Meg's Pegs

A view across Cook Stait

2008-06-24T06:09:00.000+12:00

View from Lake Ferry, North Island of Aeotearoa/New Zealand, across Cook Strait to the Kaikoras in the South Island.

xxviii Hooked

some say the South Island

is a waka

the North Island is a fish

and the Cook Strait cable (I reckon)

is the only link between them.

p32

Star Waka by Robert Sullivan,

Auckland University Press,1999. ISBN 1 86940 213 8

In the NOTE at the begining of "Star Waka" Robert Sullivan said: "I wrote Star Waka with some threads to it: that each poem must have a star, a waka or the ocean. This sequence is like a waka, members of the crew change, the rhythm and the view changes - it is subject to the laws of nature......
For references to Maori mythology see Margaret Orbell's Encyclopedia of Maori Mythology. Other references are built into the text."

Action for this week: eat walnuts instead of fish!

2008-06-21T10:00:00.005+12:00

Almost everytime I walk along Lake Ferry Beach I find myself angered by the fish which have obviously been thrown out of nets and discarded, left to die in clusters along the beach.

On a recent walk these were the fish I found.

The beautiful brown shark was still able to move and look at me but unfortunately it was too far gone. When I put it back in the water it just washed ashore.

The night before our visit there had been news of a company being prosecuted for common, but difficult to prove, mass dumping of fish.

The use of extremely long, fine gauge nets and huge banks of lights at night contribute to the huge losses of fish stock. Eating tinned fish is the other end of the chain.

I grew up in the Queen Charlotte Sounds, New Zealand, where we would feed groper as big as a person. These fish are well gone now; fished out.

Omega 3 is touted as the miracle food and we are told to get it from deep sea fish. Omega 3 is available in walnuts which you can get as an oil as well as the nut form.

Percy's Mart Glassware Display

2008-06-19T17:57:00.001+12:00

I found this interesting display of glass preserving jars and bottles in Percy's Mart.

I was interested in these metal sprong ties which hold the glass lids on.

In this final picture there is another type of wire lid fastening and holder displayed.

Humdinger

2008-06-18T11:02:00.005+12:00

excellent or remarkable person or thing

This interesting little red truck has been parked at the back of the car parts shop for a few days.
It has the marvellous home made look, it's boxy, low slung and is eye catching.

It is called Number 5; where are the other ones?

One of it's signs says "Specialing in Kiwi Fruit Spraying".

I love the name Humdinger and it has reminded me of a wonderful, remarkable set of Kiwi made connect-up blocks that are sturdy, colourful, and well made: Humdinger Blocks. Kids and parents love these and they are easy to store as they come in their own special box. They have rods and coloured balls with insert holes all made out of wood and make wonderful constructions.

In searching for their website (which apparently no longer works - they were in RD11, Hastings 06 877297) I have come across a story where Robin the manufacturer of Humdinger has had to move to China to manufacture his toy. It makes interesting and disappointing reading.

I love the sound of the word Hum-Dinger; and I found this story (click on the link) - it lends itself to storytelling! I can feel a story coming on.

Tinui

2008-06-16T22:58:00.000+12:00

Tinui is a pleasant 40 km drive from Masterton on a good road which takes you past dairy and sheep farms, pine plantations, herb farms, home stays and a lime quarry. While an easy drive it is still be a rural drive and you are always likely to come across herds of cattle or sheep being moved. Surfers with cars loaded with surf boards often zip past on the way to Castlepoint, trucks and farm bikes loaded with dogs, and you often see cyclists loaded up with tents and packs. Castlepoint is approximately 15 kms past Tinui.

Tinui has been known for serious flooding and there are homes here which have had to move to higher ground, one has built a huge flood bank around it. The local archive has produced an interesting book "When the Rains Came" about the 1991 flood.

Tinui has a timber mill and a miniature horse stud.

Tinui has recently lost it's landmark pub where you could see chickens and pigs in the backyard. The front section has been moved out to Martinborough which is more popular with the city visitors as the area produces wine, is a pretty town with upmarket shops within an easier distance from Wellington.

The loss of the pub has had an interesting effect on Tinui as the imposing two storied building sat on the corner and created both a focal point and a boundary to the small village. In the last year the small dairy there also had to close. As the shop's building is owned by a community trust the locals have banded together and now run it on a roster system.

