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)

Knitterati

I have been to our Knitterati knitting group today . After an hour or so we toddled off to look at a couple of galleries - Whitespace and Objectspace. The latter had a retrospective display of jewellery by Peter McKay who was making little decorated copper and silver fishes which were sold through Fingers Gallery where I bought one as a cheer-me up way back in 1992. Also bought a little silver kiwi which was his work too which I gave it to my Perth goddaughter to remind her of her heritage. He has gone on to bigger and different pieces, including symbolic and miraculous pieces with Gospel scenes which I liked too. Whitespace had some small paintings - by Nicky Foreman - 5 rows of 15 or so small paintings, sellings by the row (all sold) and a few larger paintings. She is from Taranaki and brings in the landscape to her paintings. We all liked them and may try to do some small mixed media pictures ourselves next week.
We went to Leys Institute to knit last week. It was very quiet but by the end of our stint there was a bit more life in the place. It was so silent with a lot of men looking balefully at us occupying their/our space.
Friday night was the end of year party - Dress for your favourite destination. I am still very foind of Berlin so wore Dieter's Berlin t shirt which he bought there last year. Lots of bubbly, cocktails and other drinks and finger food to go with it. We had the usual power point demo of our year's successes and all the increases in visits, hits on the website etc etc. We have been rewarded with the usual extra day's leave and a morning tea for each dept.
Saturday night went to Andrew Brown's engagement party to the young and beautiful Sara. It was a happy occasion and we were delighted to share in the celebrations with their extended families.
On Sunday it was a wet day so we forewent our usual jaunt to Orewa and went to the movies instead - Go for Zucker, all about 2 Jewish brothers with completely different lifestyles who have to reconcile before they can inherit from their mother’s estate - one of the conditions of her will. They get there in the end!
We booked our trip to Vietnam for the beginning of October and paid the deposit this morning so it is all go again.

Cruise

Fortunately or unfortunately our cruise has been cancelled as the boat was damaged on its previous trip - the cruise from Hell they called it. The Pacific Star left Auckland during the terrible storm which hit Auckland last Tuesday evening and got a battering. Passengers were sick and injured and ultimately had to be flown home from Vila while the boat makes its way to Brisbane for repair. See the New Zealand herald. We were rather dejected but I have unpacked my things now and are mulling over where we might like to go instead, in the near or medium -term future. Met my Knitterati cronies for our knitting and art chitchat at Art Station this morning. Back to work tomorrow for the time being.

Waiheke Weekend

Another weekend on the island, seeing as the weather was OK. Had a nice time - went straight from the ferry to a sale of old tables and vintage textiles and bought not a table which I would have liked nor a crocheted rug which I have made myself in years gone by but a nice new bag , made of furnishing fabric. It was the launch of Linda's venture, a friend of one of the women in the Knitterati Group which I belong to who had invited us to come along. Joanna and I were the only ones who could make it from the mainland. The other women had dressed 50s style with aprons, jewellery, outfits etc. and we had cups of tea in Crown Lynn cups etc, and they were all doing their knitting. It looked like a blast from the past. Fiddled around on the rest of Sat, and did our usual Mass, coffee, Artworks visit, where there was some tasteful matariki art on show and a Zinni Douglas retrospective exhibition including some gorgoeous lush pictures of arum lillies, one of which I wouldn't have minded buying if they hadn't already sold. Had a long walk home to the bach and met Linda and Joanna who were returning my scarf and bringing me the bag I had succombed to buying after all. They also came in to have a look at the bach, which she and friend really liked. I am very houseproud and pleased with the way it is looking too. Just the hearth to finish now - chose some terracotta tiles today over in Parnell, but they have to come down from Warkworth and then be couriered to the island. All designed to make one very patient.
Have parted from a couple of books, an enamel jug and a America's Cup biscuit tin this week on Trademe and will take a break for a couple of weeks as we go off on our Pacific Cruise on 18th July. Home on 28th.
Cheers and arohanui.

