The Week that Was

It declined somewhat, the working part of it, however time and the hour runs through the roughest day and after the weekend at Waiheke I am all brighteyed and bushytailed again. Went over on the 2pm boat straight from work and was just in time to meet the gardener who was removing the privet trees and cutting up the wood for firewood.

Out to dinner at the Bowling Club buffet with roast pork, vegetable bake and other meat and salad dishes. Saturday we got the first real rain for a couple of months. Our water supply was getting low but it is up a third again, so we didn't mind too much being housebound with the weekend Herald. However must have my daily dose of computer so up to the library on the bus and back in the afternoon. I really appreciate my email contact with you all. Sunday the weather was better so walked to Mass at 9.15 then coffeeed at Cortado, which had been reviewed favourably in the weekend Canvas magazine. Good coffee and stunning view over Oneroa Beach.

I have let the bach for 3 months to a former resident of the island so spent the afternoon cleaning and tidying for her. We will be turning our attention to Orewa on the weekends for a while.

Yesterday carried on with bottling and turning the golden queen peaches into preserves and chutney. After the windy weekend there were a lot of windfalls to process. Also brought back pears from the island to do something with once they ripen.

Elisabeth is in the South Island having a great holiday. Today she did the South Dunedin op shops and was going out to a Greek restaurant tonight.

The first picture is the view from the roof of the bach looking over to Surfdale beach, the hall and the macrocarpa trees, the next, my souvenir writing compendium, my trusty preserving pan and good old Alison's recipes.

Domestic Craft on Tuesday 19 February

Went off to my group at Art Station this morning. Hadn't done any knitting since last week so it was nice to be able to sit down and knit for a couple of hours. Was delighted to find that we had a guest speaker, Susan Jowsey who had images of her art career which took off dramatically about 1990 when she won the Visa Gold Award with her series of blankets, with embroidered words like faith, hope in the same cream colour and which kept the original stains and had more added by Susan to create the effect she wanted. Then there were red crosses on each blanket as a symbol of salvation. Carrington Mental Hospital had just been closed and the work came out of her capturing the histories and humanity behind the austerity of mental illness at that time.

One of the next images was of artworks which were made out of old baby clothes and had other pieces added to them making them into something new and transformed. She made about 100 small crosses out of layers of them, oversewing them with embroidery. They fitted in a lunch boxwhen not installed somewhere.

Other domestic objects she used were a coathanger, scales, a cardigan, the insides of handbags, again with all their stains which she used in her capacity as "a rearranger of life".

Then she moved away from art as object to art as photograph, using her daughter as model. Now she works collaboratively with the family - eg in a film her young son made she added certain effects, as did her husband, also an artist and photographer.

Her latest work is as a digital artist and we were shown 2 very short art movies with the aid of the computer. Again her husband, Marcus Williams, appeared in one.

The photo, still life with yellow phone represents my domestic craft for this afternoon. I made 4 jars of marmelade which I put into old Rose's marmalade jars, and preserved two small jars of Golden Queen peaches from our garden. The golden double yellow hibiscus is from 4 Salisbury Street. I gave the bush to my mother about 23 years ago. It is in one of my favourite vases of hers - it has butterflies on it. The yellow telephone I am going to sell on Trademe.

Rakino

Out on the gulf on Sunday to visit Rakino. This trip was organized by the Auckland Historical Society. About 30 of us headed out on rather a small boat which rocked from side to side whenever anything larger or faster moved past it, scaring me no end. There was a classic yacht regatta, lovely big yachts with elaborate sails, some of them coming very close to us. Our skipper gave us lots of information about these boats and also the big boats moored at the Viaduct Basin, including Michael Hill's. Out past Brown's Island, Rangiato, then the length of Motutapu, then further on west of Waiheke to Rakino, first to Home Bay, then on to Sandy Bay for our short spell on land, just time to walk over to Home Bay where there is an old homestead and tiny church. There seemed to be very few houses. They say there is no electricity. Read Shirley Maddock's chapter on the island. She was there when there was a guest house, an alternative community and a few locals. Chugged back to the mainland doing a tour of the viaduct past the yachts which had returned from the day's racing for the prizegiving.

The top photo is at Home Bay, Rakino where Sir George Grey had a house built, this is the house you see in the picture. He started it, but did not finish it. He probably planted the trees too. The next one is in front of the boat that took us to Rakino - Riverhead Cruises. They also do a lot of other interesting ones which we may go on - one up the Waihou River from Thames to Paeroa.

The others are out on the gulf with the yachts, one of a little island just off Sandy Bay, Rakino, the last one is of Home Bay from the distance.

