Movie Moments

You know how some movies start with darkness? You are left looking at a black screen but listening to a moment or scene and imagining it is you lying with your eyes closed.   I love these movie starts because usually we find ourselves in a summer scene with summer sounds like birds, children singing, a fly buzzing or someone humming or gentle lilting songs.  Then as the scene is revealed it can be veiled and romantic or surprising and confronting.

I had a movie moment the other day.  I was lying on the beach at Birdlings Flat on an unusually calm day.  The surf was not crashing and sucking up all the other sounds, instead the wind was king and it sounded great, dramatic but not frigid.  The hot stones set off a smell of the ocean and warm rock wear.  There was a fly buzzing past and in the distance I could hear the chatting or rather yelling of fisher folk camped up on the stony beach.

When I opened my eyes I was dazzled by the bright sun and bright white clouds.  Then the quiet conversation of my companion.  I was warm and relaxed and drinking in the movie moment.  This movie rolled out over the weekend with many other moments to remember and relish.  More on those another time.

50

umm, what to say?  50 has arrived.  Feels pretty good, looks better than it might have but 'could have done better' and as I am often heard to say, 'lucky to be here, many don't make it'.  Being away on my work adventure on the day meant I probably didn't spend as much if any time thinking about the meaning of '50'.  There are plenty of reasons to fear it but for me it is liberating and for that I am grateful.  Putting aside the hell that is living in the post eq situation, I can say it feels great to be here.  Happy, healthy and really excited about what might be coming next.  Always looking out and looking up, grasping the beauty and turning my face to the sun.

P.S.
No party!!  A birthday without a party is just not right, but there is time yet.  Reflecting on my past 50, just want to say thanks to all my lovely family and friends.  Front and centre, the best thing in the world.  Would never have made it on my own

Cheers  

Library Love on my 50th

Sup?

As my son would say?  What the?  Anyway, weeks have passed and no posts.  Just can't be bothered and can't find the words but today I am going to put in some effort.  I am guessing my friends who read this may have given up on visiting Sallyscape regularly as so often it is a disappointment upon opening.

So, what has been happening?  Lots and lots of stuff which all interweaves to make up our lives.  We have private things that don't get put in the blogesphere for privacy reasons and those things have really impacted on our life and my ability to put finger to keyboard.  The impact of such things is far reaching and has closed down so much of the frivolous mind that is the interesting and inquiring part of my brain. 

However, there have been trips and fun nights out, family gatherings, adventure days, shopping, movies and books, beach visits, warm days, new musical journeys, garden triumphs and delicious meals. Friendships have blossomed, intensified and started.  The best thing out the fucking earthquake is friendships.  Sustaining and so important.    Some relationships are strained and tense and perhaps worth walking away from or not trying so hard.  Work is tough but fulfilling.  Money is tight, there are no trips planned, no new house, lots of extra costs brought on by the earthquake impacts, no frivolous purchases.  Although, never hugely flush, we have had freedoms, now we don't.  However, some people live like this all the time and I fully respect how hard and tiring this is and take this life lesson on the chin.  It is hard not to worry about the future when you have no control and can't make things go your way.  This is also the situation for many thousands of people in our country so again, I just respect those people and their ability to just keep going and make their contribution.  We are not alone. 

We won the Rugby World Cup.  What a relief and a nice way to get through a few months, triumphs to tragedy and everything in between.  It was great to be an observer of all of that and for it not to be about us here in EQ Christchurch....so much better than navel gazing.  Loved it.  Thanks rugby.  BTW - Zac Guilford...you are an alcoholic, sad but true, get the help you need, it is not the end of the world and there is a big community of support out there.

Happy New Ears

Let's hope 2011 is a fantastic year for everyone.  We in Christchurch have all agreed that the earthquake has sucked the life out of all of us and Christmas just did pop like it normally does.  So here is to a happy and safe year to all my friends.  Enjoy our modest but warm family photos of the season
                                                     

     Pre-Christmas lunch with teh P-Zers

Under the tree

 Fan man and chopsticks

 The new bike with gears...star of the show!

 Special Christmas table on the deck with the cousins

 Jasmine came home, yay!!

 mmmm

 The joke book goes everywhere...hanging out at Julian and Lesley's

colour my world

I feel great this week after a days of fun, friends and sun.  Heading to the Your Home and Garden/Dulux event on a 31 degree night was just gorgeous.  Alex and I went to Hinton's vineyard and enjoyed a glass or two of wine and lovely nibbly things.  On top of that we got to meet the Dulux chic and the lovely Sarah Kerr interior designer and very excitingly Denise L'Estrange-Corbett from World fashion label.  It was just great indulging in fashion, interior fabrics, design and colour.  Very uplifting.

