eyema_wryma

Murmurs

2011-12-24T11:34:00.001+13:00

Heart Ache

A heartbeat symbolises constancy
though even suns burn out. All things are changing,
yet, that thumpy thump is constantly
reassuring. Speeding, slowing: rearranging.

A stethoscope sends frightening, clammy fingers
counting extra beats. Then ultrasound
spreads eyes, recording back-wash blood that lingers.
Deathly pools mean future plans are drowned.

Conditions must be right for crops to thrive,
producing healthy yeilds year after year.
With care, an engine in a car might drive
much further than expected from the wear.

I know about the murmur in my heart
but labels only limit what we'll start.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS; AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS; SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE.

Diary Limerick

2011-06-06T22:18:00.000+12:00

Diary Limerick
Lost in Limerick. Got there about 6pm tired after driving all day. We saw our hotel from the motorway as we arrived but couldn't get to it. So we spent a while driving around heading back generally in the direction we had seen it until we decided to look for a petrol station or similar for a map. Found a set of betting-book maker, pharmacy and mini supermarket together all open but no maps so I asked the chemist and he said it was easy from there and it was just down the road through 4 sets of traffic lights. Impressive hotel with open spiral curving up the centre of all floors.
We walked just around the corner to get subway for dinner (2nd night running) and found a supermarket too so we got Munchen beer, Irish stout and Italian Chianti. At the check out the conveyor belt was so jerky the bottles all threatened to tip so I grabbed them to hold upright. The girl told me to lay them down but I didn't understand until the 3rd time she said it. The lady in line after me put all her various tall items laid down on their sides automatically. In subway a young man came in wearing waders as if he'd just come off a fishing boat. Paul couldn't understand what he said at all. He got a subway with meat and lots of sauce, nothing else.
We went to Adare the next morning, Sunday and enjoyed the quaint thatched cottages and souvenir shopping. We found Curran's Heraldry in the Information centre but they had never heard of Gurran castle. The man there assured Paul that Gurran was just a mis spelt version of Curran. Then we drove along the main road south and every side road looking for Gurran Castle without success.many of the houses are painted a pale mustard and some are more beige while there are also some white like the cottages in Scotland. Back to Adare for lunch where I had a scone that was more like a cake than ours. We drove out of a different road from Adare on another quest before returning to Limerick and Shannon airport to check our route for Tuesday morning when we leave for London. Saw Bunratty Castle on the way, they had a May Day picnic on. Had a short sprinkle of showery rain drops then the sun returned although we have yet to see blue skies. Cloudy hazy whitish skies yesterday and today.
Heard on car radio news about a gang of 6 who attacked a Bank ATM with a digger.
Noticed the judder bars here are split in half and off set for each side of the road. Even seperate when 2 lanes on one way road. Many empty pedestrian crossings have traffic lights which flash orange that you can drive through.
I love the chips here. Delicious and we've had them 3 times. We hear a lot of people mentioning magic here. On the Red Viking bus tour the driver told us the maternity hospital was known as the magic building as 1 person goes in but 2 or more come out. Saw rugby stadium and tour guide went on about how it is the only place in Ireland where the mighty All Blacks were defeated. He explained that a Limerick poem is a 5 line humorous verse and said one.
King John's castle is the main building of interest. It is on an island between the Shannon and Abbey rivers. Quite a good exhibit with life size models dressed in period costumes and a short movie to explain the history of wars the people have been through. Limerick was a Viking settlement then Norman hence the castle. In the movie an older Irish woman raved on indignantly about the treatment of the Irish blaming everyone else. It rained while we were there but only light showers. A grey cold day.
Had dinner in the hotel bar and we were the only ones there so the bar man chatted now and then. He told us one of the snooker players on TV was a cheat and he was quite indignant about the light punishment for throwing games. The Irish do seem to get indignant more.
Leaving Tuesday morning. Got up at 5:45 only to find the plane had been delayed for over an hour and a half so we spent a long time reading at the gate with a lot of US soldiers. Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday and retaliation has already been threatened. Someone always rises to replace a person who is a figurehead so who knows what the few months hold? There has been 1 natural disaster after another all year, then each arab country rebelling against leaders 1 by 1, now another sort of disaster threatens. However Easter with the Pope and thousands of people and then the Royal Wedding have bothe passed without incident and I had thought they were great terrorist opportunities.

Diary Dublin, Kilkenny Cork

2011-06-06T22:15:00.000+12:00

Arrived in Ireland to see people in airport watching the Royal Wedding then by the time we had picked up our brand new Citroen Hertz rental car and found our hotel we were sitting down to lunch in the next door hotel and on the big TV there Kate and William came out on Buckingham Palace balcony to wave at the hoards. There might be more people there than there were at the Vatican for the Pope's Easter blessing.
Took a bus into O'Connell Street but they only take coins on the bus and we have just used all ours for the tip for lunch so we got the ride for free. The bus driver said take a seat and ask others for change. I did ask one older couple but they had the same problem. When we got off the driver said to remember to have coins next time. Then got the hop on hop off bus to see the sites. Every time the bus stopped and the driver stopped his narrative Irish music came on. Didn't know I knew so many Irish tunes. Saw where U2 has a penthouse across the river from Jameson's Distillery near Arran quay.
A leprechaun is a pixie and a cobbler to the fairies.
On the bus back to our hotel our driver was something like what I imagine a typical Irishman to be. He called out to men he knew on the footpath exchanging friendly insults such as "You're always in the pub!" and to another bus driver going past he called something like "I'm finding this new 6 hour shift very hard". Paul saw him carrying out his ablutions at the lights. He cleaned the steering wheel, his face and hands with wipes then got out his deodorant.
We looked at maps and decided to take the long way to Limerick in the car via Kilkenny and Cork. Stopped at Kilkenny for a new suitcase to replace Paul's with the broken wheel and lunch at an old pub with Smthwicks superior Irish ale since 1710. The publican expressed his frustration to me that both the tvs have gone at the same time and there's a big game on (rugby) and the place would be full if only. Delicious meal and real olde worlde fittings including cellar bar with low ceiling and more rooms upstairs from the ground floor where we ate looking over the river through a tiny casement window.
Lovely old town with narrow roads full to busting with cars because it is Bank holiday weekend and nice weather.
Cork was pretty grim really despite the sunshine and glimpses of blue in in the hazey skies. Like Dublin it had a river channel with bridges crossing and roads on each side but nothing to oo and arr to. Carried on to Limerick after a coffee and muffin. I notice that in Ireland they don't have overtaking lanes, instead they have slow traffic lanes. Same but different.
In a tiny village we saw a truck with stainless steel 20 litre kegs on parked blocking one side of main street (main highway) while a man onn the back threw the beer kegs down to another man on the footpath who then put it sidways and rolled it with his foot to a stack against the shop wall.
The countryside is lovely, all rolling grassy fields with a lot of trees. Some ranges usually visible in the distance. It could easily be NZ except that the roads are so good.

Diary York

2011-06-04T19:44:00.004+12:00

Diary York
Because Osama Bin Laden has been killed London is on high security alert. Gillian warned us to take a bottle of drink on the underground in case of stops. The train did stop several times and the driver announced there had been a security alert further down the line at Charing Cross causing hold ups. Our train was having to wait for the one in front to go at nearly every stop and then it was diverted to a different route but luckily our stop was still on the list, Euston, on the way to Kings Cross where we plan to get a fast train to York.
It was a relief to get on the train to York and know we were heading away from the high security alert although it wasn't actually stressful, more interesting, seeing police everywhere and underground inspectors with clipboards peering at things. Lots of tunnels that affected our ears as we left the city.
Saw many fields of a yellow flowering crop (rape seed?), a few sheep and a few towns plus a line of windmills and 2 sets of 4- 8 huge wide chimney-like structures spurting vapour we thought might be nuclear cooling towers.
When we arrived at the York railway station we discovered that our hotel was right next door. The Royal York Hotel is old and grand. Our room had an extra space as a dressing room.
After a cup of tea (yay, another hotel with electric jug etc) we went for a wander to see what we could find. We walked from 3:30 until 6:30 and it went very quickly. The Minster was just down the road and the Shambles, castle tower and the Jorvik Viking centre were easy to locate via lovely street signs. We'll visit them tomorrow. There were at least 4 Cornish Pasty shps so we shared a pasty there were 3 specialist tea and teapot shops but nosigh of the tea Kirsten wants. We'll have to go to the Buckinham Palace gift shop or Fortnam and Mason's. The last part was following the battlements along the wall back to our hotel vicinity where we found a burger restaurant advertising as winners of a few food prizes so we went in. The menu included NZ wines -1 was Vidal's rose and the red and white wines were Dsahwood. There was as Wellington burger and and Kiwi burger so we read more to discover they were part of a charitable UK trust for the Whakatane Kiwi.
In York a street is called a gate, gate is called a bar, a bar is called a pub. There are 4 bars/old wall gateways. We walked half the walls before tea and crossed over the Micklegate Bar. Near the Minster we saw a plaque saying where Guy Fawkes grew up. Coppergate was Coopers and woodworkers street. This is where the Viking centre is.
Big Peter is the name of the huge bell that rings at noon everyday and is so big it has to keep ringing until it stops of its own accord.

