We're all going on a summer holiday (etc)!

Hi there

Whenever I'm nearing the start of a holiday I always break out ( very untunefully) into Cliff Richard's "Summer Holiday".  Today, I'm singing, dancing, somersaulting, walking on air because I'm off to Las Vegas next week.

My house-sitting friend from Auckland (plus husband) arrived last night.  I doubt if I'll see her much before I leave. This morning she's off to Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand).  She has all sorts of adventures planned for the days ahead, including Wellington on a Plate - she'll be scooting here, there, and everywhere, all around the Wellington restaurant and cafe scene.

You won't hear from me for about two and a half weeks.  Sorry, but.... wooo-hoooo!!!!

Me, Biking??

Hi there

I have been a bit of a wimp the last week or two re pushing boundries with my bad knee, but then I suddenly thought, "I walked around Mt Maunganui a couple of weeks ago, i am not an invalid!"  Granted, to walk around The Mount probably takes an uninjured person about 45 minutes and it did take me an hour and a half, and with the aid of my hiking stick.  I did sit down a lot.

So?  So... I went for a bicycle ride yesterday, just to prove that I could do it.

Every time i came to even a slight rise, I had to get off the hired bike and push it because that was when my knee sort of did hurt.  I was kind of embarrassed to let others see me doing this, but the pride of being able to even ride the bike in the first place soon overcame any feelings of embarrassment.

I still can't do breast-stoke or over-arm in the water.  I can only swim on my back which is a bit of a downer but, hey, there's always next week...

Up and at 'em!

Weta talk by Richard Taylor at Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

Hi there

Today was the last talk at Te Papa by Weta staff.  Richard Taylor, head of Weta Workshop produced a  light-hearted session.  He started off by showing pictures from babyhood upwards.  When he was just a kid he found mud in the stream at the bottom of his garden and started sculpting.   Now, he prefers to use Nelson White clay to create models.  The clay comes in immense blocks.  Most people would just see a lump of clay but Richard says he sees a monster, a creature, a castle....  And he can't wait to get his hands in the clay.

Richard said that though Weta dealt wth hardware, they preferred to call it 'heartware' because every image that was made up had to come from the heart of the person doing the creating.  He said that if young people wanted to work for Weta it was no use sending in just the typical portfolio that encompassed only things they had been trained to do in classes.  At the end of each portfolio book, he wanted to see the indvidualism, the heart, the imaginaton of the artist.

He showed shots from the New Thunderbirds series and also spoke of a projected animation tale about a bi-polar polar bear.

What a lovely man.  And still with a great love that shines through for his work.  I have hardly drawn a picture in my life and certainly never sculpted anything.  But listening to an ethusiastic Richard, I suddenly wanted to run out of Te Papa and start working on my very own lump of clay.

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There is a dinosaur exhibition at Te Papa at the moment, with a transportation container in the forecourt.  Notices on the container say something like 'danger, live dinsosaur inside'.  And there are loud roars coming from within.  The kids love it.

attention: my laptop is playing up.  I can't seem to type properly on it.  It may break down completely soon.  If I havent downloaded a blog entry for, say, over a week, I hope you will understand...