Proper Voting

Today is Election Day. In Aus this is a big deal and all the voting places I have ever used were schools or churches and they made it a real experience by fundraising; sausage sizzles, cake stalls, the whole shebang.  In NZ it is not such an event but today my local school has made me feel like a proper voter...

I voted and I supported the bake sale!  I didn't eat it all myself, my fellow weavers were the beneficiaries.

No Lemons

Life has not given me any lemons but it has given me cabbage tree heads care of one of my weaving friends. With a reputation for using other's leftovers and unusual materials of course I said yes. So this lot has been sitting in my garage for a bit over a week.

Today I finally had the time to make a start. Striping the leaves (under supervision)

And the first row of a rain cape, Ti Kouka/cabbage tree leaves are known for their waterproof qualities.

Views of the Mountain

I spent the weekend back in Taranaki at a full immersion Maori language weekend. It was fantastic and particularly wonderful being with friends and seeing the mountain every day.

And here it is again, in a slightly different form.  This is how we learned the names of five rivers running from the mountain to the sea, all their marae, communities and sub-tribes.

China, Spain and Greece

This is the middle weekend of our annual two week food festival, Wellington on a Plate.  It has kind of passed me by but today I did go out to the Food Truck Rally to get some lunch and it turns out, dinner too.  So, dumplings, churros, spanakopita and baclava.  Yum.

As you can see the weather is not that flash, what you can't see is a biting southerly. 

I really love that I live in a city where the official weather warnings include (regularly) whether the wind is strong enough to take your trampoline. 

Yesterday - Sleet

Today - this...

Tomorrow - who knows.

Cool loos

I haven't posted signage for a while but I spent most of Friday at the Wananga at Otaki and spotted these - Maori loo signs with poi and taiaha.

Dressing Appropriatly

Today has been cold, 8 degrees maximum, wet and windy, a proper southerly buster. Flights and ferries were cancelled and I decided that the best thing to do, other than layer up, was wear my flash Wellies to work.

And it looks like they may get another outing tomorrow.