Need some recommendations for Christmas reading? A bit of a mixed bag above, right? It's a nice sandwich with a shit filling right there. And that's just here, in Aotearoa. I haven't even gone to threats of nuclear war, the orange blob still not in prison, and hundreds of thousands of people suffering, losing their …
Decision Tree
At the moment I am reading a book called The Sweetness of Water and I came across this paragraph: I hate to think what my tree would look like. Not a blossom tree, far too pink and admirable, a bonsai? Never reaching any potential, a rotten and dying tree? I'm being a bit more positive …
Home again, home again.
Five weeks in a flash and a month of Sundays or longer. Clear perfect blue skies day after day with absolutely no skin-peeling sunburn. Clockwork gloriousness, every day something joyful, marvellous, beautiful and different. And now here I am, jet lag over, all the familiars gathering around me, possibly jeering and leering at me, beached …
What should it be – head in the sand, the clouds or head in a mess?
World news right now is a pretty frightening menu of war, recession, Jan 6, climate (not) change, and Jacinda Arden bashing by the main stream media. The anti vaxers are out in very small numbers and don't seem to quite know that they are protesting about. Sometimes it's vaccine mandates, which no longer apply, sometimes …
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Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness …
Good old Keats... here if you want to reacquaint yourself with a beautiful poem. Autumn in Auckland has been more like an Indian summer and you can still get raspberries in the fruit shops. But the pears and apples are now holding sway and I've put my cashmere trackies on of an evening. However, it …
Chez Sue (in my dreams…) and a confession.
As many of you know, Sam and I went to France for six months many years ago when he was 11 and he is now coming up 30! We didn't know anyone and just took a stab in the dark and found a converted barn in Campgast, a tiny fishing "camp" in the Pyrenees. See …
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“Objects divorced from their stories are down-graded to mere knick knacks.”
From The Song Collector, a novel by Natasha Solomons There has been a lot written about “decluttering” in the last few years and about how liberating getting rid of stuff is. I have experienced this liberation by downsizing to a very small and manageable wardrobe. However, I still have a lot of “stuff”, in the …
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Consolations and Comfort in Covid Times?
Feeling anxious? Not sleeping well? Fed up with the literal shit stirrers in Wellington? Worried about another war starting? Climate change? Heat pump for cooling stopped working? Did you know the Wellington harbour is unswimmable because of sewage right now?Mmmm wonder where that came from. Well below are some tips for mitigating the gloom. Tip …
Devices versus Aids…
Can you tell??
Retirement/Retraite
It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a …
Fluffy George 