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.