We found relief and awe in our little performance for Polyventure. Polyventure is a course offered at EIT for those with developmental delays. This group had to be our best audience yet. When Glenn started playing a jig, a large Maori girl in the class jumped up and said, “Hey this is a jig, I know how to jig.” She then jigs into the middle of the circle with her hands on her hips and her feet tapping. Soon more students got up to dance. I then came out with my Red Bird mask. They were all enchanted yelling out, “What is it?” and moving around so they could get a better look. After this mask I went to change into another mask. While I was getting my new mask on I heard the whole group singing, “With a cluck, cluck here and a baa, baa there…” My next mask was a half mask and when I came into the classroom one of the guys hopped out of his chair, grabbed me in a waltz hold and we waltzed around the room. I then started doing a chicken dance and he mimicked my every move.
The last mask I put on was the one I call Turtle and again everyone yelled out, “What is it?” This time though there was another student that responded to this mask. He got up and started circling around me in the mask. The other students yelled out to him, “Be nice.” Gradually he moved to the center of the room and sat down. I moved next to him and knelt down. He then gave the Turtle a big hug.
There was something about this performance that made us almost feel like different people afterwards. It was quite an emotionally charged and moving experience for all. Glenn and I have felt very close to the Polyventure students, and the experience we shared just solidified our admiration for their caring and unique spirits.
Our next big performance, Imagine, we were planning for the 26th of November and we were feeling a bit nervous but this small performance for Polyventure gave us more confidence. Saturday the 26th, we started the day making sure we had everything we needed read for the night. Glenn practiced his tunes and I made sure all my Rattles and Puppets were priced and ready to be displayed. I also had a few last minute mask and costume adjustments to make.
We got to the Arena at 6pm to get set up for the show, which would start at 7:30pm. It was a raining buckets outside. Friends started arriving around 6:30pm to help out with things. Everything looked good. The art and cd sales table was set up as well as the beverage and snack table. I had to get changed and we would be off. We started the show right on time. Our first few pieces we were feeling a little nervous but things went smoothly--some minor alterations from what we had practiced but not a problem. As we were nearing the end of our first half the rain was getting louder. The theatre we were in was on the second floor of a building with a metal roof. So the rain sounded extremely loud. This was not put into our sound check and one of our last pieces in the first half involved video and sound. We were back stage and had no way of turning up the volume. So we just pushed on and hoped that people could hear ok. When we asked people during intermission they said it was a little quite but not bad.
We turned up the sound for the second half. Our nervousness was much less and we knew that we could knock people’s socks off and put on a great final half. Things went very smoothly. The night ended with smiles and good spirits. People were delighted and surprised because they had not known what to expect when they arrived that night. Glenn and I were very pleased and after cleaning up and packing up we headed home to celebrate with a bottle of champagne our friends brought us. Glenn and I finished the whole bottle, “Whoa Baby!”. That is a lot of champagne for us but we slept well and were happy that our show was so successful.
We are still getting compliments. Friend that were there tell us, “I still have images in my head from that night.” And just yesterday we were taking a walk and a woman passing us stopped and said, “Hey you are the couple that put on the show. I loved it. Have you thought of doing it in the schools? I think it should be a part of the curriculum….” This made us feel good about what we had down. It can be hard sometimes to know if your work has touched people. Comments like these just make you say to yourself, Yes!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Sunday, December 04, 2005
A Fun Story from a Few Months Back
Last Wednesday we were invited to the Polyventure End of the Year Party. Polyventure is a course offered at EIT to people with disabilities. As a part of the party the polyventure students modeled the fleece vests that they had made that term. Each of the students walked down the imaginary catwalk in their own way—some swung their arms around in delight, others hid their faces in embarrassment and one grinned widely as he struck a John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, disco pose. It is oh so sobering to see these folks and admire their energy and originality.
Friday we had a full day I spent the day teaching some little first graders how to make pinch pots. That evening we went to a nice exhibition of wood fire ceramic by Bruce and Elsa Martin. He and his wife visited Japan on many occasions. Through these visits the befriended a Japanese potter with knowledge in building wood kilns. Eventually the Martin’s invited this potter over to help them build an anagama kiln on their property. The Martins fired the kiln together for many years. The kiln is no longer being fired because Elsa passed away so Bruce could not do the firings alone. I enjoyed seeing wood fired pieces again some were especially nice with the beautiful ranges of blues, greens, oranges, grays and reds that you can get from a successful firing.
