Friday 15 March 2019: a way to look forward with hope?

On this same day, before the evil erupted in Christchurch, tens of thousands of young people in Aotearoa left their schools to demonstrate their deep concern about climate change and the future of our planet. We went to Aotea Square in Auckland to support them. It was inspirational- thousands of young people of all cultures […]

A Capital Visit

Charmaine’s cousin Audrey had her 90th birthday at the end of January , and we took a trip to Wellington/Whanganui-a-Tara  for her party.  We  have quite a few lesbian friends in Wellington whom we hadn’t seen for some time,  so we stayed four nights, and caught up with several of them.  Our AirBnB purpose-built cottage […]

Tai Haruru

Soon after our return from Wellington we went for a few days to North Piha to stay in the lovely Forest and Bird house, Tai Haruru, again.  It’s a very restful place in the bush, old-fashioned and well-furnished for five in the house and another four in a separate self-contained flat. Tanya had her 40th […]

Friday 8 February

34 years ago today Tanya came to dinner for the first time at Charmaine’s little cottage in Clarence Street, Ponsonby.  And that, as many of you know, was the beginning of our relationship. We still share strong  political beliefs and values in common, and mostly enjoy each other’s very different strengths.  So we happily weave […]

Round and about in the city

Tom Scott, New Zealand cartoonist and writer, has scripted two plays about his parents. We saw The Daylight Atheist, a one-man portrayal of his alcoholic and abusive father, and Joan, a two-person somewhat kinder presentation of his mother’s life, a few hours apart on Saturday 16 February at the ASB Waterfront Theatre.  We both found […]

Solstice greetings to you all..

 Saturday December 22 is the longest day of the year and promises to be warm here, of course.  To our Northern Hemisphere friends and family experiencing the Winter Solstice on Friday 21 December, stay snug, and we’re glad the days will be  lengthening for you from now on. We wonder what you will be doing […]

…and finally, a good place to stay…

…a small town whose population increases from 3000 to 10,000 for  a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Year, every year, but outside this peak Christmas period offers a lively, diverse community, every outdoor activity you can think of , and outstanding places to stay, to eat, and to explore: Whaingaroa-Raglan As part of […]

Creativity in the City…

Architects… Taiga, our 9-year-old friend from Earthsong, joined us for a day exploring the work of some of Aotearoa’s leading architects.  Fifteen central Auckland architecture firms held open days, and we managed to spend time at four, talking with staff and looking at current project models, past work images and futuristic designs. Taiga had two […]