Coastal journey

Instead of roaring up the highway we decided to check out the views and little townships of the Dunedin coast at a slower and very windy pace

 Oamaru

...more Dunedin pics

Playing chicken with the waves at St Clair....

Dunedin School Holiday

I cant believe I havent told you about this great 4 day holiday we had in Dunedin.  We normally rush down there to visit Jasmine, stay a day and then roar home again but this time, considering it was the school holidays, we took a few extra days to spend in gorgeous Dunedin and celebrate Jonty's birthday too.

The weather was not very good most of the time but there is something about windy rainy days that make things just a bit more interesting.

Waterfront

Gasworks Museum where Jasmine works every second weekend.  It is one of only three known working gas museums in the WORLD.  It was the first in New Zealand to start working and the very last to stop.  It is an awesome place well worth a visit.  I took a few pics trying to capture the industrial beauty. I am not sure that I succeeded but I had a lot of fun trying.

 Jasmine's pikelets

Art in a garden

We went to this a few years ago and have been meaning to get back every year since.  Didn't make it until this year and the light for photos was great.

Email from my dad

Greetings Daughters,

Diary November 1 2012.

9;15 A.M. Found car park in Cashel St.

9: 30 Reported to X Ray dept. at hosp.

new X Ray completed 9:50

located the” bone shop “on 2nd. floor and reported to reception.

Waited waited waited

1 0:37 ushered into consulting room,waited.

Mr. Penny entered and introduced himself as surgeon. ( pleasant fellow)

examined Patient and found Right leg 10mm. shorter than Left ????

Some explanations ventured and then went to his office where Horror pictures on screen

explanation: right hip (previous implant ) socket detatched and floating .

left hip ,top of femur disintegrated and no sign of ball joint.

Remedy ; 2 new ball joints required, whether done at the same time still to be decided.

departed hosp at 11:15 A.M. and had Pizza for lunch on way home. Nice ..

Personnel satisfied with mornings activities but will need time to digest ..

Await contact from Mr. Penny regarding next step in system.

Best Love ,Dad.

Just finished reading #59

I just found this languishing in my drafts...lovely book

Linda Olsson - the kindness of your nature

Linda has written three books and I have read them all and I am a BIG fan.  Check out 'Sonata for Miriam' and 'Let me sing you gentle songs'.  The latter is gorgeous.  Linda has an amazing way of sharing gentle and interesting characters how should be desperate and sad but are warm and engaging.

Again the story is of a woman (Marion) living a solitary life, this time on the wild west coast of the North Island.  She is s Dr so has some community face but generally keeps herself to herself.  The reason for this is revealed during the story.  She comes across a young boy (Ika) who has a bunch of problems of his own and from there they start a relationship.  Both are lonely and isolated and together they learn about trust and love.  It could be an achingly sad story but that Linda is such a master storyteller you just love the whole thing.  Just beautiful writing and story telling.

Just finished reading #58

The shadow girls - Henning Mankell

This book was written in Swedish and published in 2001.  Ten years later it turns up in English and even ten years on it is very relevant and surprisingly current.  It is the story of a poet Jesper who is moderately famous and his discovery and interaction with the underworld of illegal immigrants.  We learn about the life of Tea Bag, Leyla and Tanya.  All have tales of horror about how they ended up in Sweden or how life is for them once they got there.  There is a lot of train travel, a boxing gym and mad mother and some very funny scenes with Olaf the idiot editor who is trying to get  Jesper to write a Swedish crime novel as a money maker.

Interestingly, Jonty is reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the barely veiled references in my book about crime novels are referring to his book. Spooky,  Another spooky incident was the mention of New Zealand in both of our books pretty much at the same time as we were reading them.  NZ always sounds a little exotic in other peoples books. 

This story is not surprising  as we know more about the subject than we might have a few years ago but it is still sad and thought provoking. The level of value placed on human life in many countries is probably astounding to most people living in our first world.

I love Henning Mankell's books and this is no exception.  Not as good as 'Italian shoes' but a good read.

LUXCity

There is a very nice habit forming whereby people who don't live here do nice things for us.  Some people find it annoying because they want their homes fixed and will not have a bar of anything good until the very last house is back to normal.  Some of us is broken houses on shitty streets in sad neighbourhoods embrace teh good at every opportunity and are very grateful to the lovely people who take a moment to help make life a little better.  Life is not that great if you live here and have no city and all of the above shittiness.

So, when 300 architecture students from universities in NZ decided to make us an event in the city, on a bunch of rocky empty sites that once housed buildings we just went for it.  What a fantastic event and many of us were very happy to be there doing something interesting in a place of despair.  THANK YOU.

We went early and left as the many thousands crowded in but we had such an awesome time seeing friends and connecting with bars and cafes who were on trestle tables in the rubble selling their wares.  I took some very average photos but there are some stunners floating around in cyber space so you could check them out if you were of a mind to.

Experimental balloon lights...not sure they worked out as intended but great anyway.