After seeing the exhibition Glenn and I went down to Otani to a little old ladies house. Her name was Colleen and she was selling some ceramic beads that she had made in the 70’s. When we arrived at your house she was all a glow buzzing around and pulling out boxes of this and that. I think she was working on cleaning out her studio. As I looked through all the boxes she had pulled out to show me she told me, “I am working now on painting.” I inquired what type of painting. This question of course got her buzzing once again digging through boxes trying to find some of her recent paintings. All the while she keeps telling me that I while have to keep in touch with her because she may have another weak moment and get rid of some of her other art supplies. To make here paintings she melted colored wax (similar to color crayon wax) onto a small iron and moved the iron over the paper. She tells me she calls these paintings, Trick the Eye Paintings, because you can look at them in all different directions and they look different. She grins.
Glenn and I left her house with our hands full of boxes. As we walked to the car she asked, “Do you like to cook?” Before even answering Colleen was runing back in the house. She returned with a basket full of old cookbooks saying, “Here you go take these as well, they are all healthy cooking. We like organic foods here.” With a smile we were off we both figured our car would have been full if we stayed much longer.
We then stopped for dinner at the Paper Mulberry a funky little café in the middle of nowhere. The exterior is painted gumball blue with yellow trim. Inside there is an eclectic display of artwork hanging on the walls and filling the shelves. That night they were starting an open jam session. This turned out to be an interesting musical experience; a group of little kids pounded away on conga drums and keyboards and guests hooping and howlering as they celebrate a friend’s birthday all the while three guitarists strum away singing top ten songs. An evening to remember…
Friday we had a full day I spent the day teaching some little first graders how to make pinch pots. That evening we went to a nice exhibition of wood fire ceramic by Bruce and Elsa Martin. He and his wife visited Japan on many occasions. Through these visits the befriended a Japanese potter with knowledge in building wood kilns. Eventually the Martin’s invited this potter over to help them build an anagama kiln on their property. The Martins fired the kiln together for many years. The kiln is no longer being fired because Elsa passed away so Bruce could not do the firings alone. I enjoyed seeing wood fired pieces again some were especially nice with the beautiful ranges of blues, greens, oranges, grays and reds that you can get from a successful firing.
After seeing the exhibition Glenn and I went down to Otani to a little old ladies house. Her name was Colleen and she was selling some ceramic beads that she had made in the 70’s. When we arrived at your house she was all a glow buzzing around and pulling out boxes of this and that. I think she was working on cleaning out her studio. As I looked through all the boxes she had pulled out to show me she told me, “I am working now on painting.” I inquired what type of painting. This question of course got her buzzing once again digging through boxes trying to find some of her recent paintings. All the while she keeps telling me that I while have to keep in touch with her because she may have another weak moment and get rid of some of her other art supplies. To make here paintings she melted colored wax (similar to color crayon wax) onto a small iron and moved the iron over the paper. She tells me she calls these paintings, Trick the Eye Paintings, because you can look at them in all different directions and they look different. She grins.
Glenn and I left her house with our hands full of boxes. As we walked to the car she asked, “Do you like to cook?” Before even answering Colleen was runing back in the house. She returned with a basket full of old cookbooks saying, “Here you go take these as well, they are all healthy cooking. We like organic foods here.” With a smile we were off we both figured our car would have been full if we stayed much longer.