Next door is another shop which is used as a co-operative craft shop. It's a place to get very cheap and well made articles and I always purchase Rosa's Herb Farm delicious handmade pickles and chutneys.

Behind this quaint shop is an area that was once the town jail which has been turned into the public toilets.

Opposite the shops is a small but vibrant school.

In the yard is a memorial bell, erected in 1976 to celebrate 100 years on the site.

Next door is the large Memorial Hall- often used by the school - and behind it a recently erected hockey turf and tennis court. The small playgroup here attracts families from the area and is vibrant with ideas and bright happy children. Plunket (a New Zealand child care organisation) use one of the towns houses for regular nurse visits.

This small community has a book group, they are starting a movie group and they are striving to keep their small community alive despite the losses of the local pub and shop. They support each other with child care, shared trips to town and fun times together.

Matariki: the Aotearoa/Pacific New Year

2008-06-13T00:09:00.021+12:00

Matariki is a small star cluster that appears around this time of year in New Zealand and marks the change of the seasons. It is seen as the beginning of the Maori year.

This seven star constellation appears on the predawn horizon in late May In Western astrology is known as The Pleiades.

Two interpretations of the name are Mata Riki = Tiny Eyes, or Mata Ariki = Eyes of God and when you see these stars they do look like small eyes looking over the hills.

As this is the start of the cold season in Aotearoa, it is a time to pause and reflect, to renew connections with whaanau (family), prepare the land for crops and to plant trees.

It is said that the brighter the stars appear the better the crops will be in the coming year.

The Rocket Into Reading Poster advertised the Summer Reading Programme held in the Masterton District Library (and about 23 other libraries in the North Island) over the Summer of 2007 and 2008.

A few years ago I went to a small inflatable planetarium which was erected at Aratoi, our local art gallery. By lying on your back you were able to watch the constellations moving across the sky and learnt to identify Matariki as well as hear legends of this cluster. I'd love to do that again!

This celebration is increasingly celebrated in New Zealand and in town at present the UCOL art students have a Matariki exhibition. There will be a Matariki Fair in the coming weeks. Looking forward to that!

Block Heads!

2008-06-12T22:50:00.020+12:00

This dog has sat outside it's owners house in Dixon Street, Masterton for over a year advertising the fact that his home is insulated.

Now on the way to Tinui, a small settlement 40 kms from Masterton, this handsome chap has appeared.

I can't decide if his downturned mouth is because the hill behind him has been clear-felled or if he has been stung by bees from the hives.

Perhaps he is meant as a warning to all those thinking of trespassing on the site for either honey or firewood.

Balloons, blankets, storytellers, the lost Dominions are found and the army is in town!

2008-06-09T00:04:00.038+12:00

Last Friday night saw me inflating 200 balloons for our library event on Saturday. Janelle had a Heart Felt moment when she saw them and rushed off to get her camera. They spilled out of my office and I eventually managed to corral them along a space on the balcony. The pops of balloons as the heat and rough textured wall claimed some provided many gasps from the customers working on the ecentre. Worth it though, as on Saturday we had

Mary Kippenberger and Peter Charlton-Jones to entertain with stories and music. To start with it looked like a small audience of toddlers and babies but once they got going numbers quickly grew to enjoy the hilarious fun - it's always good to see the adults enjoying themselves as much as the children.

We had a melt in the mouth, rich, sticky mud cake from the 10 O'Clock Cookie Company, Clifford the Big Red Dog made a brief appearance and then we let the balloons tumble down to create more colourful chaos. And then we looked out the window and saw a rainbow that sat above the town for about an hour. We had expected a really cold southerly, with snow, from Antarctica but straight after the wonderful event I felt as if we had been blessed by a very special visit.

The balloons and the blankets from the Operation Coverup Blankets created a wonderful splash of colour and shape under the Hadlow School mural of local history. We have had a great week of gifts of blankets and wool.

Barbara Udy is finishing her eighteenth ladder design blanket. She has fun experimenting with colour and the children in the Ukraine and Moldovia who receive them will be so grateful for such a wonderful gift for their life.

This project has been very humbling and wonderful to be involved with as people create blankets for children who often have only light cotton eiderdowns in well below freezing point temperatures. Some knit Peggy Squares, some strips, and some whole blankets. Some sew the blankets. The project is fortunate to have the support of Mission Without Borders who every year help with the shipping and distribution of the blankets, $3.00 per blanket. I love the colours and patterns and every blanket is individually created. The blankets are given as a gift to the children and will remain as their own property for life.

