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August 29, 2018
Suicide, the prevention of it... Read more…
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August 22, 2018
Kia ora koutou, we're meeting at the library at 4pm... Read more…
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Homai te pakipaki – its NZ Theatre Month…
August 15, 2018
We are on the way to our first NZ Theatre Month... Read more…
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August 8, 2018
I read somewhere that Michael Joseph Savage liked dancing and it is my conviction that this liking for dance influenced some branches of the LP to hold Learner's Dances in the 1940s. I've written about them in my memoir but today I'm thinking about the happiness of dancing and how once you've been caught up in the pleasure of moving to music it never leaves you. Its free and you can do it in the privacy of your own home. There's plenty of music around. Turn on a radio station or go on spotify or any of the other music apps and you can choose your own. There's something about movement to music which is very freeing. The music is like form in poetry. As long as you keep to the beat you can do any dance steps you like within it. So you can waltz, foxtrot, just move, whatever. Doesn't matter your size or height, age or physical condition. Doesn't matter if you're visually or physically impaired, you can even lie in bed or sit on the couch and recreate the pleasure of dancing without worrying about music at all. I'm sorry that dancing with someone has gone out… Read more…
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August 1, 2018
July is on its way out as I write this... Read more…
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July 25, 2018
I find it slightly disturbing to turn 89 ... Read more…
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July 11, 2018
There's a patch of untidy pots and other stuff down the back of the strip I use for vegetables. And in one of the pots was a yellow Lachanalia. Perfect to find after the storm that thundered and battered everything last night. I fully expected a power cut but not this time. Seeing the yellow flowers made me remember how little yellow is available in clothes shops. I have two yellow jerseys and both were bought from opshops. I love them and love wearing them and there's something about the colour that makes people smile. Our response to colour is immediate. We either love it or hate it. I loved yellow from when I was quite small. I assume it was because after the long winter the sight of forsythia or kowhai or spring bulbs is a heart-lifting signal. Winter's on its way out, let's celebrate. Yellow makes me feel happy. What colour does that for you?
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Rose pruning time and other things
July 4, 2018
Kia ora koutou, the hearing aids are ... Read more…
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June 27, 2018
Kia ora Koutou, as you all know I'm writing a... Read more…
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June 20, 2018
On Sunday at Nga Purapura there was an ... Read more…
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June 6, 2018
I'm wonder whether, like lots of others ... Read more…
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May 30, 2018
I write this busk on a day when... Read more…
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May 23, 2018
Kia ora koutou, the Lilliput Library is still .... Read more…
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May 9, 2018
Kia ora koutou, some tigs are puzzling.... Read more…
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May 2, 2018
Kia ora koutou. I started this poem.... Read more…
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April 25, 2018
Kia ora koutou, I went to the local medical centre this afternoon... Read more…
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April 18, 2018
Does the ability to juggle come... Read more…
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April 11, 2018
It's getting harder to think what to... Read more…
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March 21, 2018
On Saturday I noticed that the old black plastic pot... Read more…
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March 14, 2018
It never gets any easier... Read more…
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March 7, 2018
There's a line from a play... Read more…
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February 28, 2018
I've watched and listened to the words... Read more…
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February 21, 2018
The bus was ten minutes late... Read more…
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February 7, 2018
In January I sold my little yellow car... Read more…
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December 20, 2017
'Don't know if I want to do Christmas,' a friend said... Read more…
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December 13, 2017
I have said privately (and I'm sure publicly)... Read more…
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December 6, 2017
About a year ago, for health reasons, I gave up drinking alcohol... Read more…
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November 29, 2017
The truth is rarely pure and never simple...Oscar Wilde Read more…
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poem by Ruth Arnison (of the The Waiting Room)
November 15, 2017
Thank you to everyone who sent love ... Read more…
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Wow – a new look for WednesdayBusk
November 8, 2017
Kia ora koutou, Miriam (My Web Workshop) has created this new look on WednesdayBusk and all the photos of flowers et al are from my wee garden. Its amazing how when you look at say, a flower, isolated from its surroundings how much more detail you see. I guess its the same with anything. You see crowd of kids playing in the school playground and then one isolates itself from its mates and runs towards you smiling and shouting Renée and you see the happy excited face of a particular child. Next door in Nga PuraPura the tui and other birds are busy among the harakeke and yesterday a small bird flew straight into the ranch slider with a huge whack sound. I went to the window and it was on the path, having a think, then it got up, took a couple of steps, then flew away wondering what the hell had happened, I suppose. I was very impressed with the wonderful Waiting Room (Dunedin) idea of Lilliput Libraries (a project which you can look up online). There is this letter-box shaped library, which, sits by your letter-box or somewhere people will be passing, and you put books in… Read more…
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November 1, 2017
It's a great thing meeting up with old friends which I did in Dunedin recently. And made new ones as well. One thing among many great things about publishing a book is that you get to say hello to lots of people you might not have seen for a while and they are all smiling. The panel on Writing Women into History, Karen Zelas (The Trial of Minnie Dean, pub Makaro Press), Paddy Richardson (Through the Lonesome Dark, pub Upstart Press), and me (These Two Hands, Makaro Press), with Mary McCallum, writer (The Blue) and publisher (Makaro Press) brilliantly compering, went really well. You know its not that long ago really thatRachel McAlpine said (1975 Rachel?) something like you could see the publisher's red faces everywhere as they realised the truth of their sad record of not publishing women writers. Now we are published everywhere. Its still difficult but at least we have a hell of lot more opportunities than we did then. Now I'm going to get on my hobby horse. If you haven't already written something about your life now is the time to start. Even if you simply write a list of things (like a grocery list)… Read more…
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October 11, 2017
I locked the back door, checked my bag, yes wallet there, turned and there was a dead bird on the path. I stared at it for a minute thinking about cats, then put my bag on the little table by the back door, went to the garage, got a spade, dug a hole and then buried the bird. Read more…
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October 4, 2017
While the sons stagger through the mud
grow white forked headstones and mothers cry
while the woman holds the blue iris and stares
over the broken road on which her lover lies Read more… -
September 27, 2017
Old wives said that every cloud has a silver lining and old wives are usually right but I'm not sure they will be in this case. I can't really see a silver lining in the present political situation except perhaps for what it teaches us. Leaving aside the possibilities of what talks with New Zealand First (NZF) might achieve as far as Labour is concerned, I'd rather Labour didn't go with NZF because its unlikely to work. Read more…
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September 20, 2017
I'm always getting asked what I'm reading so here's a few from my bedside table.
Today I was given three books. For someone who loves reading this is riches indeed. Eye of the Songbird, first book by NZ writer, musician, Michael Munro. I know Michael because I mentored him over the writing of this novel. Read more… -
September 13, 2017
I was having my first — you’d been on duty all night, but
there you are, dressing gown, long snake of dark plait,
ghosting up and down until my son is born. Eight pounds,
healthy, you say approvingly. Boys are good. Read more… -
September 6, 2017
Advance voting starts next Monday, 11th, September. Perhaps you know how you're going to vote - perhaps you're leaving it a bit longer to decide? Do you ever think of those women who walked around the country asking forsupport for their call for a woman's right to vote to be granted by Parliament? If you do, great, if you haven't until now, welcome to the company. We all stand on the shoulders of these women who got jeered at for their pains, called all sorts of names but heroically kept on with their demands. Finally our right to vote was granted on September 19, 1893. This year September 19 falls on a Tuesday. Tuesday two weeks away. September 19, 1893 was a Tuesday too. Wouldn't it be a great thing if every woman in Aotearoa New Zealand voted on that Tuesday in 2017? All you have to do is find out where the advance voting is and go along on September 19 and cast your vote. Do it in memory of and with respect to all those women who marched, shouted, pleaded, struggled, sang, so that you and I can go freely to lodge our vote. They wore purple, green… Read more…
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August 30, 2017
Napier Library is to close and I feel a little sad about that. I borrowed lots of books from this library but that was years ago and its been a good few years since I was even on the premises but I still feel sorry and I assume I would at the thought of any library closing. I'm wondering what young someone like me would do if there's no library to go to in her lunch hour. Libraries provide so much more than books on shelves. The books are the supreme draw of the place but there's the possibility of sitting quietly and reading, of being able to browse around the shelves picking books up, looking at them, putting most of them back, but keeping a few to lug home. And now you can rent a computer for a certain time. Then there's the Librarians. I've been going to libraries for eighty-three years and only once have I ever got irritated with a librarian. This was when she continued a conversation with a colleague and ignored the wee queue waiting to borrow books. We were party to their conversation which was it seemed riveting to them but not that… Read more…
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August 23, 2017
..is everywhere at the moment. Polyanthus, daffodils, jonquils, lachenalia, kowhai, forsythia, you look- it's there. Yellow is the colour of spring, it's a lift of the heart, it makes the spirits rise. Its interesting that in spite of these beauties, yellow is used as a pejorative term to mean cowardice. Read more…
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August 16, 2017
I don't remember when I first started reading poetry for my own pleasure but at Greenmeadows School in Standard One I remember learning The Highwayman (Alfred Noyes) and another one with the first line ...Do you remember an inn, Miranda? Read more…
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August 9, 2017
A road along two blocks of kauri
pathway to somewhere I knew
night and the mountain are merging
black ice out there on the blue. Read more… -
August 2, 2017
Main street, Otaki, is bi-lingual? Come on mate – it’s multi-lingual. Certainly the primary languages are Te Reo Maori and English but many other languages are alive and well on Main Street. Read more…
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July 27, 2017
Recently I read that colour affects memory. The brighter the colour, the more likely you are to remember the person who was wearing it.
Does that apply to what used to be called Purple prose or Purple passages? These were the pages in a novel where two (or more) people had sex which seemed to take quite a few pages and involve alarmingly gymnastic feats which, over time took on more and more the tone of a sergeant major giving instructions on a how-to sex session. Read more… -
June 27, 2017
I walked up Cuba Mall and then up onto Cuba and began to think I'd made a mistake. I stopped a young woman who smiled and obligingly took off her earphones. 'Am I on the track for Slow Boat Records?' I asked, 'I'm beginning to think I might have walked past.'
She smiled. 'No, it's up there, see the yellow sign?' She saw I was relieved and then said, 'If you're looking for Slow Boat you must have good taste in music, I go in there all the time.' And with a grin and a wave, she was off.
Read more… -
June 20, 2017
I'm thinking of the money... Read more…
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June 13, 2017
is somewhere to live, somewhere to work, someone to love, something to hope for. Norman Kirk's words echo like the faint sound of a bell heard in a dark room. Not because he didn't mean them, or because he wasn't right, but because, at this moment in time, whether you're for Labour, National, Green, NZ First, United, Act, or Opportunities Party, there is no-one saying these words because if they did they might have to do something about them. Words get all dressed up in other clothes. Any time the Minister for Education say, or Housing, or Environment, is asked a question, whatever the question, the answer is, 'We've put in lots of millions of dollars and we have a plan,' or 'if you vote us in we will put umpteen million dollars into fixing this - or even that.' We will fix up the health system, we will fix housing, we will fix education, is the cry but they never tell us how, just parrot, again, how much they have, or will, put into that area. No-one from any party ever says, all anyone wants is somewhere to live, somewhere to work, someone to love, something to hope for.… Read more…
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Walk on in the sunshine sing a little sunshine song dah dah dah…
June 6, 2017
I caught myself singing loudly along with the radio.... Read more…
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In defence of bad piano players…
May 30, 2017
How many times have you said or heard someone else say... Read more…
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Do you know what it means to miss leafy greens…
May 9, 2017
Do you know what it means to miss leafy greens... Read more…
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May 2, 2017
I was thinking of autumn and remembered this poem by Elizabeth Smither. I emailed her and asked if I could put it on my blog and she said yes, so here it is... Read more…
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April 25, 2017
Why are the the spaces and lines on written music identified by different letters depending which stave they're written on? In the top one, the lines are egbdf and the spaces are face. In the bottom one the lines are gbdfa and the spaces, aceg. Why? To make it harder? To discourage people learning? To keep reading music confined to a select few? The scales, cdefgab are the same wherever you range on the piano. If someone says play c and e and you play these two notes, you can choose any octave on the piano. So why, when they're written down between five lines and four spaces (and occasionally a ledger line) are the notes on the top five lines and spaces identified by different letters from the bottom lines and spaces? Some centuries ago, did some monk decree that reading music should be made harder so the the peasants couldn't do it? Or did he just wake up in a bad mood and think, 'Right. Here's a way to drive logical thinking people crazy. And to keep the reading of music confined to a select few.' I have tried and failed to think of a reason. And while… Read more…
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April 11, 2017
Theatre is a risky profession... Read more…
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April 4, 2017
One day a woman who'd been wanting to paint for years ... Read more…
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March 28, 2017
I began writing this poem some years ago after my first duet with cancer... Read more…
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March 21, 2017
Yes, it's the Otaki Kite Festival this weekend but that's not what I'm talking about... Read more…
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Millions of Strawberries by Genevieve Taggard
March 14, 2017
I was given a clutch of books... Read more…
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If ego comes can alter be far away?
March 7, 2017
I note in the local paper that one of elected officers says ... Read more…
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Sorry, Ms or Mr MP, you failed your drug test…
February 28, 2017
Drug testing is a good thing and its such a good thing I think its scope should be widened... Read more…
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February 14, 2017
I think that title might have been used before but that was then, this is now... Read more…
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No, don’t play Misty for me – I’ll play it for you…
February 7, 2017
I had my first ever piano lesson this morning... Read more…
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December 20, 2016
Kia ora koutou, have a grea time over Christmas... Read more…
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December 13, 2016
'That'll be ten dollars and twenty cents, Sir.'... Read more…
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December 6, 2016
I was out in the garden when a giant black Hillux pulled op and a woman got out clutching some scissors high in her hand much like the original Crusaders must have held the giant cross when they marched on Constantinople... Read more…
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Seething with apocalyptic intent…
December 2, 2016
The other day a guy leaned over my fence and said, 'Wanna go to a dance?'