Diary Bath

2011-06-04T19:41:00.000+12:00

Diary Bath
Our hotel turned out to be quite a long walk from the railway station even though it is on the road running directly behind. But we found it just as we were doubting anything but businesses were on the street.
Bath stone is limestone. All Georgian buildings are built from it. Ban on all chimney fires to preserve the city. A down is a hill. A combe on a down is a valley in a hill. There are 3 hot springs and many cold springs. A million liters a day. We went on a skyline bus tour up on one of the downs. This is the Cotswolds. The river Avon goes through Bath, one of 7 river Avons in England (Welsh word for river). Richard (Beau) Nash was one of the most influential men in the mid 1700s, the Master of Ceremonies and he was responsible for developing certain rules and manners. He ensured the Sedan chair men all charged a regular rate. The Yow? Boys had a popular but dangerous job, they had long poles to stick into the wheel skokes to slow down wagons carrying 4 tons of limestone down from the downs.
Lots of great pub names like
The Old Green Tree Hut. The Hop Pole. The Horseshoe. The Griffin. The Saracens Head (oldest and joined to church: St Michaels Outside _the walls). The Golden Fleece (cotswold sheep have a golden hue to their wool.) The pig and the Fiddle. The Moon and the Penny.
We found the Bath Bun Shop and Sally Lunn's around the corner. Had sally Lunn Buns and tea. Huge. Bigger thana burger bun but lighter. They were toasted and vame with clotted cream which looks like whipped butter. Mine was toped with cinnamon butter and Paul's was just buttered but came with jam as well as cream. Delicious and light but I felt a little stuffed by the end. Walked around taking photos then stopped at an Irish pub so much like the one in Kilkenny. Then we found a Thank God Its Friday restaurant so we had to go there for dinner despite still being full. The other time we went to a TGIF was in Glasgow with Mike and Kirsten after a snowy hop on bus trip. Terrible going to an American food place with ice hocky on the big screens and no British beers at all. The bar tender spent all his spare time practising fliping bottles and glasses around. People with birthdays received balloon crowns made like balloon animals we watched one being made. The TV screens told us the every TIG franchise has a rowing scull ob the wll and a propellor over the bar. There were Andy Warhol Marilyn Munros in star cutouts on the toilet doors and Castro?s on the wall. Reminded me I want to make similar images of Kirsten and Mike.
My Italian leather bag catch broke again while we were eating. Paul had replaced the spring in the catch in London but it only lasted 2 days.
First full day in Bath we went on both hop on off buses and then lunched at the Bath Bun Shop where Paul had a fantastic Ploughmans lunch with 4 wedges of different cheeses, ham corned beef and 4 pickles with lovely bread. The Bath Bun is not a secret recipe like the Sally Lunn also smaller and heavier and not toasted. OK with currants and sugar on top and a sugar lump in the middle.
After lunch we went to the Roman Baths where they have great audio guides like at Jorvik. Then onto the Assembly hall and fashion museum, then a house in the Royal crescent. After all these treats for me Paul insisted on walkiing all the way in the intensifying rain to a bike shop he had spied on the moring bus. We took shelter in the Saracens Head pub about 5:30 then when the rain eased we set off looking for fish and chips. Found a chip shop almost across the road from our hotel and they lived up to the reputation of delicious.
Our last full day we booked an afternoon bus tour of the Cotswolds including Stonehenge and Lacock village where some of Harry Potter movies were made. Also Cranford and Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Spent the morning looking through the modern shopping centre then the Jane Austin centre where I learnt a lot more about her and the regency times. This fitted well with the house visit in the Royal Crescent and the 2 tea houses.
The bus trip started at 1 and returnedat 5:30. The driver told us that the yellow flowered crop in many fields is rapeseed or canola for oil that farmers grow for bio fuel. First stop Lacock. Lacock is an old Saxon word meaning little river. Lacock is gorgeous with a variety of old styles of buildings. Got photos of the houses used in Harry Potter and all the others. Had a small glass of Royal Wedding beer and a piece of (quite dry) sponge cake filled with jam and normal whipped cream (as opposed to the clotted cream that I have found everywhere else.)
Beautiful rolling countryside. Some roads have hedges on both sides. A village with less than 10 houses is a hamlet.
Stone Henge and another audio guide. Useful and quite interesting but they are losing their appeal. This is the 4th for us. Paul was disappointed that it wasn't as imposing as he expected. I agree. To me it seemed smaller than I expected. It isn't the biggest just the most complete. On the way back we should see a chalk carving on a hill. Paul saw it I missed it.
On our return to Bath just after 5:30 we headed for the Thermae Spa thinking it closed at 5:30 but it was still open so in we went. We had brought our togs so we were set. Very relaxing 2 hours in warm pools (an inside one and an outside rooftop one) as well as 4 steam rooms, each with different aromas. Eucalyptus, cucumber and mint. There were foot spas and a strong multi rainforest warm shower that was like a massage. The rooftop outdoor pool had a few side jets. It was 4 stories up and had glass wall fences so a sort of infinity pool to compare with the one we want to try in Singapore.
Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant was the next and last treat. We had a 20 minute wait so ordered drinks.
Passionfruit daquiri and Paul had an Italian beer: Messina. The antipasti was delicious and the 2 sizes of olives were less salty than in Italy and even nicer. The capers were good too. I had sea bass for my main because the one I tried in Italy was pretty ho hum and I had heard it is the best white fish. It may be but that shows how much better tasting our fish are. It was baked whole with lemon and was juicy, full of tiny bones and lacking flavour. Nice but I wouldn't choose it again.
Left Bath on a train to Paddington then the Heathrow Express.

