Deserve a medal?

Photo by NZ Herald

This is the order of New Zealand. There are only 20 in existance. With the deaths of David Lange, Sonja Davies, and the Maori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu , there are 3 vacancies. Nominations close 1 February for the Queen's Birthday honours list. Ha, that's a little ironic. We don't do knighthoods any more, but we award this one on the Queen's birthday celebration weekend. Ha!

The Herald suggests Peter Jackson (film-maker), and Neil Finn (musician). What do you think? Howabout Hone Tuwhare or Ralph Hotere?

I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain
If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut
And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind

from Tuwhare's ‘Rain’

Turquoise

Turquoise, for a year of colour.


My new skirt...motifs, beads, a little spangle round the hem. A pretty summer skirt, for adventures in Melbourne in October.


Princess Bay, Wellington .... great place for rock pool exploration.

I'm a little quiet here in blogland. I'm swimming, training for national masters short course meet on 7 October. I'm sewing, quilts for national symposium, photographs due 1 November (or something like that....too soon anyway!). I'm studying, major essay due soonish. When all that is dealt to, I'm off to Melbourne for a long weekend.

Check out AOF's pie challenge. Can't believe the woman eats pies. I'm gonna have to see if I can find one that's worth considering.

There went the week

Well, the week whizzed by, after a lovely Wairarapa weekend with endless blue sky.
My friend and I made another clothesline full of hand-dyes. We used turquoise and golden yellow and carmine red as the parent colours. Made some nice blue greens and plummy purple/reds. Will there be time to stitch them into something before the Symposium deadline?

Forest Green, for a year of colour. Edward as a Cub. I made about 30 of those scarves one year! The cub/scout movement has been good for my boys, even though the "duty to God and the Queen" and all that is a bit much. They really did learn some useful knots, and they know how to fold a flag. Never know when that'll come in handy. I am grateful to the volunteers who organise a programme that's fun and educational, and who subject themselves willingly to a tiny hall full of 25 x 9 and 10 year old boys once a week.

 

Floating sculpture, photograph by Louise at Wellington Daily Photo. Posted Monday 18 September. Scroll down on her site to see a close up of a Nikau scultpture, you can see one at the bottom left of this picture. There are lots of the steel and copper Nikaus around the city library, they were designed by Ian Athfield, as part of the building's environment. The city had a couple of spares so they were 'planted' near the airport. Athfield, one of NZ's premier architects was not impressed.

Thanks Louise, great shot!

Silver

Silver, for a year of colour. Ferns, by Neil Dawson. This glorious sculpture hangs above Civic Square in Wellington. The square is a lovely place enclosed by the magnificent city library, the city art gallery and the original, lovingly restored Town Hall. It's been there for years, without incident, which is remarkable for something suspended in mid air in this city known for its howling southerlies and gusty northerlies. Beautiful huh? 

Quilt of the Day

Quilt of the Day. "A Stones Throw" 2003. Won a blue ribbon at the National Quilt Symposium in Christchurch 2003, and toured New Zealand for a year in the New Zealand Quilter suitcase exhibition. The background fabric in the centre section is a hand-dye from my first dyeing class at a previous symposium. You can see it in the photo below, I love how it shifts from blue to mauve to green.


It's also here for a year of colour. This week the colour is Wisteria, it's a tough colour to match, but check out the pictures posted at Flickr, they're fabulous. I'm pushing the colour definition a bit, but hey, it's as close as my boy-filled life gets to Wisteria!


I was really pleased with the quilting. It's kindof like ripples on a pond, hence the name.

Oh the places I go (again)

Took a couple of days off work, and skipped some school. We saw this, from the land and from the harbour, in bright sunlight and at night. It really is extraordinary. You know where I am, right?


We saw this guy, and many of his friends, at the zoo, which must be one of the prettiest zoos in the world. The giraffes have the best view! It was sunny, it was hot, I swam in the sea. I can't quite figure out exactly why it is I live in Wellington and not at Ocean Beach, Manly.

On the plane on the way home, we saw this guy, and some of his friends...huge, lean athletes, who can still be generous to a very excited small boy and sign autographs, although they've already travelled all the way from South Africa (where they lost).

Ohh, Dale, I wish I'd thought to get them to sign something for you!