Toi Te Rito Maihi, one of our favourite artists, is having a retrospective exhibition at Village Arts Gallery in Kohukohu until 26 June, so we decided to spend a few days in the Hokianga. Her exhibition is inspiring – she is so talented in many different media- drawing, writing, poetry, painting, print-making and , of course, […]
W.H.O Celebration
May 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On Saturday 30 April, W.H.O (Women of Hope: Helping Ourselves) invited Ranui residents and others to a celebration in the newly renovated Ranui Community Centre. Beginning with a processional dance by Congolese and Burundi women, the evening continued with a PowerPoint presentation of their activities so far (gardening, driving lessons, establishing a play centre for the […]
Autumn at Earthsong
May 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Manabu has helped Tanya harvest the kumara – a good crop to be shared around the community – and has planted the onions for their six-month growing season. Garlic goes in next month, of course, on the shortest day or thereabouts. We are also gathering copious quantities of persimmons, tamarillos, apples, guavas and feijoas, and the […]
Te Ara Reo Maori
April 19, 2016 by 2 Comments
Both of us love watching Maori Television. The channel offers more local content than any other (82% compared with 51 per cent for TV One and 50 per cent of TV3’s prime time hours, less on other channels) and the largest number of documentaries- 555 hours in the last year. And although many programmes in te reo are sub-titled in […]
Alex and Tomoko at Earthsong
April 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Ten years ago, Tanya began a conversation with a young Japanese woman sitting on her own at a film during the Out and Proud Festival. We learnt she was a doctor in training- having a gap year to study medical anthropology and English language at Auckland University- and eventually she told us she was in a […]
Korero Café and the Ranui Community Centre
February 18, 2016 by 1 Comment
After major renovations, the Ranui Community Centre and Korero Café reopened with a dawn blessing on Friday 29 January. Local stalwart Buffie Mawhinney and her team have re-used timber and other materials pulled out of the old building in very creative ways for walls and furnishings . The Auckland Council, Henderson-Massey Community Board and Community Trusts have all […]
Can you believe it – Charmaine loves exercise too!!
January 19, 2016 by 2 Comments
Tanya continues to do her regular mixture of tai chi, exercycle and swimming lengths at The Wave pool in Henderson to try and keep her arthritic joints open and moving. Now Charmaine’s got the bug, after a lifetime of exercise phobia, and goes off to a gym when Tanya goes swimming –but this is […]
Ranui in the Sunlight
December 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
How lovely to open the Weekend Herald and find Steve Braunias celebrating Ranui and its library! We feel very proud because this corten steel canopy was created by Nic Moon of Nelson, from Tanya’s extended family… We especially enjoy the people of Ranui, too, as those who have read our earlier blogs will know – […]
Earthsong Eco Neighbourhood
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