Diary Venice

2011-06-01T22:11:00.001+12:00

Diary Venice
On the way from Florence our bus went through Bolonga and heard about parmesan cheese, proscitto and Ferrarro factory. Apparently most Italians avoid buying Ferraris because if they buy then they are listed on a rich list and taxed very highly. Saw rice fields flooded. This area is very swampy and has humid summers with lots of mosquitos. Tortolleni pasta and lasanga and cantalloni pasta and bolognaise sauce all invented here so considered culinary centre. Stopped at one of the many Autogrills shop/cafe/toilets and had the best cappucino yet, it was thicker and more to our taste.
Driving into Venice we went past a huge port. Heard about main products- masks, lacen burano glass. Most elegant mask is black and white and was used by Doctors to prevent inhaling malaria they stuffed the long nose of the mask with cotton.
Local guide Ilari (Hilary)
St Marks cathedral is most Byzantine church. Constantinople and Greek influence. Never been in a Greek Orthodox church, most have been Catholic. It was the private chapel for the doge before St Mark's remains were stolen back from Alexandria in Egypt. Sneaked body past Muslims by covering with Pork.
Doge palace. Most important museum in Venice. Doge was figurehead political leader with power only along with others. Rich and elected for life. Only 3 days to take away own gear when a doge died. Saw golden staircase and the mailbox where citizens could rat on tax evaders and others who did bad things. First waiting room has cameo statues on ceiling. 2nd room most important where 6 councillors sit 3 each side of Doge in audience room with ceiling of paintings in huge thick very ornate frames covered in gold. Doge wears special hat with pointy shape at back and jewels all around instead of a crown since not royalty. Keyholes in wood of inside wall. Cabinets for storing documents. Next room bigger than receiving Collega room (number 1 room). Bigger room not such quality but still same ceilngs and paintings, this room was for the senate. Both rooms have 24 hour clocks back to back through the wall. Another clock with zodiac signs and manually moved hands.
Another room for judging wrong doers. Sala del Consiglio. In paintings by Veronaise Venice is represented by a blonde woman.
2 secret rooms off the next room. Casonova escaped when accused.
Great council room. Council elected the Doge. Mechanism in ceiling behind gold ornate framed paintings to make such a large open space with no pillars.
Bridge of Sighs named by Byron because of prisoners crossing to jails.
Glass works factory. Watched jug and horse being made. Bought a red murano glass and decanter set for wedding present. If broken in shipping must take photo and send to venice factory within 8 days.
We went to dinner and walked around Venice with some others from our tour group on the way back to our Palazzo. We crossed the Rialto bridge and then navigated through the narrow streets and across short bridges following the wall signs to San Marco square. There we stopped outside the famous Florian restaurant where we have the farewell drink tomorrow evening. There was a small orchestra playing a medley from My Fair Lady so a few of us sang along through several songs.
There is an electric jug and tea and coffee bags in our room which is a treat.
We had the last morning on tour free to wander so we queued to go up the bell tower beside San Marco Cathedral. Great view from the top of Venice and the outer islands. Cold and very windy but there was a sign at the bottom beforethe lift, warning us of that.
At noon we met our guide again and went on a boat trip to Burano island where the lace makers live. The houses are all painted different colours and there are 2 stories to explain this. The fishermen spend all day out fishing and drinking wine so they need a colour to guide them to the right house... Or they need the colours to see them in the fog. The women took up lace making because it was so boring all day on an island. Lovely lunch with snifters of Amaretto after, along with almond-toffee biscuits and almond shortbready S shaped biscuits to dip into the drink. Wandered the shops and stalls in lovely atmosphere. At La Perla where our guide Igor guaranteed we would get authentic handmade lace I got a white satin and lace reticule for Kirsten (Wedding) and 2 fine needlework tapestry wall pictures or placemats with scenes of Rialto bridge and St Mark's Square. On the way to and from Burano we passed Murano where the famous glass has been made since the 13th century.
Left Venice early. We caught the water bus at 6:50. It stopped at several stops on the way to the aeroporto, taking about an hour. Next stop Dublin. Today is the Royal wedding which we are avoiding by going to Ireland before England.
Paul' suitcase lost a wheel just before we got on the water bus so he had to carry it everywhere. We looked for trolleys at airports and found them very convenient.
When we got to the airport we found it was the wrong one. Had to get a car taxi to Treviso. Another 30 minutes. Only 1 hour until flight. We made it and spent the next hour in queues. Ugh and the Ryan air seats are the smallest ever. Funny landing though: a trumpet ta ta ta ta ra blast over the speakers.

Diary Rome

2011-06-01T22:10:00.001+12:00

Diary Rome
Arrived on Easter Saturday at Hotel Cicerone after being met at airport by a driver with a sign. Settled into lovely room. No sign of gypsies in lobby as I had read on trip advisor. Have been stressing a bit about bag stealers.
Met our Globus tour director as we came out of breakfast. Gave him our details and will meet group at 5:15pm. Off to Vatican about 11am. Found an English tour that avoids long lines. All given ear piece. Guide was the first tall Italian man. Good looking and funny. Should have given him a tip but we all gave back audio before Sistine Chapel and he didn't come in there. He was very humorous and explained about costs and tipping in Rome on walk to the place to pay to get in. Pizza no more than 7 euro. Taxi to airport 40 euro and check for a 1 on taxi counter. If a 2 the charge is being doubled. He told us lots of funny stories about Pope and Michel D'Angelo who "came from the other Parish" as he put it.
Local Tour Guide Stefano took us around Colloseum and Forum. Lots of interesting information. Cypress tres came from Iran and live for thousands of year so symbol of long life. Palantine hill was first settled. Then conquered other 6 hills. Valleys between were markets. Flavian Amphitheatre is official name of colloseum. At entrance was a collosal statue of emperor Nero as a god. Desigh copied from Greek semi circle theatres which have great acoustics. Doubled to make oval terrible acoustics. River through centre and one side rock other sand. The sandy side fell down more in earthquake 600 years ago. Originally amphitheatre was filled with water for naval battles but not big enough so built wall room dividers and covered in wood then sand to absorb the blood.
Ladies looking for short term employment eg 20 minutes sat in top rows. Next down were commoners then middle class then rich then Caesar sat centre of oval. Animals etc entered from one end.
Rosary beads are made by Nuns out of pressed roses to keep smell a long time. We bought some at Easter ceremony on St Peter's Square and they be blessed by the Pope during the ceremony.
3 guides have warned us about gypsies now. 13 obelisks from Egypt are in Rome. One in Vatican. Swiss guards are all descendants of original guards from Switzerland who a Pope used to replaced Spanish guards he didn't trust. Swiss were best body guards. Now have to be a descendant between 18 and 25 years old and Catholic.
Sx obelis but 13 left.
Spanis Steps lead up to Holy Trinity Church. John keats came here to get well in warmth but it was Feb and cold and he died. Spanish Embassy in Spanish piazza so named steps. Trevi fountain is huge for the small square. Rome is known as city o water all fountains water comes from the ancient aquaducts. City of fountains because they are all built to show off the water. Toss a coin by standing backwards. 1 coin right hand over left shoulder. Come back to rome is 1 coin.
Hadrien was the architect Emperor he got lots of architects to work and design the Pantheon. Indcluding oldest biggest dome. Has a hole in centre or it would collapse. Famous Italians are buried there including Raphael.
Piazza navonna used to be horse track. We saw all the gypsies who were selling knock-off bags and sunglasses running away with their wares when the police came along. Saw horse police wearing swords and spurs when walking around.
Last day in Rome we had a fascinating tour of the Church of Saint Paul. Or San Paolo. Huge and all stone. MArble. Alabaster and the most precious hardest dark red stone columns from Egypt.
We visited the catacombs before leaving Rome. These are tunnels underground going down 25 metres all dug into relatively soft volcanic rock along the Appian Way outside the city for Christian burials. Narrow single file the guide had a torch but the parts tourists see do have lighting although all the empty rooms with emptied graves holes in walls are dark. The bodies were removed and reburied elsewhere a few years ago because tourists took bones as souvenirs. Marble slabs with names and messages.

Diary Florence

2011-06-01T22:07:00.000+12:00

Diary Firenze
We had some exploring time before dinner when we arrived so we walked until we discovered the most enormous colourful church. Went to dinner via a lookout point where we could see Florence spread out below us. Beautiful all creams and ochres. Ate at a restaurant owned by a scotsman right on one of main piazzas. Drank a lot of the free Chianti Classico which is lovely. - am converted to reds now.
First morning went with local guide Andrea to see museum with Michael Angelo statues including the David. Then walked to piazza with Baptistry with gold gates of paradise doors and Cathedral so huge and colourful on outside with different white green and pink marbles and mosasic paintings and niched statues.
Town hall piazza has loggia like veranda with open air statues. In front of the town hall is the copy ofthe David put there when they moved him to museum we went to. Also neptune fountain, Hercules, Perseus and Medusa.
Next Santa Croce Cathedral square which is in leather district. Largest Francescan Church. St Francis had stigmata so this church is dedicated to the Holy Cross Santa Croce. Full of tombs of famous Italians in side niches. Galileo is here he was born in piza but spent most of his life working for Medicis in Florence. Born same year Michael Angelo died. He is also entombed here. Also Dante has a memorial here, the poet who basically invented the Italian language. He is actually buried in Ravenna.
Next we walked through the leather district to a factory shop where first we listened to a woman (from Melbourne originally) explaining about the gols jewellery famous in Florence. We handled several lovely necklaces and bracelets then moved around corner to leather area and had entertaining time as 4 of our group modelled jackets and a dapper gay italian man described all the leather types. Paul was the first model in a goat skin jacket that looked and felt like fabric. Very light and thin but he was still hot.
We had the afternoon free so we walked about half a hour to get to a bank and then returned to have pizza and buy some leather belts and got initials in silver gilt pressed in, a wallet and a small flat travelling purse. The leather comes from NZ! It is the way they work with it that makes it special - apparently.
Then we followed the map to find the covered bridge, Ponte Vecchio and the Pitti Palace which was big but not pretty being made of large tofi rough brown volcanic bricks. Bought a gelato on bridge and walked across past all the goldsmith shops.
That evening we went on the optional dinner in the countryside outside in the garden of a Tuscan villa. Had a good time again as most of our group came. 4 courses. Plenty of red wine and grappa to finish. Grappa wasnt quite as mouth stinging as Aldos home made stuff in our kitchen cupboard. In Rome one night we were served free Limoncello after our meal which I liked better. The red wines here have to have low sulphate levels by law so no headaches or sinus problems.