Real Gold - Exhibition at the Central Library

Made another visit to this wonderful exhibition at the library with good friend M who noticed the book at our place when she was here in Inner Ponsonby last weekend. I gave it to Dieter for Christmas . Anyway however had the Special Collections exhibition space to ourselves this Saturday afternoon and had a good browse - things from many of the different collections - maps of early Auckland and Wellington, letters - from Darwin to Sir George Grey, Florence Nightingale to Grey, diaries of Sarah Mathew, autobiographies of Peter McDonald (1876) " Auckland was a queer wee town...in 1842", and Robin Hyde , written while a patient at Auckland Mental Hospital in the 1930s. This manuscript was given to the library by the doctor who encouraged her to write it, Dr Tothill. I remember it coming through the cataloguing dept in the late 1970s .There are photographs by Clifton Firth of Allen Curnow and ARD Fairburn, others of Lee Grant of the Mercury Theatre, John A Lee's scrapbooks with photos and cuttings stuck down with bits of sticking plaster. I seem to recall him gifting those to the library in the the late 70s or early 80s too. Whina Cooper came in too and gifted a beautiful cloak. This year I will have been in the library 30 years (1oth of July this year!) I digress. The middle picture is of the winning garden plan for Western Park, then called Central Park. It is still a great big park with huge trees going from Ponsonby downto Auckland Girls and beyond.

The last picture is the southern end of Waiwera Beach, a watercolour by Thomas Ryan, 1892.

We have another picture of Waiwera, a watercolour painted by Dieter's friend Sir Riga in the 1950s, one showing the big rock and a pier that used to be there. I remember the Waiwera hotel which was the place to go in the 1960s, before or after a hot swim. Those were the days...

Anyway however there are the beautiful manuscripts, rare books, even a handwritten translation of St Luke's Gospel in an aboriginal language, done by a missisonary L E Threlkeld in 1857. Sir George Grey had it bound and had it illuminated like a medieval manuscript by Annie Layard, the wife of his private secretary.

Other collections represented are bookplates, music (God defend NZ) , Maori manuscripts, first editions. The book contains even more information about other collections, I didn't even know the library has - for example old tokens. Dieter has quite a few of these, sadly being sold off by me on Trademe, with his consent of course. You can't keep everything for ever can you.

Finished off a pleasant afternoon with coffee at the library cafe, Real, then paid a visit to Smith and Caughey's sale, where I bought a cute little floral torch which I will keep for myself to take on holiday with me. We are going round the East Coast in a couple of weeks time and up the Danube from Bulgaria to Germany later in the year.

Knitterati

For the past year or so the knitting group at Art Station has been knitting blankets for an exhibition in May. The theme of the exhibition is shelter and the blankets are going to be given to the Red Cross for refugees once the exhibition is over. Most of our knitting has been at home but we meet once a week at Art Station to knit, chat and go to local art galleries and see what is new. Last week we went to one across the road and there were a couple of interesting knitted pieces in an exhibition by up and coming artists - a large length of knitted fabric made out of plastic bag strips in different colours, and a similar length of "material" made of very finely rolled pages of fashion magazines. The middle photo is one of my blankets and I am in the third photo knitting at Leys library - we go to public spaces and knit!

Pictures of the bach at Orewa, and Motuihe trip

A week or so ago we went to this island in the Hauraki Gulf on a day trip with the Silverdale Historical Society. We got the boat from Westhaven, chugged around the harbour and then made out to sea, passing Browns Island and getting to Motuihe in about an hour. In the olden days Motuihe was a common daytrip for Aucklanders aand there was a regular ferry service. I hadn't been there for about 40 years! One man on the trip was there last as a 10 year old over 70 years ago when he was sent to the health camp there in the 1930s!! It is also famous for being the island where Von Luckner was held after being captured in the Pacific during the first world war and from where he made his escape, distracting attention from himself by setting a fire in one of the barracks. He ande 10 other men slipped away under cover of darkness and escaped in the commandant's motorboot, for which they fashioned a German battle ensign out of flour bags. They were recaptured off the Kermadecs a few days later and returned to Motuihe.

Motuihe also served as a quarantine station during a smallpox outbreak in 1872, and flu epidemic of 1918 and there is a small cemetery where casualties were buried. We walked there past trees that Sir Logan Campbell had planted there when he farmed the island between 1843 and 1858. We passed the remnants of the naval station HMNZS Tamaki which was in operation from 1941 to 1963. Now most of the buildings are gone, just an old water tank remaining.

Had a nice walk up the other end of the island and back along the beach before gettingthe ferry home agaian. We went back to Orewa with the group stopping along the ay at Browns Bay for an icecream and spending part of the weekend up at Orewa. Took some photos of the bach which I will post here having forgotten my digital camera on the Motuihe trip.

