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.

Number One Helper

As you may have seen in previous posts Huia is my number one weaving helper.  The last few weeks have seen me ramping up to finish some projects before February for a couple of events so there have been extra helping opportunities.

 She has even got a nest sorted for herself amongst my prepped flax.

Coming Down

There is still work being done bringing buildings down after the earthquake over 12months ago.  After months of nothing happening two buildings at our end of town are on the way down.

This is what remains of Defence House, next door to work.  A few people are gaining a nice harbour view.

 This is what remains of the Stats building on the waterfront.

Watches and Warnings

This week it has been stinking hot, well 31 where I am, which qualifies when compared to the official city temp of mid to high 20s.  We have also had the Wolf moon or Super moon, King tides and a seemingly endless list of wild weather warnings.  After 3 days of this...

...we finally got rain last night but the gentle variety, not the kind that necessitates a warning and today has dawned sunny and hot again.

Although to be fair the view to the north does look like something might be heading our way.  The weather here can turn on a dime (at least four seasons in one day) and it pays to be prepared but for now I'm sticking with the sunscreen.

Peak Pohutukawa

I heard this phrase the other day and they might just be right.  The Pohutukawa are in bloom early and with a vengeance.