Rain, rain, rain and even more rain

I found the perfect way to spend a sodding wet weekend. Go to Hanmer Springs with a bunch of gal pals and just chill out!
Up on Saturday morning with a very enjoyable stop at The Mud House winery for tasty winter fare, warmth and a chance to chat. The eight of us travelled in two cars so it was nice to get talking asap. Lovely food and very nice wine. Next stop was our home for the weekend. Fire on, bags dumped, beds bagged and off to the pools for a hot soak in the rain. It was so busy as usual and just lovely. We sheltered in various pools under the sail clothes and just chilled out and watched the stories unfold.

Home, wine, nibbles, laughing and almost snoozing before heading off to Malabar for a delicious evening meal. If you are in Hanmer you have to visit this place. Book ahead, it is very busy. Home for a big snooze after lots of silly giggling.Me up early as Nicholas has programmed me to be and onto the sofa with a book and my MP3 player. Late breakfast at The Powerhouse then some serious shopping and off to The Spa for 'treatments' and home in the rain rain rain. What lovely women and great conversations. Can't ask for more than that. I loved it and felt so relaxed when I got home ready for another week of life on the treadmill. Thanks gals.

Watching, Reading, Listening, Doing, Eating

It's been a busy time lately doing a lot of nothing much. I think I am almost over my SAD phase and getting the hang of the cold winter weather, although it is not officially winter yet.

This weekend I found my self Watching my darling boy through the sunroom window as he peddled his wares at the gate on Saturday morning. We had made some dukka and he wanted to set up a tasting stall at the end of the drive with some (expensive) olive oil, the dukka and little bits of bread. He has been keen to do this for some time and I thought it would be crushingly disappointing if no one partook of his fare so have been saying no. However, he had it all set up before I could say no so I observed from afar as he tried to entice passersby to try his stuff. Most were kind and sweet when they declined, one was rude and one darling woman who was biking past stopped and sampled. It was a shining moment and it actually brought tears to my eyes. I love that boy for his enthusiasm and guts. Good lesson for me, he loved it and got to eat all the food. I finished a book the other day called 'White Tiger' and really could not be bothered writing a 'Just finished reading' post about it. Go and check it out if you want to but I wouldn't rush anywhere over hot coals or anything to read it

On these cold winter mornings my MP3 player is my best friend. It allows me to listen to loud music, often sing out loud and forget about how bloody freezing it is on my bike. My latest craze is still the Mama Mia sound track which is just a sad indication of my love of pop. Katie Malua is stunning too but she just isn't energetic enough to get me pumping those pedals.

Jonty and I got a rare opportunity to go out on our own in the weekend. While the sun was shining and it was unseasonably warm we gifted ourselves a trip to the movies. Oh yes, nothing like spending a warm Autumn day lolling in a picture theatre stuffing Maltesers in your mouth. We saw 'Angels and Demons'. Fell asleep in the first 10 minutes ---dull dull dull. Did nod myself awake to take in the show but would not recommend it. It was Jonty's choice as he had read the book and thought the film might be good. I felt mean not loving it but I just couldn't.

And finally, Eating....A LOT. Good and bad. Just got my new Dish magazine so I am going to trawl through that later and see what tasty treats await within and hopefully get myself back on track cooking delicious inspired food, not boring tummy filler fare.