My new Picture - 3 melons by Clare Dargaville

Went to a lecture on NZ art last Sunday with a friend. Clare Dargaville spoke about three artists - Charles Goldie, Frances Hodgkins and Evelyn Page with a brief mention of Peter McIntyre, telling us a bit about their lives and their work and their influence, showing a lot of their pictures in the process. Then she spoke at length about her own career as an art teacher and artist. She was widowed early on her married life and brought up 4 young children on her own, fitting in art, mainly pastels, as they were portable and easy to clear away when the space was needed for family life. Her husband was Maori from Pangaru and her paintings reflect the influence of Maori motifs such as the paua and kete. Over afternoon tea there was the opportunity to view an exhibition of her artwork some of which was for sale. And so I bought one for a bare wall in our front sitting room. It does look rather lonely there so will put up some of Dieter's artifacts to keep it company.

Me Again

Hi all, Nobody has been more bereft than me without a computer for 11 days or more. No Trademe, no scrabble, no email, no blog , a very boring existence. The old one packed up and the new one has taken days to get installed. However I have my music on the MP3 player and other niceties so that is good, a nice new layout and everything is quicker to load. Have done lots of interesting things over the past fortnight and as soon as I can see how to load my pictures and scan things I will be writing about them.

Took the picture of Sir Ed's statue in Hillary Square, Orewa a few days after the the funeral, which I watched on TV. It was a state funeral. Lots more people and flowers there after he died

Anniversary Weekend

This picture was painted by a friend of Dieter's way back in the 1950s. Dieter met him in Hawaii in the 1960s whilst on his OE. His name was Sir Riga de Mazaryk, a title he gave himself, we think. He was a seaman back in the 1960s and when his ship was in Auckland he painted scenes from round and about but also travelling up to Orewa and Waiwera where he did a couple. When Dieter returned to New Zealand with me in the 1970s Sir Riga sent Dieter his NZ watercolours and a couple from Hawaii. He died in the 1980s , taking the secret of who he really was to the grave with him.

Music in the Park

Had a pleasant afternoon lounging in the grounds of Alberton listening to some Scandinavian folk music by a trio of young Danish musicians - 2 females on saxaphone and violin and a guy on guitar. They had a lovely manner and spoke about the songs and tunes, many of them from the Danish island of Bornholm. As they said this kind of music travelled over the centuries and it was surprising to hear how similar it sounded to some of the Scottish music. Had a look through the house beforehand. Several women showing people around were dressed in period dress adding a nice touch. Hadn't been to Alberton for about ten years it seems. Admired the lovely Wedgwood blue and yellow dinnerset. We are members of the Historic Places Trust so we can and should go to these houses more often, so watch this space.

The Whitford playcentre had a stand selling tea and coffee and lovely homemade cakes and scones. Had a piece of sourcream berry cake and Dieter had an apricot mereingue slice.

29 degrees in Auckland today. Would have been a good day for the beach but both our baches are let this weekend. Wew have two long weekends ahead of us - Anniversary weekend and Waitangi day which is on a Wednesday this year. I will only need to work Thursday and Friday morning.

Sir Edmund Hillary

This is a very sad day for us New Zealanders as we mourn the death of Sir Edmund Hillary. I got an email at work from a colleague soon after it was announced. The tv presenters are in black suits and ties and he is to be given a state funeral next week some time. The Primem Minister is on her way home. This evening the whole evening is devoted to documentaries about his life and achievements. I have reread some of the books over recent months - Louise's books about their trips, John Hunt's book The ascent of Everest. Dieter had a sheet of commemorative stamps, marking the 50th anniversary of the conquering of Everest which he had listed on Trademe already and now somebody has bought them. I have listed my books too for somebody else to get pleasure from. One of the first books of adult non-fiction I ever read at the age of 13 or 14 was his book on climbing in the South Island. Well, off I go to watch the documentary on his life.

Christmas and New Year

Chrismas passed quietly with the usual festive meals and religious observance, just the 3 of us, though on Chrismas Eve we were 4. Went for a walk up one of the Three Kings on Boxing Day, back to work the next day and over to Waiheke for our Chrismas sojourn the day after. Had 6 wonderful days there, with a couple of swims, cafe, library and art gallery visits and a couple of visits by friends from the mainland. Back to work on the 3rd of January for a day and a half .

