Sojourn in Wellington

Had a wonderful holiday in Wellington.  Enjoyed the good weather and  change of  scenery getting around and about by train , bus and boat.  Took in Te Papa twice, went out to the Dowse, to Somes Island , on the train to Paekakarariki and sampled the restaurants in Courtney Place -  Mexican (Sweet Mother's Kitchen), Thai and Moroccan (Casablanca)  each evening.

Brainy

Spent all day yesterday up at the university  at the Brain Day organized by the Centre for Brain Research.  The CBR choir put on a performance/workshop, moreorless one of our usual sessions with audience participation. From where we sat it sounded great.

 The theme of this year's day was Brain  Fitness. Somehow when you know the physiological  reasons for the way the brain and its synapses work,  or don't work properly in the case of those with a brain disorder, the pesky symptoms are easier to put up  with . It was good to hear about all the interesting research going on in this and related fields  so people  can be hopeful that spin-offs for people with brain disorders are not too  far behind.

In the meantime there were plenty of tips for people to take home along the lines of stimulating the brain in the evenings too by not vegetating in front of TV.   Of course using the computer  with its bright screen is not conducive to good sleep afterwards  so it is a matter of striking the happy medium.  Developing the habit of concentrating on one thing for 25 minutes or so (the Pomodoro Effect) is good for training the brain  to function well at doing one thing properly rather than being distracted by emails/Facebook/texts etc. 

Then there are the usual things like a healthy diet and exercise .I will increase mine to encompass the weekends by including a long walk, each day. We are taking a neighbour's cute little dog Katie for a walk regularly  which is a new experience for us and adds a dimension to "just walking".  

Trip to Whitford and Howick

Well home again from our jaunt to Orewa and from there on a Historical Society trip to Whitford. It is not far from Howick and has a small village of shops and cafe but we went to see this Bob's Toy Museum, a private collection of hundreds of dolls, trikes, scooters, pedal cars, Matchbox toys as well as some bottles and kitchen and other household gear for good measure.  It took me back to my childhood when I first  got my walkie talkie doll, earlier a lovely dollspram.  After lunch at one of the cafes in the village we went to look over All Saints Selwyn church in Howick.  It is the oldest Selwyn church still in use, the one in Russell is older.  They also have a new church next to the old one, which they just  use nowadays  for weddings, special services etc.  The seats were pretty uncomfortable but the atmosphere was prayerful and inspirational.   Then  it was homeward bound again after afternoon tea in the parish hall. 

Stayed another night in Orewa then took in the storm which wafted over our way  from NSW, gaining momentum and  causing havoc throughout the country  - mainly branches and power lines  falling down.  Thankfully not in Orewa, nor  at our place in Ponsonby.  It has suddenly got a lot cooler with a southerly wind.  OK inside of course, now that we are home.There was heavy rain and showers and strong winds all day.

Made a nice roast lamb shank dinner with roast pumpkin and potatoes seeing I had enough time to do so.  We are staying in this Saturday night and going to a concert of the Auckland Symphony Orchestra tomorrow that a friend of mine is in.  It is a benefit concert for  a music therapy centre for children.  Our choir leader is the music therapist there too, and she has composed one of the pieces to be played tomorrow.   

The CeleBRation Choir and Me

I agreed to be interviewed  in order to publicize the research that is going on to see whether singing in a choir is beneficial for people with Parkinson's and people who have had a stroke.  In the case of Parkinson's people's voices may get a little indistinct and quieter, and their faces may lack expression as the condition progresses.  The main benefit in my case is the enjoyment of being part of a choir and the pleasure to be gained from singing with others and sometimes for others.  Yesterday we went to the Elizabeth Knox Home, where two of our choir members live,  to sing for the people there .
Interview in the Harbour News on the joys of singing with the CeleBRation Choir.

Crown Lynn

I found these two Kelston Nirvana plates for a dollar each in an op shop recently.   Can't remember ever having seen the delicate pohutukawa flower pattern in its heyday but it suits my desire for a change away from my usual china and former penchant for blue and white.  

The vase which belonged to my Christchurch aunt  has one of the fractionated marks,  used to indicate the type of glaze and firing method.   Our front garden is a riot of dahlia and hibiscus flower and foliage and this vase suits both.

The cat ornament belonged to Aunt Dorothy too .  Our cat Malkovich would not tolerate a red bow around his neck. 