Bath Diary

2011-06-01T22:05:00.000+12:00

Point of View

2010-11-25T18:58:00.001+13:00

I've been mulling over the concept of truth being in the eye of the beholder.

Point of View

Most leaves speak in greens, heard in varying tones,
the lightest all shouting in neon-lime zones
as leaves spread the word in a view.

A truth shines as brightly to seekers who find
it beckoning boldly but closing the mind.
For, what you believe will be true.

The truth is opinion and it can depend
on seasoning. Custom confines but we bend.
One truth only leaves us one view.

An olive-grey tint, or a minty fresh shade
will darken when winter clouds make the days fade.
Green –clouded or clear – which is true?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

I went on a ballon ride on Tuesday

2010-11-19T17:42:00.002+13:00

Our flight was fantastic and we didn't get lost but it reminded me of this joke I rhymed a few years ago:

A lost hot-air balloonist searched the countryside in vain
He didn't recognise the hills, nor houses in the lane
Reducing height, he called a man and asked just where they were
Explaining "I have promised I will meet a friend soon, Sir"

The man below, called "Latitude: Forty degrees to North"
And "Longitude: in the West, degree mark, sixty fourth"
The man above, came lower still, his basket almost grounded
He scratched his head and then he said "Lost and now confounded!"

He added then, "I guess you are, an engineer by trade?
(This from the accuracy with which, your kind reply was made)"
"But I have no idea at all, about what those facts mean
I promised to be far from here! These parts I've never seen!"

The man below was not surprised "Yes, I'm an engineer.
And you're a politician, yes? Your words have made that clear."
"How did you know?" the basket-case, demanded, rising high
The engineer just laughed aloud, then yelled into the sky:

"You don't know where you are, it seems. You don't know where to go
You made a promise you can't keep: You're all hot-air, we know!"
The politician's skin hue rose, as did his altitude
He hummed and hawed long windedly and mouthed a platitude...

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Spring rain - Magtoo panorama

2009-10-05T16:43:00.002+13:00

Rugby contract

2009-09-25T21:23:00.003+12:00

My baby is a giant now at six feet five or six
and he has signed a contract with a rugby club. It ticks
the boxes when he wants to travel, earning money overseas.
He'll live in Scotland, train and play; for everyone agrees,
a car, a job, accommodation plus some extra cash
is just the deal to tempt young men... but is it rash?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

End of term

2009-09-25T20:19:00.003+12:00

End of term; perhaps my daily headache won't return,
and soon insurance will be sending what I yearn
for -another blackberry - a camera-video-cum-phone
and diary as well. I dropped my BB Bold into the throne
wherein it drowned (at only 2 weeks old). Quite like the one before
(washed to death inside the pocket of my jeans). My jaw
dropped disbelievingly, both times. A foggy screen is not a happy scene.
I may be jinxed re blackberries but qwerty keyboards keep me keen.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

2009-09-17T21:13:00.001+12:00

2009-09-17T19:48:00.001+12:00

ParisJune09 (136)

2009-08-22T00:40:00.001+12:00

ParisJune09 (136)
Originally uploaded by verchillee

The paintings in the Louvre amazed,
containing life within a frame.
But tourists in the Louvre seem crazed
with Mona Lisa as their aim.

ParisJune09 (27)

2009-08-21T23:58:00.001+12:00

ParisJune09 (27)
Originally uploaded by verchillee

I went, I saw and now j'adore
Paris... except the sound of sirens.
The buildings are bewildering
in size and need admirin'.

Practice Based Attestation - feeling the lack of control

2009-02-13T16:55:00.002+13:00

Control over my day to day life:

I'm anchoring a windmill
tilted at right angles,
I'm pegging sheets and clothing,
fighting weighty tangles
and futile bids for freedom -
moored, they flap and slap
together, held enslaved.
Haughty words can't sap
my strength while I'm in charge;
egos wear a gag.
I'm hanging out my laundry,
raising my own flag.
Agendas won't take over,
swallow, or enclose mine,
I'm in control, empowered,
standing at my clothesline.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

it's all too much- just like every other Feb

2009-02-04T19:16:00.002+13:00

It's Wednesday night and I'm
a stuffed potato, couched
in weariness and slouched
in stress-related grime.

The TV drones and even though
I stare half-lidded, work
replays and stirs the murk
of stop-gapped overflow.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Inquiry Learning

2009-01-30T20:14:00.001+13:00

Love the questions in your mind.
Wallow in them, Wonder 'Why?'
Answers drift until confined.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.

Wallow in them. Wonder why
your brainstorm only helps you ask.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask.

Your brainstorm only helps you ask
more questions - find a place to start.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask:
gather facts. Subdue your heart.

More questions! Find a place to start,
take an open-minded view,
gather facts, subdue your heart.
Questions undermine... renew.

Take an open-minded view,
ignore habitual compromise.
Questions undermine. Renew
your purpose. Let them energise.

Ignore habitual compromise,
answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Your purpose? Let them energise;
between the facts, an answer lurks.

Answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Answers drift until confined
between the facts. An answer lurks:
love the questions in your mind.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

RIP Flossy 14 years old. Died 4 January 2009

2009-01-11T17:30:00.002+13:00

Flossy
She was beautiful, our lab of creamy white,
her black-rimmed eyes were trusting, puzzle-bright.
She’d kangaroo through grass in an unmown field,
she’d leap for balls and into cars. I have sealed
those memories in an album behind my eyes
wrapped in re-runs: vet injects and so she dies…

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

IWB Interactive Whiteboards

2008-11-23T09:58:00.002+13:00

A parody in honour of out ICT contract which finishes at the end of this year:

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!

Lord, we will need another camera…
There are movies and photos, enough to take…
That’s how youtube and google search have
enough to watch,
enough to make,
any old head ache!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!

Lord, we will need faster broadband…
There are game-type activities enough to teach,
to communicate and problem solve…
enough for thought,
enough for speech…
Nothing’s out of reach!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!

What the world needs now, is boards, whiteboards…

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

PBA Practise based Attestation

2008-11-01T19:12:00.002+13:00

Older teachers, like myself, who do not have degrees
are bottle-necked in salary champagne, although we ease
the cork for those with less experience (without receiving fees).
We're treated with respect. We know we're needed. We're the keys
that others use then leave in locks. But now the powers-that-be
have listened to our union voice! We hope that they'll agree
to indicators of our skill, our knowledge... how we please,
so our school leaders can attest that we deserve more G's.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

ULearn conference Chch

2008-10-09T13:39:00.005+13:00

My short term memory
is quite as full as it can be.
I found a mac and sat alone
upstairs encased in brick and stone.
So now to process what I've heard...
I can't say any was absurd
although a lot is repetition
but that's all good, prevents attrition.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

School Show

2008-09-11T12:05:00.003+12:00

The audience is waiting,
the 'house' lights have been dimmed
our stage of upturned apple crates
is empty, although rimmed
with nervous actors pacing
and whispering their lines,
checking on their head-mikes
and stiffening their spines.

At last! The music heralds
the entry number dance
and rock and rollers rush on,
to swing and pose and prance.
As voices raise the rooftop
and costumes catch the light,
the audience is clapping
and so begins the night...

A hush falls as the spotlight
reveals the set and props
and then the actors move in
and pull out all the stops!
Their actions and their phrases
are overdone so well
that laughter forms the commas
throughout the tale they tell.

Then stars who sing a solo
each steal a heart or two
with melodies of magic:
ovation is their due.
Tomorrow teachers may have
to take them down a peg
but we can safely say they
know how to break a leg!