Mothers day

Today is a commercially driven day, rightly or wrongly, but it is also a day for pause. It is nice to celebrate the work of our mothers and also take time to look at ourselves as mothers.
I think I am getting the hang of being a mother. Trying to untangle the vines and challenges of parenthood is a bit of a puzzle but taken in small steps seems to be working out ok. Being a full on working mother adds a whole new dimension to motherhood that takes a little extra effort. You have to try harder to be better to ensure your child gets what they need even if you are out of the house for 10 hours a day. Getting to the school to meet the teacher, never making on a school trip, never knowing what your child's friends look like, how he learns to swim or play the piano are the challenges facing full time working mothers. Let's not even talk about the things you never get to do for yourself. However, as part of the family package we all have to do our bit and it is what it is. While blow drying my hair this morning and looking myself in the eye I admitted to myself that although I am an ok mother to my son, I haven't been a very good stepmother to my step daughter this year. I finally admitted that I haven't quite forgiven her for not coming home this Christmas. And the thing is that it was not that she wasn't here, but that I want a better life for her than I think she is having and I can't do anything about that. And it really isn't any of my business as she is not in mortal danger or appears unhappy...then it would be my business...but it isn't really. No need for any of the readers of this blog to judge me, I can do that for myself. I think it is easier to forgive your own children but someone elses, who even though you love, you haven't brought up takes a bit more effort. It is hard being a step parent..hats off to anyone who manages that well. It is sometimes easier to stop trying so hard. Here's to me getting my shit together and getting back on the step mother train.

I have been at a bit of a low ebb the last few weeks and I needed to get and do something about that so I invited Julian and Lesley over for dinner on Saturday night. Thus I needed to go to the market and buy in some tasty bits and pieces and it also necessitated the buying of flowers, a new candle, some fine wine and a few bits of jewellery...mmm not sure how that happened. I also had the good fortune to need to buy some presents so I got to spend money with a purpose and not on me. So in all the retail therapy went a long way towards lifting my mood. Add that to the cooking and the tasting followed by the trip on Sunday and things are looking up. Partner that with book group tonight and upholstery tomorrow night and I am definitely feeling better.

Although I love Jamie Oliver's food it was not my intention to produce a meal that was an ode to him but that is how it turned out. I made his pumpkin soup recipe. Generous in proportions and cost, I am glad we got about 10 plus servings out of it. It tasted delicious and that boy who hate 'punkin', could not get enough of it. Excellent. I coupled this with organic ciabatta fried in dark green olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

Last weekend we lunched at Mediterranean Foods and Nic had lovely flatbread so I popped back and picked up a ball of their dough and we made dukka to sprinkle on it. It was delicious and we have enough dukka to last at least a year or two.

For the main I made stew. I love stew. Again Jamie's ...'Beef Stifado' with fluffy mash potatoes and another Jamie recipe of fennel bulb and fresh tomatoes off our plant backed in wine, garlic and butter. The recipe is on his website.

Lesley and I both made quince desserts. Hers a quince tart and mine a quince and pistachio cake. Both coupled with yoghurt. What a feast. All seasonal and home made. A meal to put a smile on your face.

Lakes are just big puddles

Jonty decided we were going to Maruia Springs today. So that is what we did. We headed off on a stunning Autumn day driving north west in to the main divide. Mauria is about a 2 and a half hour drive from home so it was a long drive both ways but the traffic was light and the weather perfect.We stopped at a little tarn just before the Lewis Pass summit and had our lunch before travelling the 10 minutes to the hot springs. We were wandering around the tarn and Nic said to me 'Lakes are boring, they are just big puddles'. I laughed so hard to myself and I kind of agree. Being beach people we are used to our water actoin packed. Something you don't get from a little lake in the mountains. Of course there are other wonderful things about lakes but Nic hasn't quite got that yet.

Mauria Springs is a very natural capturing of hot and sulphurous water and black algae stuff. Unlike Hanmer Springs which is very develped. Set deep in the mountains it is just gorgeous and very quite with few people. Nic and Jonty spent time in the Japanese bath house playing with all the buckets, stools, showers and baths which is total heaven for Nic. He is a water nut. Anyway, he said to Jonty 'Dad, this is the best day of my life'. It was so funny. The boy has been around the world and back again and done some fantastic things and his best thing ever was being in a room with water stuff and hot pools. So cute. Having finished the dishes from our little family gathering last night, done all the ironing and folding and making biscuits for the lunchboxes, I am feeling very excited about the week ahead having had a chance to sit quietly and contemplate, relax and enjoy the pureness of nature. Tired though, so I'm off to bed.