'Don't bat for your team,' I said.
'Not asking for a night of hot sex,' he said, 'I just want to dance with someone who can dance.'... Read more… -
December 1 and no wind – hallelujah…
December 1, 2016
November has ended for this year. And so have the patches... Read more…
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July 21, 2015
Kia ora everyone, I'm taking a couple of weeks off, so... Read more…
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July 14, 2015
There's a lot of repeating going on. The Labour Party is copying NZ First which copied the attitudes of 19th Century... Read more…
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July 7, 2015
Turn on the radio, go online, or (if you have the stamina) TV and count how many times... Read more…
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June 30, 2015
Hello, my name is Colin and I want to start a new political party and I thought I'd run my ideas past you in case you'd like to join... Read more…
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June 23, 2015
This last weekend of heavy rain, wind, power outages, flooding, made me remember all over again what a great pleasurable yummy thing reading is.
Outside was vile, I didn't know if the power would go out or not. The first month I lived here there was a similar storm and the power was off for two and a half days. This time I didn't have to wrap myself up in rugs, light the candles, but I turned to the same source of comfort.
Immediately the darkness, the cold, the howl of the wind, gave way to some very old friends which I have on my iPad library. Me and AS Byatt (see her eulogy for Georgette Heyer) and thousands and thousands of others have read away their daily problems, their heartaches and sorrows, their pains and tribulations, by losing themselves between once the covers of one of her Regency novels.
... Read more… -
June 16, 2015
I've always found the simple approach is best. So I've got a couple of ideas you might be interested in... Read more…
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May 26, 2015
Storm leaves
She met someone else
tried to fight it
couldn't Read more… -
May 19, 2015
Gabriel
Maine Coon Cats are (allegedly) cuddly
but Gabriel missed that gene. He's a
medium –size tiger in a cat's body, sly,
cunning, thinks he's smarter than me.
He might be right.
Read more… -
May 13, 2015
'Man's shirt? Over here, dear.'
It's teal, button-up, long sleeves
he probably rolled up in the heat.
Hangs on a black coat hanger.
Three dollars, fifty. ... Read more… -
May 13, 2015
My sister says I lack focus
I should just pull myself together
Instead of hanging around
With idiots like Storm
Read more… -
The beginning of something (continued)…
May 5, 2015
Clint
He's tall and he loves himself
He's Junior Whip for the Domino Party
He's the coming man, he's on the way up
Wherever up is only he knows ... Read more… -
April 28, 2015
Last Wednesday She nags, what I should read what I should wear, eat, do but when she wants something she cries on the phone – 'He's gone – help me help me.' 'OK – we'll sort it – 30 minutes.' Big sister, little sister, OK? She hates my car because it's purple, she hates my 'lifestyle' it's purple too. Today she won't mind. Today I'm her big sister. Today she'll cry on my shoulder she won't mention my hair, my pink lamé top, 'those damn jeans'. She won't say 'For Christ's sake – haven't you got anything else to wear?' and 'that glittery lipstick went out with Punk.' I never told her Punk had not gone out. Punk was alive and well and living at my place. I won't say, 'That guy's trouble, smell it a mile away.' I won't say it today because I already said it. I won't say that either. Renée
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April 21, 2015
Kia ora, while we're enjoying, enduring, ignoring, what will happen on April 25 - could we all spare a thought for the women. All women were dragged into this disaster because they had sons, lovers, fathers, brothers, cousins, who got caught up in the furore or were hounded into it with white feathers. Not only did the women left behind have to look after farms, businesses, work in factories and shops, offices and homes, they also had to look after the kids, gardens, preserving, jam-making, chop wood, supply three meals a day, do the washing - no washing machines then remember, ironing - and lots of other stuff I haven't listed. Those men who came back were all damaged in some way, and no prizes for guessing who bore the brunt of this. As well, many of the returned soldiers had venereal disease and had no qualms about passing it on to their wives. One can only imagine the reaction when they went to the doctor (99.9% male) and asked for help. Most women were totally ignorant of what having this disease meant anyway because it wasn't talked about. There'll be no mention of the over-consumption of alcohol which led… Read more…
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Today I planted spring onions..
April 14, 2015
Kia ora, It's a sunny day following on a few cold rainy very windy days, so I thought here's a go. April. Planting time. Remember I tell myself. On Anzac Day - plant broad beans. Working back from that, plant greens - lettuces, silver beet, already got spinach, and the perpetual one too. Some carrots. I cheat a bit these days and use the taped seeds. It seems to me that planting in April is as good a way to remember as all the speeches in the world. Planting in April has an added virtue - it will feed, and not just me. I remember my first job (I was about five) was weeding. I wasn't that good at it, or even interested. But I was told to do it so I did. Then I progressed to be allowed to plant things. Only vegetables of course. You only took time to plant things that would feed us. Nothing time-wasting like flowers. I have swerved a bit from that - I like a garden to be inclusive so I have flowers along with the vegetables. An apple tree and I got five jars of jelly from the crabapple tree this year.… Read more…
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Sitting on a bucket in the bush? Not likely…
April 7, 2015
Kia ora, I know, I know, there are camping aficionados who love the great outdoors and particularly love living without a shower and revel in the fun of bruising their bum on a bucket, in full gaze of any passing school class. Living in a tent opens you up to new experiences. Like being available to any bunch of crazed weirdos, looking for plants they can eat, instead of the one they've been smoking and which makes them see that all that's happened since as so funny, man, but thing is mate, we're really starving for something sweet and some idiot forgot to bring the chocolates. Maybe we could do a green-leaf exchange for that bag of sugar? These experiences, I am told, give variety to lives that are under the sway of modern technology. We need to get away from the evil effects Broadband and Wireless have on us, get away from the expectation that if someone gets hurt, you can ring 111. We need to experience the reality of life as it was meant to be. If your stomach hurts, simply count your blessings. Worked wonders for them. Camping afficionados tell us about the the virtues of getting… Read more…
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Bland is the order of the day…
March 31, 2015
Kia ora, have been the unwelcome host of some sort of tummy bug for a week now - so no dairy, no meat, dry toast, stewed apple, boiled rice, bananas, dry crackers, lots and lots of liquid, mainly water but also some of that ghastly sugary drink that athletes swig down like they're enjoying it. I'm beginning to feel better but think recovery has been slow owing, I think, to withdrawal symptoms from no coffee, no wine, but worst of all by a country mile - no dairy. I discovered that I didn't really care about the coffee or wine but I did care about butter, milk and cheese. I'm not a fan of bananas but I made myself eat them, and I've got used to them mashed on dry toast but when I'm better I won't care if I don't see one again for a while. Thanks to friends who've shopped for me and popped in (standing at a safe distance) or sent emails to cheer me up. Will write something more like a blog next week... Renée
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St Bede takes up his quill and writes a blog
March 24, 2015
Salvete folks, or as you might say (but not at St Bedes), Kia ora koutou... As my greatest works show I am a highly regarded linguist and translator. My time on earth was spent telling my fellow Anglo-Saxons what those old Latin and Greek texts really meant. Now it seems I am called on to do the same for the venerable school that bears my name. Their Principal seems to have forgotten the cardinal rule. Those who can, do what they like. Let me translate - the parents of the boys who broke the rules of the school and also broke the law of this country, have acted rightly in using their wealth and privilege to make sure their sons do whatever they like. As Principal of their school it is your job to assist in this, not cry foul when pupils act in the way they've been taught - clearly you should be awarding them an A++, not trying to cramp their style by bleating they broke a school rule and the law of the country. School rules are one thing, the laws of the country are another - I agree -but there is a third law you seen… Read more…
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You have to laugh – but do you?
March 17, 2015
Kia ora, the last couple of days have, been very interesting for me - someone who doesn't watch TV, to hear the hoo-ha about the bullying on The X-Factor show. So many critics, so much disapproval - then the sacking of the two presenters and the heap of tweets, emails, headlines, that followed. This show - I don't know who watched it because now everyone says they didn't watch it. Which is a mystery, don't you think? These two presenters had been given tacit permission for this kind of behaviour from somewhere - were they simply responding to what viewers had indicated they wanted? Once when someone asked me if I watched it and I said no, it was all a set-up anyway so why would I watch it? They argued and I immediately gave up. It's useless arguing with people who prefer the fairy-tale version they've created for themselves. In their mind, these were entrants who been through auditions and who were now genuinely thought to have enough talent to present to the public. In any case I was being a bit devious because I didn't say I don't watch TV at all. It's so simple. You give bullies… Read more…
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March 10, 2015
Kia ora, This a short blog. I don't know about you but sometimes I get a bit down about feminism. At those times it seems to me that we didn't achieve what we set out to do. I've been worrying about nothing. Over the days before and after International Women's Day it have been incredibly wonderful to hear all the comments about what is happening now. While we certainly have not achieved everything we set out to do (Domestic abuse stats still horrifying) we have achieved so much. It's clear that young feminists are as committed and valiant as us and will change their world too. You've probably all read the Dale Spender quote - but it bears repeating - here it is ... keep it and read it from time to time - a great picker-upper... Feminism has fought no wars. It had killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practised no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions, for safety on the streets, for child care, for social welfare, for rape crisis centres, women's refuges, reforms to the law. If someone says, 'Oh I'm not… Read more…
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March 3, 2015
Kia ora, I've been listening to the rants and raves re foreign drivers and thinking about my own experiences. For people who come from Taranaki, Auckland or Wellington, e.g. foreigners, I have some advice. Before you come do your research, mate. We toot at everything round here and if you don't toot, then don't be surprised if you're edged onto the side of the road and told about it. If you answer back, your keys will be taken. We welcome visitors, we do, but just do your homework - when we pull out from a park with no indication or any other warning then don't blame us if you get a few dents. What are ya? We wave at everyone. We notice if you don't wave back. We follow you and prod you over to the side and we ask you whatareya? Occasionally we drive in the middle of the road - I mean everyone does it, you know how it is, you start thinking about what your auntie said about your weight and what you didn't say which you should have said, that she's a fine one to talk having topped the wool scales at god knows what number… Read more…
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My brilliant idea…send John to Iraq
February 24, 2015
Kia ora, I don't know how anyone can hold contrary views to our dear leader. John has shown himself to have a sharp brain and to be a great manager. Sure there have been one or two messy things going on in his department but he's a busy man. It's very selfish of us to keep him and his wisdom and sharp mind all to ourselves so why don't we send him to Iraq? John, Steven and Gerry have made such a brilliant job of running this country so why sending a bunch of young men who have not had time to gather wisdom and experience? The answer is simple. Send John, Steve and Gerry. Think of all the things they could train Iraqi soldiers and possibly citizens in. How to do sneaky and inept things so that the Sky City team call the shots, how to make decisions without consulting parliament, how to buddy up with business and farmers, put all their eggs in the one cavernous basket that is called Auckland, oh there are a load of things they could train Iraqi citizens in. How to ignore domestic violence, ignore the hundreds without a decent place to live,… Read more…
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February 17, 2015
Kia ora koutou, this week in my letter-box was a nicely printed, well set out brochure. Would have cost a mint to get enough posted into every letter-box in the areas it hopes to get votes. Someone or some body of people has a well of money to draw on. The brochure wants (it says) to give us the facts re the sucking up of all local bodies and councils from Wellington to Wairarapa and every one in between into one Goliath of a structure called Welington Super City. It is proposed to replace the - Greater Wellington Regional Council, Carterton District Council, Hutt City Council, Kapiti Coast District Council, Masterton District Council, Porirua City Council, South Wairarapa District Council Wellington City Council with this Monster called Wellington Super City. I do not support such a move. Why? All sorts of reasons but here's one. The requirement to hold a public vote was abolished by the National Government in 2012 and replaced with a provision that it would allow a public vote if 10% of voting age residents of an affected area sign a petition requiring such a vote within 60 working days. We all know that voter interest in… Read more…
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They just don’t show videos of it…
February 10, 2015
Kia ora, The war in Iraq is and the government's decision to send NZ troops there has not been made public but all the signs that the decision has been made are there. They just don't show videos of it. We didn't send troops to Saudi Arabia yet their record of ill-treatment of their own civilians let alone the ones they're at odds with is well documented as are most of the similar acts are in at least a dozen countries - the only difference is they don't make videos of it - or if they do, they don't publicise them. Because the government wants to buddy up with the United States we fly a flag at half-mast when the President of Saudi Arabia dies, turn a bind eye to USA ongoing torture of prisoners in whichever of their secret prisons they are held. This is well documented, everyone knows it's continuing, no-one does anything. I have not heard one NZ politician utter a word about this. It's the elephant in the room of diplomacy. They just don't show videos of it. If we are to align ourselves with torturers, if we are to align our country with people who… Read more…
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Anybody want a hand of poker??
