Archives for July 2006

Refreshing renewal

2005 was a never-endingly busy year for me. I took on too much work and was running behind myself the whole year. Even up until December I was still completing things that were supposed to be done by May. Meanwhile it was election year and my partner’s job in politics kept her working long long […]

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Japan kills adult and baby whales

Bad enough Japan persists in hunting whales, without reading this too: Japan Reports High Rate Of Pregnancy In Hunted Whales: A Japanese Government report has revealed that 70% of whales killed by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic over summer were pregnant. The report reveals that 224 of the 391 minke females and two […]

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Medicinal chocolate wheaten

One of the things I love about my MacBook Pro and wireless internet is that any room in my house can be an office. After several days of sniffling and sneezing with an incipient cold I have allocated today for working from bed. This has the enormous advantage of leaving plenty of room for as […]

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The rooster

– Earlier this month we spent a very relaxing weekend at a cottage about an hour’s drive north of Wellington. There were a number of chooks on the property, including several roosters. This fine fellow had fallen out of favour with the flock and was trying his luck with us when he agreed to pose […]

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Blood test surprise

I’m participating in a health study and went along this morning for some routine blood tests to see how I’m doing after 12 months of exercise. Last week I visited a nurse who took my blood pressure and had me step up and down for several minutes then took my pulse. While I watched four […]

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The rain goes on

Here in Wellington it’s just windy and very wet, but just over the hill in the Wairarapa, and in the Central North Island, things are rough. It’s a good time to be holed up with the heater on. Homes Evacuated, Roads Closed In Southern North Island: The storm lashing the lower North Island is continuing […]

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Percussive bodies

It seems to be my month for arts and culture: today I returned to the St James Theatre to attend an afternoon session of Stomp. I first saw Stomp several years ago at the Events Centre and enjoyed it enormously. Today’s was an equally riveting performance. The two female and six male dancers used brooms, […]

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The Magic Flute

It’s been a long while since I went to the opera, but about 10 days ago we decided to attend a performance by the NZ Opera Company of Mozart’s Magic Flute. We took up the option of a 6 pm performance and joined all the old age pensioners at the St James Theatre in Courtenay […]

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Take the Lead waltzes over hiphop

Yesterday we went to see Take the Lead, starring Antonio Banderas. It was based on a true story — just as well, because it had quite a few rather cliched notions, including the storyline about the gifted teacher who turns around the group of disadvantaged schoolkids. I need to say at this point that I […]

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Oyster Farmer scenic and enjoyable

A couple of weeks ago we went to see an Australian movie called Oyster Farmer. It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours on a cold, wet Wellington day. Set on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia, Oyster Farmer showed us some absolutely gorgeous scenery, with broad sweeps of the […]

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