Have had a nice weekend at home although D finds them difficult and gets a bit gloomy. We went for a walk along the Carrington walkway behind Unitec and parallel to Great North Rd on Saturday morning . Saw the waterfall and walked along Oakley Creek. Lots of native trees have been planted but there are a lot of weeds. The Friends of Oakley Creek work there once a month. It is something we might do one of these days. Then today we went to the Avondale Market - lots of exotic vegetables used by the different ethnic communities who were out in force in their headgear and robes. It got very crowded and after I had bought cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, strawberries and peaches I was pleased to escape back to Ponsonby. Toimorrow I am going to make some tomato relish and piccallili. Roland and Rosalie made a belated Christmas visit and over coffee and goodies we listened to a German Christmas CD. Time to pack the decorations away again, but no doubt it will be another week or two before we get round to it. Finished the evening off with a visit to the foodhall and had a delicious prawn fettucine with courgettes in a creamy light tomato and herb sauce.

Christmas Eve

Have progressed through Advent in a more low-key homebased way seeing friends or writing to them. Made two lots of cookies - checkerboard cookies and very nice hazelnut ones. No rolling out and cutting out this year - dough was shaped into a log, chilled then sliced and baked. Easy peasy as they say.

Saturday night we went to a Musica Sacra concert of Christmas music at the refurbished cathedral, a very nice venue for a concert like that, though rather warm with all those people in it. Accompanied by a brass ensemble they sang many carols from over the centuries, interpersed with some old familiar ones which the audience could sing along to with the choir.

Will make some little Christmas mince tarts today and then I will be ready for Christmas.

Advent

We were up at Orewa for the weekend enjoying our bach again after it was let for a 10 days or so. On the Sunday afternoon at 3pm we went to the Prebyterian Church in Albany for the German Club's Advent celebration. It was very nice and has put us in a good frame of mind at the start of the festive season. We took a plate of cinnamon stars, bought, as we only found out about the gathering on Saturday morning. There were lots of people there, none we knew however, mainly younger couples and families with young children. We all sang nice German and English carols with a professional accompanist and a soloist, with some of the children playing their instruments or reciting a poem. After an hour of singing in very nice surroundings with a large Advent wreath as the focal point we adjourned for coffee and Christmas Stollen and cookies. There was lots of German homebaking and I am spurred on to do a few cookies myself this year.

I had got on the telephone on Friday night and rang several friends and hope to see them all before or over Christmas, part of which we will spend at home and some of the days between Christmas and New Year over at Waiheke.

Today we went to Motat - the Museum of Transport and Technology. I was interested in the Victorian village and some of the old vehicles. Dieter and Elisabeth went in the Voyager - a simulated adventurous journey not for the faint-hearted or timid , like me. Had a look at their library then came home for lunch - bagels and smoked chicken, followed by strawberries and icecream - the strawberries left over from my jam making exploits this morning. I like making the most of my days.

Mid November

Started last week off with a visit to the University of Otago House exhibition of lithographs after Louis-Auguste de Sainson from the Hocken Library . Sainson was a French artist on board the Astrolabe in the 1830s and did several portraits of Maori , on their own and in groups as well as seascapes, landscapes in the Bay of Plenty, Northland and Marlborough Sounds among other places. Dieter has a book about him, I have a calendar of people in various costumes and Dieter also has a couple of prints of Maori chiefs - Natai and Rangui in his collection of NZ prints. These are not the very old ones, but ones produced in the 1970s or 1980s when Dieter was doing all his acquisitions. l We finished off the morning with lunch in town and then a visit to the library's book sale where we bought just 5 books and resolved to donate another 5 back to the library sale the next day which I duly did .

On the Tuesday the knitting group to which I belong, the Knitterati, usually at home at Art Station, came to our place to knit and chat. We are working on blankets for our Shelter exhibition next May. I have done just two and am finishing off sewing the strips of the first one together. It looks very nice. Made some date scones for morning tea which were rather heavy!

Wednesday to Friday was work, Friday night we went to a St Cecilia's Day concert at the recently renovated Cathedral. Lovely choral music by the Cathedral choir and a string quartet, organ and soloist Lyndsay Freer, a contemporary of Kiri and Malvina and with a beautiful soprano voice. It was a reflective way to start the weekend.

Saturday was our first visit to Waiheke for two or three months as the bach has been let. It was lovely to be back. The resident wood pigeon was feasting on loquats, the cinerarias were in full bloom, as is the first pohutukawa. Went for long walks, coffeed at Salvage after Mass, bought myself a skirt and blouse to celebrate the onset of summer.

The Week and Weekend that Was.

Went to the museum to look at the Darwin exhibition after Mass this morning. Auckland City staff could get entrance, two for the price of one and as it was $15 entrance fee it was quite a saving. It was a great exhibition from the American Museum of Natural History with interesting biographical details and a clear exposition of the science behind evolution, selection and adaptation. There were a couple of actors enacting scenes from his life and travels - one a discussion between Darwin and Admiral Fox of the Beagle on their opposing views, and another a conversation between a missisonary, Baker , in the Bay of Islands, and Darwin on his impressions of New Zealand which were not very complimentary.

