Weavers away

It’s Wellington Anniversary weekend and that means our now annual weavers trip to Rangataua. Slightly smaller group this year but same level of creativity. 

Quiet

Nothing really to report this week. Back to work and the rest of life starting to ramp up. 

However my pōhā have dried into lovely fuggly shapes. 

Experimenting

Almost 2 years ago I was at a marae north of Dunedin and we were shown how to make pōhā. These are rimurapa/bull kelp storage containers.  On Thursday I got to share that knowledge as a weaving connection harvested us some kelp from round the coast. 

You carefully separate the spongy insides to make a pocket. It’s weird a squidgy but the goo dries quickly and leaves your hands lovely and soft. 

Normally you’d tie the top and inflate it like a balloon but we stuffed ours with paper.  Then you make a small kete for the base and surround it with bark for insulation and protection. 

Then you lace up the sides to hold it all in place. 

This is by no means a functional pōhā but as an experiment it’s a total success! 

Change of Plan

I had a bit of a plan for these two weeks; relax, recharge, maybe paint the gate at the top of the drive. Week one has involved lots of relaxing and recharging but no painting. What I have done is tidying, sorting and unusual for me, throwing stuff out. 

The recycle bin is almost full and there’s an extra bag in the rubbish. Treasures have been consolidated and a bag of conference pens and lanyards is going to back to work with me. 

And as you can see this has all been done under Huia’s watchful eye!

Merry Christmas

Images from a morning walk taken as a small counterbalance to a solid diet of fruit mince pies, Christmas cake and ham/turkey sandwiches for the next week and if I’m being totally honest, a bit of last week too. 

Festive Fish

Final weaving night last Thursday and to be totally honest there wasn’t much weaving done. A lot of festive fare shared, a lot of talk and even a small sample of homemade damson gin. 

What weaving we did do was fun things just because so I now have a little school of fish. 

Getting Festive

It’s hot, muggy and still light at 9pm. The Pōhutukawa is finally flowering and we’ve had our work end-of-year lunch. Tinsel, lights and fruit mince pies are everywhere. But the topper (so far) to the signs it’s almost Christmas has been spotted in the new brew shop down the street…

No idea if the are full or empty but extra points for best use of a spider plant.