I had a day in London in mid January learning about Art Therapy, and I’d love to be able to become an Art Therapist.  Just perhaps not in the UK as the fees are well beyond our capacity.  We joined Kim and Ez that evening and went out to the Inspiral Cafe in Camden for a feral meal.  Isn’t it funny how you get to a certain age (adulthood?) and all your social gatherings go from revolving around partying to eating?  Or is it just me?

Waimarama turned 9 (almost double digits oh my goodness!) on January 17th.  I created a birthday snow caterpillar for him…

Ez, Kim, Bodra and I went to the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.  We loved this photograph of the golden King Penguin chick staring at the photographers footprints on the black sand.

I started volunteering at the Reading Association for the Blind.  I had spotted a sign in the store, Hobby Craft, asking if I’d like to learn how to basket weave and also do some volunteer work, which sounded agreeable to me.  So I went down to the centre at Walford Hall and met the Manager, Dawn Singleton.  The RAB is like a social gathering for people with varying degrees of visual impairment, functioning around art activities.  Some members are able to weave so make willow trays or cane baskets.  Others have limited dexterity so make greeting cards.  There is also a space for music appreciation, and sometimes they take on other art projects.  I volunteered over half a dozen times before we went to NZ and also did a little fund-raising at our local Tesco supermarket.   Whilst at the centre I would spend my time talking with different members and helping with the cards.  I’ve been instructed on how to guide a visually-impaired person; it’s best to have them hold onto your elbow.  One of the facilitators, Catherine, showed me a beautiful wool mural, where all the participants had knitted various parts to create a countryside farm scene, complete with animals, a tractor, pub and the RAB mini-bus.  It’s been quite a positive experience being involved with the RAB as it’s gotten me out of shell a little bit more.

Bodra went into London on the last weekend of January for Paul’s London stag do.  His mates dressed him up in an aussie shirt, put a hat with corks on his head and tied an inflatable kangaroo to him.  Then they proceeded to get him really drunk at various places.  Apparently Paul was wrapped up in bubbly packaging for his NZ party as Rachael wanted to ensure he was kept safe.

Rachael’s UK Hen was a bit more sedate comparably, but lots of fun.  On the evening of Waitangi Day, I joined Rachael, Kim, Alanna and a couple of Rachael’s friends whom I had never met before at a lovely cafe called “The Haberdashery” in a part of London I hadn’t visited before- Crouch End.  We enjoyed all sorts of goodies in a tapas style and many flutes of champagne, glasses of wine and cocktails were elegantly sipped.  I didn’t participate in the drinking however as that morning I had happily discovered that I was pregnant!  I had woken from a lovely dream where I was standing in ‘the kitchen’ (not our present kitchen) holding our baby girl (toddler size) and giving her lots of belly kisses and cuddles, and keeping her at bay from a prowling cat.  I felt like the dream was a visitation, so decided to do a test which had very pleasing results!  & how wonderful to be able to soon share the news face-to-face with our family.

The following day we joined Noa in her 3rd Birthday celebrations at the Zilberberg residence.  Delicious cake David!

The day of our flight to NZ we tried our best to tire ourselves out.  Kim and Ezra were staying with us so we went out for a walk along the Thames, from Maidenhead to Bourne End.  Then homeward bound that evening!  We flew out on Saturday night, having a fuel stop in Bangkok which caused us a lot of stress.  We got off the plane with our bottles of water, immediately went through security despite being transit and had the water taken off us.  So we bought more water at the airport, only to find we had to go back through security to get to our gate, which resulted in having the water confiscated again.  I hadn’t even opened my bottle, and then we had to wait around for a fair while in the nearly sweltering departure area- HARRUUMMPPHH!!!  We arrived in Sydney early Monday morning and as we had over five hours before we needed to fly out, we escaped the airport and went to Newtown to visit my Aunty Jo.

We met Aunty Jo at her new apartment on King’s Road and drank some tea while Aunty Jo collected herself- it was a pretty rude awakening really having visitors arrive after 7am.  But you can’t say no to family!  Heh!  We went for a walk along the main street and stopped at an arty cafe for breakfast.  Then we wandered around Newtown some more, going through Camperdown Memorial Rest Park.

Back on the plane, the time couldn’t go fast enough for our weary bodies.  We didn’t manage to get much rest throughout the flights, but at least we knew we didn’t have a demanding schedule upon arrival.  Mum and Dad were waiting for us and also Waimarama which was a big surprise.  He has grown so much, nearly as tall as me, but I can still pick him up.  Just.

Driving through West Auckland was quite eery.  The pace of New Zealand life is so much different from the UK, due to the population difference of course, as I was thinking “Where is everybody?”  We got home to Mum and Dad’s abode in Henderson Heights and my brother Shannon was there, so I was well on the way to feeling maximum levels of family adoration!  I had a good explore of our parents’ garden which has grown so much over the years and is something to be proud of.  Michelle soon joined us for dinner so once everyone was settled at the dining table we shared our good news which was well received.

Our first full day in NZ we took it fairly easy.  Our body clocks were a bit haywire so we were up before the sun rose and joined Mum, Dad and Jimi for the morning walk around the Vintage Park.  Cicadas buzzing and the air already warm… gotta love Summer time in NZ!  We headed into Henderson for lunch and a spot of shopping, and dropped in at Sarah’s home.  She had both her girls home for the day so we were well entertained by Sophie’s ballerina antics.

The following day, after a trip to the dentist, Bodra, Dad and I made our way up North to the Tutukaka Coast, where we met up with Michael in his RV.  We had a good chat and wander around the area and then enjoyed dinner in the RV with our personal chef.  We shared our news with Michael and he was really overjoyed.

On Thursday we woke early for breakfast and then made our way to the Dive Tutukaka centre.  We met up with Russell and soon we were on a boat heading out for the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve.  Michael didn’t join us as he had been out on the water the previous day was still suffering from the motion and experience of diving.  I was quite nervous as the water was very rough heading out, so I remained in the cabin of the boat, trying to watch the walls and not get too nauseous.

We arrived at the Island at Jan’s Tunnel.  Dad and I went snorkelling as Bo and Russell went diving.  As the water was fairly stirred up there wasn’t too much to see- nudibranch, blue maomao, trigger-fish, demoiselle, snapper and trevally.  The snapper became quite prevalent when Dad exited the water and immediately hurled.  We then went around to the Rikoriko Cave (which means waning light or twilight) which is on record as being the biggest sea cave in the world.  The acoustics were pretty fantastic.  Apparently Pitch Black did a concert inside the cave which would’ve been awesome to behold.

Our next dive/snorkel spot was at Blue Maomao Arch.  As you swam through the archway you saw massive schools of (surprise surprise) Blue Maomao all hovering on the sides of the archway.  There was a neat rock formation on the sea bed where the fish kept swimming over it, rubbing their bodies against the rock as it helped them to dislodge the bits and pieces caught in their scales.  On our way back to the boat I noticed these small jellyfish (possibly called Salps?) gathering in the water near me.  They had these lovely edges to their bodies which had a kind of light running down through them.  Quite mesmerizing, but then I started noticing how MANY of them there were in the water with me, so I promptly got out.

The journey back to Tutukaka was pretty good, nowhere near as choppy as before.  As we left Poor Knights Island we watched rain clouds become darker, larger and closer, soon we had to leave the top of the boat which was uncovered and find shelter below.  I don’t think any of us were particularly impressed by what we saw at the Poor Knights Islands.  It may have just been the weather but perhaps the marine reserve is in serious decline?  This article seems to think so.

Back in Tutukaka, we met up with Michael again and then dad and I went to grab some dinner from the local takeaway store.  Finally I was able to indulge in my Potato Fritter craving.  Sadly the ones on offer were battered using animal fat, but I disregarded this, a poor decision on my behalf as they were far from tasty and became seagull feed.  Dad and I sat by the estuary and enjoyed our meal together with the birds.

On Friday, Bodra, Dad and I made our way to Whananaki North one of my favourite spots on the East Coast.  we had a wander over to Otamure Bay and then a swim and snorkel.  Then we missioned back to Snorkland.

I got to see the twins on Friday afternoon and stayed the night with Michelle and the boys.  On Saturday morning we left the twins to go on their Kiwi Conservation trip to Lake Wainamu.  I caught up with Kowhai as well.  Man, he’s massive.  Those boys have obviously got excellent genes for absorbing nutrition from their meals.

In the afternoon I joined Bodra at Cassels for Paul and Rachael’s wedding, the instigation for our presence in NZ.  I believe this is the first wedding where all the trimmings were accounted for, even including instructions to spontaneously sing lyrics containing the word ‘love’ to enforce Paul and Rachael to kiss, but if you were shy you could bang your wine glasses with cutlery.  Paul and Rachael of course did the first dance, which they had practised for and chose the tune ‘Everlong’ by the Foo Fighters.  A fantastic occasion and I’m really pleased we were able to join them for it!

On Sunday we got out to the Titirangi Markets before joining Paul and Rachael at Paul’s Fathers’ home out in the Waitakeres.  We sat on his deck looking out to native bush and sun that was at times too hot!  Yay for NZ Summer!  Have I already said that?

In the afternoon we joined Bodra’s friends at Bevan and Sarahs’ home in Henderson Heights, for a BBQ and to watch cricket.  We got to meet their daughter Rachel, Danijel & Inas’s daughter Violetta, Angela & Gareth’s daughter Maya, Radmilla’s daughter whose name escapes me now (ooopppsss!!).  Loads of toddlers to watch- far more interesting than cricket!  Gareth’s parents Debbie and Mike also came over so I got to meet them for the first time too.

Over the next few days we got in some Waitakere action; a bush walk to Fairy Falls with Michael and Jimi, O’Neill’s beach, Arataki Reserve Pararaha Valley.  We also met up with Inas and Violetta for lunch at a restaurant in West Gate.  Inas shared her powerful tale of giving birth to Violetta and she really inspired me.

On Friday I went to Dilworth with Michelle to watch Hemi and Te Aue perform in their school swimming sports.  Hemi and Te Aue’s arms really whirled during the backstroke, but I think they were both too interested in keeping an eye on their competitors to really focus.  Hemi did a beautiful dive for his 25m breaststroke and started off fairly even with the other swimmers, but someone else must of had more steam.  From where I was sitting I think Te Aue came in first for this event (woohoo!).

Hemi’s 50m breaststroke was pretty stellar and it looked like he came in first (woop-woop!).  Te Aue made it to fourth place for this event.  All the boys really charged for the 25m & 50m freestyle, arms were crashing into the water and feet were frantically kicking with such fury!  Poor water.

2010.03.05 Swimming Sports at Dilworth (movie playlist)

I hung out with the boys on Friday night and stayed over.  The following day Laurence had the boys so Michelle and I went to a cafe in Waiatarua called Elevation and enjoyed a tasty meal and beautiful view!

On Sunday we met up with Kenny, Danijel, Inas and Violetta at Jafa, a cafe in Grey Lynn.  I had some pretty nasty cramps during the night and a scary dream, so I wasn’t feeling too full of beans.  The atmosphere at Jafa and with our friends was very healing however.  I had a tasty Indonesian rice pudding and Bodra feasted on feta and cumin potato cakes.  It was awesome seeing Kenny again and he told us about his new son Henrik.  We had hoped to go meet him and Kenny’s new partner but unfortunately we ran out of time.

On Monday the boys were on school holidays and we got Waimarama to wag as well, so we took them all out to Goat Island, with Shannon and Michael too.  The water was really rough, most of us managed to score a couple scrapes here and there.  Bodra managed to get sunburn all over his entire back- he has a really nice tan line even now- a month later!  There wasn’t too much to be seen given the condition of the water but I spotted a couple Goat-fish and of course Trevally.  I had the most delicious Potato Fritters that night as Mum had decided it’d be best to get some fish ‘n’ chips.  I think they were deep fried with rice bran oil?  Yummy anyway.

On Tuesday morning Bodra and I took Jimi and the three eldest boys to Kitekite Falls in Piha.  We had a great walk around the lower track and up to the falls, and I enjoyed watching all the boys swim around the lower pool.  I was quite surprised to find Jimi has a penchant for branches, and Kowhai indulged Jimi’s desire to fetch into the water.  We found half a dozen eels swimming around nearby the waterfall, so obviously this part of NZ is kept pure.  Bodra got some much-needed cooling off time for his sunburn.

In the evening I went to Kura Toa Warrior School to watch Waimarama get up to mischief in his Warrior Kids class.  The children learn self-defense skills and provides experience for personal development.  I watched them learn how to turn away from someone striking at them which was quite an effective technique.

The following day Bodra was really feeling the pain from his sunburn, so he stayed at home while Mum, Dad, Michael, Shannon and I went out to Tirtiri Matangi Reserve.  We had a fabulous day walking around the island spotting various birds and I was really pleased to see the Kokako and Takahe.  We had time for a swim as well which was lovely.

You can see movies of some the birds we saw via this link.