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

2008-09-11T12:05:00.001+12:00

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

broken collarbone

2008-09-08T20:15:00.004+12:00

The stairs disappeared,
could I stand?
Not as bad as feared,
but work was canned.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Danks Sports Ball

2008-09-04T11:39:00.004+12:00

An annual event where elegance rules:
a wonderful treat removed from school.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

keen to go, dreading the flight

2008-06-30T18:52:00.007+12:00

HONG KONG - Tian Tan Buddha or Giant Buddha at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island in Hong Kong

MACAU - Golden Lotus at Golden Sands Casino

SINGAPORE - Raffles Hotel

The Long Haul

A queue of saggy-jointed puppets slides
in caterpillar catch-ups. Jerked to stand
by red tape strings, each drags a bag, subsides
and meekly waits for wings to flee the land.

The metal gizzard fills. The mustered, hushed
and clutching at credentials, straighten spines
and readjust attire that won't be crushed.
One flustered aura hovers, then reclines.

Suspended emigration, dozing frozen,
packed like export apples; freight, third class.
Their hands are tied as self-restraint is chosen,
limbo-leashed until sweet androids pass
with trays of welcome rations. They distract
the minds that were so eager to be packed.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Exercise

2008-06-22T16:56:00.002+12:00

My preference is for exercising
mind and not my muscles
but getting out to move about
can clear out brain-bound tussles.

I've walked a lot just lately
and although arthritis stalks me,
the feel-good factor is addictive -
I will be less porky.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Jack and the Beanstalk

2008-05-29T19:24:00.002+12:00

The 5 to 8 year olds, years one
to four: our junior school,
will soon begin rehearsals for
a stage performance. Cool
and cute, sweet or brat,
we need to choose the cast.
Then dancers: teams of stars
and clouds. Online, I've spent the last
few nights in search of backing tracks.
As well as pix of folks-
of villagers and peasants too,
Jacks and giants, harps and cloaks,
tights and aprons, jerkins, caps...
since sewing costumes grudgingly
is shared between 2 teachers.
One of whom is me.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

gifted and talented

2008-05-24T15:02:00.002+12:00

Our group of local schools will soon
complete our IT contract,
so now we're planning what might work
to build on skills, in fact
we had a meeting of the leaders,
talked about a plan
for setting up a base and satellites
of teaching spaces... can
we apply for funding to equip a place
for talented we'll stretch?
A base with tech equipment, visually superb?
A place imaginations sketch.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Winter Voki

2008-05-22T18:25:00.001+12:00

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

broadband

2008-05-22T17:40:00.002+12:00

At last! I bit the bullet,
spent the time and money too.
A parcel came: a metal box
called "adsl & router". Phew!
Last night I got my work laptop
going on broadband
Tonight, eventually, my old
laptop connected and
later or tomorrow I'll
do the old pc downstairs.
So now I'm off to Second Life
Hip hooray. 3 cheers.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

voki

2008-05-18T17:54:00.001+12:00

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Second Life

2008-05-10T13:15:00.005+12:00

I used to spend my leisure hours
here online. Attraction:
ICQ and yahoo too,
msn... the action
with instant messages and webcams
kept me keen those days.
Then that wore off and message boards
took over: my next phase.
Since then I've dabbled with facebook,
feeling old and bored
but second life just might be right
if dial up were more broad (band).

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Visiting my kids

2008-05-09T18:41:00.004+12:00

We flew down south and saw our son
and saw his flat and feed him lots.
We saw Da Vinchy models and
we walked and toured tourist spots.
Cadbury's is famous for its
chocolate, factory was great.
We bought our son some underwear
and took his girlfriend on a date.

We flew back north and drove to see
our daughter and her man, we went
to check the business franchise she
has bought. Then viewed the house they'll rent.
They're packing now and plan to move
this weekend. She is so excited.
I hope her business venture works
to make her rich and so, delighted.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Easter on the Marlborough Sounds (rondelet form)

2008-04-02T19:12:00.003+13:00

Lazy rivers
spill in bays of saline silk, slow,
lazy. Rivers
tangling bush-greyed hills in slivers
of sea, use mermaid combs. They flow
on drowning paths laid out below.
Lazy rivers.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Contact lenses

2008-03-09T16:29:00.002+13:00

The plastic 'glass' is oblong
and the frames form bridge and arm:
my new specs cost a fortune
but there's more to this alarm...
As well as buying updates
I'm spending even more
and now I'm trying contacts
(never saw past cost before).

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

The Change - a sonnet

2008-03-09T16:21:00.003+13:00

Menopause

Invisible and hormone stoked, my sauna
sears with fifty minute interims
as steaming waves of tidal trauma
drown moon-cycle youth by sluicing limbs .

Instead of days spent draining wasted nests
of unproductive eggs each month, I mark
the hours in mammalian sweating crests.
I'm caged and leashed within a wildlife park.

I picnic anyway, there are more choices
when the years leave nothing much to prove.
There's fascination locked in long-lived voices,
value found in spending time. I move
with less allure, I hide as I endure,
determined to be gracefully mature.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

the meaning of life

2007-09-27T13:39:00.000+12:00

Sorting socks is soothing.
So many monotone.
So many paired with partners now
but others left alone.

Life is like a drawer of socks.
Some tightly wrap around.
Some separate. Some lose touch.
Socks and people: so profound.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

ICT & PE

2007-09-08T20:48:00.000+12:00

Our cluster group for ICT has planned another conference.
We did so well last year that a repeat was commonsense.
I've thought of several topics for presenters to present on
and started finding movies for some models (deconstruction
of movies showing sporting skills helps students want to learn them.)
And Youtube is a source of many such a sport gem.
Listing any skills that they can see while they're reviewing
creates success criteria we use for self reflecting.
Then photos or short videos on classroom cameras show what
the students have achieved in lessons - Tick their list or not?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

next challenge: flash

2007-09-08T17:23:00.000+12:00

Now facebook has been sorted and I've added applications,
posted youtube movie links and photos of vacations,
I'm ready for another challenge: now I'll learn to Flash.
(I've tried it with a shareware app but only made a hash
of all the layers.) But collegues want to try it now - we'll work together solving
all those complicated bits that had my brain reverse-evolving.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

facebook

2007-09-04T19:34:00.000+12:00

I've seen the way the kids all go
for online profiles on bebo
and heard about the adult look
of something like it called 'facebook'.
So I decided it was time
to sign up at this facebook. I'm
a member but I cannot see
anything but 'edit' me.
I want to make a page to view
but after checking tabs all through
I've left the site. Another time...
I'd rather watch some TV crime.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
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Spent 2 weeks in Dunedin

2007-09-04T19:32:00.000+12:00

My boy is 21 years old but nearly didn’t make it.
A broken nose meant abscess growth and septicaemia.
His arm swelled up but he was loath to leave his freezing flat
until his nose appointment so he also got pneumonia.
He staggered in and scared a nurse so much that she soon put him

in Intensive Care! Sick boy. That’s one place no one seeks.
He didn’t know how close he’d been to death – just one day off –
He didn’t know how long he’d be recovering – two weeks –
They operated, drained the dangerous abscessed nose and then,
they operated one more time to drain his elbow too.
Then operated yet again to drain his lungs and left
a dangling tube stuck in his back that poured infection through.
It snowed outside but he was stuck in bed. He slept a lot.
He moved four times to different wards and suffered pills and pokes,
He lived for dressing changes, food and visitors who came
in droves... so many girls who cared and even more good blokes.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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Yes

2007-04-14T16:45:00.000+12:00

Watched a movie: "Yes" - in verse
by Sally Potter. Like a dream,
a fantasy, lost love and worse
submerged a 9/11 theme.

Visual tricks matched verbal feasts.
Stereotypes of lonely lives,
of dirty secrets, human beasts,
arab men and aging wives.

Contrasts: sterile empty mansions,
delapidated eastern streets;
busy kitchens, arguments,
hospital and catholic priests.

A cleaner understands this life,
moving dirt around. She'll guess
that zero dirt cannot exist.
Nothing? No, there's only Yes.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Adventure racing

2007-04-01T16:04:00.000+12:00

I've never been a sporty girl, I never hope to be one
but yesterday I went to watch adventure sporting be done.
I went to act as driver and 'support crew' was my role there,
delivering the mountain bikes and changes in their gear.