Flowers and Fruit

Hydrangeas from my mother's garden in Orewa and bottled peaches from our Waiheke garden, not as nice as the Golden Queen peaches I have been bottling at home in Ponsonby.  I decided this year to get rid of my various collections of preserving jars  firstly as there seemed to be a market for them on Trademe and secondly those big jars of fruit  are too big for two people.   However have kept about a dozen of various sizes and colour - a couple of brown Agee Specials, the Agee Utility pint and quart size and even a couple of 2 quart ones.  Decided to use them as storage jars  for baking ingredients so their contents are more visible in my pantry.  People bought my jars but not to preserve fruit in but to use them as table decorations and vases for their vintage weddings!    

Orewa Outing

Had a social weekend with good friends Frances and Carolyn E. up at Orewa, enjoying the sun, beach and surf for a change. It has a liberating relaxing effect,I find, just hearing the sounds of nature - the waves, the crunch of shells underfoot, the screech of seagulls, not to mention the stunning visual beauty of the Eaves Bush area at the northern end of Orewa where Dieter, Carolyn and I went for a walk among spendid kauri, kahikatea and puriri trees. The main reason for the trip up north was to join other members of the Silverdale Historical Society to the small village of Mauku which I had not even heard of before. It is in the lush market garden area of Patumahoe and Pukekohe, an area I am not all that familiar with. The church is a small Selwyn Church in beautiful condition, dating back to 1862 and is situated on a small knoll, overlooking the area and has a small churchyard cemetery. It is called St Bride's and is a sister church to another St Bride's in Fleet St London whose flock of parishioners some of the original settlers in the area came from. We had an interesting talk on the church from the sexton and his wife. Nowadays the church has a congregation of 25 and is also used as a wedding venue. I was telling my neighbour in Orewa, who came from Pukekohe originally, all about the trip and the visit to the church, and she remembered her husband taking wedding photos on many occasions for bridal parties. Aftr lunch at a garden cafe we motored on to the Botanic Gardens in Manurewa to look at the sculpture exhibition, which was rather spread out over the whole gardens. Although there was a little train taking people around I had the misfortune to be sitting above a flat tyre and had to vacate my seat, so walked around in the heat and saw what I could without getting too hot and bothered. Back in Orewa in the early evening I indulged in the first of several long swims over the next 3 days to revive my drooping spirit. Later on we enjoyed a takeaway roast dinner at a picnic table overlooking the beach. Bliss.

Scrapbooks

I went to an interesting exhibition of scrapbooks, mainly old but some new, at the Central Library recently and was prompted to get out some in my own little collection. The first one is a recipe scrapbook I compiled in the 1960s using recipes in the Herald and Star and the Woman's weekly by such foodies of the day as Mary Anne and Tui Flower. I remember making the hot potato salad with frankfurters for a party with university friends, I took the same dish to a work do in the 1990s and made it again recently for a birthday buffet. In the 70s I added some new recipes and stuck in recipes I had enjoyed at friends' houses in the days when entertaining meant a dinner party. There is beetroot and apple salad, Syrian fruit salad and glazed ham (serves 10-12!!). I never made that I must admit, not feeling up to catering for the multitudes. The next little book down is mainly handwritten recipes in 2 different handwriting. The book belonged to my aunt Dorothy but I think my grandmother wrote in most of the recipes for staples such as shortbread, orange tea cake, ginger crunch and blackcurrant jam which includes raspberries as well. Sounds delicious and I am sorry that my blackcurrant jam always comes out of a jar from the supermarket. Although the little book has sections for fish, vegetables, entrees etc only recipes for cakes and biscuits were written in. That's what women used recipes for - for the other things they would have used their imagination to a large extent. I know my mother did. Here again I have appropriated the unused pages for my own recipes and stuck in a few from magazines. I was delighted to find a recipe for apricot and bran loaf which I made in 1974 when I was living in Hamilton. I will make it again soon with some plump bright orange dried apricots from Central Otago, I have in the cupboard. The next scrapbook is one I made in the 1980s or 1990s after a bookmaking course at Art Station. At this time I had saved all Eli's initial artwork from the time she was a toddler. At the same time motherhood had sparked my own creative juices and I was making things which complemented hers. So I interleaved pages of her art with blank pages for photos, woven or dyed samples, strands of coloured handspun yarn and the like. The page I have open shows some of the yarn and part of a painting by E. The last scrapbook is a travel one from the early 1970s. The trip was by car to Scandinavia right up to Finland. I bought some of this lovely cutlery which I still use, in Copenhagen. I loved the natural scenery in Scandinavia, especialy the trees and lakes but also the decorative arts, the architecture, folk music and food, frightfully expensive I remember. The book is handmade and bound in red cloth by Karin, a librarian in Wolfsburg with whom I worked. She was a very creative person and made beautiful things over the years some of which I ws lucky to receive as presents - a batik angel which goes up on the wall at Christmas time and cane coasters, a polished wood paperknife are some that spring to mind. But I digress. I will stop here as the paragraphing is not working on this post so I apologize for the mass of text .

