contact info kjelsty@gmail.com

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!!

Me in the chicken costume--I know green chicken kinda strange:)
copyright Kjelsty Hanson

The Blossom Princess.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson

The Rooster driving the tractor with a little stuffed chic.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson

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.