Matariki

"Evening All"
here's a little letter that I wrote to the paper today ,you might be interested ,particularly if you live in NZ ! It could take the place of any other public holiday that we already have ,or it doesn't even have to be a holiday ,we could just DO IT !! spread the word if you are moved .

Dear Sir,
I see that there has been a private Members bill drawn out that proposes a public holiday to celebrate the middle of winter ,referred to by its Maori name of Matariki,a beautiful word .Now this is a great opportunity for the whole country, i hope that they grab the chance .
Most of our celebrations occur at warm times of the year ,viz, Christmas ,New Year,Waitangi day ,even Easter, when we don't particularly need cheering up ,and certainly don't need huge cooked meals ! There is nothing in the middle of winter to brighten up the generally depressive weather and definitely depressive population .The Northern hemisphere has got it right !!
Now what I would like to suggest is that we take it one step further ,ban Guy Fawkes back to his musty cellar
and take the period of Matariki as our time for fireworks . This will have many advantages not the least of will be bonfires at 5-6pm [kids in bed by 8] ,no accidental grass fires and the chance to congregate around a nice warm fire . What a beautiful way to welcome back the sun !
Although it is a Maori Party bill,and Matariki is an appropriate name ,I see it as a universal celebration for the whole country to enjoy together ,a wonderfully wild and wacky way to warm up our spirits with bonfires and hot wine .
Go for it you politicians,esp.Mr Rahui Katene,do something positive for the population for a change !
Sincerely ....Bob L deBerry Cambrian

Use a glass !

Tip for the day ....Always drink your beer out of a glass, it tastes that much better !!
If an apple a day keeps the Dr away then I'm set for the next couple of months ,I thought that you might like this photo Ken [Beatson],you could label it " the Grannies mixing it with the Redskins ".
Is there a nicer view than the Hawkduns on the way home from Alexandra?,it's a 50km scenic drive ,and to think that Cam did it every school day for 5yrs ,this view should be implanted on his brain .
My ice sculpture got stolen ,well at least it was gone when I got home ,can't imagine where ,but I don't think that Jack frost is going to give me any more to play in this season . Prepare yourself for lots of photos of snowdrops and bluebells and in the meantime be good to one another ,give the next person you see a hug from me [and make it a fair-dinkum physical one ,not a prissy little pathetic one !!!]

Cartoon wisdom

How's this for .....[help,where did this colour and underlineing come from !!] the machines taken over. There,that's better , I thought that this was a fantastic cartoon ,it just speaks volumes to me . The mass media has kidnapped us and projected us into a false world of TV ,movies ,magazines ,songs all interesting "things" but calculated to distract us from
the sunsets and soaring birds .
Says he, sitting here at the computer and listening to the radio .So I am going to try to find a couple of nice photos that are just pure nature ,no background stories,no hype.I wish that I could photograph the stillness of the air ,the warmth of the sun or the quietness of the valley ,but you will just have to come to experience those ,bring Kelvin and his tiger with you !!

"Evening"
Interesting old day today ,heavy frost ,lots of sunshine ,just the day for another bonfire ,so out come the matches and up goes some more co2 into the atmosphere ,what sort of greenie am I ?? [a small one] . Fortunately the mailman arrived with some more art supplies in the form of a packet of food colouring ,so that distracted me for a fair while as I worked on my ice sculpture ,all I have to do now is fathom out how to get it to the Tate Modern and my financial woes will be over ,any suggestions ?
Mid afternoon the cavalry arrived in the form of neighbour David on his little tractor with a mower ,now I am not so anti machines that I won't say yes to someone who wants to cut my long grass [did that come out right?] anyway lots of grass got cut
which will make life much easier for the snowdrops, daffodils and bluebells that are about to push there way through ,I think that I could hear a collective sigh of relief from them when he had finished .
On a more serious note ,I read in todays paper that the "states" want us to get more involved in Afghanistan......" in case we ever need military support" talk about the kiss of death ,it's those last wallys that kicked the hornets nest !!
Enough of that : Be patient with my photographs,I'm just having fun experimenting with my camera ,you don't have to like them . ......cheers

Still fluffed the photos !!!!

I'll try again .All in one collumn, how boring. I'd be interested to know if the "mugshot" took longer to download as it was much larger [like Lindsay ,larger than life]

Yesterdays Ice-rink ...todays canvas

A perfect winters day in Cambrian, alas no maple syrup for our pancakes this morning ,come back Ethan from Vermont !! My visitors then went off in search of wild pigs in the scrub behind the house ,sadly for the oven ,they didn't find any, but lots of sign .
Next wind up the wheel barrow and off we went to collect yesterdays "ice rink", bit of a giggle
getting it onto its easal, but we made it .Then the fun began because I had used all the food colouring yesterday trying to change the colour of the pond ! so we used what was left [yellow and red] and then tried Vanilla and RED WINE [cheap ], finally finding some watercolour powders ,with mixed results ,you judge. We all had a lot of fun though and it should last for a couple of days .Toby and Lorna made an ice fixture last night which is also worth seing .I'm going to do a seperate blog in case I fluff the photos [still learning about placement ]

Success !!