Holiday Mode

January has come and gone and with it a most memorable trip to the Bay of Islands with old friends Marlene and Eileen, visitor from Western Australia! We motored up with Marle at the wheel, stopping for refreshments at Orewa at the Gabb abode. After a short walk along the beach for old time's sake in the case of the other two we carried on to Whangarei stopping there at the

harbour area for a picnic lunch and look at the art work in the gallery close by, housed in a lovely old villa. Browsed the craft shops without succumbing this time, as far as I remember. Our destination was the stunning holiday house of the Brown's , high above Opua Harbour with a tranquil view below, ferry plying its way to the Russell side of the harbour every half hour or so, yachts and boats sailing in and out or moored there, creating a wonderful mesmerizing scene to relish and remember. Collapsed in a heap with a cup of tea then helped with (or not) with the meal preparation, before enjoying the evening in luxury accomodation.

Wedding in Berlin

Some of my friends have wedding anniversaries in January. I am not sure when this wedding was but it was in Berlin 1969 or 1970 maybe, in the middle of winter, possibly also in January. My school and university friend Monica McGreal was the bride, her husband, American serviceman in Berlin, Steve De Ment, and I was the bridesmaid. Monica's dress was trimmed with mink, with matching muff and hat, and she wore white boots. My dress was bright red, and the white woollen waistcoat was embroidered in red and black. I wore a black hat and boots. Monica was working in Berlin at the American base, I was working in the public library in Wolfsburg. It was a small wedding - Monica's mother was there from New Zealand and the rest were American friends of the young couple. They started their married life in a cute little cottage in Glienicker Strasse not far from the Stoelpchensee and they lived there for a couple of years before carrying on their married life in the States. They came back to NZ about 20 years ago. Sadly Steve died in August 2011.

Christmas Eve

Christmas is Coming

For me the pohutukawa in bloom puts me in the Christmas spirit. This one was seen at Pt Chevalier Beach on Saturday when we were out for a stroll along the beach. It was early evening and family groups were still enjoying their beach picnics. We celebrated in our traditional way the next evening by lighting the third candle on our Advent stand, enjoying some gingerbread cookies and listening to some nostalgic German Christmas carols.

Saturday Surprises

Was delighted to get a beautiful bouquet of flowers this morning as a result of a nomination by Tina and Warren, from Christchurch of late, now ensconced happily in Red Beach. I was really pleased and surprised. Fragrant lillies, roses, carnations, all sorts of beautiful pink flowers. Today has been a very special day. First my nephew and his wife came round for morning tea after returning from overseas this week after 2 years in Indonesia. Then we went up to see Eli's exhibition of paintings, Way of Sorrows, in the art school Graduate Exhibition - there are 12 portraits of Justin Bieber, portraits of the boy artist, his trials and tribulations as it were. I am biased but I do like them all.

Poppies

Good friend Carolyn M gave me these beautiful poppies from Bhana Brothers on Ponsonby Rd . We were marking my birthday belatedly by going for a walk. Bought goodies for lunch from Nosh - a specially delicious salmon mousse with capers in it, ham and ciabatta to go with the coffee and cheese I had at home already.

Seen in Silverdale

Spent a few days in Orewa this week and took in the Silverdale Market on Saturday morning , catching sight of these dear little alpacas huddled together for warmth and comfort. Could have done with one myself as it was cold and showery. Bought some old- fashioned chocolate fudge cake with biggish pieces of crushed wine biscuit from the stall outside the Bendon shop. The lady who proudly showed off her delicious looking home baking - date scones (minus the icing sugar and a decent height and texture) , anzac biscuits and the fudge cake, was proudly retro and one of the old- school bakers stuck in the 1960s time-warp. Purchased some Lindt chocolate and Buderim ginger from the next stand and rustled up a batch of ginger crispies from the Edmonds book for afternoon tea to which I invited elderly neighbour, Gladys, who does not see at all well and relies on the spoken word for news of the outside world. She knows all the local gossip so I am up-to-date on that front too. Later on I made a few little jars of the most delicious jam with some Central Otago dried apricots and some feijoas from the freezer. This is a recipe from the NZWW book of favourite recipes.

Bought a mandarin tree for $20 which is very good value. Just have to find a space in our rather crowded garden back in Auckland to plant it in. It is in flower so it will have to go in the garden soon, along with the butter beans, dill and sunflower seeds.