Sarah picked me up that evening and took me out to Bethells Beach for a sit in the sand as we watched the last light of the sun disappear.  We had a good catch up and I hoped to see her again.

On Thursday Bodra and I went to visit Michelle at her Doctor’s Surgery.  She organised for me to have a blood test done to check my hormone levels to ensure the pregnancy was progressing as it should.  I’d already had a test like this five weeks previously, which had given positive results, so I wasn’t too worried about it, and it turned out to be fine also.

We then got out to Auckland City and visited Karangahape Road and Victoria Park Market in search of a Pounamu necklace for Bodra.  He now has a very beautiful treasure around his neck which he acquired from Kiwi Art.  We met up with Nathan in Ponsonby and had lunch with him at Bliss Cafe, and we returned that night to meet up with Chantal at GPK.  It was wonderful to see both Nathan and Chantal and hear about their lives.

I started coming down with the flu on Friday so I missed out on going on the RV trip with Bodra and Michael.  They visited Miranda, Kawakawa Bay, Matingarahi, Waiau Falls, Tairua and Hunua Falls.  While Bodra was away he thought he was experiencing pregnancy food cravings as he got himself an Avocado from the Wilderlands shop and he really desired a cheese and tomato sandwich.  Not his usual kind of appetite as he only likes tomatoes when they are cooked in things and avocado when it is guacamole.  I was very pleased to hear this as I love avocados.

On Friday afternoon Waimarama managed to have an accident whilst running across the monkey bars and tripping over a friends hand, which resulted in him falling and smacking his tooth into the bar, thus cracking said tooth.  So Mum was busy with him at the A&E.  I don’t think he has learnt his lesson here, and is still content to err on the side of recklessness.

On Saturday Shane took me out to Lake Wainamu- Bethells Lake on the West Coast.  We trekked across the black sand dunes and sat by the lake enjoying the sun and company.  I’m really glad I had the chance to get out there with Shane as it’s quite a special spot for both of us.

On Sunday morning Mum took me out to Michelle’s to see Kowhai for the last time.  He had Kapahaka practice that morning so Mum was taking him back to school on her way to work.  It was quite tough saying goodbye to him, as I didn’t feel like I had had enough time.  But when you’ve been away for four years and leaving again, I don’t think it’s possible to get enough time with your family to make up for the time spent a part.  I just hope by the time I do get back to NZ, Kowhai will still want to hang out with me.

Michelle, Waimarama and I spent the morning together and visited Crystal Mountain to peruse the crystals and enjoy some lunch.  Waimarama brought his lunch from home as he is on a diet of soft foods.  In the afternoon I walked Jimi with Dad around the Lower and Upper Opanuku Walkway, which was great to have time all to myself with my Dad.

On Monday Mum and I got some together time and went to Newmarket to have a fossick about for baby stuff and check out the fashion.  We found a really neat shop called The Poi Room which sells NZ art and design.  I was really taken by a print by Peter Latham called Piha Aroha, shot in the early hours of the morning with a full moon in the sky and the soft rays of dawn highlighting the foliage around Lion rock.  We met up with Lauren and her brother Luke whom I haven’t seen since early 2002 I believe.  So, eight years later!  Lovely to see his eyes are just as bright and shiny as they always were.  & isn’t his sister a foxy lady?!

On Tuesday morning Bodra and I made a quick dash out to Mokoroa Falls, one of ‘our spots’.  They’ve modified the track a bit, adding in a barrier and platform at the top and stairs all the way to the bottom.  Nice to see the Auckland Regional Council looking after these beautiful bush walks.

Carolyn arrived on Tuesday afternoon so we really had a full house and were maximising family time, with Michael outside on the road in his RV.  We met Carolyn at the airport and as soon as she was settled in the car, Bodra busted out the news which had Carolyn beaming as she does!  It was definitely the best idea to wait to share this news with everyone once we could see each other.  Lots of cuddles all around!

On Wednesday we had organised to go for an Ultrasound Scan so that our family could come and see our creation.  Bodra and I went in first to see how things were, and tragically the news was not the best.  The embryo only showed nine weeks of growth as opposed to the eleven, and there was no heart beat.  It appeared that I presented with a missed-miscarriage.  So there was nothing for our family to see and it was clear that we had a tough decision to make now.  Do I wait for the miscarriage to happen naturally?  Or take another route?

We shared the news with our family, which was devastating for all of us.  But there are positives that can be taken from this- I CAN get pregnant, and also the sonographer said my ovaries appear to be fine.   Bodra and I took some time out for ourselves to contemplate and went on the Walker Kauri Track on Mountain Road in Henderson Valley; yet another special spot for me with it’s massive Kauri Trees.  Afterwards we went back to Ponsonby for a feed at Fatimas, as we really missed their potato koftas.

In the early evening Michelle took me to see her GP to organise for me to go to the North Shore Hospital to have a Dilatation and Curretage operation.  Bodra and I then went out to the hospital with the referral.  They took more blood and then sent us home after getting me on the list for the following morning.  Lauren’s mother who works in the hospital came by to visit me and give me some support which was so kind of her.  The surgery went fine and all the staff in the hospital were so considerate.  Even the anaesthetist came by to check on me afterwards.  The nurse attending to us happened to be the Bar Manager from Bodra’s University days (such a small world) so she really looked after me.  By the afternoon I was free to eat and free to go home.  We stopped off at Jesters Pies in West Gate and Bodra grabbed a Popeye and William Tell for me.  I could really go for one of each right now… mmmm and two minute noodles (my latest odd craving).

So I took it fairly easy for what was left of our time in EnZed.  Less than 48 hours (gulp!).  On Friday morning Lauren came by to visit which gave her an opportunity to catch up with my family.  Shannon was visiting as well, so I was quite content with all the family support I was being given.  We went out to a Thai restaurant that evening and beforehand Sarah dropped by to offer some more cuddles and love.

Saturday arrived far too quickly.  We woke early in the morning and joined Mum, Dad and Jimi for a walk around the park.  Mum and I then dashed over to Michelle’s for a final farewell with Te Aue, Hemi and my sister.  Then off to the airport!  Mum, Dad, Shannon and I in one car, Bodra, Carolyn and Michael in another.  It was a hugely emotional parting and I hope to never experience that again.  Not to forget the fact that customs confiscated our massive jar of Marmite off us (destined for Ezra’s belly).

We had a stop-over in Melbourne for nearly nine hours so we met up with Mike and his girlfriend and later on with Ben.  Mike took us back to his flat and then we wandered through Flagstaff Gardens over to a pub, meeting Ben along the way.  We had a great chat together and then wandered around West Melbourne trying to find a place for dinner.  We settled on the Warung Agus, a Balinese restaurant.  I had the Apokat Mebasa Santen Misi Oong for an entree- avocado with mushroom and coconut cream sauce, and Toge for my main- traditional Balinese gado gado - steamed veges and beancurd with peanut sauce and casava crackers.

I started feeling pretty off towards the end of my meal, nauseous and faint.  We started to make our way back to Mike’s to collect our gear and head out to the airport, but by the time we’d reached his apartment (which is very cool by the way with an elevator opening straight out to his open-plan kitchen and lounge area, kind of secret agent styles) I was feeling progressively worse and incredibly anxious.  I didn’t know why I was feeling as I was, my body had begun to spasm and motion was really hard to bear.  Bodra had eaten the same meal as I and he was fine, so we could only hope that what I was experiencing would pass as quickly as it came on.  Luckily it did; once we were waiting at our gate things began to settle down and calmness came.  I can only explain it as perhaps a rush of adrenaline or some residual after-effect from the general anaesthetic I had been given on Thursday.

We sat in a row with an elderly lady named Grace seated by the window.  She had a bag so she kept giving us regular breaks and chances to get circulation happening again as she got up to empty it.  We watched loads of movies and read a fair bit.  There was one stop in Hong Kong and by Sunday afternoon we were touching down in Heathrow.  Bodra had organised a taxi for us, so we were very quickly homeward bound in our zombie-like state.

Bodra has a lovely manager who allowed him to work from home for the first week back, which made it easier getting over our loss and shifting back to the British clock.  I’ve started seeing an acupuncturist and joined a Well Being course which involves learning Cognitive Behaviour Therapy techniques to deal with anxiety and depression.  Additionally, I’ve registered with the Open University to study a module called “Exploring Fear and Sadness” which should be good for my learning.  It is a paper in the Foundation Degree in Counselling, so if I think it is worthwhile I may look into that as a possible new career.  I also had a go at doing Hot Yoga at Studio 42 degrees.  Very challenging and sweaty!  especially the ballerina inspired poses.  I aim to go back once I’ve recovered from my latest…

We went into London to Shoreditch to see Younger Brother at Cargo with Kim and Ezra.  As the sound was a bit of an assault on Ezra’s ears and they had played my favourite track “Ribbon on a Branch” early on, we left the gig well before it finished.  It’s always tricky trying to get back to Reading at a decent hour and avoiding the train which makes a dozen stops before getting to our station.  This usually means leaving things earlier than you’d like.  Unfortunately we still got caught by the slow train…

I was in hospital again our second week back for surgery- nothing serious, just wanted to be quick to get it over with as it involved being under a general anaesthetic again, which you can’t do when you’re pregnant.  Can’t say the Royal Berkshire Hospital was even on the same level as the North Shore Hospital.  They had us waiting for a number of hours for my medicine, and eventually we decided to leave as I was so hungry and tired.  I ended up picking my medicine up the following morning.

& I was back in hospital again on Good Friday.  I brought up what appeared to be a blood clot which was quite alarming, and the doctor at the out-of-hours clinic referred me to the Clinical Diagnostics Unit.  I was X-Rayed, ECG’ed, listened to and tested.  They didn’t give us any results for a number of hours and it wasn’t until I tried to discharge myself that we finally had some response.  None of the tests showed anything, but they were concerned and wanted to watch me, therefore I needed to stay the night.  Well, I wasn’t having any of that.  I was looking around and seeing the other people in my ward, who all appeared to be in varying degrees of helplessness and misery.  I didn’t belong there, so I decided to leave.  As far as I was concerned, the clot was just from having the tube down my throat which had caused some kind of irritation.  My throat was feeling rough so this seemed to be the case.  I’m going back for more tests to check my chest and respiratory in a few weeks time, but she’ll be right mate!  ;-)

So we had a chilled, chocolate fuelled, cosy Easter break watching movies and blobbing out.  The following week (last week) I started an oil painting class where I am the only student!  Brilliant!  The artist teaching me is Martin Close.  He showed me some of his current commissions, a portrait of the Mayor from London, Boris Johnson, and a couple canvases depicting softly folded fabric.  He broke down the techniques of painting with oils into easy-to-understand-and-apply steps, so I’m looking forward to continuing with him.

I turned 31 last Wednesday and Bodra gifted me with a new digital SLR camera, Panasonic Lumix G1 if that means anything to anyone.  So I should have some stunning pics coming your way soon!  Especially once we get this Raynox lens thingo which lets you take macro pics.  Dewi gifted me with some lovely tea light hanging holders which are very romantic and bright.

Last Friday night we went to see Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland in 3D after getting favourable recommendations from Kim and Ezra.  The Cheshire Cat, voiced by Stephen Fry, is really gorgeous with his turquoise striped fur.

Oh, and we’ve been making use of our yard recently- we’ve started a vege plot which has teeny seedlings now showing from the lettuce seeds we planted a couple weeks ago.  Very exciting!

We don’t have too many other trips planned for this year, especially as Bodra has used up most of his holiday time with our NZ trip.  We’re hoping to go to the Ozora festival in early August and join Danijel, Inas and Violetta in Croatia in the third weekend of August (busy month), and maybe go to the Caribbean for New Years.  For work Bodra has journeyed to Tel Aviv, Helsingborg in Sweden (taking a train from Copenhagen), Dublin, Knutsford and Bonn (in Germany for work).  He’ll be going to Barcelona next month for a few days.

We’re nicely settled in our new place and can only complain about the dribbly shower. Bodra went to Helsinki for work during the first week and I kept myself busy unpacking and cleaning. Paul and Rachael came to stay on our first weekend and taught us the art of the gas stove. There are no markings on the stove so I didn’t really know what to look for to get the oven going. Once it was going (thanks Rachael!) the next question was, how do I know what temperature it will reach? We ended up getting a maintenance guy to check it out, and he’s kindly drawn some markings on the stove face.

On that Saturday, Paul and Rachael took us to Leicestershire where Rachael and I watched Bodra drive a TVR and Paul drive a Porsche. Exciting stuff for the boys, but freezing stuff for us! We joined them in a jeep going over a landscape designed to show just what those vehicles can handle- steep inclines, stairways, slushy pools of mud. Our drive back to Reading was far more stimulating, especially when we hit traffic along the M4 motorway so endured the queue by playing Eye-Spy. It’s amazing how much stuff you start to see when you are looking for a clue.