Yea....success, lots of you got my letter last night and quite a number of you replied with positive words,thank you ,this is quite an incentive to give it my best
and I hope that I don't disappear [sorry ,disappoint !], remember that it is not meant to be too serious ,but to keep a little bridge between you,the forest and me
I'm not sure what will happen to all those without computers I hope that I can reach them through some other media. Having said that I must say that the biggest thrill of my day is getting actual "snail mail" in the letter box,nothing beats it ,today I got a food parcel from the "red Cross",and yesterday I got some beautiful photos from WWOOFers in Wyoming .Last week came a box of books from "Books in Homes" to help my reading skills !! I love them all.
Some will remember when we started clearing the blackberry from the front of the property ,by the sign, to make a little picnic area ,well this project is going famously ,at this moment I am clearing out the long grass to plant raspberries and black currants for the picnickers to graze on {photo} One young rooster has taken to coming inside for a feed ,so I am training it up for use as an alarm clock !! The third photo that I am putting on is of past WWOOFers, just for nostalgia sake ,and so that if they see it they will be able to see how much they have aged !! each night a different one .Watch out .

Take a trip to Mars

"Evening all"
Welcome to all those that I just sent the link to tonight ,I hope it works out OK.As each day goes on I learn a little more about the site ,today I learn't that you have to" sign on " to this site [a Google a/c] in order to make a comment ,if you are keen it's not too difficult and it should make for more interest .Failing that I have added my e-mail to the site ,and you could just comment using that.Either way would be appreciated.
Tonight by way of a change I want to make a little comment myself.It's 40 yrs to the week since the Americans landed on the moon ,I was in the Teachers college cafeteria at the time ,Now my mate BUZZ is going around telling the world that we should..."head for mars " well apart from the gazillions that it's cost so far at the earths expense here's another reason not to [sorry if you have heard this].....
If you had a space-craft that travelled at 1million miles per hour ,1.8million kph, you would get to mars in 2 days !!
quite quick ,but if there wasn't anything there ,and we know that already,and you set off in the same craft to the NEXT CLOSEST sun ,it would take you 3,ooo yrs !!!!yes 3,0000.
If you went in todays craft ,the mars mariner ,the second journey would take you 420,000 yrs ,how many generations is that ???? and would they take you ? so this whole space business is just a political power trip ,a huge price to pay for non-stick fry pans !! I think that I will stay in Cambrian .

One snowdrop doesn't make it spring !!

The first snowdrop for '09, millions to come ! I'm NOT getting the hang of these pictures,next up is Matt after having "hot-plucked" his first possum ,note the possum fur hat that he made this afternoon .Not sure who the blonde girl is in the next photo ,but nice hat eh .
The top photo is of yours truly on the worlds smallest ice rink !! Last day for Matt here today ,he's off to Dunedin tomorrow ,if you see him in the St. say hullo ,you'll recognize him by his hat !!

WOW,as I often say " the weather here in Cambrian is always dramatic " last night we had only had 1cm in 6weeks , today we must have had 1cm in 4 hrs ! It was preceded by gale force winds around 100 kph, and then accompanied by
great crescendos of thunder that threatened to squash the little cottage ! So hence not much work done today ,just cleared the drain to get the water to the pond ,those goldfish will be very relieved .The upside of this change is that all the water is flowing through the pipes again, so water doesn't have to be fetched from the water-race any longer .My prediction is,...is that that is the back of winter broken ...sure it will still be cold and a little more snow may fall, but no burst pipe stuff.
I don't intend for this blog to just be a weather report, I would like to be philosophical sometime ,but today the wind has just turned my brain to mush, so we have just eaten lots and sat beside a cosy fire ,after all that's what winters are for .
If you have any comments I would love to read them, as at the moment I have no idea if ANYONE is reading this nonsense, but the photos are more important really .

Goldfish pond

" Evening all " what a ripper of a day today ,sun all day long and a whopping 4 degrees at 6pm , must look out the swimming togs ! My local climatologist tells me that we have had 11mm ,[that's ........ that much] rain since the beginning of June ! just about a drought ,so much so that I am having to fill the pond up from the water race to give the goldfish enough to swim in !but tonight it's windy .

Sheep-eating-man

"Evening all" ....After working so hard at Lauderdale last Friday Matt [the WWOOFer][sounds like Pat the dog !!]and I took the w/e off,and just socialized ,a very hard thing to do in Cambrian . We went and watched the rugby in two different houses,he in one I in another ,we did that in case one had a better game ! lots of visitors today for muffins and tea.Matt and I went on an extended tour of the forest to scout out nice work for tomorrow,If I worked on it as much as I walk around it ,it would be finished by now ,but then so would I !!!! Lots of sunshine ,but very cold wind off the snow .Matt took these photos today [hope that I can attatch them properly .