Today I had the very great pleasure of joining Nic and his class on a visit to the beautiful Issac Theatre Royal to see Royal NZ Ballet's latest Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker.  It was baking hot and I did have parental bus duties to perform but I was as mesmerized as the children with their interpretation of the ballet.  Stunning and beautiful with some real originality especially in the set and lighting.  The kids from Nic's class were fantastic.

Continuing the theme of colour and creativity Karen and I indulged ourselves in a repeat viewing of 'The September Issue'  It was great sitting there with a chic talking about the clothes and the people and just indulging in all that fashion.  Grace Coddington is my new hero and Anna Wintour is just plain fascinating.

Add this to a double episode of Project Runway AND a stunning new resin bracelet I bought at my hair dressers on Wednesday night and I have had a great visual delight of a week.  I wish every week was this rich with colour.

Tears and Happiness

ANZAC day is always a sobering day.  Nic and I went to the New Brighton parade and these are his photos

Then we met our lovely friends Karen and Justy for breakfast at the Globe for a short but fun catch up.  The food was pretty average though, not sure what that was about, probably wont go again.  Sorry Globe, always been a fan.

Nic took the photos and I would have to say they are pretty good.  Especially this one. Not sure how he managed the movement and the still. 

weekend away

What a great weekend Alex and I had in Dunedin.  In two short days...

Friday

• Zandra Rhodes lecture...what an amazing artist.  Learnt so much about why she is the doyen of fashion, designer, print maker and all round lovely person.
• Shopping down George Street and getting tangled in Fashion week stuff without even knowing it
• expansive and expensive night at the pub (Alibi) with Jasmine and Simon.  Soooo much fun, didn't want it to end.
• Bit of a drunken Japanese meal on the way home.

Photo courtesy of iD Fashion Week Facebook Page

Saturday

• Sleeeeeep in.
• Fantastic but very cold and windy Otago Farmers Market...best yet...mmmm spinach and feta pies

• Art galleries and NZ made shop
• Movie - Bright Star - beautiful!!!!

• Visit with the newest and MOST perfect angel on earth

• The SHOW...why we were there.  What fun.

• Cool bar - Pequeno

Sunday

• Perfect flight home over our lovely South Island
• Ellerslie flower show...man it was hot 30c and very lovely

Perfect day

As I melted into bed on Saturday night I felt as though I had had the perfect day. No singular element was responsible but a combo which turned out to be a winner. The sum of the parts turned out to be the magic potion1. Sunshine

(Brighton Beach Dunedin)

2. Beach

3. Family

4. Friends

Dinner with Simon and Nicky at Filadelphios...nice

5. No decision making, work talk, pressure or housework of any description. In all a very very simple recipe for a perfect day.

Holiday catch up

So much for keeping up the posts while on holiday. We have been home for a few days now so the instantaneous stuff is gone but here is a run down on the last days of the holiday.
To give the kids a bit of a break from each other and some families re bonding time we headed off to the lovely Parry Kauri Park in Warkworth. The bird sounds were fantastic and we loved being amongst the giant trees so lovingly cared for by a bunch of hard working volunteers.

That same day we had a great family lunch at Jill and Don's and drank far too much booze and ate so much food and it was all very delicious. J and D were gracious hosts and having looked after the children for a night as well, were really good sports. A quick run down of the food...stuff, boned leg of lamb, potato gratin, Waldorf salad and for dessert we had lemon and yoghurt cake, feijoa and apple filo tarts and the local Charlie's ice cream which is more than delicious and included lemon meringue ice cream...ooooooohhhhh. We also downed a fair few bottles of New Zealand's most delicious wines.

We were celebrating Jill's birthday a day early which was special and were sitting outside bathed in Northland sun having such a lovely family time. Don made the children box kites which they decorated with drawings. So sweet.

My new favourite thing

I have fallen in love with Press Display. It is the newspaper online exactly as you wuold see it when you bought it. Every advertisement and classified is there, free! I have been trying to enable you to see it but because it is only available to Christchurch City Library customers with cards I can't but you should ask your library if they have it. It is a special library product and is available all over the world. I usually look up the Chistchurch Press but there are heaps of newspapers from around the world. Talk about a time waster. I am sure it costs the library a bomb so if you have a card, check it out.
I always talk about friends on my blog and this week is no different. On the first day of Autumn we headed to the beach for a cracker of a day. It was like a big sigh of relief to be there after weeks of soggy days and no real sun. Making it special was having my friend Liz and her family there. Our boys had a ball boogie boarding and digging holes together. We realised we had been friends for about 30 years. Yikes, where do the years go?!! Because we live far away from each other and I have a city life and she a country one it is hard to connect so when we do it is great! I wish that happened more often. I have thought twice about sharing this picture because it is not hugely flattering but we are not models and this is what we look like, so what the hell