Drama

This is of the pleasant kind! First we went to a German play put on by students at the Maidment set in Hamburg in the 1980s Besuch aus Busum by Ina Nicolai and the following day, The Seagull by Checkov. It was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Herald Theatre. Council staff were offered free tickets to a couple of matinees - some of them took a half day's leave and went during the week, but I got tickets for D and me for Saturday afternoon. Had some Vietnamese food at the Aotea Market beforehand - delicious pork spring rolls, and picked up a cute little yellow toast rack at one of the bric-a-brac stalls afterwards. Meant we didnt go to Waiheke until Sunday morning but as we wanted to take over a compost bin (in flat pieces) !! and a full length mirror, we felt less conspicuous then anyway, travelling over at 10am when not many people were on public transport. The final repairs to the hearth have been completed so I was pleased and we had a celebratory fire in the woodburner to warm the place up.

I have been busy knitting a blanket (small one in 6 strips of stripey coloured wools) for an exhibition the Kniterati group is having next year. Just have to sew them together and darn in the ends. The others have been a bit more productive and done 2 or 3 each so far.

Papakura Knit Out

Had intended to go to Waiheke on Saturday but when one of the members of our Tuesday Domestic Craft and Contemporary Art group rang and asked if Iwanted to go I changed my mind and went. 4 of us ended up going out on the rather noisy train through the back yards of Auckland's eastern suburbs, all totally unrecognisable to my eye, but interesting. Knitted our way out there which made the 50 minutes pass very quickly. The Selwyn arcade was abuzz with (mainly older) women. There were stands with books, wool of every hue, knitted garments and a big area for afternoon tea provided by the local cafe, Boodles.

I discovered the Ashford stand where they were teaching people to knit socks on 4 needles . This is something I had never learned and took the opportunity of doing. We were given a bag containing 4 very thin bamboo needles, the most beautiful ball of multicoloured yarn, a German one , a pattern for baby socks and I was away. There was a tutor from Ashford, which is the place in Ashburton, home of the traditional spinning wheels who exxplained every step. Got my stitches cast on and after a couple of attempts joined them together to a round and completed the cuff and started on the straight bit up to the heel. Knitted on the train going home and Saturday evening, on the boat to Waiheke on Sunday morning, while listening to the radio Sunday evening, and on the boat coming home, Monday midday. I now have 1 cute little baby sock for Logan, Leny's new little grandson, born on 15 August. Must start the second one before I forget how.

We hadn't been to the island for a few weeks and had hoped the hearth would be tiled and the woodburner reinstalled, however this was not the case. The hearth was done in new terracotta tiles from Matakana but the burner was still lying around unassembled. Oh well, next time.

A woman and her 9 year old son are wanting to rent the place for a few weeks while she has renovations done to her own place so will have to go over a couple of times over the next 3 weeks and put some of our stuff away to make room for her's. And of course to enjoy the peace and tranquillity. The beaches were idyllic and we walked to Matiatia from Surfdale - about 3 or 4 kms to get the ferry home too take advantage of the fact we didnt have any heavy luggage to take home, the first time in months.

Papakura Knit Out

My Early Life (continued)

I was about 12 the second time I went to boarding school along with my sister, Helen, maybe Mary too. This was at St Philomena's in South Dunedin not too far away from St Clair where we lived, in fact I once raced home to get supplies for a midnight feast. My mother was in Wakari Hospital recuperating on the verandah with plenty of fresh air after her big operation to remove what was called a spot. We were not allowed to go and see her - perhaps they thought she had TB and would be infectious. We went to people's places in the school holidays - Mary Anderson's in Central Otago, Kathryn O'Neil's also up that way, the Hardiman's farm near Mataura, Carrie O'Neills, out of Dunedin. My mother came home and was nursed at home by the Sisters of the Assumption and we came home for the rest of my what was then called Stanard 6 year. The following year we came north to Auckland, as my father had a job as a senior inspector with the IRD. We girls went to St Mary's ollege, walking each morning from 23 Faulder Avenue in Westmere, past Coxes Creek, up the ZigZag to the Herne Bay bus terminus where we got the bus to Three Lamps. Three years later we shifted to 199 Jervois Rd, a big old villa with nice harbour views over to the Chelsea Sugarworks. School C, UE accredited, then a Form VII year before going to Auckland University , majoring in English and German. Took a year off to go to Germany part way through where I had a couple of semesters in Saarbrucken, where Mum had grown up. It is a city not far from the French border. I saw quite a lot of my Tante Anne-Marie, Mum's sister, Onkel Willi and twins Gabi and Joachim who were about 10, who lived about 100 kms away in Nieder-Floersheim. Picked grapes during the grape harvest and enjoyed the German wine and my aunt's baking and cooking. However homesickness kicked in and I went home shortly after Christmas and finished off my degree back home.

I got my first job at Auckland Public Library and worked there for 18 months as an intermediate library in the Music Dept, which was in with lending non-fiction on the ground floor of the old library, which is now part of the Art Gallery. There was a separate floor for NZ material and reading room on the first floor, the children's room was tucked away one floor up and the staff room was up another flight of stairs . I graduated in May 1968 and a couple of weeks later set sail again for Germany where I had a job in Wolfsburg Public Library to go to.

(More later)