Drivers Dream Experience

Lauren came to stay the following week, whilst Bodra was away on business in Turin. He had an extra long trip to get there as the airport employees in Turin were striking, so he had to fly to Milan and then train to Turin from there. I had a great time in Laurens company, as always. We discovered the Chinese supermarket nearby, where you can buy industrial sized blocks of tofu and all sorts of strange vegetables. Lauren made some delicious peanut butter cookies, among other yummy vegan treats.

Kim and Ezra were our next visitors, and we shared our local Indian takeout with them- Chenai Dosa. Paul and Rachael also suffered the spiciness of Chenai Dosa when they visited, and additionally, Bodra and I had it the first weekend when we moved in. Three times in one month- yes, it is that good!

Bodra and I were in Prague during the middle of November. We stayed at the Sheraton at Charles Square and arrived on a National holiday to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the fall of communism, and the beginning of the Velvet Revolution.

As we had arrived early, our room wasn’t ready, so we went for a walk around the block. Prague is a really beautiful city. The architecture shows a vast array of styles- Art Nouveau to baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. The buildings are so well maintained, the streets are clean, people and traffic move around with hardly any stress. I believe Czech people must have a lot of pride for their city.

A crowd had formed along one of the main roads. It seemed like a race was going to happen as we could see the start and finish markers, and also a few strange forms of transport- a giant banana on wheels? A couple stages were also set up, perhaps in preparation for a concert or speeches. We didn’t stick around for the action, as Bodra had to catch up on some work and I wanted a nap.

We walked along the Vltava River, where we saw a man shed most of his clothes and dive in for a swim. It wasn’t exactly a hot day as Bodra and I were both in our jackets, jumpers and beanies. Further along the river we came upon an intriguing building- the Dancing House (Tan?ící d?m) by Vlado Miluni? and Frank Gehry, an example of deconstructivist architecture. It is said to look like a couple dancing, two towers with an unusual, curving shape.

In the evening I was still feeling very snoozy and hardly enthused to get out and explore, but we went for a small walk in the evening, in search of dinner which we found at a local Tesco’s supermarket. The streets were far more packed with people, but we still had no clue as to what was going on. So we grabbed our groceries and returned to the hotel. The cold weather really zaps my levels of curiosity.

The weather did little to inspire me on Wednesday, so while Bodra went to work, I treated myself to a luxurious day of staying in our room, bathing and reading. Sometimes it is just really nice and comforting to devour a book in one sitting. I’ve begun reading Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series, an urban fantasy involving supernatural themes. The main character is a witch who is a Private Investigator, and uses charms to catch villains. She has a Pixie for a side kick and a Vampire for a room-mate. Light stuff, but action-packed, humorous- very entertaining to read.

For dinner we went out to Lehka hlava - Clear Head vegetarian restaurant. We had a table in a warm orange room with a fish tank. The meal was very satisfying- grilled goat cheese with cranberries and walnuts, served over a mixed green salad, hummus, cheddar quesadilla with jalapenos, guacamole, tomato salsa, sour cream and bulgur risotto with stir-fried tempeh, spring vegetables and sun-dried tomato and peanut pesto. Our bellies were full for nearly £20 together- wholesome, fresh tastiness at a bargain price!

On Thursday I decided I had better do a little bit of adventuring. I don’t like exploring new places on my own, especially after my ridiculous attempts at orienteering in Amsterdam where I basically kept going in the opposite direction to where I wanted, but I had to make the most of being in this historical city. Our room had a lovely big bath so I thought I should find some scented fizzy-bombs to make the most of it. Sure enough Prague has a Lush, so I made my way over to the Palladium- two kilometres from our hotel so an easy stroll. The Palladium is just your usual shopping mall, nothing noteworthy or unique as far as I could see, although I was only focussed on getting the bath bomb. Even with a map and clearly marked streets, I still managed to unknowingly deviate from my planned route, taking in a sweet woodcraft store and ‘Luxor Book Palace’ on Wenceslas Square, the largest bookstore in the Czech Republic. Post-cards, stamps and a couple Christmas gifts achieved!

After Lush I headed over to Old Town Square, once the central marketplace in the 12^th century. I sat down by the Jan Hus statue and wrote a few postcards, then carried on to the Metro Station. Jan Hus was an influential Priest and philosopher who became a martyr. He tried to reform the church, and as a result he was burned at the stake.

One of my friends from Christchurch days, Jan Honza Tilinger lives in Prague, so I had arranged to meet him at the Czech Technical University. Honza had organised a screening of a movie about a solar school which he helped to set up in Kargyak, a village at 4200m altitude in the Indian Himalayas. I was able to meet a couple of his friends and his sister and watch the movie. Most of it was in Czech and it showed the construction of the school. It would be amazing to go there one day but the village is very isolated. Flying into Delhi, you would spend 5-10 days just getting to the village, depending on your route, and involving 4-5 days walk. I really admire Honza and his friends; they are very courageous and strong Beings!

After the movie I helped Honza prepare DVD covers for copies of the movie, and then he took me back to his mum’s apartment where we sat chatting with two of his friends, one an architect and the other an engineer. They had some great stories to share with me, as they had both been involved in Surya School. One of them was off to Madagascar the following day to work on an energy project.

I returned to Bodra later that night and after discovering our chosen vegetarian restaurant didn’t have a non-smoking area we relented and had room service. Yay for vegetarian pasta! (I’m kidding.)

Friday was my last chance to explore so I started off by heading towards Vyšehrad Castle, a little over two kilometres from the hotel. I found the cemetery and the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul, but having followed the walls all around, I became quite exasperated as the castle was nowhere to be found! I have since discovered that just because a place is called a castle this doesn’t necessitate the presence of a palace. Castle just means a fortified defensive structure. Yay for learning new things, but boo for no castle…

From the non-castle containing castle, I wandered down to Vltava River and crossed a bridge, heading for Pet?ínské (Pet?ín Hill). I had hoped to take the funicular up to the top where an observation tower with the likeness of the Eiffel Tower stands. Unfortunately I had spent all my money on the Metro yesterday and couldn’t find an ATM, so I trudged up the steep hill. Thankfully this led me to discovering the Magic Cavern of Reon Argondian, a place Kim had recommended. I didn’t have any money for admission but the attendant said he would pretend he hadn’t seen me, and let me in. I gave him some Geisha chocolate (my lunch) which pleased him.

Three floors filled with fantasy art! Every wall space held bright paintings showing majickal forests and lakes, unicorns, lizards, Elves, Faerys, crystals… I was virtually alone in the gallery, and able to sit and take in the artwork while listening to relaxing music. Relaxing, that is, until they played the Titanic Theme Song. Urck!

I thought I would head out towards the Charles Bridge (Karl?v most) which crosses the Vltava river and takes you back over to Old Town. Lucky for me I didn’t have to do this alone as Bodra had just finished work so could meet me there. I wandered down Pet?ín Hill and passed a bunch of souvenir shops and boutiques. Charles Bridge was the first bridge to have been constructed in Prague and is over five hundred years old. Quite a number of statues lined the bridge, along with all sorts of different traders and their kiosks, selling jewellery, caricatures, magnets and water colour landscapes.

From Charles Bridge we stopped for afternoon tea then trudged up a hill towards Prague Castle, mostly to take in the views of the city, stopping in a couple of Art Galleries along the way. We were able to enter the castle grounds so we walked around St. Vitus Cathedral and exited out the opposite end of the grounds. Back down to Old Town, we stopped for a souvenir print of the seasons by Mucha. Bodra found some Mulled Wine for us and then we began thinking about dinner. Honza had recommended the Indian Jewel so we went there, finding ourselves the only customers (it was very early evening), which was fine as we wanted to be served quickly. A fair meal, but Bodra can cook better. One last stop before heading back to the hotel- we picked up two small bottles of Absinthe. Foul stuff- I couldn’t drink it all as the spirit is a pure gag-fest. Completely non-Faery like!

Prague pics

After Prague I had the pleasure of catching up with a few friends. The following Monday I met Petra, Ian and their brand new bubby (born at the end of September), Daisy Anastasia Young. I’ll be looking forward to a time when I can visit them in Portishead, in the New Year. I also recently caught up with a friend I made whilst working at Thames Water, Tibor, and his wife Lavinia. We met them for dinner at Wagamamas, and hopefully I’ll be seeing more of them soon.

Last Monday Fat Freddy’s Drop gave a concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in London so Bodra and I made the mission out there. It is always so much more difficult to push ourselves out the door during the week but we figured we deserved some NZ Summer music! We arrived near the end of the last few songs from the opening act, The Electric featuring DJ Vadim- thank goodness for that as they weren’t our cup of tea, just some random teenagers jumping up and down pumping themselves up and basically sounding cliché. I’m sure there is a more accurate way to describe their music, but I’m not that well educated in their style.

Once Freddy’s came on we had a pretty awesome evening with their fantastic music. We were really pleased to see the guitaring of Jetlag Johnson aka Tehimana Kerr become more of a feature in this gig. Ho Pepa aka Joe Lindsay was great to watch as he danced around with his trombone. The only turn-off was the lighting- we were seated in the circle and from there it was like driving into oncoming traffic with their brights on for the first couple of songs. We caught up with Jono before we left as well; he was seated near us and spotted us as we were leaving. Jono should be joining us for dinner in the New Year so we can find out what he has been up to and meet his girlfriend Jenna.

Bodra and I thought it would be a good idea to get our Dry Suit diving license as we can expect the ocean to be cold in NZ, and hypothermia isn’t much fun. So we had a pool session with the guys from Hydrodive and on Sunday we went out to Wraysbury Lake to do the Open Water aspect of the license. The suit is very well insulated, although Bodra managed to get water in his boots. You still wear a BCD vest, but you mostly rely on the Dry Suit for buoyancy control. We wore hoods and gloves, but getting into the water proved the gloves to be far from insulating. Not sure how cold the water was, but it certainly felt icy around my face and fingers.

I was a bit panicked initially, just some funny things floating around in my head, but I managed to calm myself and descend. Things were going okay for me, we went down to 8 metres and I felt the suit pinching a bit but you just add in some air to release that sensation. We demonstrated fin pivots on a platform near the bottom of the lake and then followed our guide further along. There wasn’t much to see in the lake, just weeds and maybe a cement mixer, some old vehicle carcasses. I forced myself not to hold Bodra’s hand- I didn’t want him compensating my buoyancy again. We began to go up an incline and when we reached the top I thought I was ok, until I felt myself continue to ascend. This is a scary feeling as you kind of get it drummed into your head that you need to be able to control how fast you ascend. At that time I couldn’t, all I could feel was my body rising, even though I was leaking air out of the valve in my left wrist and could feel the suit pinching. I’m guessing it was just the air inside my body that had expanded and caused me to float up? Anyway, the experience had me pretty shaken so I decided to forgo the second dive. Bodra managed to pass his license and hopefully I will too with a little more time.

It seems like last week was the week of awards! Bodra was awarded a trip to Cannock (just kidding- that was for work). We found out that our friend Paul won an award for the Most Effective Operations Management Initiative which sounds very mighty and impressive. Our nephews at Dilworth also had their school achievements acknowledged- Hemi and Te Aue were both made monitors for next year, Hemi won an award for Technology I believe, and Kowhai won a $500 music award which he has spent on a new white guitar. I can’t wait to meet these bright, young beings soon!

Next week Bodra will be going to Tel Aviv for work. We haven’t got too much planned between now and our trip to NZ, just saving our pennies so we can do lots of neat things back home. Christmas will be a fairly easy one, having dinner with David and Olga at a nearby restaurant. Paul will be joining us for New Years and I guess our celebrations will be focussed around the new 47inch LCD TV dominating our lounge. Finally I understand why Russell has been praising HD so much!

Last Tuesday evening, Logan; an old friend from high-school years; came to stay with Bodra and I.  On Wednesday I showed him around all the fabulous sights of Reading (a couple of pubs, the high street and the river) and on Thursday our trio escaped to Paris!  We caught the Eurostar from St Pancras Station in London- a mostly efficient and relatively comfortable journey, but I really wish they would make the tunnel more picturesque. Surely the tunnel walls could be a good environment to set up some kind of hypno-therapeutic projection- subliminal images of Eiffel Tower trinkets perhaps, to boost the Algerians peddling profits?

There is a spider racing along the edge of the carpet by the wall near me. I spied it earlier this evening whilst we were watching ‘Dexter’. They are such industrious creatures… but I really do hope it won’t intrude our room tonight as we sleep. It is said you will swallow a spider at least once in your life during your sleep, although I don’t have any fear of being the victim as Bodra is the one who always has his mouth wide open. Being a bigger person I guess his nostrils are ineffective in drawing enough oxygen to keep him going at night. I would put the spider outside, if only that meant not having it in close proximity to my skin. It is getting colder too and I wouldn’t want the spider catching a cold.

