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