Had a late birthday celebration here at home with family friends Pamela and Christine which was very nice. Started with an old fashioned afternoon tea with all the customary treats - coffee and cake, savouries, meringues, followed by strawberries with a splash of brandy in a glass of bubbles. Our mothers and fathers were very good friends - our fathers worked together in the Inland Revenue. Mum and Gwen were lifelong friends and after Mum's death, and her return to New Zealand, Gwen moved to Mum's beach house where she lived for a couple of years.
She made a special home for herself there and created a beautiful garden with her green fingers. Last weekend when we were up there, her rose bushes and irises were in bloom and a b eautiful reminder of a special person.

Had a phone call and visit from another childhood friend, Pat from Dunedin. She was up on business and I met her at her hotel after work, had a walk through Myers Park on our way to the busstop and met up with Dieter and Elisabeth at the Ponsonby foodhall, where we each had our favourite ethnic food - Turkish hummus and pita bread while we chose - Chinese, Thai and Italian dishes. Went back home for a cup of tea and chat before taking her back to her hotel.

Our knitting group, Knitterati met at a large public building, Vero in Shortland Street this week. It has lots of beautiful artworks which we looked at after coffee then we got out our knitting needles and blankets and knitted in public as part of our Shelter Exhibition which is to take place next May. The group are gathering at our place next Tuesday morning so I am having a sociable time.

Historical Society Trip to Whangarei

We hadn't been up to Whangarei for several years so decided to avail ourselves of the Silverdale and Districts Historical Society's trip up thataway last Friday. We joined a nearly full bus at the ungodly hour of 8.20am and rode northwards to the Kauri Clock Factory on the outskirts of Whangarei, having had a morning tea break at Te Hana I think it was. There were hundreds of clocks fashioned out of pieces of up to 50 000 year old kauri , much of which now comes from the Takanini area. It is then highly polished and has the clock mechanism attached and hey presto a kauri clock ready for purchase. The choice is overwhelming , too overwhelming for me, so will b e relying on clocks I already have and like better.

The town basin is very picturesque with yachts and a Parnell type development with cafes and galleries. We had lunch there then went to the museum and Clarke homestead. There was a Matariki exhibition there for Maori New Year and a weaving one upstairs with woven costumes from different cultures.

Ho Chi Minh City

We were off to an early 7am start but managed to take in breakfast at a pavement stall - tea with condensed milk for me, coffee for Dieter and scrambled egg in a roll for us both. Our first visit was the War Remnants Museum, a sobering place for the unprepared. There were a few tears shed by members of our group at the human cost of the Vietnam War, the American War to the Vietnam people. The display of massive tanks and other war machinery in the courtyard outside was enough for Dieter and me.

The Cu Chi tunnels was our next destination. There was a museum there with a harrowing film, and a walk round the area we took, with displays and information about the tunnels and how they penetrated so close to Saigon. There were some aweful booby traps which did terrible things to their victims.

People could go down into the tunnels and crawl along a little way. I was not going to do it, but Dieter went down in an impetuous moment and emerged hot and bothered after a few minutes. l I was supposed to take a photo of him emerging but failed to press the button hard enough and didn't want to delay his reentrance to the real world a second longer than necessary.

Off to the Mekong Delta after that - a journey of 3 or 4 hours. We hurtled along and the inevitable happened - we had a slight accident - the driver had to swerve to avoid a motor cyclist and veered to the side hitting a woman motor scooter rider with the side mirror. Luckily she was wearing a helmet, which was split by the impact but she was not injured. After reimbursing her for a new helmet we continued on our way with the driver driving more carefully I hoped. We went by boat across to an island in the delta, then upriver on a punt for a swept up Vietnamese lunch at a private home. It was several courses, starting with baked fish which we combined with pineapple, cucumber, noodles, to make our own fresh spring rolls , served with a dipping sauce. Then came the most succulent huge prawns followed by spicy fried rice with shrimps, soup and fresh fruit.

Onwards and outwards on a trailor drawn by a powerful motorbike in a couple of groups to a place where they grow fruit and served it with tiny cups of spiced coffee filtered through the tiny filters that fit over a cup. There we sampled mango and dragon fruit, that red skinned fruit with white flesh and lots of black seeds. Then it was on to the coconut sweet factory where I found the ideal present for my workmates. It was getting late by this stage and it was back to the mainland on the boat, a 20 minute trip and a several hour trip back to Saigon in the dark.

Out for dinner to a nice restaurant for our farewell dinner and it was goodbye to all our group members who went out to a night club and back to our hotel for Darby and Joan.

Our flight to Singapore was at 5pm so we had time to go to the Fine Arts Museum across the road from the hotel in the morning and to the market for some last minute shopping for a gingham top for Elisabeth and some cashew and pistachio nuts for us.

