Gratitude

Last week I had the chance to go to a Pohiri at a local Marae. One things we learned there is that the Maori culture and language organizes time differently than the English. The word for front (as in front of the room) is the same as the word for past. The word back and future are also the same. The instructor explained how this relates to the culture looking to the past to guide future decisions. Also, the inside of the Marae includes many carvings representing various ancestors. The oral history and genealogy is taught by bringing students into the Marea and using these physical cues to guide the instruction.

This was on my mind tonight  as we dealt with the fall out of a mountain of brownie making.... A huge pile of dishes.

And as I was working through them I began to realize how many lovely gifts surrounded me.  I realize how these objects serve a similar, albeit more personal and less sacred, function.

The Peru Plate from Mark and Kristin is beautiful and exceedingly good at making dessicated fruits and mushrooms look less neglected.

The salad bowl my family gave me after one of their trips to Hawaii. I have a whole collection of wood kitchen goods from their trips, and it always makes me smile.

My favorite serving bowl which was a wedding gift from the Parieras. It also serves as a great back up mixing bowl when you are working on your second batch of brownies but still too lazy to wash out the first bowl.

I have no idea who gave me this little green bowl.. but it is my favorite place to store garlic. Sometimes I think its fromone of  my high school girlfriends, sometimes I think it was a Christmas present, sometimes I think that Roy gave it to me... I guess its magic is that my forgetfulness lets me imagine that its from everyone I love. It's something I touch nearly every day, and that connects me to so many people and past apartments.

I do know that Laura gave me my bowls, with the exception of the blue one which is from Emma. I still eat off the plates I gave myself from my parent's kitchen. Well, by the time I took my childhood plates they were probably already being stored in the attic. These are the plates my father referrenced in his classic Cadillac calculation: Basically, the tonnage of lifting the family did in a year with these plates equaled lifting a Caddy or two, according to his rough calculations conducted outload around the dinning table.

Then there are the parting gifts and thank you gifts that change in meaning over time. One such treasure is this photo of Eric who has since passed away. In the photo is Rivka who is an amazing girl I met in Chicago. She then moved to Israel. I can only hope that she and her family are safe. My rudimentary knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet is thanks to these two.. Rivka 'lent' me a Hebrew abc book one Friday as giving things isn't allowed on the Sabbath. I still have that book, and once I get a book case it will be coming out of its box.


My friend Aiden has never seen any of my dwellings.. and yet she somehow gleaned that I have a thing for dish clothes.

Now that I no longer have to go to the laundromat to wash them, my tea towel usage has become a bit crazy... I often have one to catch sink drips, a couple for drying hands, a couple for drying dishes (a new thing I'm picking up from my British friends here), and of course the ones I use for pot holders... She somehow knew my need for a pretty one, and sewed me this one as a part of a care package.

Which was put to good use tonight by my lovely fort mate

chocolate therapy

Well its been a great week in so many regards. I picked up my sewing machine. Had some really producive meetings at work.  Lots of laughs there too lately, which is lovely.  I loved so much about my last job, but it was a bit isolating not having office mates.  That said, I did meet lovely people when I was out at the schools in Massachusetts, and this week I've heard from many of them which was a wonderful treat.  I also got an inbox full of messages from friends from various circles of my life, which is also a wonderful treat.

And somehow inspite of all that love, I've been a bit emotional.  So tonight I am cranking the tunes and consoling myself with chocolate.

Brownies to be precise. Here is the recipe I found on the net.  For those of you dealing with NZ units, this link I found useful.

My favourite pre-eating parts are mixing the colors in fun marble patterns and pouring the batter in and watching the rectangular folds.


but don't worry mums-types out there, I did eat dinner first.  Including yummy beer bread. My new favourite!

Weekend hodge podge

Actually, once we bucked up and cleaned the house, we had lots of time for fun things this weekend.

We checked out the posters from the ABC competition we entered. Here's ours!

And I saw a duck, a poodle, and another duck cross our street. The ducks have been hanging out in the neighborhood all weekend.

I made pumpkin pie from scratch, and then whipped up the cream.  I'm a bit of a bed head, and I try to spend as much time in bed as possible. Yes I was the girl who studied mostly in bed in college... the desk was for folding laundry, sorting piles and the like... well maybe book learning if I had to read and take notes.  

I checked out some open houses.  This one a friend told me about... I wish I would have had the guts to actually take photos inside. I've never seen anything quite like it. The woman who had been living there for the past 50 years had recently died and the kids were selling the estate.  The bathroom really was a wash room.  The real estate agent and others were all commenting on how just looking at the kitchen spoke more about the roles of wife/mother than any period movie.  You looked at the kitchen area and saw love and lots and lots of brutal hard work.  Much different than my kitchen work, which as you can see sometimes happens in bed:)

I also had a conversation with another person who was organizing her mother's estate.  I bought her Mom's sewing maching. The very same one this woman learned to sew on.  It was really touching to chat with her. I'm glad I know something about the women who previously used the machine I'll pick up in a couple days.

Oh.. and Traveler loves the Dr Suess trees here.

also there was a really big rugby game early this morning... we lost.

Driving through Manawatu

Last week for work I drove through the area known as the Manawatu.... There is a wind farm here and its also know for its dairy farms.  

Both were very evident on this trip!  I kept pulling over sure I had a flat tire, only to realize that it was the wind.

Check out the wires on these poles - some serious wind induced curve!

And the grass silvery waving motion

And just  photos of the snow capped mountains in the distance


and of course cows....

All in all, a very long drive (3 hours each way), but I grabbed an audio book and found it to be good thinking time for me.

Hiking weekend

We were much better this weekend about getting off our butts, using our new car, and actually getting out into the wonderful walking tracks nearby.  The first outting was to Korokoro stream, which is amazing.  Its about 15 minutes from the CBD (central business district) and hard to find (at least for me) in that you drive through a rather industrial road to get to the trail head.  And just a really lovely bike/walk trail along this stream with native bush on each side of the narrow valley.  
But we left the camera at home that day in our sponatneous rush out the door...

But we did bring it with us one our journey to Makara Beach.  Its really not that far from our place here in Karori. You drive over these hills (or down them on your bike if you are more amazing then us)

and then past these sheep and fowl hanging out on the edge of the estuary. 


and then you reach the rocky shore



It was really blustry, but we still sat in the sun awhile. I'm beginning to think buying myself a pair of 'sunnies' is in order as Traveler is looking way cooler then squinty-eyed Shannon
 

Frisbee

We've also joined a frisbee team.  On Saturday mornings we practice throwing in the wind... one thing that I am good at here is knowing which way the wind is blowing.  Then again, you can look at your jeans and see the wind blowing them in case your hair flying around didn't give you enough of a clue.  

The team is a really lovely group of people. The same folks who introduced me to Kransky sausages.  Here are some shots from Saturday's practice.  It was lovely weather.. unlike now with the rain leaking through our window and wind, thunder, and pounding raining adding great sound effects.



and believe it or not that darker blue on the horizon is the Ocean!