Dieter and East Prussia

Dieter spent the first 6 years of his life in Willenberg, a small town near the Polish border in those days. It was a border town in Masuria, a beautiful lake district, though Willenberg was on a river. We visited the town a few years ago we saw that idyllic river with dragonflies and even a beaver. The Russians were advancing on East Prussia in January 1941 and they bombed Willenberg on 19 January so everybody left in a great hurry. His mother, two sisters and Tante Friedel left together and went to Ortelsburg by train and then got a train west. His sister Baerbel was only 2 weeks old and had to be pushed through the snow in her pram . Dieter nearly got lost as he hung onto the wrong pram at one stage. When they got to the next big town called Elbing, the Russians were suddenly in front of them again. Their retreat to Germany was suddenly cut off and they took the next train to Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia where they hoped to get a ship. They stayed there for a few days during which time there were frequent bombs. They couldnt get a ship as there was not enough room for the size of their family group. This was the Wilhelm Gustlof, which was sunk with the loss of 6 thousand lives, mainly soldiers and women and children. It was sunk by a Russian torpedo . When they had a quiet spell they decided to leave Koenigsberg they decided to go up to the Samland peninsula and wait for the end of the war. It was a very nice Baltic Sea resort. They stayed in an old villa - the ground floor was uninhabitable but they lived upstairs. It was about 100 metres from the forest where they collected edible things in summer - blueberries, wild strawberries and sorrell, out of which a soup was made. Tante Friedel worked in the kitchen of the local collective farm and supplemented the family's meagre diet with potato peelings and anything else she could get, a bit of flour now and again. There was a weekly market where they could trade what they got in the forest. Dieter used to try his luck by hanging around the kitchen of the collective. One of the old cooks had a soft spot for him and gave him some food, but the Russian women upstairs did not like him and tipped buckets of water over him a couple of times.

Midwinter

We are coping a little better with winter now that we are managing to heat our sitting room each evening and having an open fire. Today it was sunny and we made a start on preparing our laundry for painting - had to take 20 years junk off the storage shelves so they could be painted. Went up the road for lunch with good friend M and then enjoyed coffee and cake ( a very yummy madeira and hazelnut walnut cake I made from a German cake book I had for many years and decided to sell, seeing I had made only one of the recipes in all that time). Had a game of scrabble at home. Had a pleasant weekend in spite of the wet weather. Went to Newmarket and browsed the shops in 277 after Mass at St Ben's on Sunday. Managed to buy a nice pair of trousers - red and navy herringbone tweedy look from the Laura Ashley shop. E came round for dinner which was nice.

Yesterday we went to see the movie Becoming Jane - about the life of Jane Austen. Feel inspired to read a bit more of her life and works again, remembering how much enjoyment we got out of her novels studying them with SMV at St Mary's all those years ago, or was it at Varsity as we called it then.

Browse

Did our bit for the zoo this afternoon and in doing so got rid of a lot of foliage which was making the south side of our house rather dark and gloomy, obscuring a lot of light. Pruned a lot of our native shrubs and trees and got the zoo browse dept to come and pick up the branches for the animals. Pulled out a lot of parsley and lettuce plants that had gone to seed and they went to the zoo too.

Today is the shortest day and the beginning of winter - it certainly feels it too. The South Island is covered in snow and Central Otago is snowed in. Looking forward to our cruise to Fiji and Tonga in July.

ATCs

Went to the Contemporary Art and Domestic Craft Group this morning at Art Station. We had a workshop on Artist Trading Cards or ATCs presented by Andrea Best, a former group member who now lives and practices her art , including mail art from Te Aroha, her new home. Essentially art trading cards are small collages on cards the size of playing cards but there are also even smaller ones we saw examples of - inchies - on 1 inch squares of card, altered postcards , paper dolls, fabric collages to name a few. There are a few essential rules to each - a background, an image, a word and an embellishment. They can be on a theme, say freedom, woman , you name it. They can be a kind of visual diary if you make one each day. People make and send them to one another through groups on the internet. We did one on the theme of woman and I am posting mine for what it is worth.

After that we all went down to the Central Library to knit on our blankets for the Shelter Installation which will be at Artstation next year. There was a bit more interest in our work, especially among the staff who came for a look in their lunch hour. We had a visit from Red Cross worker Jenny Little . The Red Cross will be given these blankets for distribution to refugees after the installation. In the meantime if you feel so inclined how about knitting a square, or squares, any size, or a strip, or a diamond for incorporation into a blanket.

Happy Birthday Dieter

Dieter's 69th birthday today - I of course am so much younger. Got up early to make a hazelnut cake with chocolate chips and a batch of his favourite biscuits. Willl write a bit about his early life which is quite interesting. He was born in 1938 in Willenberg which was in East Prussia, now part of Poland. He was part of a large family of aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents who all lived and worked in the area. He had an older sister, Hannelore, and a younger sister, Barbel.