What a contrast was Singapore with its wide open spaces, wide roads and little traffic at that time of the night. It was bliss to be back in familiar territory.

Home sweet home the next day after a pleasant but packed flight on Singapore Airlines.

Hoi An

Travelled down country in a minibus stopping at Danang and China Beach briefly, then at a marble workshop near Marble Mountain - apparently 2 of 5 marble mountains have been completely quarried and now the marble has to be brought in from near Hanoi. A couple of our group succumbed to quite large garden sculptures, which they were having shipped back home. I liked the smaller animals but didn't buy anything in the end. Arrived hot and sticky at Hoi An in time for a late lunch then a quick orientation walk round the old town before having some free time until dinner at a nice restaurant with the group. I had wontons with a kind of hot tomato and onion salsa - Vietnamese fusion I would call it. The food is difficult to order - you never know how plain or fancy it will be, usually it was the former but always very fresh. The next day we went on a fuller tour of the old town with its two storeyed wooden houses, a couple of centuries old, now museums of various kinds - ceramics, folk art to name a couple. Took in some Vietnamese operatic singing there in the afternoon. Braved the market with its very persuasive sellers, so persuasive that it put Dieter completely off and he abandonned me there a couple of times. Once I bought peppercorns and fragrant cinnamon, another time a funny little pair of scissors and a sharp knife in a holder, both of which got me nto trouble on our trip by plane from Danang to Saigon. They were confiscated and I had to go back and send them separately with the checked in luggage. Hoi An was once a thriving port and textile centre and here you can get clothes made up cheaply. The others got more tailored good clothes and suits, I just got a nice summer skirt made for about $20. Of course there were the ubiquitous T-shirts at bargain prices if you could hack the haggling. D bought a couple for Elisabeth - one of Tin Tin in Vietnam, and a Polo shirt. We stayed in a nice hotel with a pool, and French pastries for breakfast which were delicious.
Then it was onwards and upwards for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving in rush hour traffic. Five minutes later we were on our hair-raising cyclo trip through the said rush hour traffic.

Hue

Arrived in Hue after our overnight creaky train ride about 8am and were picked up by minibus and taken to our spacious resort-style hotel near the historic citadel. Had breakfast, which traditionally seems to be fresh fruit - pineapple, papaya, dragon fruit - a white fleshed fruit with black seeds, like a kiwifruit, and a thick bright red skin and quite delicious followed by an omelette, rolls and jam or a tiny segment of cheese, coffee or tea. Vietnam incidentally is the second largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, I read somewhere. We were dying to get into our rooms for a shower and change of clothing, after which it was time for our walking tour of Hue, the old imperial capital, led by our guide, Tan. He studied tourism mangement in Singapore and Hawaii and has worked in the industry for over 15 years, mainly with Intrepid, so he knew his stuff. Past the citadel into town to go to the market where all of a sudden it poured with heavy rain, forcing us to abandon the market (rather pungent) , get a ferry across the river to the other side of the city and take refuge in a cafe for an expresso until the rain stopped then we carried on to a backpackers restaurant, the Mandarin, for a cheap traditional Vietnamese meal - I had Pho Bo, a beef soup with noodles, which was so delicious I went back the next day and had it again. I think it was US$1.50.

A bike tour out to a village where there was an interesting covered wooden bridge "Blue Hope" was the afternoon's activity - about 7km there through narrow country roads through rice paddies and the occasional village. We stopped for photos off and on and for a welcome break. It was of course round 30 degrees and humid. At our destination were very pleasant women selling drinks at their mini- cafes - tables and chairs under the shade of large trees. The trip home was almost as long and into the city traffic where I even overtook a couple of cyclos. No helmets of course, just a little red Vietnamese flag with a yellow star to keep us safe! On an Intrepid journey you don't waste time and it is packed with interesting things to see and do.

Vietnam - Hanoi to Hue

Embarked on another Intrepid Journey this month on the tail end of a typhoon which had I known about would have caused me great anxiety. However apart from torrential rain at times we were not affected. A lot of the countryside was flooded and the rivers were very swollen. We joined our group in Hanoi a very busy bustling noisy city with a lot of motorscooter and bike traffic as well as cyclos and cars, all tooting whenever they overtake. Footpaths, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are very scarce and often disregarded. This made for the intrepid part of the journey for me and I was very wary of crossing the road. In addition it came from the opposite direction to here. We had a day before we met up with other intrepidians so went on a day tour, visiting all the Ho Chi Min sites - saw the mausoleum from the outside - he was away in Russia having his annual restoration - his garden, his retreat, the place where he died. He is definitely regarded as father of the nation. Visited an ancient university in the heart of the city which had been restored. Very nice water gardens, various shrines and a performance of traditional singing and instrumental music. The highlight of the day was the water puppet theatre - about 20 shortish folk tale items performed on water - lots of colourful puppets, dragons, boats all splashing around with accompaniement by tradional singers and Vietnamese musical instrument players.