Auckland Marathon

Ever since friend Marlene and I did the 5km walk part of a fun run and walk round Epsom last year I have been on the look-out for a similar walk , and lo and behold with the Auckland Marathon's 5km walk segment starting up the hill and down the other side at Pt Erin this was the occasion I was waiting for. This time friends Sue and Pam joined in too and we were part of Len's Team, a Heart Foundation team of walkers from cardiac clubs and similar groups to our YMCA Never 2 Old Programme, that Sue and I belong to. ( Len being, Len Brown, mayor of Auckland) It was a beautiful day and great to walk the 5km under the bridge, round Westhaven to the Wynyard Quarter and across to Victoria Park where the race ended - and the picnic began. We joined some of the others at the Heart Foundation tent for a healthy gourmet lunch of venison stirfry with hummus, salad greens, nuts and parsley served in pita pockets. I have not tasted such deliciously tender meat for a long time and hope to try and replicate it some time myself. For the record Pamela and Susan were placed 236th and 237th in 1:02:03 and Marlene and I, 240th and 241st in 1:02:12. Len got 318th There were 333 entries in this event.

Home and Away

The month of October has been spent getting back in to the swing of domestic things after the excitement of the trip to China and enjoying the convivial atmosphere in Auckland provided by the Rugby World Cup. I was very keen to avoid the hype associated by the big matches so we escaped to Waiheke and Orewa a couple of times, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of beach and garden,

though the latter required some serious action before we could do so. The lawn and onion flowers were flourishing and have been cut down to size now, showcasing the self-sown cinnerarias, a splash of colour in our rather shadowy back garden. Went over the Bridge to Northcote and met up with Knitterati friends to look at a textile arts, and very fine embroidery exhibition by Olwyn Horwood, beautiful traditional work spanning several decades. It spurred me on to get out my patchwork but also to think about making something creative of my own , recycling some old bed covers and a woollen blanket I found in the hut at Waiheke . I only want to make something very small, just a reminder of days gone by. The following week went to the Art Gallery with the Knitterati again and looked at the NZ art. Being the school holidays and with many visitors in town for the rugby the gallery was full of excited people enjoying the fabulous new building and its contents after waiting an eternity for its refurbishment. The cafe serves delicious food too. I am going back there in a week or two to catch up with two old friends who worked with me in the library which coincidentally was in the old part of the art gallery in those days. (1967-68). When I came back from my OE and had returned to Auckland Public Library to work after a stint in Hamilton and Takapuna the library was in a new building across the road. Over the ensuing years even that building has been extended and refurbished several times and is a hive of activity, industry and enjoyment which is as it should be. October is a month of celebration, first another year older but for me the chance to see all my friends over a week or two or three, then our wedding anniversary which we are spending the way we like best - making an excursion to one of the suburbs we haven't been to for a while. Today it is to be Birkenhead.It has history in the form of the Chelsea Sugarworks which we are used to seeing from the Herne Bay beaches , leafy streets with old villas (I hope) and a new library , which for me is the main reason for going there! Can't resist libraries.

Exercise in the Park

Singing, balancing and moving while watching the world go by. Not to mention tai chi which is done too. I never had the time though the inclination to do so however. It had to wait until I got home and have started going to the Y again sporting my red panda T shirt with 24 pandas demonstrating the 24 movements.

Cruising down the Yangtze

Spent a few days cruising down the Yangtze in the Century Sky which had 306 passengers, 30 of us and several other Wendy Wu groups and other groups, all doing similar shore excursions in tandem with us. It is all very well-organized requiring early starts and sometimes late arrival back home in order to fit everything in. You need stamina which thankfully I had, and fitness to negotiate the many steps and stairs, both on board and off board.

The gorge scenery, dam and locks were spectacular, the small boat trip into the Three Lesser Gorges, even more so. This is on a tributary of the Yangtze.

Shanghai in Two Short Days

Shanghai is a super-modern city, the financial and shipping centre of China. It has a population of 23 million over an area of 6400 sq km. Hard for us to take in coming from a small country like New Zealand. Of lcourse there are plenty of skyscrapers, tower buildings and apartment blocks to accomodate everyone and the accompanying technological infrastructure to support everything, from the fastest lift (45 seconds to travel 88 floors, an ear-popping speed, I assure you) to the fastest train in the world (I forewent this pleasure).

I enjoyed my look into the past at the Shanghai Museum with its galleries featuring ceramics, furniture, jade, colourful costumes of the different ethnic groups in China , sculpture and bronze, all beautifully displayed and impressive. There was even a visiting exhibition of Maori art from Otago with beautiful tiki, kete and a dog fur cloak.

Visited the Bund area, an old economic centre along the river with colonial buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. We walked along the embankment promenade with lots of Chinese tourists, one of whom even wanted to take a photo of us with their elderly parents.

The lady in the lowest picture is separating silk worms from their silk. It is a very strong fibre and is stretched several times and made into duvet inners among other things, beautifully light and warm.