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 .