We then stopped for dinner at the Paper Mulberry a funky little café in the middle of nowhere. The exterior is painted gumball blue with yellow trim. Inside there is an eclectic display of artwork hanging on the walls and filling the shelves. That night they were starting an open jam session. This turned out to be an interesting musical experience; a group of little kids pounded away on conga drums and keyboards and guests hooping and howlering as they celebrate a friend’s birthday all the while three guitarists strum away singing top ten songs. An evening to remember…
Friday, November 11, 2005
Guy Fawkes Day
There is a tradition here in New Zealand much like Forth of July but it is called Guy Fawkes day and takes place on the 5th of November. The story goes that Guy Fawkes was a guy that was caught in the cellar of the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder on November 5th, 1605. Guy was only one of the many conspirators that tried to blow up the English House of Parliament and just happened to be the first caught. This day is celebrated or commemorated by bonfires and setting off fireworks. We went into Napier to watch the fireworks display and were able to avoid the heavy traffic by taking back roads. Mind you there is not really heavy traffic around even on special days like these the line of cars might go a city block. So we found a parking place off Marine Parade and walked down to the beach. The beach was filled with groups of people and beach wood fires spotted the landscape. We made our way through along the beach and toward a stage. From the stage we heard a DJ announce, "Lets hear it for Tina Turner." Here in New Zealand star impersonating is very popular. Queen and Abba have both performed at the local Municipal Theatre in downtown Napier. When we saw a lady (or was it a man?) strut onto stage in a Tina hair wig and a tight thigh length fringed black dress we had to get a closer look. So we made our way closer to stage to watch the show. I thought of my cousin Ken Bailey—he loves Tina. It was a good show. After her last song we shifted our eyes to the sky over the ocean. There was a nice display of fireworks that were even choreographed to music and lasted probably 5min. But the show really did not end because all along the beach people set off fireworks—and they were not bottle rockets. It seemed everyone had bought his or her own firework show worth. We found a friend sitting on her porch watching the fireworks and drinking wine so we asked to join her. Once the crowd had died down we decided it was time to head home.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Honeymoon in Turangi
“We are going to Turangi for our honeymoon,” we said excitedly to our friends here in New Zealand. Their response was, “You are going to Turangi for you Honeymoon?” All the while looking at us with a scrunched up and baffled face. We gathered from these responses that Turangi would not be at the top of most Kiwis’ lists for places to go.
But we had a blast. Not only did we get to stay in one of the nicest little vacation homes we enjoyed our week of relaxation and adventure. We took a load of books with us to give us plenty of excuses to sit still but of course it only worked a few days. The rest of our time we spent exploring.
There were a number of hiking trails near by so we hiked through some amazing terrain. Our first day out we went for a hike around a lake. There were twisty turny trees along the trail that just made you smile. One tree Glenn got to know the ins and outs.
After taking a short hike around a lake we decided to go to the hot spring pools. There were private rooms with hot pools that did not have chlorinated water. You paid for a fifteen-minute time slot to soak. We enjoyed the naturally heated water and let our muscles relax. When we it was time to get out of the pool I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to lay down on the floor for a bit to try and get my head to stop spinning. Glenn eventually went back to the front desk to return the key to the room and came back with a bottle of juice. What a relief this cold juice was just the medicine I needed to subside the vertigo. The moral to this story---Do the hot pools on cold days or be sure to drink a lot of fluids on hot days.
The two longest hikes we did started at either side of the Tongariro Crossing. On Wednesday we set out to hike and we started from the parking lot that most of the pamphlets recommended as the place to finish your hike of Tongariro Crossing. It was a misty day so we decided to hike to the hut that was said to be two-three hours walk. It was a misty and cloudy day. At the start of the hike we walked through a lovely green forest the trail soon became stairs so we climbed and climbed and climbed. Emerging from the lush greens of the forest we found ourselves in a landscape that we could hardly describe. Maybe something like a misty desert—I know that is an oxymoron but that is the best I can do. From here we continued our up and up climb as we got wetter and wetter (one would think we would have dressed better for this weather oh well). We crossed little creeks that steamed a bit and smelled of sulfur. The vegetation and rocks around this section ranged in color from rusty reds, brilliant yellows to deep plum purples. I was quite fascinated with these variations so took many pictures. We eventually made it to the hut (Ketetahi Hut) and took a little rest and ate some food. Our downward climb went much quicker and of course the shower we had when we got home was well appreciated.
The next day was sunny and warm. We started out the hike stunned by the amazing view. It was a much more gradual hike to begin and we took our time admiring the streams that gurgled along the trail. We also noticed the black trails of hardened lava rock that seemed to flow from the mountainsides.