To b e continued

How my mother ended up in New Zealand

A couple of weeks ago a customer came into the library whose wife is Clare Sutton, who as a little girl was looked after by my mother as her nanny. Yesterday I met Clare for lunch in the library cafe and she told me what she remembered of Meme, and what she had been told about her . I also spoke to Rhoda in 1995 at her home in Tohunga Crescent Parnell and she gave me a lovely photo of Mum and Clare on the beach at Cannes where they had gone for a holiday.
In March 1937 they were living in a hotel in the Hague where they had a bedroom and a sitting room. Arnold had got a job as a paleontologist with Shell and my mother was a maid in the hotel. Accomodation had been hard to find so Arnold, Rhoda and baby Clare stayed in the hotel. One evening they wanted to go out and applied to an agency for a children's nurse to look after 3 month old Clare and they were sent a woman who appeared with a swastika emblem on her coat . Rhoda was horrified and did not want a Nazi looking after her child.

My mother was familiar with the family when she took meals to the room on a tray and was very fond of Clare whom she referred to as Die Goldische. She offered to, or was asked, if she would look after Clare which she did and the arrangement continued.
Later Arnold got a job in Swiztzerland near the French border and they asked my mother if she would like to go with them and be their children's nurse. Anna, their second child was born round this time. They lived over the border in France in the Haut Savoie at Le Crest Davaulx near Annecy and Clare was brought up speaking English , French and German. When they travelled to Switzerland, Meme had to crouch down and hide as she didnt have the relevant papers. In the end she got permission.

In Wintger 1938/39 Arnold applied for a job with the NZ Geological Survey and was interviewed successfully at the NZ High Commission for the job in London. Rhoda had returned to her family in Manchester to say goodbye and my mother did the same arriving in Manchester herself soon after. Her father was still alive, and her younger sister and brother Anton, who died in the war Rhoda's mother reported that Clare saw her first and reported to the rest of the family "Meme est ici". They had the usual long voyage out to and spent the first little time at the Midland Hotel, where they found out to their consternation and amazement that children were not served in the dining room. They later got there own house and the children's bedroom was connected to Meme's who looked after them in the night etc. Arnold was employed in drawing maps in the Dannevirke area and they spent several months during summer camped in that area. Charles Fleming was there too. Martin Te Ponga was one of the field hands who were very interested in my mother. She later went out with the Lower Hutt photographer Andrew , a well-known Wellington family of the time.

After this period my mother met my father Sydney Alan Gabb and they got married at St Mary of the Angels in Wellington, November 1942. According to Rhoda it was a dreadful service. It was a weekday I think and she wore a navy suit . Arnold gave her away and they had a celebratory lunch at the Midland, just down the hill.


During the war there was the usual anti-German and anti-Jewish feeling with one of the Germans at the embasssy telling someone the Lillie's would be first on the hit list. My mother had to report to the police once a week. I looked up her file in the National Archives several years ago and she was not considered a risk at all, having assured the powers that be that she was not interested in politics at all.

I was born in October 1943 and some time after that the family shifted to Dunedin where we lived at St Clair, shifting to Aucland in 1957. In 1953 my parents went to Germany to see mum's sister Anne-Marie. Her father had died after the war from malnutrition. My parents had sent food parcels for many years - rolled oats, cocoa and the like. My aunt told me they looked forward to drinking this wonderful cocoa once a week on Fridays.

We girls went to boarding school at Villa Maria in Christchurch. Myparents sent big parcels of lovely toys - roller skates, brightly coloured balls I remember but it doid not compensate for the austgerity of boarding school life of the time. Our grandparents lived at North Beach and we did visit them on a Sunday occasionally. They had their golden wedding anniversary that year and we were allowed an extra visit. At the end of the school year we returned home to Dunedin and life continued uneventfully for a year or so until mymother became ill with a "spot on the lung" and had a big operation and recuperation at Waikari Hospital. We had a second period of boarding school, but that is another story.
To be continued.