If you want to start knitting - use pure wool please. Acrylic is too cold. They recommend 8mm needles, double knitting wool, and 40 stitches. Knit in garter stitch ( stocking stitch curls) and you may choose to make a square or a complete strip the length of a single bed (allowing for tuck in at the end and blanket to cover the face.) Several strips are stitched together to form a blanket (single bed, tuck-in at the sides and end.) Of course you may also want to make a complete blanket and it is fun to see the themes and styles people choose for these.

I took Meg and Skip for an early run around Lake Henley to try and beat the front coming through. To my right I could hear the football crowd having a wonderful time as Carterton and Pioneer fought it out. It got really exciting with cars being reeved and horns tooted. Quite a different sound from the usual birds and running river. The Ruamahunga was brown shouldering at it's banks, as if the garment it was diving into had suddenly shrunk. The large gully that has been constructed to take the overflow was already filling from the rain in the hills.

Saturday night we had a huge thunder storm through the night. (Jeff said it was motorbikes! There's got to be a story there about a storm god on a motor bike- I'm off!). The chimney leaked from the pressure and angle of the rain. It only happens occasionally and we always forget to get it repaired when we have normal rain.

Meg's blankets spread a little out of her kennel last night so when I was taking them out to dry in the wind that had come up, I found the missing Dominions. For weeks we have been losing the Dominion newspaper which is tossed from a passing car into our garden. She has been gathering them up and taking them to her kennel, still perfectly wrapped in plastic. We had searched and searched the property for where she was putting them - didn't think to look under her blankets.

Had fun with our four and a half month grandson looking at "Who's there Spot?" He was fascinated with the large black letters and kept scanning the pictures. He especially liked looking under the flaps once he got the idea.

Our walk around the lake tonight was a little late and it was disconcerting to arrive and find the army there, walking around with a small red lights from their night vision equipment, like moving red buttons, and the dark shape of trucks, port-a-loo and tents. They were just inside the gates of Lake Henley and appeared to be either camping on the ground there or about to pack up. Each year they arrive here for a training exercise so I presume that's what they are doing. You almost didn't know they were there. It was eerily quiet. Just as with babies, balloons and storytellers, their presence, their slicing red lights, and their shadows transformed the space.

Percy's Mart at night 4.6.2008

2008-06-05T13:12:00.008+12:00

Promise of an interesting search!

Percy's Iron Pot Display

2008-06-04T18:02:00.013+12:00

Percy's Mart, 19 Queen Street Masterton
often has interesting collections of items.

As you never know what you will find,

lunchtime foraging can be very interesting. Spotted this display out of the past recently.

Queen's Birthday Holiday

2008-06-02T21:53:00.023+12:00

RUBY SPARKLES - GREYTOWN

I walked into a treasure trove in Greytown today,
Ruby Sparkles.

I had stopped to photograph the church spire behind the butcher shop when I heard some teenage girls behind, trying to attract my attention by loudly commenting that there was nothing worth photographing in Greytown.

Live in a town and don't see it's beauty.

As I tried to explain that to them this display outside
Ruby Sparkles caught my eye.

I headed across the road, stepped inside and lost my breath. It was like walking into Aladin's Cave; so bejewelled, lush and lovely! Fabric and jewellery, a huge candellabra and a very interesting space. Then the battery ran out on my camera! Promised myself I'm going back to this feast for my eyes might have girls afternoon next week.

Further down the valley I had earlier come across this wonderful car waiting for someone to love it again.

Gypsy Day - Share Milkers on the Move 1 June 2008

2008-05-31T23:30:00.038+12:00

A frosty start this morning created these beautiful edgings.

As it was the first day of Queen's Birthday holiday we headed out to Lake Ferry to look at caravan sites. Had an interesting wander and then realised I was going to be late for work at 1.00pm unless we left immediately.

We enjoyed the sunshine, the sea air, views of the Tararuas with low fog creating layers of blue haze, a soft skirt about her waist. Then clear roads until we came around a corner into a huge herd of cattle being shifted from one farm to another. "Fancy moving them on the first day of Queens Birthday" I muttered, "Everyone is out on the road."
"Gypsy Day" said Jeff as if it answered me completely. I thought he'd gone bonkers, but this man speaks in riddles. He explained about all the share milkers in New Zealand who change from one farm to another, once a year, on the same day. Began to sound feasible but forgive me if I'm cynical, he's caught me out before. I said I'd suspend my belief until I could do a Google check. He grinned and said "Article in the paper a couple of days ago".