They didn't even know how many different sports there'd be
until the briefing on the night before (while I had tea.)
They had to run and hike and ride and go spell-dunking too.
They had to kayak on a lake and with a compass, follow clues.

I drove along clay country roads, slip-sliding down and scaring
myself a lot but found the places set aside for daring
parking... Hiking over paddocks... Getting shoes all wet.
My team survived and finished well. It's me who's overset.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Teaching How to Think

2007-03-03T19:59:00.000+13:00

REFLECTION ON 2007 L@S CONFERENCE:

I've heard a lot of theory spouted:
e-games held in high esteem,
problem solving skills undoubted.

It seems they lead to brave risk taking,
virtual, true, but consequential.
And lots of quick decision making...

All this visual strategising
teaches skills for future lives.
(That's the gamers' theorising.)

I believed, but second thoughts,
about commercial dumbing down
of movies, games and news reports...

have made me wonder at the value
of these numbing fantasies.
Is 'thinking' what they'd aim to sell you?

News is censored for appeal;
movies aim at teenage minds.
Computer games are just as real.

Do online feats co-operating,
co-ordinating ally moves,
teach body-language-cue translating?

Are e-rewards for perseverance
and using cheats to rise a level,
encouraging respect, forbearance?

Are the skills that gamers learn
essential for our future years?
Is life a game? Is it youth's turn?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

ICT Contract -the challenge-

2007-02-13T21:55:00.000+13:00

A teacher who's truthful, confesses
that the secret to half her success is
not her planning as such,
nor evaluation so much
as experience - outwitting guesses.

An old teacher in term one confesses
she has wondered a lot what success is.
Is it constant revising
and more improvising?
Can change ever minimise stresses?

An old teacher of research confesses
that the secret to any success is,
to make reading a crime
that wastes valuable time
and display, as correct, all their guesses.

An old teacher who likes to inspire
all around to go forth and desire
to be learning each day
in a challenging way,
could be building her own funeral pyre.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

2006-12-22T16:47:00.000+13:00

The surface shimmers with reflections waiting for
my toes to merge with their own imagery,
then ripples wrap my aching arch before
I step into the womb of luxury.

A hedonistic lowering of limbs
is slowly escalated into bliss -
as water rises, reaching bathtub rims,
immersion aids seduction with its kiss.

My worry stains wash off and then dissolve
while warmth massages flushing, heated skin.
A careworn creature leaves as I evolve
into myself again, renewed within.

Such private pleasure is a joy sublime,
erotic moments soaking up the time.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

'Twas The Night Before Christmas - Computer Version (I don't know the author)

2006-12-22T15:48:00.000+13:00

'Twas The Night Before Christmas - Computer Version

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the shop,
The computers were whirring; they never do stop.
The power was on and the temperature right,
In hopes that the input would feed back that night.
The system was ready, the program was coded,
And memory drums had been carefully loaded;
While adding a Christmasy glow to the scene,
The lights on the console, flashed red, white and green.
When out in the hall there arose such a clatter,
The programmer ran to see what was the matter.
Away to the hallway he flew like a flash,
Forgetting his key in his curious dash.
He stood in the hallway and looked all about,
When the door slammed behind him, and he was locked out.
Then, in the computer room what should appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer;
And a little old man, who with scarcely a pause,
Chuckled: "My name is Santa...the last name is Claus."
The computer was startled, confused by the name,
Then it buzzed as it heard the old fellow exclaim:
"This is Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
And Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen."
With all these odd names, it was puzzled anew;
It hummed and it clanked, and a main circuit blew.
It searched in its memory core, trying to "think";
Then the multi-line printer went out on the blink.
Unable to do its electronic job,
It said in a voice that was almost a sob:
"Your eyes - how they twinkle - your dimples so merry,
Your cheeks so like roses, your nose like a cherry,
Your smile - all these things, I've been programmed to know,
And at data-recall, I am more than so-so;
But your name and your address (computers can't lie),
Are things that I just cannot identify.
You've a jolly old face and a little round belly,
That shakes when you laugh like a bowl full of jelly;
My scanners can see you, but still I insist,
Since you're not in my program, you cannot exist!"
Old Santa just chuckled a merry "ho, ho",
And sat down to type out a quick word or so.
The keyboard clack-clattered, its sound sharp and clean,
As Santa fed this "data" into the machine:
"Kids everywhere know me; I come every year;
The presents I bring add to everyone's cheer;
But you won't get anything - that's plain to see;
Too bad your programmers forgot about me."
Then he faced the machine and said with a shrug,
"Merry Christmas to All," as he pulled out its plug,
"And to all, a good night!"

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

HAVE A MICROSOFT CHRISTMAS (by Chet Raymo)

2006-12-22T15:39:00.000+13:00

HAVE A MICROSOFT CHRISTMAS
(by Chet Raymo)

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, except father's mouse.
The computer was humming, the icons were hopping,
As father did last-minute Internet shopping.
The stockings were hung next the modem with care
In the hope that Santa would bring new software.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
With visions of computer games filling their heads.
Dark Forces for Billy, Doom II is for Dan,
Carmen Sandiego for Pamela Ann.
The letters to Santa had been sent out by mom,
To santa@toyshop.northpole.com -
Which now had been re-routed to Washington State
Where Santa's workshop had been moved by Bill Gates.

All the elves and the reindeer had had to skedaddle
To flashy new quarters in suburban Seattle.
After living a life that was simple and spare,
Santa now finds that he's a new billionaire,
With a shiny red Porsche in place of his sleigh,
And a house on Lake Washington just down the way
From where Bill has his mansion, and the old fellow preens
In black Gucci boots and red Calvin Klein jeans.
The elves have stock options and desks with a view,
Where they write computer code for Johnny and Sue.
No more dolls or tin soldiers or little toy drums
Will be under the tree, only compact disk roms
With the Microsoft label. So spin up your drive,
From now on Christmas runs only on Win95.

More rapid than eagles the competitors came,
And Bill whistled, and shouted, and called them by name.
"Now, ADOBE! now, CLARIS! now, INTUIT! too,
Now, APPLE! and NETSCAPE! you're all of you through,
It's Microsoft's SANTA that the kids can't resist,
It's the ultimate software with a traditional twist -
Recommended by no less than the jolly old elf,
And on the package, a picture of Santa himself.
Get 'em young, keep 'em long, is Microsoft's theme,
And a merger with Santa is a marketer's dream.
To the top of the NASDAQ! To the top of the Dow!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away - wow!"

And mum in her 'kerchief and me in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
The whir and the hum of our satellite platter,
As it turned toward that new Christmas star in the sky,
The SANTALITE owned by the Microsoft guy.
As I sprang from my bed and was turning around,
My computer turned on with a Jingle-Bells sound.
And there on the screen was a smiling Bill Gates
Next to jolly old Santa, two arm-in-arm mates.
And I heard them exclaim in voices so bright,
HAVE A MICROSOFT CHRISTMAS, and TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Saint Nichola

2006-12-19T19:12:00.000+13:00

Santa is a woman who is dressed up and disguised,
I wonder why no one before has ever realised.
It's obvious if you consider all the preparation
That goes on every Christmas eve in almost every nation.

A woman deals with details, understands a child's list;
A woman won't forget the date, no presents will be missed.
Prove Santa Claus is really not a Nicholas at all?
What man that shape would dress in red when going to the mall?

Saint Nichola replies to all who send her Christmas mail
And that's a skill that's womanly, at which most men would fail;
And look at Santa's workshop where those male elves hang out-
Not many men would want his reputation: gay and stout!

Another circumstance that points to Santa being 'she':
Those reindeer have retained their racks for all the world to see-
A man would surely, long ago, have shot each trophy deer,
A woman's capable of planning for the coming year!

And even if a male Santa had a flying sleigh,
He'd soon be lost, pretending that, of course, he'd find his way,
He'd blame it on his compass making Southern Pole corrections...
If Santa were a male, he would never ask directions!

And as for stockings! Surely now, confusion must be gone,
A man would never notice one unless it was still on.
An empty shapeless knitted sock would hang loose and unfilled
Unless he was a business man but then we'd all be billed.