Once at Gare du Nord, Bodra and Logan tackled sussing out getting to the correct Metro station, which involved a really, really long walk on multiple levels, through many ticket-checking-gates and up and down many flights of stairs. Luckily the station wasn’t terribly crowded so it wasn’t too stressful of a transition. Of course, whilst waiting for the boys to suss our metro tickets, I was approached by one of those gypsy women so commonly found in these European cities. She asked if I spoke English and then held up a paper with a hand-written paragraph. I smiled politely and shook my head, then made my eyes hard as I cut her off with “Not interested.” Bodra and I recently watched a documentary about Romanian Gypsy’s and as harsh as this may seem I truly have no sympathy. It is a vile way of bringing a family up, and there are always other options. I won’t ever affirm blatant begging as a possible choice. Busking on the other hand- definitely! Everyone can do something to entertain another human being.

After a smooth ride on the metro we were at Pigalle station and soon found our hotel- Victor Masse. We checked in then squeezed into an anorexic lift to get to our room on the sixth floor- top floor! The lift only went as far as the fifth, so we endured a little bit of luggage-dragging again. Our room proved to be very basic but clean, with three teeny single beds lined up against one wall, and a fair sized bathroom with suspect-coloured water. From our windows which we could fully open out, we could see across roof tops and down into the alley behind the hotel.

We set-off to explore the Montmartre (Mount of Martyrs) area, passing cafes, bars and parlours. I noticed a sign saying ‘Butte Montmartre’ so I thought we should follow that.  Shortly after we learnt that butte means hill.  We made our pilgrimage, climbing up dozens of steps (we didn’t notice the funiculaire) but it was worth the work-out as we had reached the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.  A lady was singing “I Dreamed a Dream” nearby (not Susan Boyle), with a modest crowd around her.  Hundreds of tourists enjoying the views of Paris from the highest point of the city.  The basilica is fairly new- built between 1875 and 1919- and is dedicated to the sacred heart of Christ.  We wandered into the basilica (yay for free activities) and were amused by the monitors who were sternly telling disobedient tourists to delete their photos of the interior of the basilica and then firmly instructing them to get out.  I didn’t dare to take any pictures, this seemed sacrilegious anyway as we were in a holy place and in the presence of nuns.

We continued strolling through the lanes of the old village for a while, soon buzzing over a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, then passing the small church of St-Pierre, one of the oldest in Paris having been consecrated in 1147.  BUT this is not one of those ABC tours!  Just near the church is the Place du Tertre, the summit square.  Street artists were set-up around the perimeter of the square with their paintings of celebrities (Angelina Jolie appeared to be a favourite) and Parisian scenery on display.  Some artists were working on portraits and caricatures of paying tourists.

The rest of our walk took in views of the northwards town St-Denis, past the oldest surviving cabaret in Paris the Lapin Agile/ Agile Rabbit (where artists such as Picasso and Modigliani once went for entertainment- we weren’t all that interested in French songs, poetry and comedy so didn’t take in a show) and the Montmarte vineyard.  We began to descend down rue Lepic, passing a restaurant with a massive windmill as it’s symbol.  Mills have a place in Montmarte as they were used to grind flour for making bread, or gypsum for the famous plaster of Paris.

It began to drizzle a bit so we it seemed opportune to think about our tummies, finally relenting to pizza at an Italian restaurant.  Logan was pretty disatisfied as for some strange reason his pizza came with an egg on the top.  But the Peroni beer was cold and tasty.

We made our way down to Place Blanche and the Moulin Rouge was lit up with crowds hanging about outside.  At £80 for dinner and a show we didn’t really feel the desire to tick that glitzy activity off, so instead we found a wine shop where Logan bought a cheap bottle of red wine- Bordeaux maybe.  We settled ourselves on a park bench on the Boulevard de Clichy and drank out of plastic cups whilst people watching and chatting.  Classy!

(Written on the 4th of November)  On Friday morning we breakfasted on bread and pastry- baguette, pain au chocolat and apricot.  Then we hopped on the Metro towards the 20th arrondissement where Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is located, the largest cemetery (44 hectares) in the city of Paris.  This may seem a relatively morbid activity for a tourist, however, the cemetery holds the corpses of numerous famous people from history and the arts.  Mostly famous to Parisians, like Héloïse and Pierre Abélard, sweethearts whose love was not accepted and so they were separated only to be reunited in death.  Oscar Wilde lies there too, as does Jim Morrison, whom we visited.  The cemetery was very peaceful, with lots of walkways and alleys lined with trees, tombs and cenotaphs, some incredibly ostentatious.  Stray cats wandered around the area too and I enjoyed a cuddle with a ginger cat.

We continued our journey of the dead by heading back to the Metro and riding over to Denfert-Rochereau station in the 14th arrondissement, where Les Catacombes can be found.  There weren’t too many people about and once we finally figured our where the entry was located, a sign on the door stopped us dead in our tracks.  The catacombs had been temporarily closed.  Apparently someone had entered the catacombs from an archaic tunnel and tipped over numerous stacks of human bones, scattering them so that the path through the tunnels was deemed impassible.  They are still closed today.  Boo!

As we were nearby, we thought we would stroll over to l’Observatoire, a centre for research in astronomy, but this also turned out to be closed for the day.  It just wasn’t our luck!  So our next plan was to head for the Luxembourg gardens which thankfully was prepared for our visit.  We entered through the relatively small Jardin du Marco Polo which we had mistaken for our destination, but it was still very pleasing with it’s fountain and chest-nut trees.

Luxembourg gardens is a 23-hectare park, backdrop to the Palais du Luxembourg which houses the upper house of French parliament.  Logan, Bodra and I wandered through the park, spotting statues of animals, mythological scenes and historically famous French people.  The palace has a large pond in front of it, with dozens of people sitting on chairs around the perimeter, reading newspapers and chatting.  It would be an ideal place to catch some sun, but for us the skies were concrete-coloured and cloudy.

From the gardens we headed over to the Latin Quarter of Paris, where we found Le Panthéon and were accosted by very willful mute petitioners attempting to raise funds for the deaf.  Not far away from Le Panthéon we glanced another view of the Eiffel Tower as we looked down Rue Soufflot.  We passed outdoor booksellers as we crossed the Seine river and entered Île de la Cité, where Paris was founded.  Soon we stood before the medieval cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris.  It took nearly two centuries of construction (from 1160 -1345) before the cathedral was complete.  We had a quick peek into the cathedral and then began the hunt for dinner.

Quickly appeased at an Indian restaurant, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower.  As we queued up we noticed a sign appear telling us that they weren’t selling tickets for the top deck anymore.  We hoped this would be a temporary situation so we stayed in the queue and soon rode the lift to the second platform.  It was a perfectly timed visit for the tower as we got to see Paris by daylight, and then having queued again for top floor tickets and then the lift, once we had reached  the top floor the night sky had settled and all the city lights were on.  It’s fantastic having the contrast between day and night, but monuments such as the Arc du Triomphe really do look far more spectacular when lit up.

We didn’t use the stairs at all on the Tower, having spent the majority of the day wandering around.  Once we had returned to the ground we found the area had been transformed.  The tower was now illuminated and a light-show played out, flashing green, blue, pink, purple lights and beaming search-lights from the tip.  Loud, pumping music was being blasted and suddenly we were surrounded by Algerian men shaking Eiffel tower trinkets.  It felt like we had entered a festival but they were just trying to sell us souvenirs.

On Saturday morning Bodra and I got on a train and headed out to Epinay-sur-Seine to visit Bodra’s Step-Grandmother, Marie Louise.  We walked past homes which appeared to be the inspiration for fairy tales.

Marie-Louise invited us into her home, an apartment in a large block.  The surfaces of her living room had piles of books and papers, all easy-to-hand.  We settled into lounge-chairs and chatted for over an hour.  Marie-Louise told us about her time in England, showing us a calendar her friend had sent her with photographs of various villages.  Bodra and I are now encouraged to visit Cheltenham one day.  Marie-Louise also told us about her country home in Maignelay, which she hopes to sell as it is rather derelict now.

Bodra and I returned to Paris city centre, and headed for Clichy where Bodra had read about a vegetarian restaurant called “Joy In Food”.  Sadly for us the proprietors appear to be lazy hippies as it wasn’t open.  So instead we went for a fairly long ramble down all sorts of streets, past open-air food markets and finally giving in to Lebanese.  Vegetarian mezze plate is always a welcome meal!

Back to Victor Masse to reconnect with Logan.  For the afternoon’s entertainment we decided to take in Paris’s aquatic life at CineAqua which was open until 8pm.  The blurb in the lonely planet had described it as ‘phenomenal’ and ‘ambitious’ and I was hoping to see a cuttlefish or leafy sea-dragon again, my highlights from the aquarium in Lisbon.  So we caught the Metro over to Trocadéro, to discover that the aquarium was closed!  Drat!!  But nevermind, we enjoyed more views of the Eiffel Tower from the Palais de Chaillot.

We strolled back along the Seine river, and stumbled upon the Photoquai photo festival- an outdoor photography exhibition.  I was particularly moved by Gohar Dashti’s portrayal of a newly married couple in Iran.  Daniela Edburg also had an imaginative idea of a candyfloss-like-cloud attack.

Dinner was on our minds again so we headed to St Germain, going past Les Invalides which holds the tomb of Emperor Napoléon.  To entertain ourselves along the way we purchased beer and a vinegary-wine from a convenience store and drank along the way.  We finally settled for Capracotta, Italian!  Bodra introduced Logan to Penne Arabiatta and I enjoyed my mushroom pasta dish.  Logan chose a fairly yummy wine for us- a Chianti Classico, 2006 Poggio Ai Mori by San Donatino.

The next morning we wandered over to the Arc de Triomphe, and then returned to CineAqua for a look at the fishies… they had a few species of very vibrant weenie tropical fish but nothing of any special note, definitely not worthy of the adjectives ‘ambitious’ or ‘phenomenal’.  Our tummies were really grumbly as we had sadly discovered that supermarkets remained closed on Sunday, indeed, many shops and restaurants appeared to either open much later on in the day or not open at all.  We stopped at one cafe along the way but were deeply unimpressed by their extravagant prices for simple crepes and coffee.

We passed the Flame of Liberty, marking the area where Princess Diana died.  Someone (Laurent Thiers) had scrawled a message asking for the monument to be removed as it was a symbol of the Illuminati.  We caught the Metro over to Opéra station, as the Musée du Parfum Fragonard was nearby, but of course, this was closed!  So instead we miserably found ourselves at the American Dream restaurant, garish with it’s zillions of neon-lit signs, cheezy ’80’s glam rock videos and far from decent meal.  But it filled the hole.

We plodded back to Pigalle and had a last wander around Basilique du Sacré-Cœur and the surrounding area.  The afternoon sun had come out so we sat on steps below Sacré-Cœur and I wrote postcards whilst the fullas enjoyed their cool beer.

So, very happy to have ticked off Paris now.  I may return one day- I’d like to do a tour with the impetus of trying to spot as many of the Space Invaders that have been placed around the city, and preferably visiting again in another season.  We’d also like to explore other areas of France too, it would be wonderful to go to Maignelay and see Marie-Louise’s country house, and also to see the Agoust Sabot Tomb in Mourmelon-le-Grand.  Bodra would like to go across the Millau Bridge which is one of the highest bridges in the world and can leave a driver feeling like they are travelling through the clouds.  I’d also like to see the Paleolithic cave paintings in the Lascaux caves.  & then we’ve always wanted to do a cycling or walking tour through the countryside too!

Paris pics

Paris vids

Get Your Cyborg Name

Nik, Dawn, Kim and I have just had a super splendid weekend.  On Friday night they joined Bodra and I, where I treated them to my first ever home-made mousse- nyom!  Bodra had assisted me that morning with the whipping of egg-whites and we were both marvelled by just how stiff they can become.  We have quite strong arms now from all our Kum Nye practice so it wasn’t too challenging.

On Saturday morning we left Bodra to journey South West to Trowbridge in Wiltshire.  Back in June, Ezra had gifted Kim a voucher to take part in a two day introductory workshop, learning the art of Glass-Blowing.  Nik, Dawn and I decided to join her- thanks Ezra!!

So it was quite an early start and nearly a two hour drive from Reading but we got there in one piece with no dramas, and the sun was shining!  We were soon stuck in to the activity of the Liquid Glass Centre, gathering the molten glass from the furnace with a rod and trying to control its movement by spinning the rod and holding it level.  It wasn’t long before I made my first ever glass creation, a tear drop stem!

After morning tea we made paper weights, adding colour onto the molten glass, and then twisting the glass so that the colour took on a pattern.  We lastly rounded the glass using wet newspaper.

In the afternoon we had a go at making a vase.  This involved glass blowing so initially we gathered the glass on a blow pipe.  Once we had shaped it into a rod, we then blew into the pipe to create a bubble and continued to blow until the bubble created a suitable size.  I wasn’t too excited by my final product as the colour wasn’t particularly defined, but it’s pretty stable and quite a pleasing shape.  Bodra will have to bring home some sunflowers one day.