The trail did get steep as we reached mountainside and we huffed and puffed our way over rocky terrain till we made it to leveler ground. Once the ground had leveled we found ourselves in a snowy valley, called the South Crater, between two volcanic Mountains, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. On the side of Mt Ngauruhoe there was steam billow. Glenn smiled at me and said with light hearted but slightly tense voice, “You know these are still active volcanoes.” We climbed a bit more past the South Crater and enjoyed the view. Then we decided it was time to make our way back to the car, round trip we hiked for six hours. That evening we slept well.
But we had a blast. Not only did we get to stay in one of the nicest little vacation homes we enjoyed our week of relaxation and adventure. We took a load of books with us to give us plenty of excuses to sit still but of course it only worked a few days. The rest of our time we spent exploring.
There were a number of hiking trails near by so we hiked through some amazing terrain. Our first day out we went for a hike around a lake. There were twisty turny trees along the trail that just made you smile. One tree Glenn got to know the ins and outs.After taking a short hike around a lake we decided to go to the hot spring pools. There were private rooms with hot pools that did not have chlorinated water. You paid for a fifteen-minute time slot to soak. We enjoyed the naturally heated water and let our muscles relax. When we it was time to get out of the pool I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to lay down on the floor for a bit to try and get my head to stop spinning. Glenn eventually went back to the front desk to return the key to the room and came back with a bottle of juice. What a relief this cold juice was just the medicine I needed to subside the vertigo. The moral to this story---Do the hot pools on cold days or be sure to drink a lot of fluids on hot days.
The two longest hikes we did started at either side of the Tongariro Crossing. On Wednesday we set out to hike and we started from the parking lot that most of the pamphlets recommended as the place to finish your hike of Tongariro Crossing. It was a misty day so we decided to hike to the hut that was said to be two-three hours walk. It was a misty and cloudy day. At the start of the hike we walked through a lovely green forest the trail soon became stairs so we climbed and climbed and climbed. Emerging from the lush greens of the forest we found ourselves in a landscape that we could hardly describe. Maybe something like a misty desert—I know that is an oxymoron but that is the best I can do. From here we continued our up and up climb as we got wetter and wetter (one would think we would have dressed better for this weather oh well). We crossed little creeks that steamed a bit and smelled of sulfur. The vegetation and rocks around this section ranged in color from rusty reds, brilliant yellows to deep plum purples. I was quite fascinated with these variations so took many pictures. We eventually made it to the hut (Ketetahi Hut) and took a little rest and ate some food. Our downward climb went much quicker and of course the shower we had when we got home was well appreciated.
The next day was sunny and warm. We started out the hike stunned by the amazing view. It was a much more gradual hike to begin and we took our time admiring the streams that gurgled along the trail. We also noticed the black trails of hardened lava rock that seemed to flow from the mountainsides.
The trail did get steep as we reached mountainside and we huffed and puffed our way over rocky terrain till we made it to leveler ground. Once the ground had leveled we found ourselves in a snowy valley, called the South Crater, between two volcanic Mountains, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. On the side of Mt Ngauruhoe there was steam billow. Glenn smiled at me and said with light hearted but slightly tense voice, “You know these are still active volcanoes.” We climbed a bit more past the South Crater and enjoyed the view. Then we decided it was time to make our way back to the car, round trip we hiked for six hours. That evening we slept well.Can you find me in the picture below:)
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Free Range Chocks
The other day I got a phone call from a lady named Louise. I could hear her grinning as she asked me, “Would you like to be a chicken on Saturday? A few of our chickens are sick so we are short.” I hesitated for a minute but ended up saying, “Sure sounds fun!”