February 3, 2015
Kia ora, all the fuss about Eleanor Catton's words over the last week reminded me of when I learned to play cards. I was about six. Mum taught the three of us to play poker using spent matches as chips. Her idea was to stop us making lots of noise inside on winter nights. This ploy failed - our shouts and screams became even louder and were sprinkled with outraged yells of 'You cheated, 'and 'Did not' - we didn't dare swear, well not inside anyway. We progressed from poker to Strip Jack Naked (yes, that was its name), crib, euchre, 500 and all the easier games. Adults played too and sometimes they'd drag one of us in to make up a four. Sometimes we had two games going. Playing cards was very good for our brains. They taught us to play well but there were other spin-offs. At the same time as playing cards, learning the rules, the etiquette, how to lose and how to win, how to keep score, we also learned about people. We not only had to read the cards, work out where the high ones might be, what we could do (within the rules) to… Read more…
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January 27, 2015
I'm not much good at this old age stuffI've got the wrinkles, sagging breastsI've got the aches in my kneesI get that - it's all the restNurses calling me dear ticking retirement before they askI'm crap at that. I'm not much good with those who say'I don't know what the world's coming to.'It's so damn clear it's coming tothe same old things it's always come towars, rape, girls bundled into trucksAnd they're worried about Twitter?I'm crap at getting that.I read a comment on YoutubeThis guy said I don't mindWomen singing my songsAs long as they're not feministWanted to do him a serious injuryDefinitely not good, not good at all.I'm real crap at this old age stuffNow someone on the radioGoes on about a silver tsunamiAnd how they need to plan for itLike we're aliens from outer spaceLike it's not going to happen to them?Yep, clearly established -I'm real crap at this old age stuff. Renée
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Summer and there be tricky rivers…
January 20, 2015
Kia ora, Summer - the time to check out new swimming holes - this can be very very tricky - the water looks placid enough and its close to where you swam last summer but be careful you ones in the blue togs - rivers change ... glad I visited Whanganui, especially the river. Loved going up the river then down again on the paddle steamer. Rivers attract me like the sea does other people. But I am not fooled. You need to know them well, and each summer you need to be very careful until you've sussed out where its safe to swim. Very deceptive, rivers... I have nearly always lived near within walking distance of a river - Ko au te awa, ko awa te au. I am the river - the river is me. When I was a kid, it was the Tukituki where me and my siblings and our friends walked to from our homes, where we swam totally unsupervised by adults, where each summer you had to re-learn the river all over again because the winter floods changed it and what had been a favourite swimming hole was now gone. So the first visit of… Read more…
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January 6, 2015
Kia ora koutou, I'm taking two weeks off from today and will be back with you on January 21st. Renée
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December 30, 2014
I will stop swaering or at least learn to spell it correctly. I will stop changing the names of my characters or just give them numbers until the last draft. I will, from February, write a poem a week - they won't be any good but that's not the point. I will finish this f*&#%ing novel which has now become an albatross etc etc (but I love albatrosses so that's all right). I will not buy any more roses - except of course if they're on special for practically nothing and it would be a sin not to etc etc... I will be polite to people who knock on the door when I'm working - but you're not getting a cup of tea you s*&$%ing wanker - can't you see I'm working? I will clean my little yellow car but it in an environmentally friendly way (bucket and cloth) in case any of my environmentally conscious friends goes past and sees me using the hose in such a frivolous and resource-wasting way - or I'll just say f*&%# it and get out the hose... I will stop calling what TV offers unadulterated knobbly pigshit with ads and admit that I… Read more…
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December 23, 2014
Kia ora Koutou, every Tuesday, Colin James weekly article for the Otago Daily Times arrives in my inbox. Here is his latest one... Listen to the bones: hear the value of a full life Humanity's dark side has been on show this year: beheadings, aeroplanes downed, Americans torturing muslims, the Taleban executing children. Where is the good? John Key's entry into his party's campaign launch on August 24 was amidst a phalanx of government and hired security guards. If the Prime Minister is not free, how can we be? If he projects fear, how can we not fear? If Parliament, trembling, locks nearly all its doors, how can we celebrate democracy? Geopolitics give cause for fear: Russia in Crimea and Ukraine, China in Hong Kong, the terror-rule of ISIS fanatics and ravages by other extremists elsewhere. A Sudanese girl refugee said in a New York Times video on December 11: "My grandfather was killed in front of us. We cried but we couldn't do anything." Another talked of her father being killed. The children made mud models of everyday things of a stolen livelihood and of weapons those who stole it used. None of this is not human. As Steven… Read more…
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December 16, 2014
Kia ora, these are - 2014 WednesdayBusk Gertrude Stein Sick Joke of the Year -for his masterly evasion tactics, tap-dancing a speciality, winner of the Best Lyric, CRAFTY (can't remember a fucking thing, yeah) - let's hear it for Amnesiac's lead singer - John Key 2014 WednesdayBusk Emma Goldman (if there's no dancing at the revolution I'm not coming) Star of the Year Award - Ngawira Logan who leads the Exercise Classes for Kori Kaumatua at Nga Purapura. Twice a week she instructs us, cajoles us, persuades us into doing stuff we never thought we could or would do including dancing. The class has grown and grown and grown - still room for you though...Homai te pakipaki. 2014 WednesdayBusk Kate Sheppard (All that separates us, whether of race, class, creed or sex, is inhuman and must be overcome) White Ribbon Award - for her staunch work for Women and Children, President of the Federation of Labour, Helen Kelly. 2014 WednesdayBusk Sappho Prick of the Year - and current holder of the Smiling Smiling Villain 2014 Iago Master Manipulator award, (that's who I am, I call women Honey and Love, I'm sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings) Roger Sutton, former Head… Read more…
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That old devil Irony, doing her stuff again..
December 9, 2014
The Parliamentary Prayer is based on Principle. Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy Guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interest, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this house and of our country to the glory of Thy Holy Name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen, While the word 'humbly' does not appear to reflect the general attitude of parliamentarians towards anyone or anything and as for asking them to lay aside all private and personal interests - that is (apparently) called figurative language. It means nothing. The guy who broke parole and flew to South America, was arrested there and brought back, is now pleading not guilty to breaching parole and not guilty of escaping to South America. He probably thinks if the MPs can do it so can he. 'I promise to lay aside all personal and private interests' - oh sure. 'The maintenance of true religion' is a bit of a stretch - the real thing is based on being kind to one… Read more…
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December 2, 2014
Kia ora Renée, I got your message.
Yes, Steven Joyce is right, we in Huntly couldn't care less what John Key does - we have sworn allegiance to the National Party and we will stick with him through thick and thin.
Here in Huntly we call a spade a spade and all I can say is I feel really sorry for the poor bloke. Good old John. Friend of Farmers and Brewers - we know what side our bread's buttered on and so does John. Read more… -
Hey everybody, you got mail – PM’s office up for sale…
November 25, 2014
Breaking news - John Key decides to sell the PM's office. 'Im sorry,' he said to an excited bunch of reporters, 'that's my decision, I'm quite relaxed about it. I don't know what's going on in there, I have no idea what they're doing, to the best of my knowledge they were just quietly going about my business. Now I discover, to the best of my knowledge, they're not even working here - all I have to add is the decision is made and it was made peacefully... 'I'm quite relaxed about it though, the ringleaders are all working somewhere else and one of the somewhere else's has just cut flights to the provinces. So that gets rid of a few stirrers. 'To my recollection I didn't see anyone stepping out of line, yes I know it was the Prime Minister's office, and I'm allegedly in charge, but I have to have time out sometimes, that is the context, meet up with the President, have a chat in the golf cart, let him win at golf. I'm very relaxed about that. 'Well - sometimes, to the best of my recollection, I did see J and T on the phone but… Read more…
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November 18, 2014
Kia ora, got home around 6.15pm after visiting a friend in hospital. I turned on the radio while I prepared dinner and discovered Andrew Little had been elected as the Leader of the Labour Party. I turned on National Radio and there was Mary Wilson grilling a Union guy, the tenor of which was that this was a disaster. For the Labour Party, for the country, for the world (sorry, I added that last). The whole thing was a Union power play and we would all live to regret it. In the lead-up to the vote I heard nothing but criticism of Mr Little, he's dour, he's union, he couldn't get enough votes to hold a seat in the general election, he presents a grim image, doesn't have a sense of humour - the verdict was he wouldn't stand a chance anyway but if it did happen, it would be disaster for the Labour Party. The world, as we know it, would end. Most commentators have echoed this point of view. I had no strong views on this election - the only thing I was sure of (and I was right) was that Nanania Mahuta wouldn't stand a chance. I… Read more…
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November 11, 2014
Kia ora,Economists and politicians have their own language when it comes to disguising the facts. Not a problem. Academics do it, technocrats do it, even elephants in the zoo do it (blowing incomprehensible notes on their trumpets). I've been on a break for a week now and rather than venture out of my house and do tourism I have decided to stay indoors and catch up on some Chinese by reading Chinese news in Chinese. I bought some vegetables and lamb (actually fresh-killed mutton) and I've been living on lamb soup and tea. Low carb, very healthy. APEC is on in Beijing. John Key is doing online interviews with Chinese netizens via Xinhua, the dominant news agency in China. Nothing has made headlines yet. By comparison the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is 'shirt-fronting'. He called Putin out, and rightly so, over the MH17 tragedy but that was from the other side of the world and it looked like once he was within spitting distance of the tiger-hunting Russian his rhetoric, like his gall, would tenderize moving from shirt-fronting, to a robust discussion, to seeking assurances. However, tonight he lived up to his word. Both sides have apparently agreed to… Read more…
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Those who tell us the stories…
November 4, 2014
Kia ora, Monday I went to the launch of 4th Floor, Whitireia's online publication, this year edited by Lynn Jenner (Dear Sweet Harry). Some of the contributors read their works. I was one. Reading your poem or short story to an audience is not always a pleasure perhaps but in such a company I was very happy. There were established poets, new poets, short story writers, and a contribution from the publishing team. On display were two recent publications from Escalator Press (publishing arm of Whitireia), Adrienne's Jansen's, Score, and Janet Coulson's, The Shark Party. I realised all over again how good it is to listen to people reading aloud. As someone who was never read to as a child and who was always puzzled by how various people referred to the experience as one of great pleasure, it wasn't until I began to attend poetry readings that I understood why they felt as they did. You just have to lean back, listen, let the words and their meaning, settle in. Maybe we don't take this opportunity often enough. If you get the chance to hear someone read their poem or story, grab it. You won't regret it. Your mind… Read more…
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Q: When is a Prime Minister not a Prime Minister?