In the evening we found a pub which one of the Glass Makers, Kim Atherton, had recommended, The New Inn.  Two horses were being fed in the car park so we instantly felt cosy.  Inside we secured the last free table and enjoyed the best cider I have ever tasted- I believe it was Stowford Press.  We settled down to a game of Grass and soon had curious locals asking us what we were playing.  After a fair dinner and two bottles of wine we returned to Stowford Manor Farm, where Kim and I camped and Nik & Dawn B&B’ed.

Kim and I were woken early by a flock of crows rehearsing their cawing, but we were pretty well-rested and keen to start on the next project.  This time we made a glass plate and I was very thrilled by the creation process.  My tutor, Dan, gave me loads of encouragement and support so it was a wonderful experience.  Kim captured the birth of my soon-to-be dining-table masterpiece, so you’ll have to check out the photos!

Liquid Glass pics

We hit quite a bit of traffic getting down to the coast- obviously not the only sun revellers with the bright idea of going to the beach.  There appeared to be a Harley Convention nearby as traffic was halted whilst hundreds of Harley’s rumbled past in the opposite direction, with their own police escort.  But the drive was very enjoyable as we got a good view of Autumn’s colourful change to the flora.

Many others were out and about with their family and canine friends.  The initial hike towards Durdle Door was fairly challenging as we trooped up a long incline.  We rewarded ourselves once we got to the top with a slice of my deliciously tangy Lemon Drizzle Cake.  Then we continued down to the coast, following steep skinny steps and soon beheld Durdle Door.

The beach was relatively uncrowded and fairly litter free.  Kim, Dewi and I soon had our feet bare and trousers rolled up, and the very cold English Channel lapped against our legs.  The coast has many pebbles so as the waves drew back we could hear the soothing rain-stick like sound.  Dewi fossicked about for a fossil but the only relic we found was Durdle Door, which looks rather like a Brontosaurus dipping it’s long neck into the English Channel.  A couple off guys entertained us by climbing it part way and leaping into the water.

We walked back along the coast towards Lulworth Cove, through Man of War Bay which had even less sunbathers but was just as beautiful.  We crossed into the park-lands and passed a few secluded homes which have highly privileged views of the English Channel.  Into West Lulworth village we stopped at a Marshfield ice cream kiosk to fill up on ice-cream (A two-scoop waffle cone with Kirsch and Black Cherry and Cointreau and Orange), then we carried down to the Cove.

The coast line here wasn’t as pretty as the previous bays, as it was covered with grey sand and larger rocks, and the cove moored a couple dozen boats, dirtying the view for me.  I felt pretty blasé about the natural horseshoe-shaped harbour, so we moved on to an nearby artist who was painting scallop shells and rocks.  I chose a rock which had the poem “The Flint” by Christina Rosetti painted ever so delicately onto it’s surface.

We made one last stop at a sweetie shop where I acquired some fudge, then Dewi drove us home again.  On Sunday Bodra and I walked over to the Caversham Court Gardens by St Peter’s Church.  These gardens have been renovated so it was a real pleasure to finally see the finished product.  The Thames had a canoe race day so we sat in the sun watching the competitors paddle up and down the river.

Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove pics

& to top off our superb weekend, Ez and Kim treated us to a delicous Galler treat from their trip to Brussels- Kaori.  Here’s a video showing you what it’s all about… very unique!

I’m in Knutsford!  I’ve spontaneously joined Bodra on his business trip, leaping at the mention of a jacuzzi.  It’s actually just a regular bath with jets installed down the long sides, but still, it will be fun to enjoy that later.  We’re staying at Mere Court, in the elegantly decorated Chatsworth room.  From the windows I can see a tree-lined pond which looks like it has been fed with charcoal.  A fairly serene vista…

There has recently been a really strong wind, drying and blowing off many green Maple leaves on the trees around Caversham.  As I was fighting the wind on my way back home last week, I realised that this meant Summer was really coming to an end.  We’ve nearly had all the Summer festivals- Glastonbury in June, The Secret Garden in July, and August completely crammed with them!  The Big Chill at the beginning, One Love in the middle, V Festival just after, the Reading and Leeds Carling Weekend Festivals at the end of August, as well as the Notting Hill Carnival!  Just Bestival to go this weekend.  Of course, Bodra and I didn’t attend any of these- I’m afraid I’m not really up with the play with music these days but I don’t feel like we missed out on anything.

Just this weekend I noticed the leaves on the maples outside our apartment taking on an orange hue and becoming rather limp.  It’s a little bit depressing when these changes happen, because you know it could only be a matter of weeks and then the leaves will let go of their birth place, releasing to the ground and the wind.  Soon we will be left with skeleton trees and the overwhelming presence of the continuously grey and cloudy sky.  But at least we get to enjoy the colourful changes in the foliage.

SO!  With Winter on the way, you have to work that much harder at ensuring you have things to look forward to!  Of course, we have plenty of those, the top one being our wee visit to NZ in Feb/Mar.  A new event has appeared on my calendar this morning in the form of a visit from my friend Logan in October.  We may be able to join him in a trip to Paris- yahoo!!

Presently Bodra and I are hunting for a new abode.  A change of scenery will be refreshing, especially if we find a place that is quiet.  I have been looking for the past two weeks- we have two months to go before we need to leave our current apartment.  Thus far we have found a pretty great place- it has a small private yard, large bathroom and two double bedrooms- and we have asked the Landlord to make some changes and received a positive response.  My only issue is the location as it is near a main road, but it may be far enough down the road that this isn’t a noisy issue.  If we end up at this place we will have crossed off each area of Reading, as it is in the South, about a two mile walk from where we now live.

Since my last entry there has been a fair bit of tripping about.  We went to a HOMmega dance event at Matter and saw Astrix and Xerox and Illumination.  Matter is a great venue, quick coat check, clean loos, generally smoke free, and from the balcony I had heaps of room to dance and still see everything that was going on.  Would definitely like to go there again- hopefully when they have the Sky Bridge open.

The following Monday I joined my friend David in Dublin.  We first visited St Stephen’s Green and Trinity College, and in the evening we moseyed around Temple.  We perused the many bars and pubs, like the Leftbank Bar and Porterhouse, giving attention to our aural and taste senses.  It didn’t take me long to tire of Guinness, so I tried some Wrasslers and discovered I am neither keen on stout.  The Irish music wasn’t really doing it for me either, nor the covers band.  Luckily I had great company and (not so luckily) in the morning a great hangover…

Late on Tuesday morning we stumbled out of our bunks and caught a long, rattly bus ride to Powerscourt Gardens.  We had an average lunch in Enniskerry where the bus had dropped us off (cold quiche and flacid salad), then walked up to the gardens which are situated with Sugar Loaf mountain in the background.

My guidebook had suggested it was a not-to-miss attraction and I was quite intrigued by the story of the architect who in the 1840’s created the Italian Garden.  Daniel Robertson suffered from gout so whilst directing the work he got about the gardens in a wheelbarrow, fueling himself with a bottle of sherry.  Once the bottle was drained, work would be finished for the day.  The gardens didn’t show any sign of inebriation- a series of pristine terraces, marble and bronze statues including winged horses by the Triton Lake, and lots of flower beds.  David and I inhaled the scents in the rose garden, then wandered through the walled herbaceous gardens.  We soon found ourselves at the pets cemetery, a large slope bedecked with dozens of formal headstones, marking the resting place of the Wingfield and Slazenger families loved pets.  I didn’t think it was appropriate to take pictures but it did seem like a bit of an oddity.  Around the next corner came the Japanese Gardens which included a beautiful moss-covered grotto.

That evening Paul and Bodra enjoyed rocking out to Pearl Jam at the O2 arena (jealous!).  David and I tried to visit the Guinness Storehouse but they were closed for a private event.  Luckily we scored free tickets so we returned the next morning, quickly scampering up the seven floors to enjoy the view and our pint of Guinness (kak).  We had clear skys and a beautiful view of Dublin.

Next stop was the airport where we picked up a car.  David drove us up to Northern Ireland where we discovered the currency changes back to British Pounds.  Our afternoon bar man in Dundrum conveyed this to us with a pinch of attitude, but how were we to know?  They must get this mistake quite a bit from tourists, which I guess could make a Northern Irish person feel somewhat insignificant.

Belfast didn’t impress us all too much.  The weather was rubbish, we struck one way roads in our search for backpackers (we begrudgingly ended up at the somewhat unsavoury Linen House) when David made the unpleasant discovery that his passport wasn’t where it should be (he may still be in Ireland as I type this).  Luckily we only needed one passport to check in to a room, so we ditched our bags and began assaulting Belfasts pubs.

We first tackled David’s passport sorrow in a skoddy bar showing horse races on the telly.  There was a very drunk New Zealander at the bar there, talking to anyone who met his eye and making very cringe-worthy conversation.  Fearing that he would zone in on our accents, we silently downed our drinks like our life depended on it, then swiftly made our way to the next watering hole.  Fibber Magees, “a spit and sawdust bar, packed to the rafters with old Irish artefacts” where I tried some Powers whiskey; not bad given that I care not for spirits.  Then David and I journeyed upstairs to Robinson’s Bistro for dinner and chardonnay.  We found one more pub after that, down a pedestrian only alleyway, and inside all the walls were covered with memorabilia.  The seats seemed tiny to me and the pub was very crowded so we stayed for one drink then returned to our bunks.

I had a horrific time trying to sleep.  David soared off into a sozzled dream of blissful ignorance.  There were half a dozen people in the dormitory.  A few moments into my rest, a man in another bunk at the opposite corner of the room started to snore ferociously.  It began sporadically, with a rhythm that would maliciously mislead you into thinking he’d stopped, only to start up again as soon as you had found your peace once more.  This soon built up into a routine including thrashing about in his bed and speaking/shouting in tongues.  I listened to meditation tracks on my mp3 player for a few hours, but they were unable to dominate over his night terrors.  Someone in the dorm next door began thumping the wall- they must’ve been lying right on the other side of his bed- so I diligently got out of my bed and tiptoed over to the guy to sharply prod him out of his nightmares.  He stirred quickly and found my face peering at him.  I pressed my hands together in prayer and begged him, “I can’t sleep-” he started to pull back his sheets and shuffle over in his single bed murmuring that I could sleep with him- in his dreams!!  (On second thought, not, as I wouldn’t want to hear about that!)  “No, you are snoring!  Please, lie on your side and close your mouth.”  He complied and I didn’t hear another peep out of him.  All was quiet and soon I found a restful space again… until David let out a snort…

We were out of the backpackers and on the road by 8am.  Heading for the coast, we travelled for fifty miles or so to reach Cushendall where we stopped for a measly breakfast of tea, scones and latte.  Then back in the car for thirty miles until we were at the Causeway Centre.  We walked down a steep path towards the coast, and soon found the hexagonal basalt columns, “Clochán na bhFómharach”. I was really thrilled to be by the sea again, the salty spray, the sound of the waves rolling in and crashing into the rocks and looking out to where the sky meets the sea… all very uplifting for the soul!

We headed back to Dublin, me navigating, Dave trying to re-interpret my instructions.  I had thought we’d have plenty of time spare but, after much frustration and confusion with trying to follow their directions to the centre, we only just got to the car hire centre in time.  Luckily David kept his cool (I was explosivio) and figured out that actually, we were heading from the North, and their directions applied if you were coming from the South.  Or something like that.  Unfortunately, Dave’s passport failed to reappear so I left him to tackle the administration woes on his own.  & no, I have not heard from him… where are you Dave?

Dublin pics

(I just filled my belly with cuisine from the Arboreum Restaurant- Beetroot and Walnut Risotto with Blue Cheese Fritter and Rocket Oil, Curly Kale and Potato Cake with Chive Oil and Parmesan and for dessert, Ginger Nut, Malteaser and Banana Parfait with Banana Crisp.  I am disgusted by how distended my belly is, and now I have a headache…)

(Thursday 10th September)

The weekend following my trip to Ireland, Rachael, Bodra and I saw the Peter Pan production at Kensington Gardens.  They had set up a Theatre Pavilion and the main stage was in the centre.  Visuals were displayed on the tent walls a full 360 degrees, so it felt like we were immersed in the scenery too.  When the scene changed, the display would change also.  During the flying scenes, the Darling children, Tinkerbell and Peter would attach wires to their waist and be lifted into the air.  As they flew from the Darling home to Neverland, the visualisations showed the landmarks of London city, and then crossing the sky until Neverland drew near.  They also used a number of puppets, one for Nanna and a few birds which were mostly made of draped cloth, and a gigantic, skeletal Crocodile puppet, whose body was framed with coasthangers and mouth was all covered with wooden pegs for the teeth.  It required two puppeteers to operate who scooted on the skateboards which were a part of it’s body.  Overall, the production was a really unique experience and very exciting to see how much more can be packed into a play.

After Peter Pan, we joined Paul in the park for a delicious picnic, then travelled over to Kim and Ezra’s.  We needed to borrow their tent for the following weekend, and ended up joining them in a nearby pub to celebrate Reuben’s 30th.