So, yesterday I met my fellow chocks and we prepared ourselves for the annual Blossom Day Parade in Hastings. First, we decorated our float, which started as a man driving a tractor that was pulling a cart ended up as a rooster driving a tractor pulling a nest of chicks. There were a variety of groups preparing themselves for the parade. Near us there was the Thai Restaurant Float – the women were all dressed in their beautiful brilliant colored silk dresses and they danced to the rhythmic sounds of beating drums, tambourines and wok lids. There were many floats decorated with flowers and were bright and colorful. Before we started marching in the parade we made sure our feathers were fluffed and practiced our chicken postures and cackles. Our float was for the Green party, which is a party in New Zealand that is for healthy rivers and communities. The lady that had the idea for this particular float, Liz Earth, I found out is a candidate for the Green party and comes up with float ideas each year—Save the Dolphins, Free Range Chickens, etc. This year she also was commissioned by the city council to make some larger then life puppets. She made a prince and princess to bring in the Blossom parade check out my web page for some photos of them. So we had fun marching along in the parade I passed out stickers and interacted with the kids. We luckily had really nice weather it was a bit windy but sunny and warm. Today it is pouring down rain and I do mean pouring.
The Blossom Prince and the little chics.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson
While I was doing the parade Glenn was playing soccer, he and his team are getting ready for the big Masters Games that are coming up in October. He loves playing soccer but I think he is not having as much fun playing with this team because it is so physical. He says it is much more English soccer – maybe they just think it should be like rugby.
That night we went to Hooly and Zotie’s place for dinner. Hooly is a potter and he and I are teaching the pottery class through Taradale Pottery. He is originally from Scotland. Their house was pretty amazing lots of ceramic characters around the outside of the house and on the rooftop. The house was painted blue with green spots on the outside. Inside there were red, yellow and green designs covering the walls. The bathroom was a bright orange. We had a fun night visiting and getting to see all the fun stuff around their house. For desert we had baked bananas with chocolate melted over top to drink we had Samoan Hot Cocoa, made from a cocoa bean pulp that was put in boiling water for a few minutes then milk and honey was added. Yummy!!
So, yesterday I met my fellow chocks and we prepared ourselves for the annual Blossom Day Parade in Hastings. First, we decorated our float, which started as a man driving a tractor that was pulling a cart ended up as a rooster driving a tractor pulling a nest of chicks. There were a variety of groups preparing themselves for the parade. Near us there was the Thai Restaurant Float – the women were all dressed in their beautiful brilliant colored silk dresses and they danced to the rhythmic sounds of beating drums, tambourines and wok lids. There were many floats decorated with flowers and were bright and colorful. Before we started marching in the parade we made sure our feathers were fluffed and practiced our chicken postures and cackles. Our float was for the Green party, which is a party in New Zealand that is for healthy rivers and communities. The lady that had the idea for this particular float, Liz Earth, I found out is a candidate for the Green party and comes up with float ideas each year—Save the Dolphins, Free Range Chickens, etc. This year she also was commissioned by the city council to make some larger then life puppets. She made a prince and princess to bring in the Blossom parade check out my web page for some photos of them. So we had fun marching along in the parade I passed out stickers and interacted with the kids. We luckily had really nice weather it was a bit windy but sunny and warm. Today it is pouring down rain and I do mean pouring.
The Blossom Prince and the little chics.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson
While I was doing the parade Glenn was playing soccer, he and his team are getting ready for the big Masters Games that are coming up in October. He loves playing soccer but I think he is not having as much fun playing with this team because it is so physical. He says it is much more English soccer – maybe they just think it should be like rugby.
That night we went to Hooly and Zotie’s place for dinner. Hooly is a potter and he and I are teaching the pottery class through Taradale Pottery. He is originally from Scotland. Their house was pretty amazing lots of ceramic characters around the outside of the house and on the rooftop. The house was painted blue with green spots on the outside. Inside there were red, yellow and green designs covering the walls. The bathroom was a bright orange. We had a fun night visiting and getting to see all the fun stuff around their house. For desert we had baked bananas with chocolate melted over top to drink we had Samoan Hot Cocoa, made from a cocoa bean pulp that was put in boiling water for a few minutes then milk and honey was added. Yummy!!
Monday, September 12, 2005
September 1st the 1st Day of Spring?
It always seems to surprise me when I encounter things that remind me that yes I am in the Southern Hemisphere. Such as the first day of spring being the 1st of September here in New Zealand. We are at a quandary to why the 1st rather then the 21st the equinox?
I am still amazed to find that I do not always understand what people are talking about. There are many words that are used differently or are just plain different all together such as the pedestals that you use in a gallery are called plinths or the money you start out with in a till is called a float.
