Things I miss

I've just got back from Sydney where I spent Christmas.  It was wonderful seeing family and friends but it also made me realise there are a few things I miss.  Friends and family obviously.  Big cricket matches, at this time of year the Boxing Day test match in Melbourne that takes over conversation even if you don't follow it normally.  We don't talk about the cricket here, it's too depressing.  But it's also the little things like this, the isle sign in a local supermarket.  I love the 'wierd food' isle!!

Also finished

Our new space out the front of the library, no longer a construction site!

 

 

My karanga course.  Karanga is the māori call that welcomes you and signals many other things.  This is part of the class on graduation day last weekend.

 

And the latest piece of street art.  Painted on the side of a local gallery, the clock tower on the main street and a commentary on a possible version of the future.

Kiwi Advent

Well, Pukekos actually.  Our children's staff have created a wonderful bookey advent calender, each Pukeko hides some wonderful holiday reading.  I love Pukekos, they have a fabulous quirky walk that includes a tail flick and these guys certainly brighten things up.

Finished

We have handed in our final assignments and class has finished for the year.  We are all mightily relieved but not sure what we are going to do with our Tuesday nights.  What do you do in this situation - put down a hangi and get everyone together for a final celebration.

Not a photo of the mountain

Although it is still looking spectacular with a good covering of snow.  No, this is a photo of a sculpture that sits in the entrance way of the Council offices.  It represents the mountain (obviously)  and as I walked past it the other day I noticed that someone has placed a lovely hanky or maybe a small napkin on it's peak, a nod no doubt to it's current state in real life rather than a resting place for lost property.

One small step closer

I think I'm probably one small step closer to thinking like a local.  Why?  The weather today has been awful - cold, very wet and a south-westerly wind that has whipped round the mountain, still covered in snow and come in off the sea.  Not that unusual for spring in Taranaki.  And I did not hesitate for even a second in my footwear selection for a trip to the supermarket.

No Sleep, too much food

This weekend was the annual weekend away for my māori class.  As in previous years there was little sleep, fabulous and copious food, lots and lots of laughter.  There were also lots of activities, official and unofficial, this is what you do while you are waiting for dinner - dance!

Happy Halloween

The museum was jumping this evening with a whole swarm of ghouls, witches and quite a few spider men.

There were pumpkins, cobwebs and spiders as well as a few 'body parts' and icky slimy things.  Somehow I don't think Mr Wilkinson would ever have dreamt that his storehouse would prove the perfect display are for a harvest of glowing Jack-o-lanterns, looks good though don't you think?

Men at work

It's been a big week.  We have run a whole library from 5 sets of shelves set up in the foyer of the museum for 5 days. While we were doing that there was heaps of stuff going on elsewhere such as the electrician rewiring our relocated desk.

Two of the vast crew of workmen building on our new front steps.

And finally, two of our exhibitions team on the end of paint brushes in the children's library.

Almost done

A few weeks back I showed you the construction site outside work.

  Well,  there has been progress, this is now the view from my window

 and this is the beginnings of the new ramp - supervision team in the background,

 and that nice looking soil is soon to be lawn

Getting creative

Instead of our staff quiz night this year we had a night (well 2 hours) in the museum.  To test our knowledge each team had to do one of the scavenger hunts that have been devised using our personalised labels and to make it more interesting, there were some extra challenges thrown in.  The team I was in came last, no-one is really sure how the scoring worked, but I am quite proud of my modeling skills.

In the company of Ferdie the Bull, our rugby mascot and the Megaladon shark is my Buzzy Bee, circled just to be sure.

A few days in Palmy

I spent most of this week at the annual library conference, this year in Palmerston North, generally know as Palmy.  The conference was held at the racecourse and we had regular views of training.  Very relaxing when your brain is in overload.

A Weekend in Nelson

I spent Friday and the weekend road tripping to and from Nelson, at the top of the South Island.  A group of about 40 of us, mostly kaumātua/elders travelled down to support the opening of an exhibition at the Nelson Museum about the Taranaki Land Wars, the one that we did here in 2010.  We took the ferry between Wellington and Picton and had a really smooth trip each way, by no means a sure thing even on a fine day.

 

We did however have wind. 

And this is the divvy up of the left overs on the way home. We stayed at Whakatū Marae, in true tradition we were fed better than well and gave us a whole heap of food for the trip home. We took over part of the lounge on the ferry and had a slap up lunch, salmon, ham sandwiches, mussels, kina - happy travellers.

Not much happening

It says a lot that the highlight of the last week and a bit has been the return of mini ginger crunches to the cafe at work.

Books and art

Spotted this last week - the rumours are true!

 

 and a slightly different view from the smokers balcony - new public art.

I'm a bit of a fan generally but this one I really like 

Demolition

This is how the area out the front of the library looked this week...