The week that was

Had an interesting week what with bathroom repairs progressing to the point of having bath and shower removed and the room prepared for new ones. All this has made daily routines trying .
Went to the Contemporary art and domestic craft course n Tuesday and carried on with my stripey knitting for the Shelter exhibition that the group is planning for next year. They hope to have about 100 blankets in an installation and they will be later donated to the Red Cross, who will pass them on to refugees or the like. To encourage wider community participation in this somewhat daunting project, seeing there are only 5 or 6 in the group we decided to go public and stage a knit-in in the library on Tusday after our Artstation session. Lots of my workmates came and looked and it was a very pleasant place to carry on with our knitting. The public managed to assiduously avoid looking at us, but hey better luck with interest and participation next time.

On Wednsday evening I attended a seafood tapas evening at the Seafood School down at the Viaduct. This was organised through wortk and was fun. We watched demonstrations by the chef of the Duxton Hotel prepare mussel fritters (with grated courgette and carrot) , olive and anchovy cheesey biscuits and prawns in a spicy Thai broth served in little glasses, all very yummy. He also did choritzo in red wine, marinated olives, almonds in egg white and toasted in the oven until crunchy and arranged it all on a platter for us to sample. Then we prepared the first 3 things ourselves in groups of four, made our own platters with them and sat down with a glass of wine and savoured them. Am looking forward to replicating them at home some time before I forget how to make them.

Mother's Day

Most of my female rellies and friends are mothers of one sort or other - be it mother, godmother or grandmother, and those of you who are not, then you have your own mothers to celebrate, as I do mine. Here is an excerpt from something I wrote about my childhood a few months ago.

I grew up in Dunedin – born in Wellington and lived there for the first year of my life or so, when my parents shifted to Dunedin where my father got a job with the Inland Revenue. In Wellington he had been with the Dept of Lands and Survey.

We lived at 21 Onslow Rd which later became 26 Albert St, St Clair. The house is still there. At the age of 5 I went to St Clair School for the first few months of school. When my sister Helen turned 5 we both went to St Bernadette’s Catholic School in Forbury. We had double wooden desks with built-in seats. The uniform was a navy gym frock with a blue and white striped tie. I was rather a quiet child who was intimidated by school and the nuns and remember often turning round and coming home again in the mornings and my mother having to take me back again, or sending me off again. In Std 2 I was in Sister Barbara’s class. She was impressed with my imagination and liked me and vice versa. The Std 3 class was in the same room and I often did their work as well as my own.

We had a carefree childhood going away to our crib or bach in the Queenstown camping ground in the school holidays. We went by train as far as Cromwell and then on by bus, going skiing in winter to Coronet Peak or to the lake for swimming etc in summer. We spent a lot of time at St Clair beach when at home in Dunedin, going for long walks or playing on the beach, or in the playground with its great array of swings and roundabouts.

My mother cooked hearty meals with a European flavour but didn’t follow any recipes. Stuffed steak was one – rump steak with a pocket cut in it and filled with diced bacon, onion, and sewn closed, braised in the speckled oval casserole on the top of the gas stove , big rissoles , or battered fish on Fridays, a roast on Sunday etc. Pea or vegetable soup was a favourite lunchtime dish with lots of grated carrot and celery greenery floating on top. We always had thick brown bread sandwiches, usually egg and parsley, or cheese. We came home from school on the tram for lunch in those early years. After school we often used to get the tram to the library in the Octagon, taking out the maximum number of fiction and non-fiction books at a time. I was an avid reader, both at school and home often devouring a book in a single sitting eg stories of the composers, the School journal and the Catholic School journal .

In 1953 my parents went for a trip to Europe, the first time my mother had been back to Germany since coming to NZ in 1939 with the Lillies. We were sent to boarding school at Villa Maria in Christchurch. They travelled on the Rangitane I think and sent us postcards from wherever they went and big parcels of toys such as roller skates and colourful balls . Our grandparents and Auntie Dorothy were living at North Beach and we often went there after Mass on Sunday for the day. We missed our parents and found boarding school life rather harsh . When they returned in the November they took 5 year old Mary back home to Dunedin with them but Helen and I had to finish off the year at boarding school.

The top photo is of my mother about the time they went overseas in 1953.