Glenn and I celebrated our one-year mark, August 12th, when we first arrived here in New Zealand. So I just finished reading my blog entries over the past year. Pretty amazing the amount of things we packed in to those first months in this new place. For this year I will work on making less typos and spelling errors and hope to get back into a routine of posting tales of our adventures, now that we a have a new computer and my brain is shaking off those gray cloudy thoughts.
As some of you know I have also been working at a café here. What a strange and emotional experience this has been for me. Lets just say I have realized that this sort of work is not where I want to focus my energy so I am fazing out of this job and focusing in on my art. This seems to sound rather selfish with all the suffering that is happening in our world but I have decided that I need some time and what better time then the present. I suppose I could tell you all about the busy year and what I have been through over the last few months but most of you now this and feel it as well. It took this café job for me to realize that my heart and mind was somewhere else, I needed to do something that was more fulfilling. I have found this at Taradale Pottery not only because this is a place I can work on art but also because the people that I have met through this group have been so supportive and caring.
Enough of that on we go from here. These past two weekends Glenn and I spent out at a place called Pukeora Estates. We were there for an art show I worked at the gallery space showing work from the Taradale Pottery Group and Glenn made some money playing music and selling his CD’s. The building in which this art show took place was once a hospital for the developmentally delayed but the property is now owned by a couple that has made it a winery. There are so very many wineries here in Hawkes Bay. The building is situated on top of a hill over looking the river and the town of Waipukarau. It was a pleasant weekend but Glenn and I missed having our time walk along the beach. I must say we are very spoiled.
I am still amazed to find that I do not always understand what people are talking about. There are many words that are used differently or are just plain different all together such as the pedestals that you use in a gallery are called plinths or the money you start out with in a till is called a float.
Glenn and I celebrated our one-year mark, August 12th, when we first arrived here in New Zealand. So I just finished reading my blog entries over the past year. Pretty amazing the amount of things we packed in to those first months in this new place. For this year I will work on making less typos and spelling errors and hope to get back into a routine of posting tales of our adventures, now that we a have a new computer and my brain is shaking off those gray cloudy thoughts.
As some of you know I have also been working at a café here. What a strange and emotional experience this has been for me. Lets just say I have realized that this sort of work is not where I want to focus my energy so I am fazing out of this job and focusing in on my art. This seems to sound rather selfish with all the suffering that is happening in our world but I have decided that I need some time and what better time then the present. I suppose I could tell you all about the busy year and what I have been through over the last few months but most of you now this and feel it as well. It took this café job for me to realize that my heart and mind was somewhere else, I needed to do something that was more fulfilling. I have found this at Taradale Pottery not only because this is a place I can work on art but also because the people that I have met through this group have been so supportive and caring.
Enough of that on we go from here. These past two weekends Glenn and I spent out at a place called Pukeora Estates. We were there for an art show I worked at the gallery space showing work from the Taradale Pottery Group and Glenn made some money playing music and selling his CD’s. The building in which this art show took place was once a hospital for the developmentally delayed but the property is now owned by a couple that has made it a winery. There are so very many wineries here in Hawkes Bay. The building is situated on top of a hill over looking the river and the town of Waipukarau. It was a pleasant weekend but Glenn and I missed having our time walk along the beach. I must say we are very spoiled.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
These are my Whistling Teapots--Class Clown and Teachers Pet. Had a great time at my exhibition here in New Zealand. We had an opening last night August 19th. It went great lots of people came and sold a few pieces. Glenn played music most of the night and people stayed around till about 10:30pm. Pretty amazing.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
A Weekend of Dance
As you know we have been involved in playing a lot of Irish music around Hawkes Bay, but you may not have known that we are also learning how to do Irish step dance. A friend, Helen Stonehouse, teaches this fun dance technique every Thursday night. We have been taking the class for about two months now. Helen and her husband, Roger, came over from England and arrived here in Hawkes Bay about a week or so before we did. We met Roger when we found the session at Cat and the Fiddle. He is a musician and she a dancer. Helen heard that Pat Murphy, a well known Irish Set Dance instructor, was coming to Australia and she managed to convince him to stop by New Zealand on the way for a weekend workshop. Saturday was a full day of classes starting at 9am and running till 4:30pm then we had a break before the Ceili starting at 7pm till late. We played and danced the day away. There was another two and a half hour workshop on Sunday followed by a session at the pub till late. Let me tell you we slept well that night and slept walk through most of Monday. Pat was not only a great teacher of dance he also was a musician. So we had to take advantage of Pat’s last night in Hawkes Bay so we went to Helen and Roger’s Monday night for dinner and music. We ended up playing tunes till about 2 am. Pat was a warm man full of stories and joy. I think Glenn felt like he was in heaven.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
My mom's trip to the beach.