October 28, 2014
Kia ora, A: When he's talking to a blogger... This has come as a shock to me but what do I know? Silly me, I thought that once you were sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor-General, that meant you were the Prime Minister. I was wrong and I have to thank John Key for enlightening me. Apparently you can switch from being Prime Minister depending on whom you're talking to. Like if he's talking to a journalist or a TV reporter, he's the Prime Minister, but if he's talking to Cameron Slater he magically chucks off the mantle and becomes ordinary old anonymous John Key? It's a little bewildering. Do he and Cam discuss pizza perhaps? Okay not to be Prime Minister when you discuss pizza. Leaving aside why he would talk to a blogger about pizza and not a pizza place, I guess I can understand he's not Prime Minister then. Bit of a stretch but I could make myself imagine it. What else? Maybe he talks to Cam about the weather? The latest movie? Their preferences in T-shirts? How their broad beans are doing? Or maybe just say, 'Hi, I'm not ringing you as the Prime… Read more…
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October 21, 2014
Kia ora, I've always liked rearranging a room. I like the different perspective I get when I change the chairs around or put a bookshelf or table in a different place. I sit on a chair in a different part of the room, or stand in a doorway, look around, think mmn - no perhaps that would be better there. The latest change came about only because of helpful whanau. A table and chairs had to be moved from one room to another, a couch removed entirely, my work setup rolled to another place. It's like taking another look at the draft of a play or a novel. Suddenly you see how it might be if you rearranged a few things. Had some fun with sequence perhaps. Or change some things about a character. 'But if I do that,' someone says, 'it'll put the whole thing out - I'll have to go through the whole novel and tweak stuff.' 'So?' Sometimes, shifting chapters around, giving a character a bit of a twist, sheds a whole new light on a story. Sometimes this can be a nuisance because it means more work. Duh? Change is good. Incremental discoveries are great. If… Read more…
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October 14, 2014
Kia ora, this week we have a guest writer on the blog...Chris Taylor's adventures on holiday I woke up in Turpan around 7:30 on Day Three or Four with the hotel room windows wide open and the birds singing in the grape vines. It was still dark because they're on Beijing time there. Technically it was about 5 am but Beijing doesn't make concessions for time difference. Everything must be standard. Consequently daybreak last week was around 7:30-8:00 and nightfall was around 9:00 pm. At least in Turpan some of the street roads are named after Uigher heroes or places but in Urumqi they all reference Chinese people, rivers or whatever. Colonisation is completed in this way. Think Shakespeare Road; Tennyson Street. There were no mosquitoes that morning, not even a fly which is an upside to life in this dry, arid land. Life was perfect at least until the Chinese tourists somewhere in the hotel started clearing their throats and spitting because they smoke so much and then other guests started moving around in their bathrooms and making bathroom noises. Thin walls. I was a little hungover after drinking beer in John's Cafe the previous night, and then later… Read more…
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October 7, 2014
Kia ora, The first irises are out, the lavenders are full of bees - the wind has died down and the little cucumber under its shelter (half a plastic bottle) looks happy. Lettuces (mini-Cos, my favourite) are looking like I'll get a few leaves this weekend, the spring onions are ready for stir fries or salads. Roses are budding up all over and it's going to be a race between Ingrid Bergman and Port Wine to see who blooms first - my money's on Ingrid. Sweet peas will need tying to the trellis soon so they get the idea what they have to do, the pansies, staunch and reliable, just go on doing their thing. The succulent garden has just about every colour in the spectrum - vivid red and yellow, and the little Kaka Beak is keeping guard. Everywhere I look, everywhere I look... Renée
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Scooters, bikes, everywhere and nowhere for me to walk
September 30, 2014
Kia ora, Where are the footpaths? FOOT paths. The place where you used to be able to walk, loiter, limp along but not now. Oh no. Why? Because people bike on the FOOTpath, people, all ages, scoot on the FOOTpath, and then there's the disability scooter, silent but deadly. Why do people agitate for cycle lanes? I have never seen a biker using the cycle lane - why would they? They use the FOOTpath. One of these drivers on a disability scooter - do they have to have any training? - came along behind a woman who was hobbling and basically bullied her into moving to the right so he could continue on his way. He, naturally, didn't say thanks. Which is the norm. Which is why, when I was walking home yesterday, keeping a wary eye out for a bike, a disability scooter or a scooter, when I became aware that a kid on a scooter was behind me. He wasn't trying to pass but I got over to the side just in case. And you know something? As he went past he said, 'Thank you.' He was Maori and I think he would have been eight if that.… Read more…
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Note to Labour Party – my tuppence worth…
September 23, 2014
Kia ora, Labour - you should... Replace the current president and secretary, replace anyone on the committee who's over fifty. Ditto all MPs. Over 50. Out. Replace leader. If any MPs are found to be working against the voted in choice, they should be chucked out of the party - with great force. So choose carefully. Someone who's got a sense of humour would be good. Unusual for the Labour Party, I agree, but David Lange managed, so not unheard of... Take the next 12 months - maybe 18 months - meld yourselves into a cohesive unit and build a structure that will hold. Resist any pressure groups - just say, over and over - this is not about you, this is about survival. Anyone over 50 to help but not make policy. Leave that to the 50year-olds and under. If they make mistakes, they make mistakes. You did. Get the older ex-MPs to work in communities (they've been paid handsomely - now is the time to give something back). Form young Labour committees all over - in colleges, communities, Maori, Pakeha, Asian, Pasifika. Encourage, fund, and debate in these groups. Mentor only if invited - not as of right.… Read more…
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September 16, 2014
Kia ora, the star players, Greenwald, Snowden, Asange, have gone. I have no problems believing what they say. And as everyone keeps saying no-one has yet proved them wrong. Now, it appears there has been spying on other countries. At the bidding of another country. What Key doesn't seem to realise is that Greenwald is not only cleverer but doesn't have anything to lose. That said, The Moment of Truth show, from what I've seen, was a poorly directed, badly written script, the leading man was not up to the role. Kim Dotcom allowed his dislike of John Key and his desire to see him and his party out, to matter too much. Why did he release it early? It was like we got the entrée but where was the meat and potatoes? However - this is shaping up to be a long-running show - remember all those musicals that only have one great song? Don't Cry for me Argentina, Seventy-six Trombones, Some Enchanted Evening, they didn't have good scripts either, just one good song and one great leading role. And they ran and ran and ran. I Don't Remember that, is a well-played bouncy number, lyrics a bit mundane… Read more…
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September 9, 2014
Kia ora, If you are the mother of a family of three and you only have two eggs for tea so you boil them and mash them and add extra milk and you make toast with that cheap 99c bread and spread the eggy mess on the toast and serve it out, and of course everyone knows not to ask for more because they know there is no more then what is the point of throwing money at this situation? They will only go out and buy more eggs. John Key knows what that's like - you just don't throw eggs at people just because they don't have enough. A family is living on leeks and pumpkin because their Mum had to use the money she got from cleaning up someone else's shit for the rent. Totally obvious throwing money at these people would not help. People need to learn. You add water to the can of baked beans to make them go round, you can add lots of water to the mince along with one carrot and one onion so it will last two meals. You can have bread and jam sandwiches and wrap them in ordinary paper because… Read more…
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Greeks Drama had a word for it…
September 2, 2014
Kia ora, The word is Hubris. Always been a lot of that about, especially in politics. Pride, puffed up conceit, believing your public persona, thinking you're invincible - you don't have to go far to see it played out and then the inevitable happens... somewhere Aeschylus is smiling... So - the inevitable fall, gossip goes on, backstabbing is revealed, rich people afraid their machinations have come to light, and now we have a commission announced by the Prime Minister. The white rabbit finally pulled out of the hat. Mr Key made an interesting comment re something the Labour Party and the Greens want included in this Commission - 'they should keep politics out of it' he said. Well hello Mr Prime Minister - this is politics... Renée
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August 26, 2014
Kia ora, I remember walking along a footpath and seeing old men carrying covered bird cages. When I asked what they were doing I was told they were taking their birds for a walk. They walked to a park where they took the covers off the cages and let the birds see each other and the park, the people, the light. The old men sat on benches and talked to each other, had a really good time judging by the laughter. Then at a given signal (it seemed) they put the covers back on the cages and each went their separate ways. The birds (and their owners) had had their treat, and now it was back to normal. How much of the vicious nature of some political skulduggery now revealed is just taking the covers off the cages? Once the election is over, will the covers be put back on and we'll all pretend it's not a pack of vultures under there - just a mild little singing bird? Renée
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Question – When is a blog not a blog?
August 19, 2014
Kia ora, Answer - when its a salacious and hate-filled, power-hungry rant, protected/encouraged by the Minister of Justice (Irony 101), the Prime Minister and whether they like it for not, the government. I feel very sorry for all the decent people who happen to be National Party voters who wouldn't dream of behaving like this but who are caught up in it whether they like it or not. Nicky Hager's book is a must read - if the print copies are all sold where you are, it's available as an ebook. Renée
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August 12, 2014
Kia ora, we're hearing a lot about Shylock. Or alternatively, not much. The Merchant of Venice is one of my three favourite plays and at the moment it seems no-one knows what the play's about so I thought I'd enlighten you. Think about it. This is Venice a long time ago - Jews are not allowed to own property (this law takes a long time to change, like 2-300 years?) - the only way Shylock can do business is to lend money and charge for that. This is against Christian law although, of course, Christians borrow from him. They might spit on him when they pass him in the street (e.g. Antonio ) but they borrow from him. So we have Antonio who is so in love with Bassanio but not of course admitting it given that Venice is allegedly a Christian city etc etc and the love that dare not speak its name is unthinkable - whatever - he lends money (two loans - unpaid) again. Bassanio can pretend to be rich and win Portia's hand and will get entrée to all her wealth and property. If he has to say he loves her that's okay, he loves her… Read more…
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August 5, 2014
Kia ora, She was a bit late but I understood that. She's been very busy with interviews all day but she looked bright and eager to talk. 'Laura,' I said, ' National has brought you out of the closet and into the light simply because we're close to an election. How do you feel about that?' She smiled enigmatically (well, you choose the adverb then) - 'Happiness is having good health and a bad memory,' she said, quoting Ingrid Bergman. 'What is the point of you coming out every three years and then disappearing as soon as Election Day is over?' 'Point?' she said, 'we're in it for the knee-jerk reaction. That is the point.' She looked into the distance reflectively (see above). 'Laura,' I said, 'what about justice?' 'Who?' she said, 'I don't know anyone of that name. A new List MP perhaps?' I decided to try another tack. 'Have the police made any comment?' 'What's it got to do with them?' Renée '
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Red scarves unite – you have nothing to lose but your temper
July 29, 2014
Renée, I saw you wearing a red scarf the other day so I knew instantly you must be a supporter of that unionist puppet, David Cunliffe. Why did he say such a thing? Why on earth would he be ashamed of being a man? Good on the media for giving him a hard time. I mean, 20,00o domestic abuse cases? What's that got to do with me? I've never hit anyone. None of the men I know would do such a thing so why should we be ashamed? Let's face it, a lot of women cook broccoli when they know the guy doesn't like it - then they expect him to smile? The Women's Refuge is always moaning - how long has that organisation been going? You'd think with all the money they get from donations and the government they would have solved it by now. They're a bunch of manhating lezzies anyway - everyone knows they're biased. They probably wear red scarves too. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying there's no problem - some men do treat their wives badly, but I'm not like that and I object to that red-scarf-wearing know-it-all making that kind of comment.… Read more…
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July 22, 2014
Kia ora, I have an old book published in 1978 by Michael Joseph Ltd, London. As I typed the name I wanted to add Savage - you'll know why. The book is called Gardener's Delight and written by John Seymour. I looked up broad beans. The Broad Bean is what bean feasts were made of, and the bean feast has a very ancient history, for it was common in antiquity to have a feast with beans after a funeral. (Oh no, think of all the farting - no don't think of it, oh and what if anyone lit a match? No don't go there...R) There were also many sinister beliefs, one being that the spirits of the dead resided in them. Pythagorus believed this and would on no account eat beans. Or, alternatively (see above) Mrs Pythagorus said, 'It's beans or bed, Pythie, your choice.' The Romans had a proverb, abstineto a fabis - abstain from beans - this was derived from their method of voting by casting beans into a bowl - it was simply an injunction to have nothing to do with politics. Yes,the Romans might have had a word for it but we must still vote. The… Read more…
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July 15, 2014
Look it's time you stopped all this whining and snake's hair and such. I mean Zeus was just having fun okay? Sure he raped you and then you got your head cut off but you shouldn't have made such a big fuss? I mean we all know what Zeus is like when he gets angry? Yeah yeah, you went to the police and took out a restraining order? It's a piece of paper Medusa, get a life, what the hell use is a piece of paper? How many times did I tell you these things don't work? Of course he took no notice. He's the god of gods, you know that. We can't afford a war with Rome at the moment. Zeus has diplomatic immunity anyway. My advice is to cut off the snakes, buy a nice blonde wig, and apologise. Piss off? He's the god of gods, Medusa, he can put your head back on your shoulders. You wouldn't do that for a Trojan horse full of diamonds? Do you want everyone to think you're a ball-breaking shrew - or worse, a feminist? - or worse worse a lesbian feminist? So? Nobody's perfect. Oh Medusa... Renée Read more…
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Otaki to Auckland – hello out there
July 8, 2014
Kia ora, I know we're going to hell in a basket but before the shit hits the fan let me pay a tribute to libraries and librarians. I've been fired up by the news that Auckland City Council is considering (among other things) to cut library hours to help raise money for all the great things they want to do for Auckland. Let me just tell you how much libraries have contributed to my well-being e.g. health, work and happiness. I was eight when I started my love affair with libraries. I had just read my first long book. My mother said I could go to the library and change her books. Responsibility had been mine since I was three when I was put in charge of my brother and sister - that's how I developed my bossy ways and my liking for being in charge. It was also how I grew into responsibility and in spite of my best efforts I have never been able to become irresponsible. I have tried, Medusa knows I've tried but I've not shaken the habit of responsibility. So off I went to the Taradale Library, about a mile away. I don't remember being… Read more…
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Hijack a meeting why don’t you?