About fifteen minutes driving through the herd which had become spread out over kilometre. Some were panicked and many did their ungainly criss-cross run along side and over the road. The farmer looked fed up and ready to clock a townie. Although the paddocks have greened up the cows still show signs of poor condition after the long summer drought.

I felt really sympathetic for the share milkers and their families. What a huge shift - cattle, families and all their belongings - and on a day when the townies are out driving around. It would be easier if Queens Birthday and Gypsy Day didn't coincide.

Skidded into Greytown's South End Dairy, home of the world famous (in Greytown) homemade pies I had never tasted. The sign doesn't lie. I'll be going back. I had a wonderful "fusion" pie: Buttered Chicken. The yum started with the smell and continued with the taste.

Relief to be at work on time and tonight I checked - he's right of course - bet you knew that! What a strange and wonderful national event; what food for a novel!

Googling around I found a site for picture book gypsy horses http://www.gypsymvp.com/index.htm and an article about Kaimanawa horses. These wild New Zealand horses are in an area of unusual and vulnerable vegetation so there is a management scheme to reduce their numbers. (Of course we will not mention the army uses the area for tanks and live ammunition practice - but they aren't being culled!) A group tries to rescue and re home the horses, but many are culled and become pet food. The article I found mentioned that because of Gypsy Day they had difficulty in getting cattle trucks to transport the mustered horses.

There is a suggestion that these horses are related to the horses of The New Forest and Exmoor. That reminded me that while I was recently in Devon there were many news items and warnings, as people were mowing down (and killing) the ponies on Dartmoor by driving too fast. Now I find I can sponsor a Kamanawa pony http://www.kaimanawa.com/ - how to have a pony when you can't have a pony. It will be called Clayton.

A Dog's Life

2008-05-30T14:40:00.013+12:00

Pass the Marbles!

A special night last night as we had our monthly visit from Peter De Wit - Agility dog trainer and competition judge. Class at 6.30 at Clareville

(3 classes this week - we will be sooooo good!)

Meg had to learn to run through tunnels for the first time and after a hesitant start where Peter showed she couldn't see the entrance or exit in the dark, she started to have fun with it.

Then there was a circle exercise where she ran around a circle over low jumps and then through the tunnel.

Object: to get her to recognise that the angle of shoulder indicates the action she is expected to take.

Great, first time she really seemed to get it.

Then we were practising our Waits.

Object: you know, where they have to sit still despite all the adrenalin, all the distractions and the total desire to run.

She waited perfectly while I danced and yahooed and on the okay command headed out at full speed. Out of the circle, around past the tunnel, around the outside of every jump until she got to her reward - the tug toy. She knew what she wanted and she was going to get it. We stood with our mouths open, and then Peter cool as a cucumber said "Always remember what you are training - she did that wait perfectly."

I think I might lose my marbles at this game.

Fog, Dogs, Storytelling At The Lounge

2008-05-28T01:51:00.012+12:00

What a wonderful night! A foggy drive to Clareville for dog obedience class. Proof you should always carry a camera, sheep silhouetted on a small hillock under trees, heavily back lit by the lights from the hockey turf, and a fence washed rough grey by the light. A perfect photo and no camera!

Then, onto Kenn Benn http://www.kenbenn.co.nz/Palmerston North, who entertained us at The Lounge, Wine and Tapas Bar Carterton tonight as part of the monthly storytelling sessions. http://www.loungewineandtapas.co.nz/
He told many wonderful stories including from Roald Dahl, and his own story about a priest, who had had a haemorrhoid operation and ended up trapped in a blow up church erected in a hospital ground. He'll be appearing at the Glistening Waters Story Festival, Masterton in October 2008 - well worth a visit. http://www.glisteningwaters.co.nz/
A full house, the smell of wonderful mulled wine and coffee, companionable chat and laughter, and the somehow delicious sight of a Coke poured into heavy stemmed glasses over ice, with a crooked black plastic straw.

PEGS

2008-05-24T23:44:00.006+12:00

I want to explore poetry, books, colour, texture, storytelling, music, writing, the environment, crafts and animals!