I forgot the photo ! David;me;Matt.

THE LAUDERDALE LADS

Spent all day yesterday[Friday] ,helping David Smythe grub out suckers from his cork elm woods and burn the windfalls ,how's that for a decent fire ? Then Karen gave us a lovely dinner after which we drove home in the fog and watched the last half of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" , I can highly recommend this film ,it starts off pretty raunchy but is really very thought provoking .
4 out of 5.

Bonfires on the hill

"evening" I'm still learning how to "drive" this Blog ,what fonts and what sizes to use,whether to use colour or not ,how to lay out the photos without putting one on top of the other ,but stick with me and I'll get better .
The basic purpose of this blog is to share my little slice of heaven/earth with more people and in more depth with the people who have already been here .Visitors come for a day and it's a bit like taking an instant photo of somewhere,for those who stay a week it's a small video clip ,but for us who live here, every day is a different painting and over the course of the year it's a great cinematic occasion[without the film stars ]The movie is split into four sessions,we call them seasons ,and each one is spectacular in it's own right .What I would like to do is share those seasons with those who can't be here ,but who may have been here before and contributed in any way to the well being of the place ,hence the "common"forest ,it really belongs to all of us ,and even though it is not very tall at the moment it soon will be .
Another purposeis to try to retain the joy that I get from meeting new people ,and instead of being just "Ships who pass in the night" we could be "ships who sail in tandem for some time" getting enjoyment and strength from being so close until the next storm blows us apart !!
This was not possible before ,but now with all these newfangled gadgets we can at least give it ago.So if you want to follow our progress ,feel free,and if you want to make any comments ,that would be even nicer .
For example today was a crappy day weatherwise ,mist and no sun ,but perfect for burning off last summers trimmings ,and even the fresh ones ,so my WWOOFer,Matt,and I got up there and had a right old burn-up. There are lots of wilding pines coming through,some of them of a good variety ,so it is a bit of a bonus to grow a forest when the trees plant themselves and all you have to do is thin them out !! It's all looking pretty good .
see you
PS.Top left photo is Matt putting a little water on the fire !
Top right ,is what happens when you pee in this temperature!
Bottom left are two keen guys having a burn-up

"Evening",
not much to report tonight except I went through the ice again !! I have a young English WWOOFer here called Matt and I had just warned him about the dangers of the thin ice ,then went and stood there ,and went through !! how silly can you get ?? I'm running out of dry socks .
We had a destructive afternoon burning bon-fires on the top plateau ,I love the sound of roaring fires ,but only in the middle of winter .Fortunately Matt is only 23 and knows all about computers ,as Cam has deserted his old man to fend for himself ,so now all my photos are on DVD and the camera is empty again .Has anyone got any tips on how to SIMPLY save all your addresses without having to print out 18 pages !!? catch you tomorrow .
The first photo was taken last Sat ,but the next three were taken in 04,still they look pretty and ARE in Cambrian .

Tipsy photographs

I must be a little more tipsy than I thought ,or those photos have a mind of their own ,but if you want to see the photo in behind just click on the top rt/hand corner of it ,I'll be more careful tomorrow .Sorry about the old model ,but there is a distinct lack of young models in Cambrian !!
Here's another one just for the hell of it ..

9.46pm...looks like I'm more able now than before I left, as the photos of the "Merry-go-round" didn't
front up ! I'll give it another go .It was -5 as I walked home from my neighbours ,but the sky was so clear that you could see 20 light years into it !!there's a lot of space out there .
Now these Sequoias come from California [well not these actual ones] but the Brits found them up in the mountains ,took the seeds home and called them Wellingtonians ,cheeky blighters eh?
They can live for 3,000 years plus,and become the largest living orgasm on the planet,that's not a bad gamble for $60 is it ,that's 150 generations ! whew should be lots of little "Berrys" running around by then ,if anything is left to run around ON !
The phone was running hot tonight at the neighbours with everybody frantically organizing their teams for a curling Bonspiel tomorrow ,that's where the natives from around here stand around on the ice, drinking whiskey and throwing "stones" at one another ! the winners are the team that can get back to their cars without falling over !!
A young English WWOOFer guy is arriving tomorrow so it looks like I will have to get back to planning work and cooking proper meals [not before time he adds] This is not a great time of year to be photographing trees ,especially deciduous ones ,but if any past WWOOFers are reading this ,and I hope they are ,then feel free to request a photo of YOUR tree,lots of people have planted them ,and other people are most welcome to sponser one in the spring .I've ordered my last batch from Appletons as I am going to "retire" next year ,I have ordered some more ;sugar maples,paper birches,ash ,liquidamber and mirbeck oak ...wow roll on spring .