A Kind of Paradise

I was recommended by a friend, a TED talk  given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie after I reviewed her book Americanoh in the last post. And only this morning I have had time to listen to it. I’d like to recommend it to you as I found it very enlightening about  the importance of stories as well as single stories and the damage single stories do.

It is finally Easter and a time to relax after the many visitors since I moved in to my new place. Things are settling down and in. The internet is working, the paintings are mostly hung, and I seem to have spent a lot of time reading manuals and assembly instructions lately. I hope I have finished.

While my friend was staying I had the pleasure of seeing the doco about Peggy Guggenheim. What a fascinating character, an enigma really. Hard to like but yet I really admired her. She was used by quite a lot of the male artists (and they were nearly all male) it seemed to me. But she created the most fantastic art collection. I didn’t see her gallery in Venice and now I am fired up to go. Unfortunately it will require a Lotto win to make that happen.

As always, when this particular friend, Bev,  visits we shift and change furniture. We have done this all our lives together. This time it was the table repainting and the ripping off the back of the kauri cabinet to fit the TV in as well as shifting it into the snug. I inherited the table from Bev and it holds many memories, firstly of sitting at that table as a teenager seeking refuge from home and from teenage angst. It was their family table and the five of them sat around it for dinner. I babysat the three children which is how I came to know Bev. Later it became the table we sat at after Brett died and the table little Sam sat at while he and Bev discussed music, bugs, animals, climate change, cats and many other very important topics. I think Sam became and environmentalist because of Bev’s influence and still today they spend a lot of time discussing these same topics.

I’m at home for Easter and I have assembled a little collection of keepsakes for the occasion. I have also managed to develop a passion for the M and M crispy eggs unfortunately.

It bothers me that I am still holding on to all this stuff. Poor Sam what will he do with it all when I kick the bucket? I even have scrap books filled with his birthday cards from birth. I am going to make it a winter project to discard, organise and file this stuff so that it doesn’t become a burden to him or me.

I have always loved my little French antique bed but now there just isn’t the room so I have put it on Trademe. https://www.trademe.co.nz/MyTradeMe/Sell/Current.aspx  I  paid over 1000 dollars for it and I see others the same for over 2k but so far I have had no bids. At the moment it is squashed into the living room and I admit to having a delicious afternoon kip on it the other day. So maybe it won’t sell…

There is something refreshing about an enforced no- shops- open day. How delicious knowing I can catch up on Grand Designs, read my book, bake something all without a shopping thought invading my mind. Not to mention the chocolate- eating excuses.

Happy Easter! FG