The following week started with a wander in Tilehurst with my friend Gavin and his two doggies, and then on Tuesday a dental appointment where I found out that actually, I do have wisdom teeth!  Just two so far, but I will be looking into having them removed.  People also began arriving for the Reading Festival, there began a steady stream of backpackers wandering past the apartment, multiple boxes of beer in tow.  Bodra had a work trip to Sweden, so I escaped into London on Wednesday to view the the Garden & Cosmos Royal Indian art of Jodphur exhibition at the British National Museum.  The collection encompassed 54 paintings created between the 17th and 19th centuries, which had never been displayed in Europe until now, as they were mostly created for the personal pleasure of the rulers of Jodhpur.  The art showed the activities between Bakat Singh (the Maharaja) and his royal court, in the lush scenery of the flowering gardens at his desert palace in Nagaur.  Further paintings illustrated the great Indian epic poem Ramayana, and the final section attempted to explain metaphysical concepts of the Nath yogis.  Kim and Rachael joined me for that and we had quite a relaxing time together, soaking in the lavish and verdant colours of the gardens and meditating on the final paintings.

Then we went over to the Southbank Centre to view another exhibition- Walking In My Mind.  It was a complete contrast to the Garden & Cosmos experience.  From paintings, we entered ten large scale installations all attempting to give us a walk through of a particular artists imagination.  Some were quite phenomenal, one artist (Thomas Hirschhorn) had constructed a cave made of brown packing tape and cardboard which we could walk through.  It sprawled into a complex of caves and linking tunnels, where we met piles of soft drink cans, bodies wrapped up in tin foil with wires and simulated dynamite attached, pages of text and stacks of books.  Another artist (Yoshitomo Nara) had created a Wendy House which we were able to peek through the windows to see what went on in there- papers covered with cute doodles of cartoons.  A few of the other installations were a bit too perverse and self-indulgent so we scooted through those until we came to the top level where Yayoi Kusama had made Mr Blobby-like sculptures covered in red polka dots.  Apparently Yayoi has a recurring hallucination of these dots, where she has found herself and all her surroundings covered in them.  It was much more soothing than some of the installations we had already seen, but it didn’t surprise me to read later on that Yayoi had chosen to permanently settle in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo.  One of the last installations we viewed, Chiharu Shiota’s, was a room covered with a dense web of threads.  We were in awe at the obvious patience this artist has to create this.

We picked Alanna up and then Rachael drove the four of us to my home.  Rachael whipped up a delicious taco feast and we spent the evening chatting.  The following day we went for a walk to Moor Copse which wasn’t all that exciting, but still nice to be out in nature together!

Moor Copse pics

Bodra returned from Sweden that evening and on Friday morning we escaped from the Reading Festival.  Bodra had hired a car and so we had decided to drive up to York, then to the Peak District for a wander and lastly Stockport.  On the way North we stopped in a place called Warwick, where we found a gorgeous tea shop, so we bought some yummy tea and a tea set too!

York was ok, we wandered around the wall and into the centre on Saturday.  We were a bit disappointed by the Monks chocolate we purchased there, as it had been advertised as award winning, but compared to Puccini’s it was utter rubbish.  The Shambles was an interesting street, but there were loads of people around, being Bank weekend, so not much fun being amongst all the shoppers and tourists.

York Pics

We got to the Peak District that afternoon, set up our tent in this farmers field (£3 per person per night- sweet as!), and then set up a picnic, went for a wander through Youlgreave, then to bed as soon as it was dark- we didn’t have a torch.

Bodra and I spent the Sunday walking a circular track from Youlgrave through to Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak.  We used Mark Reid’s book “Walking Weekends Peak District”.  It was a fantastic walk as it included areas of interest like stone circles, a hermits cave and Rowtor Rock- another collection of gritstone rocks which had been carved into steps, caves, passageways, seats, rooms and a three seater armchair by Druids.  The Hermit’s Cave is about 700 yrs old and has a carving of Jesus on the Tree of Life.  It was really cool and beautiful thinking about being back in those times, walking through the countryside where this random monk would pop out of the bushes to preach to you.   Mystical Majickal!

Peak District pics

We woke early on Monday morning and drove to Stockport.  Being a Bank Holiday a couple of the places I wanted to go into- St. Mary’s Church, the Town Hall & the market hall- were all closed for the holiday- d’oh! But I saw my mum’s old street, Carlton Crescent and where her school used to be on Bateson Street, also where her friend Susanne lived at number 24.  Bodra and I walked down through Underbank and the town centre and over to the Town Hall.  We drove down Lowfield Road and I snapped a picture of 23 where Grandma had lived with her paternal Aunty, and 31 where she had been born in her grandparents home.  Lastly we had a grumpy wander through Stockpot Cemetery, grumpy because I wanted to find Jessica Lowe’s headstone for mum, but we couldn’t figure out how the graves had been laid.  I will have to revisit one day so I can visit her.

Stockport pics

September is the month of birthdays!!  On Thursday 3rd September Kowhai turned 13 and Bodra turned 30.  To celebrate I bought Bodra some L&P which he was very delighted with.  The previous day I had made the pleasant discovery that Reading now has a supplier of Tim tams, Rashuns, L&P and Peppermint Chews.  Very exciting!  There is a fantastic lolly shop in Harrison Arcade which stocks these treats, as well as loads of gelatine free sweeties.  The proprietor is a very conscientious vegetarian.  The sweetie shop happens to be directly opposite the rental agency who we have been having pleasing results with, so sweeties and good tenancy services is a happy combination for us!

On Friday 4th September my brother Shannon turned 34 so I had a lovely chat with him that morning.  he gave me some good advice with my wisdom teeth issue- if I’m not feeling any pain, why worry? 

This past Saturday Bodra and I journeyed into London to see Tony and Liz.  They drove us to Hilary and Martin’s home where we met their baby boy Alexander, he is a gorgeous drooler.  I still don’t really know what to do with a baby though- hold them, smile and gaze all google-eyed in adoration!  Roger was also there so we had a great time catching up with family.

Later that evening we went out for Bodra’s birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Abeno where they serve Okonomi-Yaki, a pancake styled dish which is prepared and cooked on a hot plate at your table.  It was a very delicious meal.  Rachael and Paul bought Bodra an “Attack of the Clones” styled birthday cake, decorated with a Storm Trooper.

Okonomi-Yaki pics

On Sunday we went out to the movies to see District 9.  Bodra and I are in agreement in that this is our top movie so far this year.  The effects were absolutely brilliant and the story was fast-paced and enthralling.  I just love going to a movie where you don’t recognise any of the actors or actresses too, everyone just seems to be so much more believeable.

Yesterday, on our way back from Knutsford, we stopped in the walled city of Chester for a half an hour wander around.  We were suitably impressed by the architecture and the multi-levelled shopping galleries.  Not impressed with the yucky pea-infested pasty however…

Chester pics

Mum and Dad will be having their wedding anniversary on Saturday, not sure what number they are up to, maybe 39?  Hemi and Te Aue will be 12 on Monday, and Bodra’s daddy Michael will be 71 on Tuesday.  A couple of my friends will also be having their 30th birthdays this month too- Jen and Ben!

A look into our future activities: thanks to a couple experience vouchers which Bodra received for his birthday, Bodra will be having a go at Falconry (thanks Kim and Ez!) and also driving a TVR (thanks Paul and Rach!).  Very exciting!  On Saturday the 26th, Dewi will be taking Kim, Ez and us for a coastal walk along the white cliffs of Dorset where we will see Durdle Door, a limestone arch, and White Nothe a white headland where we may find a fossil.

In October on the 2nd we will be seeing The Black Seeds (yay!) and on the second weekend of October I will be joining Kim, Nik and Dawn on a Glass Blowing course.  On the same weekend, Logan will be joining our land for a few weeks and hopefully Bodra and I will be able to join him on a swift trip to Paris.

During our first week back in the UK, Dewi and I saw Giacomo Puccini’s Madam Butterfly at the London Coliseum. I was expecting it to be in Japanese or perhaps Italian, but with this performance the lyrics were all in English- they even had a little LCD display above the stage to read out the lyrics.  The music was wonderful and we could see the orchestra in the pit in front of the stage.  Dewi and I enjoyed crowd-gazing too, but we were quite disappointed to find few people who were dressed for the occasion- we were expecting gowns and tuxedos but it was a fairly casual affair.  Cio-Cio San (Butterfly’s) son was depicted with a Bunraku puppet which required three puppeteers to create all the movement for this character- most unusual!  In the final act, when Butterfly takes her life, this was exquisitely portrayed as ballet extras unfurled sheets of red silk from Butterfly’s body as the blood flowed from her.

Since being back in the UK, Bodra has been quite busy with work.  He has been to Morocco visiting Rabat and Casablanca, travelling through Paris.  Now he is in Johannesburg in South Africa.  Our first weekend back from North America, Bodra and I went to Amsterdam to join Lauren during her European travels. Bodra stayed for one night and I stayed for a couple extra days.  Whilst on this second visit to the ‘Dam I really enjoyed wandering around the city, despite constantly getting lost- all those canals and bridges can really confuse a tourist!

Amsterdam pics

Amsterdam vids

The weekend after Amsterdam, Bodra and I joined Kim, Ez, Dawn, Nik and Cam in seeing the theatrical show- “Enigma”, Derren Brown’s (a British illusionist and mentalist) latest magical performance.  Of course by the end of it we were all feeling baffled and mind-muddled.  Derren combines ‘magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and good, old-fashioned showmanship.’  He appears to be able to read what people are thinking and see through things, among other amazing mind feats.  Three people were randomly selected out of the audience (he always says he doesn’t use stooges and chooses people by getting the audience to pass a Frisbee around) and Derren gave them each a different object.  One person had a watch which they set to a random time, another person had a dice and the third had a pack of cards where they selected one card. All the objects were individually wrapped in tinfoil, and then Derren was able to give the exact time, side of the die and card.  Perhaps he somehow caught a quick glimpse in the reflection of the tinfoil, or maybe that is what he wants us to think… who knows!

At the start of the show we were instructed that if we wished to we could write three favourite things on a card, which were then placed into a basket on the stage. One member of the audience chose the card and held it while Derren worked out the three favourite things, by getting them to say five words totally unrelated to what is on the paper. Not sure how he managed it but he was bang on!

We saw his show “An Evening of Wonders” a previous year, where he performed classic Victorian magic.  One of the acts was an Oracle Act, where audience members wrote a personal question about themselves, then placed it into an envelope with only their initials and seating row letter written on the outside. Derren then chose a number of random envelopes and, without opening them, was able to divulge from the handwriting and the vibe he intuited from that area of the theatre (so he would lead us to believe) what the question was, as well as relay some person specific information and give an answer. About half-way through he took off his microphone earpiece, in case anybody thought he was being fed answers, and wrapped bandages around his head to completely blind himself. And then continued with the act, asking everyone in the audience to beam questions to him and he gave corresponding answers towards the area he felt the question was coming from.  Derren appeared to be accurate- spooky!

He also performed a table-turning act, where four members of the audience were asked onto the stage, where they firmly placed their hands on a wooden circular table. He initially asked them to give him the names of people who had passed on, and he wrote these names on a card and placed them inside a wooden box. Derren talked to them in a commanding way, saying to imagine the life energy moving through the table and feel the table start to slide, turn and move a certain way… and then it did! So they began moving around the stage with the table moving them this way and that. He asked them if they were pushing the table but they all adamantly denied it. A bit bizarre! Then Derren got just one of the audience members to stay with the table, which then had a table-cloth placed over it, and together they made it float. We weren’t too sure of this act as it seemed a bit gimmicky- magnets perhaps?

In this latest show he performed a “Spirit Cabinet” routine which is a physical séance. In the second segment of the show he began with inducing a suggestible trance state called somnambulism on the whole audience. Derren got us to sit slightly on the edge of our seats with our hands resting on our thighs, close our eyes, then he used a particular tone and talked to us about feeling our body become floaty and light so that we will feel like standing up. Only certain members of the audience appeared to fall into the trance- not including either of us or our friends. A couple of the suggested audience members joined Derren on the stage.

With one of the ‘trance’ subjects, Derren performed the act where the subject believes their body is completely stiff- rigid like a plank of wood- and then they are carried by others and balanced on the backs of two chairs, under the shoulders and back of the legs. Another trance subject was made to drink a whole glass of vinegar without any complaints.

Onto the “Spirit Cabinet” routine: using a female trance subject as a medium, Derren placed her on a chair inside an enclosed space, with curtains to form the four walls. In the ‘cabinet’ was a table with an empty vase, sponge ball and a bell, and the chair. Derren asked for two associates of the ‘medium’ to come up on the stage and they checked out the cabinet to ensure it was legitimate- no door traps for someone else to sneak into the cabinet.

