beauty … The kowhai around Ranui are in full flower now, and visited daily by dozens of tui which hurtle with aerobatic skill through branches, and chortle and warble their spring invitations. Piwakawaka – including a rare pale cream one (leucistic is the technical description) discovered by Earthsong resident Melody – flutter around the trees in […]
an election..
September 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Some days we find it hard to know whether news headlines signal the coming election or a rugby tournament . Our political environment has become, this year, more and more like a series of aggressive rugby games. Several largely male teams charge and tackle. There are a lot of missed kicks, a few tries, endless […]
Women’s Suffrage Day: VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
September 19, 2014 by 1 Comment
Today, September 19, is Women’s Suffrage Day. Women have had the vote for 120 years in New Zealand, and yet this is the picture of all the political leaders on offer in this election. OR IS IT? Metiria Turei, co-leader of the Greens, and Number 1 on their party list, and Laila Harre, leader of the Internet […]
Left…Right
September 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I wonder how different our elections – and our governments – might be if we abandoned the metaphors Left and Right. In English, as in French and Latin, right is seen as good (right, droit, dexter), left as somehow inferior (left, gauche, sinister) Why should these labels, left and right, be used in politics in Aotearoa in the […]
Earthsong: from WOW! to HOW?
August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Robin Alison, the founder of Earthsong and project manager during its building and development, is offering to run workshops for others interested in co-housing and/or sustainable development. Robin is a lovely woman, a great presenter, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience- she is a leader in New Zealand in the field of co-housing and sustainable […]
Arts on Atiu
August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We discovered amazing artistic talents on Atiu. While chatting to an elderly couple at the local store, Nga and Paiere Mokoroa, we were invited to visit and see Nga’s exquisite heritage tivaivai (a type of patchwork quilt developed in the Cook Islands). We also visited Andrea Eimke, a German woman who set up Atiu Fibre Arts studio […]
Matariki …
July 19, 2014 by 1 Comment
Matariki, a time for reflecting on the past and planning for the future, has given us helter-skelter weather in Tamaki Makaurau since the 28th of June. Fogs to help us see old Ranui street signs in new ways, sunny days to encourage the garlic shoots, still mornings to frame spiderwebs, wild storms to drive us inside. We tried to walk at Te Henga […]
Views from our Earthsong windows…
June 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A boat race on the lake at the beginning of winter… …a winter day dawning, from our bedroom window and Mio feeds the worms in the new orchard worm farm..
Earthsong Eco Neighbourhood
Public Good