Devotion through a stormy patch is one more quality
That's seen when looking at time honoured Santa history.
Commitment is too much to ask for many men it seems
So Santa must be feminine, or else it's all pipe dreams!

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Santa's Workshop

2006-12-19T19:04:00.000+13:00

The elves are rushing to and fro
And in and out across the snow
In mass production? No, no, no!
Here, toys are made from go to whoa
There's just one elf per toy and so...
Poor Santa's workshop is too slow

For 'though they rush about a lot
And elves are always on the trot
The elves take ages with each toy
And Santa needs a speed-up ploy
For time a-plenty he has not
A long 'good children' list he's got

Now, elf toy-making is an art
To change his ways might break his heart
So Santa watches every part
And Santa wonders where to start
In up-ing his production chart
For current methods are not smart

It's mass production that's the key
But how to help those elves to see?
So Santa said to one he'd watched
"Please show me parts that you have botched"
Of course the elf would not agree
No imperfection could there be

But Santa's hopes would not be slayed
"Show me the BEST part you have made!"
Then Santa called all elves he paid
"Please, stop your work!" Down tools they laid
Then gathered 'round him, elves so staid
"You'll tell me of your skills?" he prayed

The elf toy-makers all spoke out
Each elf preferred one part about
The process more than all the rest
Each elf declared one step the best
"Assembly lines will work, no doubt!"
Said Santa with a joyful shout.

But Santa failed to modernise
His elves all worked with bored, blank eyes
To make one part was so unwise
Now favourite skills each elf denies
The factory lie-up met demise...
"Back to basics!" Santa sighs

I hope this lesson none ignores
Give robots all the work that bores
For elves and people need more scope
Invention, challenge, vision, hope!
But unlike elves' imagined chores
We're the rebels without a Claus...

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Haven't used my webcam in years, or msn

2006-12-07T21:28:00.000+13:00

The days of webcam conversations
seem so 'way back then'.
I've used one with net meeting and
Yahoo and msn.
But all this year in education
there's been lots of hype
about the programme used with phones,
the free one that's called Skype.
I have avoided getting it and
thought so what? But now
I'll need to use it with a class
and download, practise how...

The end of another long day, just watched Stargate Atlantis, now checking email.

2006-12-07T21:18:00.000+13:00

Just look at me, I'm drooping here
this hot December night.
The day was sweaty, rooms too close
and now I feel a fright.
The air con in my PC suite
cannot defeat the heat,
it seems to squirt out hotter air
so coming home's a treat.
I do not have an air con here
or even use the fans
but lots of trees surround the house:
Reverse 'piration-trans'.

Got a Library fine for $14

2006-12-03T17:02:00.000+13:00

Reading too much as usual. Great escape.

The library is where I go to find the books I need;
escapism is how I cope, my form of gobbling greed.

Acid tongue..and throat and oesophagus

2006-11-24T20:31:00.000+13:00

A stomach lining is important when
you want to eat and run. 'Though reflux burps
are pitiful and do debilitate
with sickly churns, it's dignity that hurts.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

2006-11-12T20:18:00.000+13:00

Cairns rainforest.

The challenge of the chase through a life where jungle chokes,
paints a purpose in rich hues like amusing masterstrokes.
In the heedless rush for prizes, whether matter, or of mind,
sacrifices are ignored and supporters left behind.

When we follow in pursuit, honing hunting crafts, we thrill
to a tutor's guidance, leading, in degrees, towards a skill.
When the hours are compressed into moments while we strive
with intensity, we know rainbow chasing is alive.

For the challenge of the chase may be lust to consummate
but insatiable desire can't deny more targets wait.

Technology

2006-11-12T14:27:00.000+13:00

Last night a friend rang, bored;
her sons had all gone out.
We went and saw as Kiwis scored
in rugby league... it was a rout.
But I loathe sport and drank my wine
too fast. The giant plasma scene
was clicked to 'Jaws'... (just as 'fine')...
and so we talked of TV screens,
of USB, watched photo shows!
The TV switched to our last trip
to Cairns, Australia. Then I chose
a few to keep. A memory chip
(or flash drive/ memory stick)
was in my purse, to their surprise.
I get a kick
to seem prepared and techno-wise.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

holidazed

2006-09-29T10:23:00.000+12:00

It's been a week of holidays,
sitting 'round and being lazy,
feeling down 'though that is crazy.

Checking out wall-mounted screens
of LCD. A TV seems
a way of focusing my dreams.

Planning kitchen alterations
(still four years before creation)
but I am feeling 'change' starvation.

Eating fat free foods all day
Lying-in, then rowing. Grey
hair touch ups. Library books. Dog play.

Leather furniture calls to me
and everywhere I go I see
another purchase that won't be.

Is it Spring that muddles minds
while sitting soaking hot sunshine?
Indecisive, sipping wine.

I just can't sit still long enough
to be unwound. Easy life is tough
when having no demands is rough.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

2006-08-21T12:52:00.000+12:00

Here we are at the Sports Ball

2006-08-21T12:48:00.000+12:00

My resolution for next year's ball: wear anything but black.

Ball photos

2006-08-21T11:51:00.000+12:00

The ball, which is an annual thing
and where we drink and have a fling,
went quickly so 5 hours seemed
like one and any dancing dreamed...
so now I'm spending equal time
searching photo thumbs online
wasting lovely warmth and sun
looking for that whole group one...
Though it was such a drunken night
my search can't end in pix delight.
But on I click through glamour gowns
and monkey suits and posing clowns
and these are just the formal shots,
another thousand wait of sots
all dancing, twirling, clinging: candid
pix of flab, of lower standard...
I might see sights of my disgrace
My memory hasn't any trace...

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Photo storage online

2006-07-30T15:22:00.000+12:00

I spent some time last weekend, joining online photo places:
like photobucket and yahoo, so we can share our faces.
I set up user names and sent up sample pix
and made up lists of what to do then emailed all the chicks
and guys who have a camera. They all have photos too
and in the past I had to ask for copies then I'd do
the webpage making and upload those pix and pages for them.
Now they're expected to upload their own to share and store them.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Cairns

2006-07-23T15:52:00.000+12:00

We've been to Cairns and now returned
to winter rain and cold.
In Cairns the freeze had been adjorned
but drizzling rain was bold.
I thawed. I shopped. We drove a lot
we saw the cyclone damage...
the roofs and palm trees had been lopped.
I wondered how they manage.
We took a cat out to the reef,
Great Barrier Reef - Green Island.
And there we climbed into, beneath
a boat, to 'sub' and see sand.
The jelly fish were stingers so
we chose to not go snorkling,
instead we rode another boat
the kiwi host was chortling
about a whale they'd seen the day
before we went: a white one.
We'd seen a dark one on the way,
though humpback, not the right one.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Holidaze

2006-07-08T15:38:00.000+12:00

It's been a week of sleeping in til noon;
reading books with magic in and googling
on gems and crystals. Buying moon-
stone in a point, jade and jasper, lapis earrings...

I've packed in preparation for a flight:
we're off to Cairns and sunshine; sanity.
I've googled things to do. We might
be tempted. And I've faked a tan in vanity.

It's been a week of waiting, holding on
to nothing-ness and knowing life's no song.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Mental Murmurs

2006-06-27T18:36:00.000+12:00

The image I am conscious of maintaining
is crystal gazer, past the cluttered now
to vistas worth some sacrifice attaining,
impelling action short-sight won’t allow.

I tell myself to smile, find an angle
where challenges are welcomed for the growth
they will engender. Spider-like I dangle,
spinning; watching others try; or both.

The image I regret that I’m projecting
is side-lined, warning fliers of some traps.
the webs I weave must teach while they’re protecting
my charges and myself. (Too much perhaps.)

I tell myself to look for what is working
- despite the problems I would like to solve –
and use it to avoid the pitfalls lurking
in paragon critiques. Skills will evolve.