He asked if there were any spirits present for the ball to be placed inside the jar and the bell rung. He closed the curtains and in a few seconds the bell rang, he whipped open the curtain and the ball was now inside the vase with the medium still seated. This seems obvious enough- the medium merely obeyed Derren’s command. Various other instruments were added- a tambourine, chalk set on the table and a chalkboard- and related commands were given including automatic writing.

For the final spirit cabinet trick, Derren asked the two associates for two names of passed-on family members, and then sent them into the cabinet. He gave the medium two chalk boards to hold, sandwiched together against her chest. Derren placed a hood over the associate’s heads, in case they saw something disturbing whilst in the spirit cabinet. The curtain was drawn and a few seconds later pulled back, revealing smiley faces chalked on the hoods but aside from this all appeared as it should. The medium’s chalkboards where still sandwiched against her chest, and Derren took them off the medium, showing the names scrawled on them. Quite baffling!

Derren’s finale involved getting six men to choose a particular position across the stage and receiving a corresponding letter and then number. I can’t remember exactly how this trick went, but essentially Derren convinced the men of their lack of free will; somehow he manipulated them so they were exactly where he wished or he had managed to predict where they would go.

The following week Kim’s mother Hilary arrived in London, and together they went on a sixteen day tour of Slovenija, Austria and Bavaria.  They started in Ljubljana, and their travels included Lake Bled, Bohinj Valley, Bovec, then Austria where they visited Salzburg and Innsbruck.  Their last stop was in Munich where I joined them, but more on that later.

On the last weekend of July, Bodra and I went for a 4.5 mile walk along the Kennet and Avon canal, from Aldermaston Wharf to Theale.  We started off with a pub lunch at the Butt Inn (hahah!), and had quite deep talks about our plans for next year…  After a pint and some lunch in the sun we began our walk.  Unfortunately this one wasn’t as picturesque as our previous walks have been so I wasn’t so snap happy.

Bodra and I parted on Sunday as he went on a business trip to Morocco.  Thankfully I wasn’t too lonely as Dewi took me out to Swinley Forest in Bracknell to reconnect with my inner Ape in a high-wire adventure.  We learnt how to use our harness, pulley and karabiner and climbed ladders, elevated walkways, crossing bridges and going through tunnels, all made of wood, rope and super-strong wire.  There were five different courses through the forest, each becoming progressively more challenging.  At the end of each course we were rewarded with a zip-wire, so we zoomed through the trees, the longest line stretching for 160m.  We had loads of fun and I really hope someone will take me to the course in Aberfoyle, Scotland where they have a 400m long zip-wire and waterfalls…

Go Ape pics

Go Ape vids

On the Thursday, Rachael took me to Buckinghamshire to visit Waddesdon Manor, the fabulously ornate and sumptuous home of the Rothschild family for four generations.  Every room was decorated with art and antique French furniture.  Rachael and I spent a couple hours touring the house, using an audio-guide.  Sevres soft-paste porcelain and King George the III’s silver service, a pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship, Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits of relatives, a chest of drawers covered with gilt bronze designs of birds and children in trees, a chandelier made of broken modern porcelain called ‘Porc Miseria’ (”Oh my Goodness”)… so much to see!  One of the rooms upstairs had murals depicting scenes from Sleeping Beauty.  I learnt that the artist used members of the Rothschild family and staff of the manor as models for the characters.  Even the family dog was included!  Unfortunately we did not have the time or the weather to explore the gardens, but on the way back to Reading we saw dozens of Red Kites hunting for road kill above the highways.

Bodra returned home with a dreadful ear infection, exacerbated by the flying.  We ended up going to the A&E on the weekend- he had already consulted the doctors twice in the past fortnight for it, going through a course of antibiotics and we were using ear drops also, to no avail.  Arriving at the A&E, the entrance-way displayed huge posters warning patients that if they had flu symptoms they were to immediately return home.  To me this created a foreboding atmosphere reminiscent of when a plague strikes a village.  Bodra received more antibiotics and thankfully his ear infection cleared up by the end of the week.

Last Wednesday I joined Kim and Hilary in München. I stayed with one of my friends whom I met when I taught in Korea in 2002, who has been living in München for two years.  Arriving in München on my own, I found it very easy to orient myself to the city centre using the S-Bahn.  I stopped in Marienplatz and came out to the town square just in time to enjoy the chimes of the famous Glockenspiel at the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall).  The square is named for the Mariensäule (Marian column) erected to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation in 1638.  I walked across the square towards the Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall) and soon found a bronze statue of Juliet, a gift from the city of Verona to Munich in 1974.  I had intended to leave flowers with her, as is tradition for a chance at undying love, but I found a handful of undesireable males sitting beneath her so couldn’t see the charm in this action.

From here I wandered through the Victualienmarkt (food market), trailing my suitcase through the stalls, but as it was late evening most of the stalls were closed so there wasn’t too much of interest to notice.  I came across a beer garden- loads of chairs and tables set up outside with many people guzzling back glass steins of beer.  The bellys over here certainly affirm Munich’s love affair with beer!

I made my way over to my friends flat and soon she arrived.  She lives in an old building on the top floor and from her window she can she Saint Pauls Church.  She took me to a nearby restaurant for dinner where we sat outside listening to a pianist and saxaphonist.  I chose a traditional German dish, jacket potatoes with a white sauce whose name escapes me now.  I want to say quark sauce… After dinner we walked along the Isar river enjoying the warm night air and the atmosphere of the full moon and small campfires lit along the pathway.  We had a magic night catching up on each others lives, as it has been seven years since we saw each other.

On Thursday I met Hilary and Kim at Hauptbahnhof, the central station where we decided to journey by train out of Munich to Hohenschwangau near Füssen.  Lauren had recommended visiting Schloss (castle) Neuschwanstein, the castle which was the inspiration for the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle.  The journey out took a couple of hours and we were famished upon arrival, so we settled in for lunch.  I tried another traditional German meal, consisting of a bread dumpling served with a mushroom sauce.  Super stodge!

Bellies satisfied (without beer) we began our walk towards the castle.  From the village we could see the castle quite high up in the valley.  We walked into the forest surrounding the castle and followed a path going alongside a river through a gorge.  We had the company of butterflies along the trail and really enjoyed the forest air.

Upon reaching the Schloss we were more enthralled by the many flying craft in the sky- paragliders, hang-gliders and gliders all enjoying the clear skies and thermals.  One of the hang-gliding craft had very unique wings- thin yet very long.  Hundreds of tourists swarmed the castle, waiting for their tour group number to appear to permit them inside.  Unfortunately we were only able to gaze at it’s exterior.

We didn’t have much time for anything else, barely time to pick up a souvenir magnet, so we made our way back to München.  We met my friend for a vegetarian dinner at Prinz Myshkin, where I tried soy-tuna for the first time on a pizza.  It was a real treat and tasted just as delicious as I had remembered real tuna could be.  Still no beer however, instead we ordered a couple bottles of Chardonnay, perfect for the warm evening.

On Friday morning I met Hilary and Kim at the Neues Rathaus.  We climbed the tower at St Peterskirche and were lucky enough to arrive in time to enjoy the entire chimes of the Glockenspiel.  It soon became quite squishy at the top as more people appeared to enjoy the view, and on our way down the tower still more tourists braved the 306 narrow steps.

We next set off to the Munich Residenz- the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs- to feast our eyes on the crown jewels within the treasury.  It was a very comprehensive exhibition, we could have spent a couple hours gazing at all the sparklies.

From there we made our way to the Hofgarten (Court Garden) where we left Hilary resting beneath a tree listening to a trio of busking string musicians, whilst Kim and I hunted down some lunch.  We found our own personal musician in the pavilion for the goddess Diana, a weather-worn man playing pan-pipes, where we sat for our lunch.  Every so often he would cease playing to spiel some kind of rhetoric in German and would laugh at his own remarks.  He seemed happy enough with himself so once Kim and I had finished our lunch we gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek to show our appreciation for his music and company.  He then shared a few words in English and told us he had been speaking about how if we had public baths and more parties, the world would be a better place.  Here here!!!

From the Hofgarten we ventured forth into the Englischer Garten, apparently twice as large as Central Park.  They had some really adorable variations of ducks and geese there, as well as a standing wave which was being ’surfed’.  According to nearby signs the activity was forbidden but that didn’t stop people attempting to surf the wave for as long as they could before losing their rhythm and falling into the water and being swept downstream.  A super resource to have access to if you are a keen surfer and can handle the cold of the water!

We found the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) and beer garden, so settled ourselves for a stein and some Oompah action.  Then we made our way to the local subway station and navigated ourselves to the Alte Pinakothek art museum.  Being one of the oldest galleries in the world, it houses one of the most famous collections of old master paintings, so much of the artwork dates before the 1800’s.  The subjects of this art was mostly religious themes and portraits of royalty.  Not really my cup of tea as I found the general tone fairly depressing, and because there was so much to see it really became quite overwhelming.  I think it would be better to pop in from time to time to see specific art works rather than trying to see it all in one go.

Hilary and Kim then left my company to make their way back to London.  I stayed in the grounds of the art museum as they have a huge field which was bathed in sunshine, so I caught up on a few postcards.  Then I wandered over to the Korean Zen Meditation class as my friend had invited me to join in, and as a reknown monk was visiting and Korean TV were filming it was quite a special event.  We chanted prayers in Korean and German, lucky for me the prayer book had the Korean written in English, so it was possible for me to follow.  I really enjoyed the class and hope to do this again one day.

After the class we went to a beer garden where I had a massive glass stein to enjoy.  I didn’t get all the way through it but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and conversation.

For my last few hours in Munich, my friend and I went to Isar river again.  The Isar river is spanned by many graceful bridges, adorned by elegant statues and monuments.  We sat in the sun, nibbling fruit and feeding the crows and ducks.

It was a truly nurturing holiday as I had so much time in the sun enjoying that blue sky and wonderful company.  Now I am just enjoying my own company and rubbing my peeled skin off my shoulders- too much of a good thing CAN spoil you!  I really hope my friend comes to see me in NZ one day!

Munich vids

Munich pics

There was a three hour delay in my flight home due to a plane not landing as it should at Gatwick, so our plane needed to land at Stansted first before being able to get to Gatwick, which delayed it in reaching Munich.  I was really happy to see Bodra again, there will always be something uplifting in your situation when you are returning to your love.

We saw “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” on Sunday afternoon which was really frustrating.  These movies which just leave you hanging with so many questions!  I’ve taken the ‘Deathly Hallows’ out from the library so hopefully I will find some time to read that and satisfy my curiosity.

I’m heading to Ireland again next week for four days with one of my old friends, David O’Leary, we’ll drive to the Giant’s Causeway so that will be very exciting.  Bodra and Paul will be going to Pearl Jam on Wednesday.  Next weekend we will be seeing Peter Pan at Kensington Gardens.  At the end of the month Bodra and I will be taking a drive up North to check out Stockport and York and whatever else crosses our path, in an attempt to escape the drunken debauchery that is the Reading Festival.  So- lots on!!!

Bodra purchased our tickets home on Tuesday.  We’ve decided to come home for one month, as we need to be there for Paul and Rachael’s wedding on Feb 27th.  We will be staying another year in the UK, and who knows what we will do after that.  Hopefully Bodra will be able to work for Symantec in NZ by that time, but another option is to go to Brisbane for a year.  Closer to one of my favourite places, Mullumbimby- yay!

So it is past 8am now and I still haven’t been to sleep… very naughty I know, but I just like to get the things I started, finished!  & besides, Bodra will be home in a few hours and ready for a nap after his long flight home, so I need to keep him company.  He has also experienced a delay with his flight home from Johannesburg- I think he has had to wait and extra five hours for his plane.  We are meant to be going into London tonight for a dance party- yay for seeing more friends!

We arrived in Harrisburg on Sunday night, June 28th.  Dan picked us up from the airport and whisked us to the Kerr abode, right in the heart of Harrisburg on Susquehanna Street, named after the Susquehanna river.  Liz and Dan gave us a warm welcome and we settled into the cosiness of their lounge with their cuddly Kitty Hannah B.  They have another cat, Murray, who’s not so cuddly but has his own endearments, like prowling on our bed in the middle of the night, pawing over our sleeping bodies.

Liz was busy preparing for a nursing exam she was due to sit on Wednesday evening, so she was locked in study mode for the first few days of our visit.  Dan is pretty much his own boss, so he was able to hang out with us the entire trip.  On our first day Dan, Bodra and I cycled down to City Island to watch a baseball game between the Harrisburg Senators and the Erie Seawolves.  It was great sitting in the sun, drinking beer and watching the game, getting caught up with the atmosphere of the crowd. Harrisburg Baseball Game pics

On Tuesday we drove to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia- Dan had organised a camping trip for us.  On the way we stopped off at Wendy’s for lunch.  I surprised the till girl with my request for a salad burger, but one of the prep staff was smart enough to work out how that could be created.  Flys were swarming all around the kitchen.  It was far from the Wendy’s I had been craving.