July 1, 2014
Kia ora, I read a press release in the local paper a couple of weeks ago. It said there would be a meeting at the RSA Otaki to give information on the many ways to use the Senior card. Oh good, I thought, probably a million things I don't know. I emailed a friend, we arranged she would arrive at my place early, we'd have a quick lunch, then go to the meeting at 1 pm. There was a really good crowd and eventually the meeting started. It was hosted by the Elders Group funded by Kapiti District Council. First of all the mic was either not set right or they didn't know how to use it. Both, I suspect. In any case the man talked above it so even if it had been working he wouldn't have been heard from where I was sitting. Or even if I'd been up the front for that matter. To add to the thrill of it all the RSA Pokie machine kept shouting chug chug chug or treating us to a 500-decibel rendition of Tie a Yellow Ribbon (or something). There were agitated encounters with people from the RSA and at some stage… Read more…
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June 24, 2014
Kia ora, when I was thirteen I was taught to dance the waltz, the foxtrot, the Maxina, the Gay Gordons, and I loved it. When the twist came in lvdd that too. At exercise class at Nga PuraPura we do the exercise routine with our fabulous trainer Ngawira, and then we dance. Which is a loose description of what we actually do. The Zamba and some line -dancing is what we aim for. 'Let's boogie,' says Nga, and off we go. Some of us pick it up quickly, some of us take longer. Some of us prefer to watch. Some of us suffer from the aftermath of strokes, some of us have other things to contend with, one of us joins in with her walking frame - whatever, we all enjoy it. It's our treat for doing the exercises. My balance has improved and I can now stand on one foot without holding on to the chair. I wobble and sometimes have to put the other foot down but the balance is better - I know it. That's the exercise. The dancing is the fun part. Whether we're one of the dancers, whether we're one of the onlookers, when the… Read more…
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June 17, 2014
Oh for the day when a woman can choose to continue a pregnancy or not. Let me repeat (for the millionth time) a woman's right to choose does not mean every woman has to choose an abortion. Many would not. But it does mean that someone who's been raped, someone who made a mistake, someone who has children and is finding it difficult to feed, clothe and keep them warm, has a choice.At present you have to say, and get doctors to say, that your mental condition is such that a baby will tip you over the edge.As if that's not traumatic enough, if you actually are granted the right, you then have to go to a designated clinic and walk through a group of people shouting that you're a murderer?Is there anyone who is not revolted by the news that Irish researcher, Catherine Corliss, has uncovered facts that look like there are 800 babies and children's bodies in a septic tank in the grounds of a convent Home for Unwed Mothers in Galway, Ireland?The worst thing about this story is is that if it hadn't been that a Dublin paper picked up the story and told the world, we… Read more…
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News Flash – Election poll result
June 10, 2014
The latest poll conducted by WednesdayBusk shows that none of the current parties aiming for your vote will win this year's election.When asked about this startling result, John Key said he was sorry he couldn't remember, David Cunliffe said it was a delaying tactic, Russel Norman and Meteria Turei said Frack off, Peter Dunn said he had nothing to say, Te Ururoa Flavell said Kia ora, Hone Harawira said I have the hearts and minds of the people, Laila Harré said she she'd be guided by how much Mr Dotcom offered per word, Colin Craig said he would pray to a Higher Power (Telecom?), and a little girl eating an ice-cream said don't tell Mum. This state of affairs means that come that certain date in September (no-one could remember it) there will be no government.It is estimated by our resident expert on finance that this will save the country millions and millions of dollars. There will be no salaries to pay, no travel, no nights in expensive hotels, no perks. Auckland will stop and the rest of the country won't notice.They will sit down, have a cup of tea and an Anzac biscuit, and all will be well. Renée Read more…
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June 3, 2014
Kia ora, I've nearly finished the reworked version of my novel The Snowball Waltz. Luckily, Penguin NZ found the file (and very generously) gave it to me so I didn't have to type it all out again. Miriam, the Magician, made the old file workable, and there I was. Oh the power. My first thought was that I'd read it through then hand it on to Miriam to make it behave itself on WednesdayBusk. So I started reading and immediately saw stuff I wanted to rework. Should I or shouldn't I? That was the question.Should I go back and rework the past? Oh if only. Yeah yeah, politicians do it all the time but this needed thinking about.It's generally frowned on to rework a published novel but what the hell - Mae West said the best thing to do with temptation is give in - so I did. I have had the most exhilarating few weeks - you see since Snowball was published, Porohiwi, the town that features in it has, by some mysterious means, moved from the East Coast to the tag end of the Kapiti Coast - which means it not only zipped across the North Island but… Read more…
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May 27, 2014
At this time of the year I am very grateful for yellow. There's a day lily out, brave thing, and clumps of little daisy-like flowers, some marigolds in the veggie garden and on a chilly cold day they shine.My car is yellow too. I never have any trouble finding it in parking lots or buildings, like I did with the previous one which was red. I rang this garage that had been recommended, explained what I wanted. The guy told me yes, they had one in that brand, that size. 'There's only one thing,' he said, 'it's yellow.' ''I'll take it,' I said.I was glad of these touches of yellow yesterday because I'd discovered my drain was blocked and I needed something to lift my spirits. I had visions of bills, big ones - why did I waste time doing Greek Literature when I should have been learning about pipes and cisterns and all the underground stuff? Greek literature is where drama started? Oh really? You mean Aristotle had a blocked drain? Checked with the neighbour to see if hers was blocked too - it wasn't but (thank you Aristotle) she knew someone who had a long-handled plunger thing and… Read more…
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May 20, 2014
Kia ora, I'm teaching a novel class for Whitireia while Mandy Hager's away and as part of the course we do editing. Sunday was to end in a test. You might think this doesn't sound like an exhilarating way to spend a Sunday but you'd be quite wrong.I sat among the students and we tackled apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, colons, got into the serious subject of filtering by working on a chapter of either our own work or someone else's. I wasn't a particularly good student - If you'd thought no-one could get excited and argumentative over apostrophes you would be wrong. I did. I do. I wasn't the only one. Yes, yes, there are two main reasons for using apostrophes - we all knew that, and then there's the its, depending on whether its a pronoun or a contraction of it is. I have deliberately eschewed apostrophes here so you can argue among yourselves where I should have put one. Two of us argued on behalf of dashes. Some of us are for frugality where adverbs and adjectives are concerned and veto exclamation marks - others not so hardline. And I won't go into the Oxford comma...that way lies madness… Read more…
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May 13, 2014
Someone asked me why I called a novel of mine The Snowball Waltz so here is the explanation...The music starts.Two people invited by the MC begin to waltz. When the music stops they separate and seek other partners from those sitting or standing around the edge of the dance floor.No one invited to dance may refuse, although when the music next stops, a dancer may leave the floor and not extend the invitation to dance to anyone else. n this circumstance they may not dance again in this particular Snowball Waltz.The pattern of music, dance, silence, separation, music, dance, silence, separation, is repeated until all the people in the room are up and waltzing.The Snowball Waltz then continues with the same partners until the music stops, the dance ends and the dancers go their separate ways.Are you any the wiser? You'll have to read the book then - coming up soon on WednesdayBusk.Renée
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May 6, 2014
Kia ora, last season I didn't lift the strawberry plants. They were in bins and I just couldn't be bothered taking them out, putting in new potting mix, getting new plants. So, apart from a casual weed now and then I just left them to it.I have had the best strawberry season ever. 6-7 berries a day in the high season - plenty for dessert - if they lasted that long. The birds gave up I think. Usually it's a battle between me and the birds which ends in a draw. This last season I didn't use any bird netting or any fancy systems and I still won by a country mile. I don't know why. What I do know is it's still going on - only one or two now but every couple of days, I see something red, fossick among the leaves, pick the red berry, stand there and eat it. You've probably seen the weakness in all this - I haven't lifted them this year either. Can this go on? I'll find out I suppose. Have to confess the reasons there's no photo is because I forgot and ate it...Renée Read more…
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April 29, 2014
When I was at primary school we were given what were called Comprehension Exercises – this meant we were presented with a couple of paragraphs of completely impenetrable English and were commanded to read it and to answer ten questions about it.We had to write the title of this riveting excerpt of geographical or geological information in our exercise books, followed by our answers numbered accurately from 1 to 10, each number on its own line and followed by a full-stop. This was not only to show that we understood what we read, that we comprehended it, but also that we could write and use numbers in an accurate and neat way. Neatness was highly prized, literally, there were prizes given out for neatness at the end of the year.So we had to make sense of the excerpts we were given. At least enough sense so that Miss Graham wouldn't get one of her headaches. When Miss Graham got a headache she had to go and lie down on the couch in the staff room and be talked to soothingly by Mr Elliot the Headmaster. Miss Graham got a lot of headaches. We couldn't have cared less except that when… Read more…
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April 22, 2014
There is a line of badges attached to a ribbon which I've got hanging on my dining room wall. You know the kind I mean — little round discs of tin or plastic, with slogans on one side and a catch to attach them to a T-shirt or jacket lapel on the other. Usually my eyes slide over them like eyes do when they see things every day but today I decided to take the ribbon off the wall and take a closer look. You will recognise some. I loved the I'm addicted to Heroines one when I bought it - clever I thought and true. The one from Buffalo marks a very significant occasion totally overlooked by NZ Media and therefore New Zealand — October 1989 and women playwrights from all round the world gathered for their first convention in Buffalo New York. We came from Sri Lanka, Greece, Britain, South Africa, China (Mainland and Hong Kong), France, Italy, Germany, USA and I've probably left out some. Before the weekend there was a reception in New York City and I went along and it was all very loud and welcoming, exciting and confusing and I was wishing I'd never… Read more…
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April 16, 2014
Theatre. This word has a wide variety of meanings. It covers the large, full-scale musicals, with all the bells and whistles of lighting, music, sound effects, colourful costumes, to the monologue delivered on a small stage under one electric light.You practically have to take out a second mortgage to afford the tickets to a spectacular musical, not to mention the parking, and the prices at professional theatres mean a lot of people who want to go can't afford to but maybe , there are other ways.I've been talking to a friend recently about theatre in a room - you'd have actors, words, maybe a bit of sound equipment - and a space with chairs for an audience. There are actors and people in houses who already do this of course but not many.I worked out how many chairs I could get in my sitting room which is relatively small. If I took out the bigger chairs, I could probably get 10 reasonably placed seats and if I crammed them in, maybe 20? Wouldn't leave much room for the actors but there's a certain excitement to the difficulty - actors and directors are ingenious and could make it work. What this… Read more…
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April 8, 2014
I like baking - once upon a time I baked every Friday - a fruit loaf, two batches of biscuits, Peanut Brownies, Anzac Biscuits or Shortbread, and a cake. Chocolate, Fruit, Madeira, you name it.Now I don't bake every Friday or care about which day of the week it is but every now and then I make a cake.This is an Orange Coconut cake - most of you will be familiar with it. It's the one where you take a whole orange (take the pips out first), put it into a bowl, skin and all, add the other ingredients and hey presto, after time of wonder in the oven, you have a cake. 'You put the whole orange in? Skin and all?'Yes, skin and all.The first time I read the recipe I didn't believe it either but I've made it a few times now (understatement) and everyone loves it. I've made a couple of changes to the original recipe and here is my version.Orange Coconut Cake1 orangeOne and a half cups of sugar3 eggs1 cup flouri teaspoon baking powder1 cup desiccated coconut150g butter, meltedMethodSet oven to 180 C.Grease and line an average-sized cake tin, square or round doesn't matter. I… Read more…
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April 1, 2014
Yes, the first printing's sold out and I've ordered more and changed the colour of the cover.I'm an optimist. I'm looking to have a rainbow of colours for Your Life Your Story. So each time there's a new printing I'll change the colour of the cover.There's a great freedom when you publish your own book — apart from playing fair and not altering the content, you can change the cover any way you like.Also this one includes my email address in case any reader wants to ask a question that's not covered in the book.Still writing No Good Crying, the third novel in the Vogel Place trilogy, but nice to pause and think about colours occasionally.Renée
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March 25, 2014
Kia ora, I have been practising balance - you know when you stand on one leg, lift the other one and and attempt not to fall over? Since I've been going to the wonderful exercise classes at Nga Pura Pura I've noticed my balance attempts have improved. I was demonstrating this to a friend (who also goes to the classes) in my driveway the other morning when some other friends arrived and we all laughed and we all agreed - its hard to keep your balance sometimes. I thought of this when I was driving home from Palmerston North yesterday and had to detour around Manakau. Lovely as this part of the world is, and dear to the people who live there, by the time I'd been weaving around corners, narrow country roads, up and down rises, hugged blind bends, and cursed the one in front who didn't seen to understand the rules re one-way bridges, I was wondering just how long the detour was.It was like one of those nightmares - you can't see the end of the road, you just keep driving on...and on...and here's a big truck on the other side of the road wanting to pass...In… Read more…
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March 18, 2014
Kia ora, thanks to everyone who was at my session - it was lovely to see you there and thanks for buying the book.I don't know how the organisers do it but they go out of their way to make you feel that looking after you is a real pleasure and not only that, smile like they mean it. Thanks to Claire and Kathryn, you were great.Vivienne Plumb was my interviewer and she was lovely - thank you Viv.I am in awe of the organising skills necessary to get all these separate people from one place to another, and on time for the sound checks. It must take weeks to organise but it all went so smoothly like someone had simply waved a wand.And thanks to all the writers who flew here, smiled, did a great job, smiled, spoke well, smiled - hope you're all home soon and back to the usual routine of writing away on your own. That's the thing, really, most of us spend most of our time on out own in front of a computer. We emerge blinking into the light and are surprised when someone real is there smiling at us. We live so much… Read more…
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March 11, 2014
Today I'm off to Wellington to the Hannah Playhouse to take part in a session for the Arts Festival - The Hannah Playhouse, 12.15pm, Vivienne Plumb is the interviewer, see you there.... Renée
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March 4, 2014
Yes its here and was launched Wednesday by Mandy Hager with Friends of Kapiti Libraries hosting the event, Hilary Wooding MC, the Otaki Health Centre Committee has donated the space - am I lucky or what? There was such a good crowd and we had to get in more chairs (always good sign) and people stayed to chat (another good sign). We sold lots of books and I think I can say Your Life, Your Story was well and truly launched.Without Miriam (My Web Workshop) Richardson's help it would never have happened so soon after the writing. It has been an exciting if full-on experience.March is full of writing things. I am doing one of the Meet the Writer sessions (Vivienne Plumb the interviewer) on March 12, 12.15pm, at the Hannah Playhouse. Playmarket produced a book, Interviews with Twenty Playwrights, and Vivienne did my interview there as well. Unity Books will be doing their usual sterling work and will have copies of both books.On March 19, I am the guest speaker at Altrusa, Levin and the following weekend I do the second of ten novel workshops as stand-in for Mandy Hager who's off to France for a few months. This… Read more…
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March 3, 2014
Kia ora, my Auntie Olive died last Friday and today I heard someone on the radio grizzling about the old age problem. It seems we are the problem because we're living too long. Olive was 93, she'd lived in her own home till she went to hospital a couple of weeks ago. She cooked and cleaned and looked after herself, she paid rates, she paid tax, donated to various charities, she helped people out when they needed it. She was a great cook and very hospitable. She wasn't a reader, and she didn't care all much for social occasions in later years although she took people out to dinner occasionally. She had some prejudices, some strong likes and dislikes; she loved her garden. She had some good friends who took her to the supermarket, visited for a chat and maybe a gin and tonic. She didn't like being referred to as an 'old-age problem'.I don't think politicians or other people realise when they talk so blithely about the old-age problem how much it hurts. Is it an old-age problem? Can we control how long we live? Is it us who's bending every effort to prolong life?We all contribute to society,… Read more…
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February 18, 2014
Kia ora, a few months ago I got this plant called a Potato Tom - it was planted in a large put with the very best potting mix, some tomato food and lots of good wishes. Now it looks like something that has been neglected for every day of its life, the leaves of the top are just about to turn like the leaves on the potato at the bottom - you know how potato leaves go all dry when the potatoes are ready to be dug up? The leaves are still free but a dry green, nothing like the Moneymakers I've got in the garden which have produced tomatoes that are red, firm, delicious.I'm wondering whether its something I've done - or not done. It get watered every night if it hasn't rained, I'm still picking strawberries from the pots around it and the leaves of those plants are green and vigorous looking. You can see them in the pot at the bottom of the photo.It has 80 tomatoes on it, maybe more, but definitely 80, but they are funny looking little knobs, not like cherry tomatoes but as though they haven't grown as they were supposed to. Has… Read more…
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February 11, 2014
Kia ora, made a quick unexpected trip to Dunedin last week because I had word that an aunt was sick. Back to a bountiful garden, greens flourishing, tomatoes galore, and seven, yes seven, strawberries. Maybe the birds went away for a few days too?Made a few decisions. I need to pack more intelligently is one important one. So I bought a new case that's made of very light outer casing, the frame is strong but light as well. The difference is astounding. Make my reasonably modern cases look incredibly old-fashioned not to mention physically tough. Yes, they all have wheels and a handle but all need to be lifted in or out of vehicles, huffed up on racks, or lugged up steps. This new one has wheels that roll along beside you as you walk, but its the lightness of the whole that is so beguiling.Packing properly is a whole new skill I have to learn. 'Use your brains, Renée,' I hear my mother say. She used to say to me, 'Your brains will never save your feet, girl' I was such a dreamer and she was always saying, 'Come down to earth,' or 'Walking round with your head in… Read more…
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January 28, 2014
Kia ora, my rewrite (read new write) of my book Your Life, Your Story, a practical guide to writing memoir, is finished. Your Life Your Story is for those who want to write their life story for family and friends, not for those who want to publish a book. I read it through a few times, made some mental notes, wrote and rewrote, allowed for a lot more people having computers now which is great because its so much easier to write on a computer than in an exercise book. If you make a mistake it can be corrected instantly, cutting and pasting is a breeze, and if you want to change the sequence or the title, it's a matter of moments. I changed the sequence and wrote new stuff, made it into two parts and divided the parts into chapters. I didn't want a long book - that's fatal in how-to books anyway - my aim is to get the reader to write their memoir - they need the nitty gritty of how to go about it, they need a springboard to set them off, what they don't need is to be swamped by a mass of unnecessary words… Read more…
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January 21, 2014
Kia ora, this time it came with a rumble and a jolt - I stood up and stared at the shaking television, the venetian blinds went mad. Only ten seconds but it was action-packed. Last time I remained seated, so I'm making progress. Maybe next time I'll take a step?Everything that was on shelves is now on the floor and I have moved everything I think might fall and hit someone. And on the wall the little mask watches and waits.. so all is well, RenéeRenée
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Oh, oh – Something has gone down the plughole…
January 14, 2014
Kia ora, is there anything more annoying than inanimate objects? The first time in my life I ever said the F-word was when I found the washing machine had overflowed - I was in my 30s and had three kids, a late starter at swearing perhaps? I've more than made up for it since, you might say.Well, last Saturday, I got up, put the washing on, made a cup of tea and took it (the tea, darlings, the tea) back to bed. When I went back some time later, the laundry, toilet and kitchen were flooded. You're pretty bright - you'll know what I said as I grabbed umpteen towels from the hot water cupboard and threw them all round the floor. I said it more than once. No stars in my crown that day. In fact a few probably fell off. It took two lots of towels before the floor was dry and I could investigate why it had flooded. The washing machine hose drains into the laundry tub and there was nothing blocking the hole - nothing ????????I poked around with a plunger and there was a huge belch and something went right on down the plughole. I… Read more…
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Have they actually saved any whales?