We had loads of fun walking on the beach collecting shells and cool looking rocks. There are a lot of unusual rocks here and our packs seemed to get heavier and heavier. We now have a small beach in our back yard. But my mom could not carry home all the rocks she wanted all though she did try...
Ready to lift boulders much bigger then her she is mighty mom.
Ready to lift boulders much bigger then her she is mighty mom.
Wedding Pictures April 23rd
Jenny gave me a beautiful hair-do and Julia provided entertainment and tasty treats.
Busy Few Months
Well I have not had a chance to post to my blog for a while. First it was because I was helping at home with my dad. Then I was planning my wedding and then once back in New Zealand our computer decided to stop working. So I feel like I have a lot to catch up. I will hopefully post some photos from our wedding in Idaho. It was such a fabulous time. Glenn and I were so happy to have so many of our friends there to share this fun few days. When we returned to New Zealand many of our friends encouraged us to have another wedding jubilee so we invited everyone we could think of and asked them to “bring a plate” meaning it would be a potluck. It was a great turn out and we even had a friend call a few irish set dances. My mom was even here to celebrate with us of course we both got all dressed up for the event. Any excuss to wear my bright orange wedding dress again. So we did get a new computer and I am hoping this alows for more regular updates again. I know that I have missed writing the updates.
We had a great time with my mom while she was here I think we gave her a pretty good taste of where we are living. We packed everyday full of adventure for sure from a the fire festival in Napier, to music festival in Otaki Gorge, Waimarama beach, the estuary, Ta Mata Peak, Wellington, Op shopping, wine tasting, gypsy music concert in the old church, to music at the Cat and the Fiddle I sometimes wonder how we got it all in.
My mom left on Monday and is now back home having a nice visit with her brother that arrived the day that she did. What a busy girl. As for Glenn and I, we went to a music concert last night and Glenn is back to school the kids started back this Monday and Glenn taught his first class yesterday. I got a job working at a place called the Missionview Garden Center in the café Wild Rose. It is a fun spot to work and I love my boss. I am working part-time to start out but will probable get more hours as summer approaches. This gives me time to work on my creative projects that seem to multiply as I type.
Our winter weather is keeping us huddled around our little heaters and wearing layers. But we can’t complain too much considering I look outside and see flowers blooming and oranges dropping from branches.
As ever we miss you all and hope you are all enjoying your summer.
We had a great time with my mom while she was here I think we gave her a pretty good taste of where we are living. We packed everyday full of adventure for sure from a the fire festival in Napier, to music festival in Otaki Gorge, Waimarama beach, the estuary, Ta Mata Peak, Wellington, Op shopping, wine tasting, gypsy music concert in the old church, to music at the Cat and the Fiddle I sometimes wonder how we got it all in.
My mom left on Monday and is now back home having a nice visit with her brother that arrived the day that she did. What a busy girl. As for Glenn and I, we went to a music concert last night and Glenn is back to school the kids started back this Monday and Glenn taught his first class yesterday. I got a job working at a place called the Missionview Garden Center in the café Wild Rose. It is a fun spot to work and I love my boss. I am working part-time to start out but will probable get more hours as summer approaches. This gives me time to work on my creative projects that seem to multiply as I type.
Our winter weather is keeping us huddled around our little heaters and wearing layers. But we can’t complain too much considering I look outside and see flowers blooming and oranges dropping from branches.
As ever we miss you all and hope you are all enjoying your summer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