We stayed in Mathews Arm campground.  It took us a while to work out how to get there, despite having a sat-nav and an iPhone with GoogleMaps.  It turned out we were too eager to turn off and headed along Browntown Road, which led us strangely enough to Browntown.  After three dead ends we eventually found ourselves in Shenandoah Valley on Skyline Drive, which runs 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We stopped off at the Ranger station at Elkwallow picnic site, and picked up a couple books and souvenirs.  As we made our way to the campground we noticed half a dozen cars parked on the side of the road, so we pulled over to see what was going on.  Ten metres or so into the forest we found a Black Bear and three cubs foraging for plants and insects.  We watched them for a while but standing in the long grass had it’s drawbacks- we were under siege by midges!

Shenandoah Black Bears vids

We settled into the campground late in the afternoon and after spotting a fawn and deer in the forest, we had a game of Frisbee in the parking area, every so often changing positions to shake the cloud of bugs.  Once we had exhausted our arms we made our way back to our tents and on the way saw a lone Black Bear foraging nearby.  A little bit nerve-racking to know bears traipse only a few feet from where we sleep, but they seemed disinterested in our presence so I wasn’t alarmed.  As we walked back to our tents I noticed a steel pole with hooks at the top- a ‘bear pole’ to hang food out of a bear’s reach.  Eekkk!  Bears are a real danger!  We made an excellent dinner over our campfire- spuds, sausages and tofu shish-kebabs.

The following day we tackled the Appalachian Trail, a miniscule part of it but still, we can say we’ve been on it!  We left Mathews Arm Camp Ground before 8am and began a 6.5 mile hike through the Shenandoah Forest, along the Piney Branch Trail, Appalachian trail and Foot Trail.  The views of the valley were spectacular along Hogback overlook.

It was drawing close to lunchtime once we had finished the trail, so we headed back to Elkwallow for a munch.  On our way back to Dan’s car we discovered more bears!  Momma bear had returned with the three cubs.  They climbed an apple tree in a matter of seconds and soon they were all balanced on branches nibbling on baby apples.  The bears seemed quite happy busying themselves with their meal, until a dog was heard in the distance.  The mother bear descended the tree and slowly ambled off into the forest.  The cubs gradually followed her, coming down the tree trunk individually, then running across to the nearby tree which they then scampered up part way, before working out where their mum went to.  Really cute!

Elated from our bonus bear action, we decided to go for another walk to see the Overall Run Falls on Tuscarora Trail.  The initial leg of the trail was all down hill, which didn’t bode well for the return journey, but I did spot a number of butterflys along the way.  The environment took on an Australia feel, red earth and and rock and sub-tropical looking trees.  We found a family camping alongside a river near the falls.  What a mission to bring all that gear down, but a magnificent spot to spend a few days in.

Shenandoah Forest pics

We returned to Harrisburg that evening.  Liz was home and happy to be free of her exam pressure. On Thursday morning we made our way to the land of Hershey, where Milton Hershey hailed from, creator of Hershey’s chocolates.  But we weren’t there to meet the man, instead we were there for Hershey park!  We had a choice of eleven different rollercoasters, as well as a water park.  Our first choice, the Sooperdooperlooper, was far from thrilling, but it was good starting off with a poor ride as all the others were much more impressive.  Our favourite was Fahrenheit.  We waited in line in the baking heat for nearly an hour for this 85 second ride, but it was worth it and Liz kept us entertained.  It began with a 90 degree vertical lift for 121ft, then down into a 97 degree negative drop (making it one of the steepest drop in the United States apparently), inverted loop, Norwegian loop, cobra roll and inverted corkscrew roll.  Super fun!

Hershey park pics

Hershey park vids

After all that fun we fleed a sudden downpour, dashing across the carpark, leaping across ankle high pools of water, getting completely saturated.  We returned to Harrisburg and joined Liz’s parents for dinner- a very entertaining couple!  On Friday morning we met Liz’s dad, Jack, who took us for a tour of the Capitol, then we dropped in at Dan’s office to water his plants.

That evening Liz and Dan took us to a fabulous Mexican Restaurant.  Yay for Margarita’s and Quesadilla!  & yay for hurling it up a few hours later… an authentic Mexican experience.  The next morning, Independence Day, we drove to New York, picking up snacks at the last market in Pennsylvania before dashing through New Jersey.  This gas station had beer on tap!

I was quite overwhelmed as we entered New York- traffic buzzing everywhere, roads twisting in all direction, billboards plastered over every surface and sky rises soaring higher than I have ever seen before.  We left our luggage with our hotel, unable to check-in as our rooms weren’t ready.  Later that evening we were still unable to access our rooms- very frustrating!  But we had a great day wandering through New York, I saw Times Square and the Flat Iron building.  We journeyed to the top of the Empire State Building and gazed out across the entire city- magnificent!

We were lucky enough to wander into an Irish pub just in time to watch Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, a tradition for Independence Day. Contestants stuffed their faces with hot dogs for ten minutes.  I cheered on Kobayashi, six time champion, but he only managed 64 1/2 hot dogs.  Joey Chestnut scoffed down 68 for the win.  I wonder if vegetarians could enter and if they would allow us to eat tofu hotdogs?

The Empire State Building pics

New York pics

We found a fantastic Indian restaurant, “Tiffin Wallah”, for dinner, and afterwards headed over to Mel’s apartment near the Hudson river to enjoy a rooftop view of the Independence Day fireworks.

On Sunday morning we enjoyed bagels for breakfast and then wandered along Broadway to Central Park, entering from Columbus Circle.  A great space to enjoy nature and exercise.  Bedrock juts out all over the park and some people were bouldering.  We picked up a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers and strawberries and enjoyed a picnic in the park, listening to a three piece jazz band busking nearby.  In the afternoon, Carly, a friend from high school, and her husband Ryan, joined us, so we changed locations to an Irish pub.
We enjoyed friendly conversation and a pint, can’t remember the name of the brew, something Blue, maybe Blue Moon?

Central Park pics

Sooner than I was ready, we had to make tracks, so we left Ryan and Carly and made our way back to the Westin to collect our luggage.  We bade Dan and Liz farewell and attempted to work out the correct bus stop to get to JFK.  As we waited, time started ticking and we began to feel anxious as the buses that passed did not want to take us.  Dan and Liz reappeared and insisted on driving us to the airport- what a blessing!

New York vids

Our experience in America more than exceeded our expectations.  Dan and Liz helped to make some fantastic memories for us and what can top seeing Black Bears in the wild?  We <3 America!

On Monday morning we left Alberta for Saskatchewan.  We had a few days to enjoy a real Summer holiday, relaxing at the family cabin by Clearwater lake in Kyle.  We drove through cities with seemingly odd names like “Medicine Hat” and “Swift Current”- didn’t quite get to “Moose Jaw” but I heard that name on the radio.  The First Nation heritage in this area is undeniable.  I dozed throughout the drive but managed to see enough of the landscape- plateaus of mostly empty land, with the odd oil drill here and there and sadly only invisible Bison.  We stopped at a gas station and whilst I washed my hands in the services a lady walked by with a bright coloured parrot perched on her shoulder- amazing!

We paid a visit to Goodwin House at the Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park, which had an exhibition detailing the ecosystems of the area.  I was surprised to learn that 1.5 million years ago the land was home to camels, mammoths and giant ground sloths. Carolyn showed me her favourite bird and flower (meadow Lark and Prairie Lily, also known as the Western Red Lily).

The South Saskatchewan river passes through this area.  The province’s name (Saskatchewan) is derived from an anglicized version of a Cree word denoting a swiftly flowing river.  The landing served as a historic crossing point for the Plains Indians, who had used it for thousands of years, as well as settlers who began to use it in the late 1800’s to cross over the river to the North.

Outside Goodwin House stood the Red River Cart which was an invention created two centuries ago by the Metis people in the Manitoba area further North.  This cart was very unique in design as the wheels could be removed and then fastened to the bottom of the cart, transforming it into a raft, thus allowing the travelling trades people to cross the river safely.

From Saskatchewan Landing we then came to Kyle, where Brenda pointed out the United Church where Gary and Karen were married, and the house in which Karen grew up in.  It began to drizzle then so we drove around Kinsmen Park where we took in the cement statue of Wally the Woolly Mammoth.  Karen’s father discovered the bones of a Woolly Mammoth as they were unearthed by a scraper blade during road construction in Kyle.

The Road to Clearwater Lake pics

By the time we reached the cabin the rain was really coming in strong, so we went for a drive around the lake, hoping the weather would ease up.  Upon our return, Brenda dashed out to the cabin to retrieve rain-jackets for us and soon we were all unloaded in the cabin, feeling snug by the heater.  The following morning the sun decided to join us, so  I enjoyed a speedy walk around the lake with Brenda whilst Bodra got some time with Carolyn.  Then we headed out to the Beechy Farm.

On our way we stopped at the Kyle cemetery to visit the gravesite of Cyril and Genevieve Howell and also to check out the drive-in across the road.  How thoughtful to provide easily accessible entertainment for those who have passed on!

The farm which had once been home to Carolyn, Gary and Brenda is now a Hutterite colony, so we were only able to gaze at the farm from the car. Judging from all the farm equipment, their completely self-sustained lifestyle must be fairly successful.

We were lucky to notice a cement marker along the side of the road- the only remains of Brenda and Carolyn’s school, “Wistful Vista”.

We next went in search of Beechy’s scenic Sunken Hill- a great adventure involving some off-road driving through farmland.  We spotted a Hutterite hooning around his field on an ATV, but he wasn’t bothered by our appearance.  Sunken Hill was formed fifty years ago, when a hill which had been grazing cattle suddenly dropped, leaving a deep depression the size of a parking lot.  We crossed farmland, passing through a couple ancient gates, following signs to Sand Castles in the hopes it would lead us to Sunken Hill.  Brenda throught she could see the area in the distance, but when we came to our third gate and the road appeared to become more of a trail, we backed off from our hunt.  We found a great view of the South Saskatchewan River, but not the Sunken Hill.

We left the dirt roads behind us as we made our way to Beechy township.  Brenda drove all through the small town and Carolyn and her reminisced about the different people they used to know.

Beechy and Kyle memories pics

On Wednesday morning we dropped Brenda off at a nearby service station where she caught a bus back to Saskatoon.  We spent the next couple of days in idle- reading, watching TV, napping, playing frisbee, walking around the lake and taking pictures of nature.  (I was really chuffed with my pic of a Tree Swallow and sunset on the lake.)  Perfect for a holiday!   Clearwater Lake pics

You have to giggle at Saskatoon seasons- Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Pothole season.  On mid-day Friday we entered Circle Drive in Saskatoon and soon met up with Brenda, having a good gander around all the different hair-dressing supply outlets.  We visited Brenda’s “Rusholme Beauty Salon” where Bodra received a much needed tidy-up!  In the evening we sat in Brenda’s backyard beneath a Marquee, tucking into our delicious dinner from EE Burittos.  Vasko, Brenda’s partner, joined us and shared the many scented-treats of their garden with me (Chocolate Mint which I had never tasted or heard of before!).

Later that evening, Bodra’s cousin Jamie arrived to take us for a drive around the city.  Sight-seeing in the evening is pretty special, especially when you are in Canadian country which has spectacular skies and sunsets.  Jamie showed us all the different areas of Saskatoon city, the river-side fancy homes with tree-lined streets, Saskatoon University.  We climbed the stairs to the old railway bridge which crosses the South Saskatchewan River where Pelicans wade, and took in a great view of the city.

Then Jamie took us to one of his locals, and we enjoyed a few pints of a tasty Great Western beverage.

On Saturday Jamie took us all out to Paradise Beach aka “Bareass Beach” (it attracts naturists) and the Berry Barn.  The Beach is 25km outside of the city, along Valley Road, but there was no ocean (or nudies), just the South Saskatchewan River with sandy banks.  This river is pretty mighty.  It flows from the Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, through cities and farmland, before arriving in Saskatoon, and from there it carries on for more than one thousand kilometres, joining the North Saskatchewan River at the Forks, forty kilometres East of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.  The South Saskatchewan River originates at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman rivers in Alberta and Montana.  These rivers come together to form the South Saskatchewan River just East of Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The Berry Barn was our final stop for the day- a family-run country-style diner set up inside a barn.  We dined on delicious orchard-fresh berries with our pancakes and waffles.  I was pleased to find my Inunnguaq magnet in their gift shop (yay!).

Before our flight to Harrisburg, we had one last walk along the river with Brenda and Carolyn.  On our walk we noticed that a riverside splash park for toddlers was designed to represent a map of the Saskatchewan river.  Great to see education and fun being united!

On our return to Brenda’s home, Jamie’s girlfriend Cynthia was there with her sweet fluffy dog Trixie, so we were pleased to see them both and say our final farewells.

Saskatoon pics

During our flight to Minneapolis I was fascinated by the aerial view of Canada- really a checkerboard landscape!