January 7, 2014
We've all belonged to groups - even me. I am a reluctant joiner of anything, I've never joined a political party but I've been a member of two very rewarding writers groups, and now a ukulele group which is mostly about having fun, although we do play and sing in between talking and laughing,Lately I've been wondering when a group stops being a group and becomes a monster.What started me off was the Greenpeace protesters getting arrested in Russia. What purpose do they think they're serving? From the outside it looks like publicity at any price. If a group tried to land or stop one of our ships we'd want them locked up too. Oh, you say, but they have a cause? Oh right. So a cause excuses everything? Oh but it's a good cause. Yeah right. Greenpeace is a large, very large, extremely wealthy corporation, no doubt with a lot of money in the bank so it can afford to mount campaigns against this or that, but what, apart from publicity, does it achieve? Now we have the Sea Shepherd chasing the Japanese whaling ships again. Japan is a sovereign state, they eat whale meat, they claim they are… Read more…
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December 31, 2013
Kia ora, I like moving furniture about, changing the look of a room, trying out different placements of chairs, side tables, books, sometimes just putting a chair in a different place does the trick. I especially like doing it before New Year.I always like what I've done when I've finished but that doesn't mean it will last forever. The need to move things around comes on gradually at first - I think maybe that chair/table/collection of ornaments/painting, would look better somewhere else? A few weeks will go by and I keep looking at whichever object it is until finally one day I wake up and know this is the day. Naturally one move has a domino effect and everything else has to be moved slightly or more dramatically taken right out to cope with the change. Sometimes I decide its time to send the books or furniture to a new home and once I've done the hard work of moving them into the spare room (the first stage of the journey to somewhere else) I always feel a sense of freedom. I don't know how the spare room feels. It must breathe a sigh of relief when it get a… Read more…
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December 25, 2013
Kia ora, if today's about food then I've certainly celebrated that and its not over yet. First we did the present giving then we had whitebait fritters for brunch - delicious. Absolutely the best way to start the day. White bread, butter, lemon slices, salt and pepper and its all on.We had decided that we would just take it easy - have no timetable, if we didn't eat lunch till 3.30pm then that was fine. It is always great to do the ham. My once a year treat. My favourite glaze (having tried a few over the years) is the simplest. Apricot jam and grainy mustard. I took the skin off the ham, put it in the oven to warm right through, took it out, sliced the top both ways, put cloves in the little squares and then poured the glaze over. Back in the oven and every now and then get it out to spoon the glaze over again. The smell is divine. Once the ham was done, taken out, wrapped in foil to have its standing time, I put the little piece of hogget in the oven and some kumara. Oh yes.In a while on with the new… Read more…
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December 17, 2013
Kia ora, I had such a good time at the weekend. With the help of a friend I completely re-structured a part of the garden. It was hard work, there were two trees to dig out, an old rose, and a very tired wallflower.Gardens are not set in concrete - they can be changed. Good for the gardener, good for the garden. Even flowers labelled perennials don't last forever - oh they live but they are straggly, their stems/stalks/branches are all dry and hard. Perennnial wallflowers for example, need to be dug up and replaced every couple of years if you want to keep the vivid colours and fresh looking foliage. Same with lavenders. They can become very woody and ugly if left to their own devices. My favourite lavender is Lavender Dentata but it needs replacing every 2-3 years if you want to keep it looking good. My tastes change too - where I once filled every space in sight with irises and roses now, although I still love them, I have enough and am planning a small rosemary hedge and another kind of look. So if that means I have to get rid of a couple of roses… Read more…
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December 10, 2013
Kia ora, I have discovered how to make Flat Bread - D for delicious flat bread - the real McCoy - it is even brushed with oil and has chopped rosemary from the garden on the top with a little sea salt. I am very pleased with it and and tomorrow when I bake another lot I'll put up a photo for you to see.There's something very satisfying about making bread and when you don't have to knead it, the pleasure is even greater. It can be made into sandwiches, eaten with all sorts of meats, cheeses, eggs, lettuce, tomatoes. Perfect summer bread, perfect winter bread (think soups).If I want a sweeter loaf instead of the oil and rosemary I can mix sugar and cinnamon and scatter that over the top. Among bread eaters the world is divided into those who like crust and those who like crumb (what us aficionados call the soft white stuff in the middle) and I like crust.It makes good toast too.All I did was pick up a book from the library called No Need to Knead by Suzanne Dunaway and away I went. Try it...
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December 3, 2013
Kia ora, lots of grumbles - am on antibiotics to get rid of cough after a heavy cold and as I have a rather up and down relationship with antibiotics. However, needs must. Will write some more in a couple of days. In the meantime the new chapter is up on Once Bitten...letter to the editor on Writers Talk.
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November 26, 2013
Kia ora, I nearly killed someone on Monday. Purely by accident. It started with a knock at the door. The instructor of the exercise class I go to wanted to let me know that one of us had died and there would be no class tomorrow. Her problem was that all of us just use our first names and so she had no idea where some lived so couldn't contact them. Did I know anyone?I said I knew the first names of three and had a vague idea where they lived so when I went for a walk I would try and locate themThis was a hell of a lot harder than I anticipated. I walked around Otaki in the heat of the afternoon getting progressively more cheesed off as I knocked on people's doors and having them look at me suspiciously (who is this mad-eyed woman?) when I asked did a woman called Mary live around here? Is she a con artist? The words were in a circle above their heads like in a cartoon or a comic.They opened their doors an inch and peered out and most decided I looked too untrustworthy to even speak to but some… Read more…
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November 19, 2013
Kia ora, I have a cold. I haven't had a cold for some years, at least five. I take it personally. It snuck up on me - I was at the Playreading on Sunday which went magnificently - thanks to Sarah Delahunty and brilliant cast - and the afternoon tea was pretty good too. Jan made some delicious christmas mince tarts, so yummy it was all I could do not to grab the plate and run away behind the hall and eat them all before anyone else got one. My christmas cake was delicious too. Either I put the golden syrup in and didn't remember it or it doesn't need it.With her usual style Sunny had organised and prepared the hall and the lunch and the table looked pretty good. Lynn and her friend on the ticket table, lovely smiles those two, welcomed everyone.The audience was just the best. It always is. I don't know whether its the Paekakariki air or that they're just a bunch of really nice people who all happen to live in the one place - whatever - they are supportive and its always great to see them.Nonnita Mann was there. She knew Robert Lord really… Read more…
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November 12, 2013
I noticed the dreaded red blight on my broad beans (planted on Anzac Day, as always) a week ago and this afternoon, after just two meals from these plants, so today I pulled them out. Usually red blight arrives later in the season but I guess the mild July and August made it happen earlier. Cold temperatures at certain times is good for the garden. Kills off the bugs.I remember a friend, Rona Bailey, who was at one stage of her life, a card-carrying communist saying there was a slogan amongst the general population in the 1950s, probably started by the McCarthy witch hunts in USA during those times - Better Dead than Red. So when I sent her a postcard about helping Pahutukawa survive along the coast, which read, Better Red than Dead, she was very amused and asked if I could get her some more. These postcards were free so I went back and got a handful and she spent an hour or two happily sending them to her old comrades.However, as far as Red Blight on broad beans is concerned, better dead than red, is my motto.The best way to cook these delicious young beans? Pod them,… Read more…
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November 5, 2013
Kia ora, we, (me, Sunny Amey, Jan Bolwell), are presenting a play reading of Joyful and Triumphant, Robert Lord's much-loved play, at St Peter's Hall, Paekakariki, Sunday November 17, 2pm. Sarah Delahunty directing. Stellar cast. All give their time free.We always serve afternoon tea and we decided it would be good to offer some christmassy baking this time. 'I'll make a christmas cake,' I said, 'no trouble - I love baking.'I put the oven on, lined the cake tin, assembled all ingredients on the bench, weighed everything. A friend with chooks had donated the eggs. Had a thought. Attempted to open the new bottle of lemon essence. Tried with my fingers, then a spanner, then decided to pierce it with my vegetable knife. Pierced my knuckle. Think I'd like to have the manufacturer here in this kitchen for five minutes - believe me, I was not thinking ear-piercing. Here's the big existentialist question - why do they put the lids on so tight? Not just on this lemon essence bottle but everything? Never mind. On with plaster bandage, on with the dance. Butter, sugar, mixed in the mixing bowl, thank you whoever invented electric mixers, add eggs one at a… Read more…
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October 29, 2013
Kia ora, yesterday I drove to Pahiatua to visit my brother and his partner. It was a lovely day to drive. I seemed to be almost the only one going in that direction and very few passed me going the other way. I began to think maybe everyone had been whisked away to another planet and I was just going to keep on driving forever.However, Pahiatua was still there and we had a great time - lunch exactly what we all like - bread, cheese, ham, hardboiled eggs, relish, asparagus, all on plates or dishes in the middle of the table. Tea or coffee as required. We all helped ourselves and made sandwiches or just ate little bits of this and that and enjoyed the great bread they'd bought just that morning. Pahiatua has a great baker.There's something very relaxing both for the hosts and the guests when this kind of meal is served. We all like it and decided some time ago that this is the way we'd do it whenever we met. There's no fuss, time is not a problem, everyone eats as much or as little of whatever they fancy. The point of our meeting is to… Read more…
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October 22, 2013
Kia ora, last Sunday morning I made a plunger of coffee, forgot my left shoulder is not working (how the hell could I forget this?), went to get some toast from the toaster and knocked over the plunger of just-made coffee. Coffee went everywhere. It went high (into the toaster), low (eg all down the wall, into the dishwasher and the drawer below and all over the floor. Even managed a few splashes on the fridge opposite. I uttered a few Chaucerian phrases addressed to my shoulder, the plunger and the coffee and ran to get towels. I chucked one on the floor and then tried to wipe the worst of the coffee off the wall, the dishwasher and the bench, with the other. I knew the toaster was a goner. Then I realised that the coffee had somehow got itself into the stand the kettle rests on...Liquids and electricity? Okay. So - new jug and toaster. Could have been disaster, could have been a downer and maybe it was a little until I saw the purple jug and the purple toaster. I cheered up instantly. There's something about that colour that I love and it always reminds me of… Read more…
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When the swallows come back to …
October 16, 2013
Joy Anderton took these photographs last week. Not only are these lovely photos but how often do you happen to be in the right place at the right time like this? Congratulations Joy. I'm very ignorant about birds - I can recognise a sparrow, a tui and a seagull, which is a generic term I use for anything that's flying over the sea and that's about it - oh a fantail of course. I love the look of birds ( hawks are exempted) and I think it's great to have friends who know the proper name of a bird and who broaden my knowledge, albeit temporarily.
