We’re very lucky here that Cyclone Pam gave us 35ml of rain but no damage. At last the pond is full again, the ducks delighted, and the baby frogs which have been hiding in garden damp spots can return to their home. Spent summer beds are being weeded and composted, and green manure crops of lupin, mustard […]
Auckland’s Anniversary
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Sunday 25 January: we took a morning train to downtown Auckland Thought we’d better go and see what Auckland City was doing to celebrate it’s “175th birthday”. Tamaki Makaurau has been loved and lived on by Maori for more than seven centuries; but our Anglocentric culture only starts counting from 1840, when 3000 acres of land were […]
Waitangi Day
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Friday 6 February: 6am on the foreshore at Okahu Bay. We came for the dawn blessing, and found the ceremony was also the opening of the Auckland Pride Festival. With the sun about to rise, the inimitable Mika (a wonderful performer, and a powerful voice for the marginalized young people in our society) with support […]
Our 30th Anniversary
February 19, 2015 by 9 Comments
In 1985… 30 years ago, Tanya rang Charmaine, then principal of AGGS, to book a room at the school for a “Lesbians Opposed to Waitangi Celebrations” meeting on Waitangi Day. After a chat we made a date for dinner on Friday 8 February “to share our experiences as women in leadership positions in “the system”.” And the […]
A visit to Awhitu…
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Friday 13 February: we set off for our first visit to the Awhitu Peninsula since leaving earthtalk@awhitu in April last year. We stayed at a favourite holiday haven – Spyve’s Cottage, right on the beachfront at Orua Bay Camp Ground. Beautiful swims morning and night for two days! We visited Alison and Steve, the owners […]
Pride
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Auckland Pride Festival – an annual celebration of gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and other people of alternative gender and/or sexuality – has grown to more than 80 events this year. We went to the opening of the Lady Love art exhibition at the lesbian Charlotte Museum on 1 February; great to catch up with old friends and meet new […]
A cautionary tale…
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Our HP All-in-one Desktop has suddenly died, without any warning-and it’s not even two years old. So we’re working from a laptop and web mail only. Thank goodness for Earthsong expert Grant, who has eventually found all the files (but no directories) and saved them on an external disk to be re-labelled and transfered to a new HDD. […]
Diverse Delights
January 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In this last week, we’ve enjoyed dance, food and drama from around the world. We went to the Okareka Dance Company’s Summer School final performance, exploring the theme Kiwi Ingenuity, by 15 talented secondary-school age students, coached in contemporary dance by Tane Mete and Taiaroa Royal. www.okareka.com On the way home, we stopped to eat […]
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