Renovations

Had a nice weekend on Waiheke to escape the inconvenience of not having a functioning laundry and only seimi-functioning loo. The bathroom will be next with a new tiled shower and a claw footed bath in which I can soak the aches and pains of the work-a-day world away. Got some new specs today - dark red across the top and sides . To sparkle life up a bit and to have something to look forward to Dieter and I have booked an 11 day cruise to Fiji and Tonga, both places a little unruly for me to want to spend a week there in the normal holiday way. This should be fun, though I will have to think of something to do to while away the days at sea.
Went to my knitting group today and did more on my strip of knitting which will be 1/12th of my blanket for othe shelter exhibition next year. Each month I will start a new strip. Learned how to make a diamond shaped piece of knitting from one of the older members of the group - you start with 1 stitch and inscrease into the first stitch of each row until the first half is the size you want then you decrease one at the beginning of each row until you have 1 stitch again. Voila! I also made a badge with a crocheted base and three buttons and a bead on top. We are planning some knit-ins at various public places, probably libraries for a start. Went to an exhibition at a local art gallery, Whitespace in Crummer Road, just opposite the new Soho development, featuring large paintings of trees, paths and white fences. Quite magnificent.

Visitor from Christchurch via Perth

Entertained Leny on her way home from the wedding in Perth and showed her the sights of Auckland and environs and enjoyed seeing them ourselves with new eyes. First we went up to Orewa and unwound by going on long walks along the beach and through Eaves Bush, sadly now truncated now that Puriri Park is being developed as a new suburb. The latest thing to happen is that they have stripped the hillside of its contours and vegetation. Goodness knows what we will see there next - a clutter of houses I suppose. Hope they get a decent view. Enjoyed morning coffee at the Nautilus cafe after Mass on Sunday morning and got my farm eggs at the market afterwards ready for the baking I never got round to until after Leny had gone home. Made some peanut brownies and a dutch apple cake to keep my hand in.
On the Monday we did the op shops and I can't admit to buying anything memorable which is a "good thing" and just as well.

Tuesday was a lovely day so went for a drive along the waterfront calling in to Mission Bay for a stroll along the promenade, then on to St Heliers Bay, first to the library which was bustling with borrowers, then browsed the shops and lunched at a local cafe before returning via the Rose Gardens and the Domain to look at the glasshouses, complete with different varieties of eggplant, some looking just like eggs. Entertained visitors from Mt Albert to dinner in the evening and confess to watching Dancing with the Stars (What stars?) over coffee in the drawing room.

Wednesday to Friday I worked then it was off to paradise as Leny calls Waiheke for another relaxing weekend - nice to have our bach back for ourselves after having let it off and on since Christmas. Did the usual things - market, beach, art gallery with its wonderful display of small paintings, most by local artists, most sold. I have one done a coupled of years ago by my favourite artist - Danielle Fillion - of vineyards and wider landscape which I will photograph and post another time as it is waiting to be put on the wall in just the right place when I make up my mind where. I got her to do me some cards of our bach too, the new front view, with the pohutukawa and agapanthus flowering when she did her watercolour.

Back to Auckland on the Monday morning 11am sailing then off to St Luke's for a short burst of retail therapy, for me this time. These places make me feel slightly claustrophobic so I was pleased I got my two lovely shirts in the space of twenty minutes and escaped back to the comfort of home with goodies from Harvest Wholefoods for afternooon tea.

Tuesday was Leny's last day so made the most of the morning by going to K Rd for a walk along the strip, via the Rainbow op shop which used to be in Jervois Rd, purchasing a book on Bremen for Dieter and 2 bookends for myself, then having coffee and the perfect date scone at Alleluya in St Kevin's Arcade.

Bussed home and picked up my favourite vegetarian sandwiches and quiche from the Hollywood Bakery for our last lunch together. Got out the sewing machine which I don't think had been out since Leny's last visit 4 years ago and she kindly helped me sew some bias binding around a patchwork ovencloth I made. I have now entered a new phase of domestic craft activity so watch this space!

Perth

Had 10 days in Perth attending the wedding of my goddaughter Marianne and daughter of my old school friend Eileen. It was a very joyful occasion, in fact the bride smiled all day from 11 in the morning till 11 at night. The wedding was out in the Swan Valley, a very picturesque area a few kms out of Perth with lots of wineries. Before the day we spent a day in town looking at art gallery with its many Aboriginal paintings, the State Library , a very comfortable spacious library with lots of free internet access points and good reference books and the museum, which had a good exhibition on the history of Perth and its settlement. Also did the obligatory shopping for goodies at Target and other shops. After the wedding we had 3 days down at Margaret River, a small town with lots of small shops, the river of course, looking a bit devoid of water at the end of summer, and a National Park. It is also a wine area too and there were lots of tours featuring those. We imbibed locally each evening instead and did a couple of walks along the river and a trip to Augusta, further south on a cape where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Spent Easter back in Perth going to the Good Friday ceremony and mass on Easter Sunday, finishing off with a lovely roast dinner cooked by Frank. Home again on an evening flight travelling on airpoints Business Class which was very nice. Have had a couple of days to get rid of the jetlag and get acclimatised to the slightly cooler climate. Over there it got up to 35 C, here is is about 22 C .

