Morning FGers, I have been out of touch with a broadband breakdown but it seems to be working this morning.
Last night I came home to a wee parcel in my letterbox. I was surprised and delighted to find the most beautiful book inside. The first thing I noticed was how lovely it felt just to handle it. Simple black with an elliptical cutout in it. If I ever manage to self-publish a poetry book I would like it to feel like this.
The book is called Extant and is written by John Freeman-Moir from the University of Canterbury. It informs the newly-erected Graham Bennett sculpture called Extant and its place in the centre of Christchurch city. I can’t wait to see the real thing in my next trip down and see how it sits in relation to the other buildings around it.
The paragraphs below particularly resonated with me. As John is a friend I am hoping he won’t have copyright issues..
I have been wrestling these last few years with just that question. In my mind I always wanted to recapture that time in my life where I had my sister and best friend next door. I loved the interdependent living without it being a commune. Since then I have had an eco village fantasy that I couldn’t seem to bring to fruition. Hobsonville Point seems to be the closest I can get right at this moment. Having a friend a few doors down and with at least two other colleagues moving there, I see a kernel of a community forming. I have also just joined a Hobsonville book group that is starting up so that I will get to know a few others.
Speaking of buildings, while my house is no architectural flight of fancy it is my home and it’s very exciting to see it going up.
My son Sam is in Europe still and this week while in Amsterdam, he caught up with his oldest friend. They literally met in the womb, well sort of.. I met Max’s mother at our antenatal class and we immediately struck up a bond. The boys have spent time together off and on all their lives by going to creche together, meeting up in France when they were ten, the return trips their family has made to NZ and our trips to them in Europe meant that they have always been in touch. it just warms me to know that they are now independent young men and they have had some time together in Amsterdam. I hope they keep in touch their whole lives.
I have so many photos of them back to back over the years (all packed away right now) and they were always the same height. However, although Sam is 6 feet tall, Max is at least half a head taller now and makes Sam look teeny beside him. We always thought they were so different and yet they have lots in common too.
In the last few weeks I have continued to enjoy events at the little cafe in Ponsonby called Cafe 121. In fact, Friday nights have become something of a ritual there. this is jazz night but the kind of jazz that is gentle and whimsical and lovely , for me any way. Linn Lorikin is fabulous. Kind of the Peta Mathias of music.
This week on Wednesday I went to their monthly poetry open mic. It was something of a mission as it was a late night but it is now the second time I have read in public.
Autumn walks continue. I love that there is little wind most of the time.
My sister sent me a book of baby cloths much the same as the dish clothes…I continue on
Have a lovely weekend everyone. FG
Fluffy George 