The music was very LOUD here and that is what dancing looks like in our house

Alex, Jonty, Nic, Pete, Oliver, Joseph and me

Shadow play

Just finished reading #57

After the party - Lisa Jewell

Couple Ralph and Jem have been together for 11 years and things aren't going so well.  For various, reasonably ordinary reasons they are drifting apart a bit.  As they drift away and experience some different people and experiences they start thinking long and hard about each other, why they are together and what their future might or might not be.  This is a story that us everyday married folk will find points of connection and places to give advice as our own experiences are likely to be reflected in some way.

It took me ages to read this book and I didn't love it.  However, I didn't not like it.  You know how some books rock your world? (The book thief) - and others just help you get through some long cold nights.  I found this book readable, credible and I probably wont remember it forever but if you are scanning the library shelves looking for something to read, then pick this up, it is worth the time it takes to read it.

I have read a few other reviews and those people LOVED it so it is probably a low risk read.

Decoration

Buying interiors magazines adn books is becoming an expensive addiction lately.  Luckily I have the wonderful Christchurch City Libraries at my fingertips.  To complement my study I am trying to find my style.  This is surprisingly harder than I expected.  You tend to know what you like but if you were to start a house from scratch and make it everything you wanted (within a realistic budget) it would be much harder than you think.  So much depends on the materials and size of your home, your budget, and who you live with.  When I flick through the magazines and books I realise I am going to need about 5 houses on the go at once to incorporate all the things I love.  There is beachy casual, vintage chic, warehouse funky, cosy cottage, ethnic, eclectic, Pacific cool, urban chic and so on.    Instead I could become a designer/decorator and do everyone elses houses.  That is the long term plan.  Finding enough people who want to challenge the norm and be free and fearless is not so easy I suspect. 

In the meantime I am going to continue to drool over the books and the free spirit of others fearless designs.  Here are a few books I have been paging through recently..
Susanna Salk has gathered together the best ideas of other peoples in her book 'Be your own decorator'.   She focuses on Colour, Whimsey, Accessorizing and Rule breaking.  This book is rich pickin's for every kind of interior design except perhaps for neutral on neutral on 'resale'...two things I don't understand.  Bland to live in but great to look at and designing your house for someone else to live in when you sell it in 10 years time.  what the??

What a drag

Just heard a really interesting thing on National Radio....'being a woman these days is like being a drag queen'. It was like an epiphany ... young women everywhere with giant false eyelashes, giant tippy shoes, lashes of make up and false nails and giant outlined lips, hair straightened within and inch of its over dyed life. Tits out, tummy out, giant wobbly bum out on a freezing cold day. Where is the self esteem, the allure and the fun? What pressure to look like Gaga on a Monday at the supermarket. I feel so sorry for those young women who think this is how women need to be to be attractive. It is a shame to see them hiding their gorgeous youthful looks trying to look like a drag queen...if only they knew what aging does to those looks that you never get back. Mind you, if it makes them happy... Don't get me wrong, I am all for making the most of your assets, dressing up, hair enhancement and all other gorgeous beauty treatments, it is just about scale and context. Isn't it a shame that it is age that makes us appreciate youth? OMG, I think I have just become a middle aged woman. Funny.

FOBA

I have this fear..the fear of being alone. My friend Alex made it up at the pub the other night when I was telling her about how hard it is going to be for me to be on my own traveling next year. I have won a scholarship which enables me to get out into the world and do some research and exploration. A wonderful once in a life time opportunity tinged with the fear of being on my own. I am very competent and capable of traveling solo and have no fears on that account. However, past experience has shown me that more than a couple of hours on my own is terrible. I get lethargic and morose without the energy and company of others and very bad demons enter my head. It is dark. This is a sad but unchangeable personality trait.

I love parties, family gatherings, work, chance meetings, children, old people, anyone I can talk to and hang out with. I am not a mad woman who talks to strangers in that awkward way but give me a smile and some encouragement and I can have a lough and make a nice connection with almost anyone. My deep need of people drives me. So, how the hell am I going to manage for one month with no friends or family on tap?

Well, I have come up with some plans... 1. Going to a conference in Amsterdam where I am hoping to know at least one or two people from NZ. I am doing the hard yards now making connections and hoping like hell there are people there I know and who are prepared to spend time with me. I am looking for a fun outgoing and energetic person who doesn't need a lot' alone time' themselves.

2. On the England leg of the journey I am impinging for days upon my lovely sister in law Louisa whose company I love. I am also planning that we will have a weekend away somewhere so I can get a people battery zap (as well as give her a break from her busy life and just hang out together exploring a new place for us both)

3. A colleague from NZ has also asked if she can join me on some of my journey, phew...that is a relief. Although she is quite different in her need for people and loves her alone time, I think this will work.

I admire people who travel for work who can spend time with others and then have those yawning hours from early evening to mid morning usually on their own. I am guessing you just do lots of work to fill in the time. My experience has been that when you are meeting people from other countries they don't always 'host' you outside the meeting so you are just left to your own devices.

4. Another thing I might do is beg some people to hook me up with people they know in various cities and make them spend time with me. That will take so chutzpah but I think I am up for it. The joys of aging for me(and there are few I can attest) is knowing and accepting myself, putting myself out there, asking for what I need and not worrying too much what people think of me. This is not easy for everyone, I struggle with it but for my sanity I am going to embrace it and see how it goes. My journey will appear on this page, as much for my own enjoyment as anything else.