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October 8, 2013
Kia ora, actually William, there's a hell of a lot in a name. Especially for fictional characters. At least for me. I don't know if Shakespeare had the same difficulty but I've been searching for a name for my lead character in No Good Crying (the e-novel I started writing a few weeks ago) for ages. No Good Crying is the third in the Vogel Place trilogy and just like the two before it and in fact, anything fictional I've ever written, I'm having great trouble with the name of the main character. I had the same problem with Hester (Too Many Cooks) and Harriet (Once Bitten). I mucked around for weeks, tried out all sorts of possibilities, until I found the right oneBefore I started searching the only thing I knew about the name of this current one was that it would not start with an H.Names matter a lot to me. It irritates me that after weeks of thought and searching through names on the internet I keep coming back to a name I've used before for a character in a play so have a reluctance to use it again. There are millions of names out there and… Read more…
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October 1, 2013
Kia ora, last Thursday I started an exercise class at Nga Purapura in Otaki. Kora Kaumatua is an exercise session for older people and I was a bit uncertain about going but I loved it. We are different ages, have different abilities, some of us are recovering from strokes, some have sore shoulders or other sore limbs, some of us a very old, some of us are on walking frames - all of us come out with smiles on our faces. The exercises are done to music and that's one of the best parts. You can see us all light up when Poi e plays and also when Elvis sings - the instructor has a great taste in music, especially the kind that will make us get up and want to engage with the exercises. Some of us sit, some of us stand, some of us find the exercises testing, all of us find some of the exercises testing, but we all have a go. It's a full-on hour and its absolutely free to anyone in Otaki (or wherever) who wants to come along. Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-11am Nga Purapura, Tasman Road, Otaki.After we've finished the hour there is a… Read more…
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September 24, 2013
Kia ora, writing and gardening have lot in common - you do the preparation, consider what to plant, where to plant it, what kind of structure - is the style cottage or sculptured? When I made this garden I put a lot of plants and bushes in the ground, tended them with great care, bought things recklessly on whim; they all grew. I thought about what it would look like when it grew up and became a garden instead of some dug over ground with plants here and there. Naturally I over-planted. Anyone who tells you they didn't over plant when they set up their garden has either developed amnesia or is lying. I've spent the last couple of years cutting things back, digging them out, replacing the ones that didn't work or got too big for the garden. Tried and failed to curb my visits to garden centres.This last year I've written a novel and the same things happened. I chucked a few things in that were later dug out, rearranged some things, changed a lot, tended it carefully, looked in on it every day, sometimes just to say hello. Thought about it all the time. I lived with… Read more…
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Thursday is wear a camellia and something purple day
September 17, 2013
Kia ora, 120 years ago in New Zealand on September 19, 1893, the bill was passed that gave women the vote. It was the result of years of campaigning. There are well-known names like Kate Sheppard and Marilyn Muller but we need to remember they didn't do it alone. Can you imagine what it was like to walk around the streets, and up paths knocking on doors, asking people to sign the petition? I have stood on street corners asking people to sign petitions and believe me, not all people who approach are friendly.The Breweries had great influence (nothing's changed there) and lobbied fanatically against the vote - they saw their profits falling because a lot of the work was done by The Women's Christian and Temperance Union and they feared their influence. They needn't have worried.Maori and Pakeha women worked hard for this result. It took at least ten years of hard grind. You can see the petition on display in National Archives in Wellington. If you live locally, go in and pay your respects. Some of us don't take voting all that seriously, some of us do. Whether we do or not, we should salute the heroism of… Read more…
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When two or more are gathered together…
September 10, 2013
Kia ora, I'm not a great joiner of groups - but I have been/am a member of three memorable groups. This was the first one...On my wall there is a framed black and white photograph of a group of women some sitting, some standing beneath a large tree. I am there, standing at the side looking on and smiling. This caught moment reminds me of how important this group was in my life.This was the Hawke's Bay branch of the NZ Women Writers' Society. In the photograph there are 14 of us. We lived in Napier, Hastings, Wairoa, Havelock North, Waipawa and Waipukurau. Once a month for eleven months of the year we travelled to a meeting, once a year, the meeting was held at our place or in our town so we didn't have to travel that month. There were two of us who lived in Wairoa and when we drove to Waipukurau or to Hastings or Havelock North, it didn't seem that long because we were so enthusiastic about the group. To be eligible to join the group I'd had to submit three pieces of published work to the NZ Women Writers Society in Wellington for the National… Read more…
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September 3, 2013
Kia ora, last Saturday night, August 31st, at Te Papa I was one of the recipients who was awarded a Kingi Ihaka Award. My award was for contributions to literature and theatre and to teaching and mentoring. I was thrilled to receive this award and absolutely delighted that it included teaching and mentoring in the citation. Not very often these two attributes are included in any award that I know of apart of course from education awards. It was a happy night and we all enjoyed the evening immensely.When I thanked Te Waka Toi for including me among the recipients of this award, I mentioned story and it seems to me that stories are what that connects all cultures. We all tell each other stories. It has been going on forever and will continue to do so. Stories inspire, teach and entertain us. They provide escape, they show what happens when you let one of the big three, Greed, Desire, Revenge, dictate your actions and they show how all of us at some stage or another are overcome by these drivers and its how we learn to deal with them that makes the story. Stories can be told in song,… Read more…
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August 27, 2013
Kia ora, well, the draft of Once Bitten, result of working and reworking over the last year, some bits rewritten at least twenty times, some more, at last I got to the end of something I could send to my readers. Ka pai Renée. At this moment I'm not sure what I feel about it - I need some time away and the value of having a couple of readers to whom I can send the draft is not only that they will read and comment on it but also that it is now out of my hands. Until I hear from them there is nothing I can do - it's like I've been given a holiday, a respite from the slog and pleasure of writing it - a kind of earned freedom. Will let you know how it goes. Off to Wellington for the weekend - tell you all about that next time.
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August 20, 2013
Kia ora, thanks for your messages re Too Many Cooks - yes, I like Hester too and she won't be disappearing completely. My plan is to write a trilogy about characters who live on Vogel Place and so the characters who live there will appear as a major character in one novel and reappear as not so major in another. Hester though will always be one of the main characters because all three novels will have the production of a play as one of its elements. The next novel is called Once Bitten and the first chapter will be up on WednesdayBusk around the end of September - I will let you know the exact date soon.In the meantime there will still be a poem every Wednesday, a Writers Talk and a blog. Too Many Cooks will be available in chapter form for free until Once Bitten goes up after which it will be available as an ebook only. So if you want to read it free all over again right from the start you've got a month.
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August 13, 2013
Kia ora, a couple of years ago, two friends and I began presenting play readings in St Peter's Hall, Paekakariki. We were sitting at dinner one night and we talked about some of the really good scripts we'd loved and decided that we wanted to hear them again and we could. So we chose a play, Chicken Soup with Barley, an Arnold Wesker script which is a particular favourite of mine and off we went. We contacted professional directors and actors and they gave their time free, we only charge a minimal fee and the proceeds go to St Peter's Hall Restoration Fund. We present the play reading then serve a cup of tea or coffee and some food and then we have a discussion which is always lively and fun.What has warmed my heart has been the response of locals and also others from up the coast and from Wellington - it seems there are lots of people who enjoy hearing plays read aloud. The same kind of response happens for poetry readings. There is something about the pleasure of listening that we all respond to whether its music or the spoken voice and if there's a story involved… Read more…
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July 28, 2013
Kia ora, it was certainly scary in Otaki late afternoon Sunday a week ago when we felt the big quake - did I dive under a table? Take refuge under a desk? No I sat at the computer wondering if was imagining it. Some people take a lot of convincing. Next time I'll dive under the desk immediately. I noticed also that my desk was placed next to three shelves that are not attached to the wall - and for a few nights I put things (jars etc) on the floor before I went to bed in case they got rattled.Went to see Gardening with Soul, the documentary by Jess Feast about Sister Loyola Galvin, Head Gardener at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay. An inspiring film and I'm glad I went. Next day I went out in the garden and did some weeding, planted some green-leafed vegetables, not brassicas, not so fond of them, and then made a salad using silver-beet. I read up about silver beet in the cook's salad garden re-visited by Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichbourne. They said you can use the leafy part in a salad, stalks removed and slices thinly, and… Read more…
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July 17, 2013
Every morning I cut up some slices of bread into cubes and throw it out for the birds. They're hungry at the moment and the moment I start walking back to the house they're in - when I first started they were wary and sat on trees and watched - if they caught a glimpse of me through the kitchen window they fluttered up instantly but now hunger had overcome their fear. They demolish the lot quite quickly and fly back to the apple tree or the neighbour's trees and sit watching and waiting.Hunger drives the birds to a different form of behaviour and so it does with humans. What once would have been spurned is now eaten rapidly. When one has been hungry you learn to eat everything quickly in case someone else grabs it. Once the habit is there its hard to break because the fear is deeply entrenched, never quite goes away - maybe tomorrow there will be no food? It's hard to see how a weekend of an enforced diet as a way of showing solidarity can do much for the truly hungry. Sure it gives the participants a superficial idea of what it could be… Read more…
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July 2, 2013
I enjoy masks and have a lot of them on my wall. It seems all cultures either have masks or use paint or ochre to change the look of their faces for particular occasions. Masks are used for celebrations, for rituals, or to hide their face for some usually nefarious deed - robbing a bank, or some other criminal act. We use masks or heavy makeup in theatre as well to illustrate some particular tradition, from the Classic Clown to Columbine or Harlequin.These garish, beautiful, startling, sometimes grotesquely exaggerated masks are really just mimicking what happens in real life.Most of us wear masks - we like to keep some of ourselves hidden - the public face and the private face - and writers know this so when begin to develop character - sometimes the mask is the character - (think Sherlock Holmes and his modern equivalent in the BBC series who deliberately wear masks). Think of all the characters you've read about or watched on film, think of the way the masks are peeled off so by the end of the story or film gradually the truth of the one underneath underneath the mask has been revealed, either for better… Read more…
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June 18, 2013
Kia ora, I have been cleaning out a cupboard in the spare room. There are piles of papers and various hard copies of articles I've saved over the years. Its time to cull them. I need the space. Its a funny thing isn't it how we can have this absolute knowledge that some things have to go - we reason it out - we are being invaded by paper, photographs, whatever - when we try and remember why we saved them, we can't. It seemed a good idea at the time. Why do we hoard things? What are we think we are saving? A memory? A moment? A time? People perhaps? Do we think that if we don't save something tangible eg some printed papers, we might lose that time? I have a friend who has a cupboard of shoes she knows (and says) she will never wear again. She has no rational reason not to throw them out except - she's not ready. So maybe that's the test. We have to be ready. In the meantime we push away the piles of this and that - we can't face getting rid of them right at this moment - but… Read more…
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June 10, 2013
I first saw this bush at at house in Nelson Crescent in Napier and loved its blue bunchy flowers so I bought one, and planted it in a corner of the trellis fence. Now it is bullying the Burgundy Iceberg rose and has to go. This is harder than it sounds. The trunk doesn't want to go. It is stronger than me. 'Make me,' it says. Tomorrow I will cut it all back to the trunk and then a man with a shovel will come and dig it out. This will save me injuring my shoulder even more than I have so is a Good Thing. Good is not the same as happy. Its not as satisfying watching someone else do it but needs must. I have been feeding the birds each day. It is pretty cool watching them wait till they think I've gone back to bed, then one by one at first then in squads they swoop down from the apple tree and lance a cube of bread. The bigger birds make dashes at the smaller ones who put up a show of retreating but are back in a second doing their version of snatching the crumbs from… Read more…
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May 28, 2013
Kia ora, the lovely thing about winter gardening is the opportunity it gives me to sit inside and read about all the things I could be doing. For example I could clean my garage, I could clean all my gardening tools, I could fly to the moon if I had wings Unlike writing, which has to be done every day, my kind of Winter gardening is not so demanding. I have reckless impulses of course, there'll come a day, it'll be cold but the sun will be shining. I'll charge outside, rip out everything in sight, lug the evidence to the Green Waste then make a mad sortie to the garden centre. I'll fill the car to the gunwales and then come home and plant it all. I'll suffer the aftermath - sore arms, sore legs, stiff shoulders and back plus a large dent in wallet - but these are mere bagatelles compared to the bliss I feel. In my head - long lovely summer days lolling on a deckchair reading in my lovely wonderful fantastic garden. Yeah right. Dream on Renée. Underneath the earth the weeds are smiling. And the garage will be done. The mother who lives in… Read more…
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May 21, 2013
Landscape and setting – are they the same? Elizabeth George, in her book on writing, proposes that landscape is the broad vista in which the writer places the actual settings of the book. Let’s talk about this for a moment in light of your work. Which is the landscape and what are the settings? Are they all external or can we also have landscapes of the mind? If you make the landscape or the seascape, the broad vistas of the book, how do you differentiate it from the settings? Does it matter? If you make the mind of the writer one of the landscapes of the book is that a good thing? Its important to consider landscape while you’re writing your book, because if you’re able to make the landscape of a place real, it gives you a head start on making the entire work real for the reader. Making the landscape live for the reader is promoting an emotional connection to it, and no-one keeps on reading without feeling some kind of emotional connection either to the topic, the exterior landscape of the work or the inerior landscape of the writer or characters. If you have all these then… Read more…
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Memoir: Driving – you’ve got your licence – so drive
May 14, 2013