That used to be our ramp.  We also used to have stairs and a paved area and parking, all well and truely gone.  So far it has just been demolition mode but in the next few weeks we are expecting to see the beginnings of a new ramp and a much better space out the front.

Getting around

My friend Deb has been with me for the last 10 days, including 2 weekends.  In that time we have managed to:

• walk almost the entire length of the Coastal Walkway
• go up the mountain to both the Egmont Visitor's Centre and the Stratfort Mountain House
• go right round the mountain stopping at some scenic cliff top viewing spots
• go over Mt Messenger to Tongaparutu

All pretty darn scenic even if the weather hasn't always played along. 

Look what was passing by

Work has started out the front of the library and down the side street next to my office.  This week has seen a parade of diggers, each with their chaperon, going up and down.  A nice change from the buses and as you can see the guys are friendly too.

Machinery!

Trust me, this is very exciting.

New Plymouth is currently being 'wired' for ultra fast broadband which means they are digging up all over the place and laying optical fiber.  And then from Monday we will have a construction site out the front of the library for 12 weeks while they do a total makeover - it's going to look wonderful.  The other exciting news is that there is a rumour going around that Poppies will be reopening!

When Your Week Goes Pear Shaped

Wear outrageous shoes.

Budgets, nightmare HR paperwork, school holidays and the weather packed it in.

Thank goodness for the wonderfulness that is John Fluevog.

They really do make you feel better.

Surviving a 7

Yup, last night, just after 10.30 while I was watching the news.  It took me a bit to work out that it wasn't just the usual jiggle when a truck goes past but an earthquake.  Everything and everyone is OK and it was really a quite gentle rolling.

Totally missed the 4.9 aftershock 10 minutes later.

A little sight seeing

I spent Thursday in Wellington at Massey Uni for the launch of a project that we are hoping to be involved in soon.  Massey has 'taken over' part of what used to be the museum and the launch was held in the old Great Hall.

I got there early and took advantage of a lovely day to have a little wander around.  The museum sits on a hill, behind a carillion (currently wrapped up for cleaning/restoration) and the tomb of the unknown soldier.

A little sadness

There was a little bit of sadness last week.  Poppies, a lovely bookshop across the road from work has closed.  I could see it from my office and it was always a very tempting sight.  Unfortunately difficult times have taken their toll.

However, I did help out with the final sale, should keep me going for a week or two.

10 Days in Aus

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.  I've been in Aus for the annual Queen's Birthdays (yes plural) big catch-up. The Queen gets one birthday celebration in NZ the first weekend in June and the following weekend it's Australia's turn so I generally take the week between and head back across the ditch for a friends and family marathon, plus a little down time.  There was lots of food and drink involved, starting with babycinos and toast all round... 

then moving on to something a bit more grown up at Pizzini's long lunch.  There were 5 courses before this appeared, each with 2 matching wines.

I have absolutely confirmed that I don't miss the Sydney traffic (dont' worry, I wasn't moving when I took this).

And at the end of all that I came home to this...

snow down to 600 meters and a wind that will get through even the smallest chink in your layers.

Totally classy or what?

The Breakfast Club is still meeting each Friday morning at a cafe in town, we are still not really practicing our māori but we are getting better.  Mostly we order the same things each week but yesterday something finally arrived at our table that I have watched go past a few times.  Anna ordered boiled eggs.

Woolies count - 3

Top, tunic & socks.

A member of staff passed me on the smokers balcony when I was taking this and, no, I never do get tired of taking photos of the mountain.

Pink Shirt Day

Today is pink shirt day, saying no to bullying.  To support the cause we could wear a pink shirt to work.  Frighteningly I have 3; a 'business' shirt and two Tshirts - Captain Hedgehog and Perkins Paste.  Perkins Paste won.

I also discovered that no-one here has ever heard of it so have been educating my colleagues on the wonderfulness of this child friendly adhesive. 

A Wow Moment

Well, two actually.  I've just been in Auckland for a two day library meeting.  It was really great but basically just saw the inside of the hotel.  So wow moment #1 was when I did get outside - on the way back from dinner we turned a corner and saw this the Auckland Sky Tower.

 The next morning produced wow moment #2 - I indulged in room service brekkie and got this, totally posh muesli.  How often can you say that about toasted oats.

The Breakfast Club Graduates

And here we are (plus one husband).  The proud holders of a Certificate in Te Ara Reo Māori Level 4.  Who'd a thunk it, certainly none of us.

A small revolution

I spent part of yesterday at work helping people take over the museum.  You might remember that a while ago staff got the chance to write their own labels for items on display (here's mine), well yesterday we opened it up for everyone using special, extra large orange postit notes.  It was great fun and no real suprise to anyone that one of the most popular items was the shark.

 Mind you the Moa and a teeny tiny frog did quite well too.