Met our guide for the next 9 days and the others in the evening - 2 Aussie couples, 2 guys from Belfast, one young woman from London, another from Utrecht , 2 male school leavers from London. The next day was dry and our trip to Halong Bay was on. This was another highlight of the tour - the bay has over 1000 small steep karst islands, covered in scrub as far as I could see, few of them inhabited. We went on a traditionally- styled wooden boat, had delicious seafood meals on board , swam off the boat and stayed overnight before sailing back the next day. There were quite a few of these boats out, all with their small groups of tourists on board like us.

On the way back to Hanoi we visited a ceramics factory where we saw porcelain being painted in the most vibrant colours, including a lot of traditional blue and white with splashes of red. Bought a tiny divided dish with a handle for salt and pepper. That night we set off on the overnight train for Hue, a noisy rocking trip . We were in a 4 berth cabin with another couple. It was interesting seeing the extent of the flooding the next morning from the train. The water buffalo were in their element. Not many people around but always a few working in the fields. We were all pleased to arrive in Hue and transferred to a nice hotel with a beautiful garden restaurant for breakfasting.

German Reunification Day Celebration

We had a pleasant lunch yesterday at the Sorrento, the German Society venue of choice for the Reunification day lunch, speech beforehand with a potted history of the last 17 years. We sat with some new people which was nice. Dieter didnt have much to say to them for a while, but warmed up as the time went by. There was bubbly and a nice buffet lunch with ham on the bone, chicken breasts, salmon and nice salads, and/or veges plus a selection of tarts and fruit salad for dessert. Lovely German chamber music from a string quartet in the background.

We leave for Vietnam on our Intrepid Journey tomorrow night , back Sunday 12 October. Will update blog as I am able, minus photos as I don't know how to put them on to disc yet, just save them in My Pictures.

These pictures are paintings on fabric of Vietnamese people which Dieter bought when he was in Vietnam in the 1960s.

Heritage Week

Actually its two weeks of heritage for Auckland with many many tours, exhibitions in every suburb of the city - about 20 alone in Ponsonby. Last week we went to a concert in All Saints Church Ponsonby with the Leys Institute Orchestra playing an interesting collectyion of shorter and longer pieces that would have been played at the time of the orchestra's inception, a hundred years ago, using their collection of sheet music. The conductor found an old manuscript of the score of a march, Haeremai March by Raimund Pechotsch and it is surmised that this could have been the first performance. The composer was originally Austrian and had various positions in NZ and Australia. He fostered the musical career of his notorious son, Eric Mareo who owas embroiled in 1he 1936 murder of his wife over her friendship with Freda Stark, another Ponsonby identity, who was one of the Civic dancers of the day.

This morning we went on a tour of Allendale House, now home of othe ASB Charitable Trust and one of Ponsonby's original stately homes, complete with stables and a turret with a wonderful view in all directions. Since its original purpose as a family home, it has been a private hosptal, a boarding house, a residential home for alcoholics, doctor's surgery , and before the ASB took it over, an upmarket restaurant, Orsini's. Some of the slate shingles remain from the early days, the old ceilings are intact, complete with ceiling roses and the most beautiful red stained glass windows. The place was a hive of beneficent activity this morning, with meetings taking place, office workers deciding on grants etc . The rooms are all furnished nicely with lovely NZ art works, most of them prints by such people as Stanley Palmer and Michel Tuffery. There was the most wonderful quilt with a Pacifica theme, with sections done by various ethnic groups under the direction of Carole Shepherd, artist and book maker whose courses I have done at times at Art Station. I think it was done when the Commonweath Games were held in Auckland and another one was gifted to Canada for the following Commonwealth Games.

I met a various nice Japanese woman there, she said she was a visitor and was housesitting in Ponsonby for 3 weeks, in John Street, 2 streets along from us, so I offered to show her my Ponsonby haunts on our way home.

First we went to Art Station, which was of course the old Ponsonby Police Stations complete with cells. It is the school holidays so there were children's art classes taking place. There was also a wonderful exhibition by Waterview resident and artist, Zoe Nash who mounted her exhibition in a bid to stop annexation of park and wild life habitat for a section of roading linking the area with Mt Roskill.

Looked briefly at the old wall next to Art Station which when we first moved to Auckland in 1957 was still the Reservoir and held water for that part of Auckland. Wow, that is 50 years ago. How old is she!