Inorganic Collection

Pleased to be able to announce that we got rid of quite a lot of rubbish from under the house, our old window frame collection, broken mirrors, old bags. All the good stujff was snaffled up by passing hoarders, foragers, gleaners or collectors like myself which prompted me to do the same in the neighbourhood too. Got some Australian novels to read while we are over there, replacement bags, a book case for Elisabeth and a blue enamel jug to replace the red ones I sold on Trademe some time ago. Well it is all very harmless and it is nice to have some new junk. There will be another collection in 2 years time so will enjoy them my new trove until then.

Upper Harbour Trip to Riverhead

Went on a Sunday boat trip with the German Club. It was all new territory me, at least seeing the North Shore sites from the water. Started off going under the Harbour Bridge, past Birkenhead Wharf, the Chelsea sugar works, then Beachhaven with some quite spectacular houses overlooking the water. Then came Kauri Point naval armaments depot, tucked away here, it is said so that if it exploded it would be away from Auckland City. Further on up the harbour past a marina on the Te Atatu side then under the Upper Harbour Bridge, past Paremoremo and a former Maori Pa site strategically situated on the entrance to Hellyers creek. Lots of seabirds in evidence waiting for fish. Then came Herald Island, connected to the mainland by causeway for many years, the Hobsonville Airbase, the former Clark Potteries and finally our destination, the tavern at Riverhead where we had a delicious barbecue lunch . Some of us had a walk up the road to see if there was anything to see - not much just a dairy and a garage and lots of traffic speeding along the Great North Rd.

Sydney Alan Gabb

It was the 30th anniversary of my father's death on 13 March. There aren't many photos of him that I could lay my hands on easily so I am listing one of him and my mother going out to some ball or other. Next there is a photo of me, my sisters , Helen and Mary, who died 10 years before my father at the age of 18, and my mother. On the back of this photo Mary has written "Taken when I was 14 1/4 . The night I got my first boyfriend!!". It was at a barn dance in National Park where we had a bach. All the locals were invited along with several inmates from the Rangipo Prison Farm. The following photo was taken a few years later in our family homein Jervois Rd, Herne Bay, a few months before I went off to Europe on my second OE.

Bay of Islands

We had a lovely 3 -day trip - lots of historic sites and houses, incuding Ruakepapeka, Waimate North, and Pompallier House, another at Butler Point and a whaling museum there, plus Pete's Transport and Colonial museum near Kerikeri, a chocolate factory where I bought gifts for March birthdays. Dieter kindly bought me a box too. It was wonderful to be back in Paihia, Russell, and Kerikeri - the town changed beyond recognition since our last visit, some12 years ago. Nice to go to the Stone Store, which is beautifully restored and stocked with typical things of the time, as well as new things, all tastefully arranged and available for purchase such as old fabrics suitable for patchwork. Kemp House with its beautiful garden was interesting as one of the earliest houses of the area. There is a bypass going in which will take heavy traffic which has a deletarious effect on the house and store with its vibrating noise, away from that area and bridge over the inlet . Everywhere we had conducted tours of the historic places trust houses with very knowledgable and enthusiastic people. We went to a kaleidoscope workshop and were able to look through different kaleidoscopes with different prisms at things like the big urn of flowers outside and see the most amazing patterns. One of the people bought one and passed it around the bus and if youpointed it out the window you could get a riot of changingpattern especially passing trees and hedges. They didn't come cheap but they were in beautiful kauri surrounds.
All our group were from the Silverdale and Districts Historical Society and older than us. We dined out both nights at the RSA in Paihia - very cheap mini roast dinner or fish meal for $11. There was a long wait but I filled it admirably with a couple of drinks from the bar. The photos are of Kemp House and the store, and the kaleidoscope factory where there was a huge pear tree.