Driving the work Writing means learning lots of things and one of them is how to be a driver. What does this mean? It means there’s no-one sitting next to us guiding, explaining, suggesting or taking responsibility. We are the driver. We're in the car, on our own, we make our own decisions, take responsibility for where this car goes, how it goes. We make sure the car has enough petrol and is roadworthy. To make the car go we have be in the driving seat and we have to know where we’re going. Writing is the same. We are the drivers. You might never ever want or be able to try for a license to drive a car, a plane, a boat or a train, but if you want to be a writer you have to drive the work. Yes you can be someone who writes a beautiful line, whose friends and parents tell you they’re wonderful, who sits and waits on ‘the muse’ and thinks everybody who doesn’t appreciate them is a barbarian, too young, too old, too lazy, too conservative to appreciate their genius. You can be all this, it’s really easy. But — if you want… Read more…
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Memoir – Research – let me count the ways
May 7, 2013
Kia ora, I've talked about context and that leads to the topic of research. Research is the tool which supports context. Research provides you with facts that you turn into memorable, recognisable, and vivid images. Research is the back room girl. She's holds the key to context. Without her you're fumbling in the dark. Political and economic contexts - what social and/or significant events happened during the time or times you’ve chosen to set the work? War, epidemics, natural disasters, political upheavals eg Springbok Tour, Bastion Point, Homosexual Law Reform, Stock market crash, Tangiwai, Wahine, the assassination of JFK, Waterfront Lockout, Elvis Presley, Rita Angus, Janet Frame’s Owls Do Cry, Keri Hulme’s The Bone People...? Think about technology and the changes it has brought to all our lives. Telephones, radio, tv, computers, film. Style in clothes, footwear, cars, houses, furniture. Hobbies, leisure pursuits, sport. Attitudes. The information you want will be on the net, or libraries – never met a librarian yet who wasn't helpful. Birth, Death and Marriage certificates have dates and other information, not always correct though so check with others. Great sources are the National Library, Archives NZ – both Nat Lib and Archives can be found… Read more…
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Memoir and Context – star in the background
April 30, 2013
What is context? Context is the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, idea, says the Oxford Dictionary - and I'll add story. As writers of nonfiction (or fiction) we need to set ourselves or others in a context so readers get that recognition factor which makes them think, I know, I understand, I've been there. Or, oh, is that what it was like? Wow, I didn't realise that. Context is provided in all sorts of ways. By mentions of dates, particular songs, political changes, weather, time of the year, a particular year. It is enriched by details - books that came out, plays that were on, songs that were sung, dances, sports successes or failures, a royal marriage, fashion changes in clothes, shoes, cars, leisure, travel, anything that enriches the setting in which your character (you) moves and which gives your reader information that enriches their reading. If you're going back in time (and parts of your story will do that) remember contextual details are important. Don't assume your readers will know what you're talking about. Take milk bars. Who the hell knows what a milk bar is now? I'm probably the only one in the world… Read more…
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April 23, 2013
You've got Story. You've got Structure. You've got Frame. Now — Style. From confessional to conversational to formal, with all gradations in between. You have some choices. They have to do with perspective. There are many ways of looking at the same story. You can tell it straight. Write incidents, situations, impressions, how they happened, as your memory tells you they happened. If you've done your homework on Story, Structure and Frame, this can work really well. You'll have a mixture of light and shade, happy and sad, go easy on the in-betweens. You can tell it funny. Write the same incidents, situations, impressions, and looking back as an adult, deliberately find the funny side — there are different styles of humour — you can be light or cynical, you can build up particular parts of your story or your own character to show the funny side either then, or now, as an adult, looking back. You can write it as a formal piece of writing, quoting research, citing references, including an introduction and a summary. Sometimes memoir writers enjoy working in this style because it detaches them from parts of their life they find too hard if approached in… Read more…
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April 16, 2013
Kia ora, next thing to think about is Frame. No not the famous writer, but yes, similar to what a framer puts around a painting or photograph. Writers use words so the frame is made up of words. A frame in the sense I mean is the outside story inside of which your memoir takes place. See the way Rick Gekoski frames his life-story by what he calls a bibliomemoir, Outside of a Dog. He chooses a number of books that have been important at various stages of his life, writes about their influence on him and at the same time writes about his life. In This Piece of Earth, Harvey McQueen frames his life story with a year's seasonal cycle in his garden. He structures it into two-monthly parts and within those parts as well as writing about the garden he also reveals his life experiences so that by the end of the work we not only know a lot about his garden but we also feel we know a lot about Harvey. Margaret Atwood in her book about the writing life, Negotiating with the Dead, a series of lectures turned into chapters, also reveals parts of her life-story… Read more…
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Memoir writers – second star to steer by – first clue
April 4, 2013
Fabulous, you've got your story - how will you structure it? Two things to consider when you think about structure. How will you cut it up into manageable reading chunks? How will you frame your story? I'll consider structure first. Writing is not only putting words one after the other on a page. Writing involves making decisions. Developing judgement. You need to practise and be prepared to make the wrong call sometimes. We all do. So how will you divide up your life-story? Consider this. Your story that you've worked on has become a journey involving you as the hero and on that journey is a series of events. Some events were more important, had more impact, caused more stress, gave more happiness, taught you a significant lesson, started off badly, turned out well. Some caused you heartache, some great happiness. Some events loom larger than others. Some events that seemed small at the time had a large impact later. The value of getting the story right is now apparent. Make a list of these more important events. Once you've isolated out these events make these the structural markers for your story. All the other bits and pieces can be… Read more…
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Chapter 19, Too Many Cooks is now live
April 2, 2013
Hester looked at the group of interested onlookers gathered around the window — all she could hear was self-inflicted and all she could think was — he agrees with Joseph? He thinks I invite these attacks? Oh Medusa, what am I going to do? She wanted to wail out loud, beat her head with willow branches, sink to the ground and refuse to move. She thought right at this moment she could happily shut herself in the hall cupboard and never come out. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said. Read on...
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Chapter 18, Too Many Cooks, now live
March 26, 2013
Chapter 18, Too Many Cooks, now live.
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Want to write a memoir – stuck on first star – story? Okay…
March 25, 2013
You want to write a memoir and the first star to steer by is giving you problems? You’re having difficulties with story? Join the club. Story is not only the listing of the events and dates that make up your life so far – that’s the easy part – it’s the inbetween bits – they’re the ones you have to place into the story. Until you do this and write the story you have nothing to work on. So get that done quickly – it’s only a rough draft so you don’t need to agonise over it. There’ll be plenty of agonising time later. Maybe the barrier is that you think story doesn’t have a lot to do with memoir? Or nonfiction? You think oh for heaven’s sake - I was born and years passed, I lived through them, I have a life – but a story? You mean make things up? Of course not. Why would you need to make things up? You’ve had plenty of experiences, good, bad, wonderful, heartbreaking, it’s just that when you think about them they somehow vanish and you’re left with dates and records and substantial amounts of nothing in between. A trigger that… Read more…
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Chapter 17, Too Many Cooks, now live
March 19, 2013
Read Chapter 17 of Too Many Cooks. Or start reading from the beginning. Too Many Cooks is also now available to buy as an ebook.
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Want to write a memoir? three stars to steer by…first star – story
March 8, 2013
You have this wonderful idea. You've had some great experiences, lived through some traumatic times, had some failures, some successes. Why not write a memoir of your life? 'Good idea,' say your friends. 'Great,' say your children and/or your mother. 'Don't put me in it,' says your brother. You'll change his name, you decide. He'll never know. Part of being human is to talk about our lives, our experiences, the things we're vitally interested in. We want to make sense of them perhaps, to think about the outcomes, the changes we lived through. To think about the past. Writing about our own and our family's lives would make an interesting read, we think. We look at an old photograph and wonder what lay beneath that calm exterior. Sometimes we know what lay beneath it but we think better not, then we decide, why not? You can change their names. They'll never know. So you write your life down. It begins... I was born.. and then goes on to record in chronological order all the known facts of your existence. It is 50 pages long. It is titled, My Life. Your mother and friends love it. You show it to a… Read more…
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Writers for children were important in my life
March 4, 2013
Kia ora koutou, had a conversation recently about how little esteem is given to writers who write for children by the literary and university communities. Made me think how important writers who wrote for children were (and are) in my life. When I was eight or nine I read a book and discovered that instead of stopping after a few pages it went on and on. I was at first incredulous then totally enraptured. I would have read all night if I’d been allowed. That book was Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery, bless her name. She would probably have been sneered at by the literary afficionados of the day but that book set me on the reading train and I’ve never got off. After Emily I read everything I found on the Children’s section of the local library shelves (all the Anne books of course, Seven Little Australians, Angela Brazil among 100s of others, Dickens (Nicholas Nickleby so scary I never read it again), Austen, The Brontes, The Last of the Mohicans) then started on the adult section supervised by the librarian who understood my voracious appetite for books but nevertheless confiscated books like My Gypsy Lover for… Read more…
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The web pages are finally up and running
February 28, 2013
Kia ora koutou, the web pages are finally up and running. It has been quite quick really and My Web Workshop has done a fabulous job. I was new to this kind of designing enterprise so I’m not quite sure what I expected but what I got was a quick understanding of what I wanted and answers that said yes I could, or no I couldn’t, or that is possible. I got personal service, face to face meetings, I got choice. Various options were suggested which I could mull over and choose from. I also got lots of suggestions for things I hadn’t thought about all of which have been adopted. It was a fabulous learning curve. As part of the deal I get some hours of tutoring so I’ll be able to write new blogs and put them up myself. I love having a guest poet’s work on the Home page and have got a great selection lined up. I am so lucky to have these generous friends who happen to be poets – or these generous poets who happen to be friends. When you’re learning to find your way through this technological maze its good to have a… Read more…
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February 24, 2013
Hester wakes in a darkened room. Auden is there. Where is she? What is happening? And who is Nurse Janet? Chapter 14 coming up this Wednesday... Chapter 14
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February 20, 2013
Kia ora, ukulele group today and we are doing different strums. Which sounds easy but tell my fingers that. The problem, as I see it is, that my brain understands the words but my fingers do not receive the message. They will though. I know from experience that eventually they will. So keep on, hope ever is the mantra.Chapter 13 (unlucky for some)Its the middle of the night, the dog starts barking, Hester hears screams and shouts, she staggers out of bed, oh Medusa — all she can remember is put any lights on that you can — make as much noise as you can — and charge, sometimes the element of surprise gives you a moment or two… okay? 'Not this time,' yells Hester — and charges…Chapter 13
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February 18, 2013
Kia ora. Its the middle of the night, the dog starts barking, Hester hears screams and shouts, she staggers out of bed, oh Medusa — all she can remember is put any lights on that you can — make as much noise as you can — and charge, sometimes the element of surprise gives you a moment or two...okay? 'Not this time,' yells Hester — and charges... Chapter 13 (lucky for some) coming up this Wednesday. In the meantime, Read chapter 12.
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February 11, 2013
Kia ora, Getting ready to pack up tomorrow because I'm off to Foxton for a week. Staying in a house by the estuary. Possibly some of you have stayed there. I'm looking forward to it very much. I'm not sure about the internet situation there but here's hoping. There'll be somewhere I can take the laptop I'm sure. Drove into Wellington this morning and again it was looking beautiful. I'm storing up these images in my head and will bring them out when you know what hits the city. Chapter 11 … Okay, auditions have been held, Hester's got a cast — not exactly as many as she hoped for but she will do it. Dinner at Daisy's is a pleasure after the day she's had. Auden makes a toast, 'Here's to Drama.' Hester might have to strangle him. Then a dirty matted apology for a dog turns up. A dog? Hester hates dogs. And this particular one is not too impressed with her either … coming up on Wednesday… In the meantime, read Chapter 11.
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January 31, 2013
Meeting of the ukulele group this afternoon − we've been meeting for three years and enjoy the friendship which has developed as much as we do the playing and singing. For me, learning to play (if that's not too extravagant a description of what I do) was very slow and very frustrating but gradually my fingers developed some sort of memory for the chords − but if I practised more I would be better. I have resolved (great word that) to practise more this year. Chapter 10 ... Finally the auditions − 10 to four and Hester waits in the Porohiwi College Hall. She knows the play backwards, she's worked out the casting, written a plan for the scenes (with question marks) and has some ideas about music. All she needs now is students wanting to audition ... where are they? Click to read ...
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January 23, 2013
Kia ora,
Included in Chapter 9 of Too Many Cooks is a reference to a poem by Elizabeth Smither, Making tarte Tatin. Elizabeth has, very generously, allowed me to include the whole poem on this post. Now you know what Hester's on about. Here it is... Read more… -
Great Reads and Great re-Reads
December 1, 2012
Novels (print and ebooks) The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgkin Burnett (who can forget the first time they read this unforgettable novel? It's billed as a children's book but its definitely a book for all seasons. I'm loving it. If all you ebook readers out there want to read more of my novels Huia Publishers have put The Skeleton Woman and Kissing Shadows on Amazon as ebooks. Just go to Amazon, put in the title and my name and they'll zoom you there. Nonfiction I'm Your Man - Sylvie Simmons (Leonard Cohen) A very detailed, very dense book, not one I can read much of at a time, so it's going to take a while. I'm not sure yet whether it's a one-read book or a re-read. Plays Affinity - Sarah Delahunty's new play (look out for it, coming up in the Wellington Fringe Festival) DVD Looking for Richard, Al Pacino's film about a bunch of actors discussing, rehearsing, performing, scenes from Shakespeare's play, Richard 111. Fantastic. Al Pacino plays Richard. After his magnificent performance as Shylock in the film, The Merchant of Venice, I wondered how he'd get on with Richard - but he proves yet again that he…
From my garden