Then we walked along past the top end of Western Park, admired the old brick facades, looked at the window displays in such iconic shops as Bhana Brothers, and Superior Meats, and one of the cafes whose name escapes me to look at their display of old glass and pottery, not to mention its yummy old fashioned baking.

Which reminds me I did some of my own recently walnut drops, from the Fielder's recipe book of the 1950s and Soldier's wives biscuits from my mother's Aunt Daisy cookbook of the 1940s, I presume.

Which also reminds me, did I ever tell you I am related to David Livingstone ( I presume). He is my great, great, great uncle, related by marriage only, on my grandmother's side of the family. Her father or grandfather were McLachlans from Glasgow. They settled in Kaiapoi and there is a Hugh Street there, which was my great grandfather's name. I think he was a roading contractor.

Well I digress, it seems. Carried on our walk down through Tole Park and home to 95 Clarence St for coffee and guided tour of the house and its various collections of memorabilia of our lives up until now, minus those things gone Trademe Way.

Next instalment will be of our trip to Vietnam so watch this space.

Silverdale Historical Society Trip

Took Friday off to go on a bus trip first to Woodbridge Gardens, out of Coatsville. These gardens are on 10 acres of rolling countryside and feature, at this time of the year, beautiful prunus blossom, bluebells and daffodils. We spent about an hour and a half there walking round the gardens and being told all about their establishment by the owner, Christine Peek and her husband. Their gardens have recently been declared one of national significance and are well worth a visit, especially as they have plants for sale at about $4 -$5 each. I was pipped at the post at getting the one and only prunus, so got a deep blue lupin instead which we have planted up at Orewa - yet to flower of course.

From there we drove to Kumeu where we had lunch at the Old Railway Carriage cafe which was very nice. The old carriage with its red seats reminded me of the times we went from Dunedin to Christchurch and back to visit our grandparents. Then it was on to Matua Wines to taste their wares. Bought a nice bottle of rose, and other goodies from their shop such as a bag of walnuts which I will add to my next lot of baking. I feel an excuse coming on unfortunately!

After that little interlude many of us were feeling rather dozy when we got to our last venue - the North Shore Aero Club - at Dairy Flat. Here there were many small planes, most functional, some being restored, even a Russian plane which they had acquired in Lithuania. Not being very up on these things have forgotten most of the details about the planes. but will add them when I reread the brochure, which I have left in Orewa.

Weekend at Waiheke

Had a nice weekend on the island - went over Friday afternoon for a change, saved a lot of toing and froing as I went straight from work on the 2pm boat. It will be our last weekend there for a few weeks as the woman who is renting it for a few weeks moves in next weekend. Did quite a lot of clearing things away, not that we have too much there anymore. It was the morning after the rugby so the church was not very full. This weekend coming up will be the reopening of the cathedral. It was closed for renovations for a couple of years. We will be up in Orewa. Going there on Thursday after work as we are going on a Historical Society tour of the Kumeu area on Friday morning. Wednesday we are celebrating E's 24th birthday with cousin Ph and wife, which will be nice - here at home. Have some chicken thighs to bake with a special salt which I am making up with rosemary, garlic, zest and baked on a bed of lemon slices - the recipe was in the Listener. Lemon delicious and peaches for dessert and carrot cake for her birthday cake. Am taking the afternoon off to prepare it all. We are giving her some money for her birthday to buy some artwork she has her eye on. She is going to shift to Mum's old house after Labour weekend, with her present flatmates. Their other house is being sold.
Spring is in the air along with the inevitable spring cleaning. The blossom is out in Pompallier Terrace where the photo is from and the irises are blooming in our garden. It is good to be alive.

Auckland
Went to a very interesting presentation by Council staff on what is planned over the next few years for the waterfront, Art Gallery and Zoo. By all accounts it will be an even greater place to live and work in. We certainly like living in Auckland - there are so many things to see and do each week if you feel so inclined.

First the gallery is going to be extended and have new galleries built, one in the old part of the present gallery. What they didn't mention was that this was the Public Library way back in the 1960s and for the years before. I worked there at the start of my library career before going on my OE , which I'll be writing about soon.

The emphasis will be on conservation for the zoo, looking after the kiwi and Archey's frog for example.

Over the years Auckland City has bought lots of land from the Harbour Bridge area as far as what was known as Tank Farm in order to make the areas more accessible for Aucklanders to enjoy. These include such areas as the approach to Westhaven from the Pt Erin side where already people like to fish, stroll or frequent the cafes, the Marina itself, Viaduct Harbour and now the area round Mechanics Bay which is earmarked for a range of options including residential, park, walkways . What is envisaged is a coastal walkway from St Marys Bay to this new area which over time will be extended to go from Pt Chevalier to St Heliers then on up along the Tamaki River.

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)