A Week 'Away'

This week has been a small break from all things festival, more by accident than by design.  I spent most of it at the annual Maori Librarians Hui/conference an hour north of Wellington. Lots of great speakers, lots of ideas big and small and lots of fun too. The fun included an afternoon at the beach learning about local landmarks (in order north to south)...

 

Including Kapiti Island (in the background).

Festival Warmup Pt.2

Not a festival as such but last Tuesday was Waitangi Day, our national holiday. For me that meant most of the day spent with my weaving friends at the Wharewaka on the waterfront.  There was weaving, there were waka, there was a lot of talking and a lot of fun plus some coffee and fantastic cheese scones.

We set up inside the waka house

 Because the waka themselves were out on the harbour

 And I was enormously lucky to have my pake/capes on display as well.

Festival Warmup

February and March are festival season and today I had a little warmup before hitting the full festivals.  Today was Kapa Haka in the park, the regional championships, full programs from teams from all over, all fantastic.  Plus food and all sorts of other things on the side.  For me that meant fried bread with golden syrup, totally yum.