The image I hope others will remember
is inner motivation that inspires.
That urge to find a way: creation’s ember.
Unique but also stoking other’s fires.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Green screen

2006-04-30T11:48:00.000+12:00

When others take the long-laid bait
and plan to make short films, it's great.
When I am asked to instigate
the green screen setup I can't wait
to try out software, get a take
on how it works and then update.
I love the way I make my fate.
I love the way need fills my plate.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Rolling Stones

2006-04-23T13:39:00.000+12:00

Rolling Stones in Auckland - Easter Sunday

Yes, they rock. The crowd was 60 thousand
someone said. The screen was huge, and so I saw
his lips, his string-bean belly making history.
A concert - rock- I've never been to one before...
thought I only knew one song. But I was satisfied
and sang along with plenty more.
He cavorted, tiny action doll in shiny shirts
below the screen. The lighting show was jaw-
dropping, matching him in energy.
I used to fear self-induced hysteria. Bore
that I am. Judging from my cloud
with rabbit-minded logic. It made me pleasure poor.

A Good Book (Villanelle)

2006-04-23T12:37:00.000+12:00

I'm lost and found in her; we've merged in mind.
Our memories combined as she confessed
between the lines, where time is redefined.

Her thoughts are mine and our emotions bind
us closer than true soul mates. I'm possessed.
I'm lost and found in her; we've merged in mind.

Her essence flows through me and I'm aligned
to heartbeats pulsing hope within her breast,
between the lines, where time is redefined.

I weep her joy, experience in kind
the pleasures she discovers; I'm her guest.
I'm lost and found in her; we've merged in mind.

I sob her pain and agonise, resigned
to facing fate as life somehow digressed
between the lines, where time is redefined.

As pages turn, more cameos unwind
but I can only guess at all the rest.
I'm lost and found in her; we've merged in mind
between the lines, where time is redefined.

Diz

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

The Art of Conversation (sonnet)

2006-04-22T14:24:00.000+12:00

The art of conversation withers when
the workplace fills with challenge. Theories aired
are well researched: Ten roosters crow, a hen
just quickly pecks the eyes from ideas shared.

Do leisure ladies practise repartee?
Are fitness walks and coffee mornings rich
with wit-inciting lingual artistry?
Or is their surface chatter nouveau kitsch?

Do web-based messageboards and email lists
provide a salon conversation pit?
Discussions written lack the nods and fists
or pearling eyes that glimpse an idea's grit.

Who'll learn the fencing skills to parry friction
performing in arenas of conviction?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Easter

2006-04-14T19:18:00.000+12:00

Good Friday was good. The house is cleaned,
my bag is packed and the chocolate fiend
inside me unwrapped and ate a marshmellow egg.
2 hot cross buns were warmed just right
and tomorrow we're catching an aeroplane flight.
We'll spend the day in Dunedin. Got eggs
to give my son when we tour his unicol home.
On Sunday we fly to Auckland. We roam
the country this easter, like rolling stones.
We'll see them in Auckland at Western Springs
then drive 6 hours, for Easter brings
my daughter to visit us. Poor travelling bones....

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Questions (pantoum)

2006-04-06T20:40:00.000+12:00

Love the questions in your mind.
Wallow in them, Wonder 'Why?'
Answers drift until confined.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.

Wallow in them. Wonder why
your brainstorm only helps you ask.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask.

Your brainstorm only helps you ask
more questions - find a place to start.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask:
gather facts. (Subdue your heart.)

More questions! Find a place to start,
take an open-minded view,
gather facts, subdue your heart.
Questions undermine... Renew.

Take an open-minded view,
ignore habitual compromise.
Questions undermine. Renew
your purpose. Let them energise.

Ignore habitual compromise,
answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Your purpose? Let them energise;
between the facts, an answer lurks.

Answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Answers drift until confined
between the facts. An answer lurks:
love the questions in your mind.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

ICT Conference in Rotorua

2006-02-26T15:04:00.000+13:00

I travelled to Rotorua and spent
the last few days a-gog. I went
to see how ICT has changed
and found e-learning re-arranged.

Exhaustion dogged me. Workshops full
of eagerness and ideas. Pull
me, prod me, it's all great
but no one mentioned what the state

of e-devices is - might be -
Instead I learned of Inquiry.
A model we have thought about
and now I'm keen, there is no doubt.

The keynote speakers touched upon
computer software, cameras. Gone
was any other mention
(although some websites got attention).

It shows how far we've come along
the road of digital sing-song.
Now we're recognising tools
as useful... but our teaching rules.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

sudoku pantoum

2005-10-20T22:50:00.000+13:00

Written to express my frustration at being fascinated by something requiring no creativity at all!

His elegance is oriental
neatly square and finely drawn.
Deliberate, unsentimental,
poised, inscrutable. A pawn.

Neatly square and finely drawn,
face hiding more than is revealed,
poised, inscrutable: a pawn
whose role is helping fate be sealed.

Face hiding more than is revealed,
a square of squares combines in nines,
whose role is helping fate be sealed
with simple single-digit lines.

A square of squares combines in nines,
as three by three across three times
with simple single-digit lines
predictable as nursery rhymes.

As three by three across three times
exposes patterns, he entices.
Predictable as nursery rhymes
but guessing could create a crisis

(exposes patterns). He entices.
Repetitions have a place
but guessing could create a crisis,
conquering is not a race.

Repetitions have a place
in off-set parallels, like life.
Conquering is not a race,
be slow to move - a foot-bound wife.

In off-set parallels like life,
dictated to by logic's laws,
be slow to move. (A foot-bound wife,
but finding strength within a pause.)

Dictated to by logic's laws
in intricate formations, trapped
but finding strength within a pause.
Imagination stunted, wrapped.

In intricate formations. Trapped.
Deliberate. Unsentimental.
Imagination stunted... Rapt...
His elegance coincidental.

Sudoku

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Picnic

2005-09-27T17:02:00.000+12:00

Sunshine and a picnic, what a perfect lunch that makes,
when gentle friends are there to feed the soul.
Unwinding in the sun is more a treat that layer cakes
when there are no demands but idle-loll.

yes I know that's weak but I just downed a glass of riesling too fast...

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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Karen Boyes

2005-09-19T20:43:00.000+12:00

I went to hear a woman speak
from 4 till 7 at night.
She talked about the way we think,
I got some new insight.

Reticular something is seeing a lot
of whatever we just learned
(or did, or have an interest in),
self-confirmation's concerned.

We ought to wait for kids' responses
when we ask a question.
Instead we answer it ourselves
or paraphrase. Digestion.

Clarify when listening,
being non-judgemental shows
the listener values the speaker's thoughts
(or thinking process), knows

that empathising lets emotions
find some validation.
Children need to know they're safe
if they're to risk creation.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

The spiral of life

2005-08-18T18:49:00.000+12:00

Life is a spiralling set of events,
repeating predictably when
the days in the week form a pattern
and even surprises are zen
-like; they fill expectations
and seem as if they had been meant.

It's hard to make progress in spirals,
relationships often stand still,
and if there is no moving forward
our interests are targeted kill;
predestined to teach as if sent.

My favourite horoscope site... Mystic Medusa is magic with words:
http://au.astrology.yahoo.com

Aquarius is a Fixed Air sign; infuriatingly stubborn yet too smart to care what YOU think. Always eager to dissent, the Aqua-Maddie vibes conservative in fringe company and revels in weirding out the straights. The beat of a different drummer? Aquarius marches to the beat of an instrument that hasn't even been invented yet.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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Memory Rut

2005-08-11T19:29:00.000+12:00

I rained in my dull halo rut
and while a weak part of me longed
for paving or her greener pastures,
my tears puddled cess-pooling mud.
It spattered the halo wheel turning,
repeating emotion in circles,
reheating cooled memory blood.
My martyr wreath, tread milling rut.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

Prof Dev

2005-08-10T18:20:00.000+12:00

Term 3 and 3 weeks into it,
I've learnt a lot so far,
discovered tricks in software and
attended courses. Star
speakers can inspire me
and next week there'll be more.
I'll do some net-safe thinking then
but won't become a bore.
Then later on a conference waits:
3 nights in Auckland. (Smile)
I've stayed at that hotel before
and could be gone a while.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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Friday again

2005-08-05T20:41:00.000+12:00

Another week of work has passed
and I feel vaguely wrong.
A nagging itch to change what is
has made me think too long.
Some plans are made and consultation
has been started with
the teachers who my ideas will soon
affect. What's right's a myth.
There's never any end point when
we know how teaching should
be done and so we search and try
new ways that sound as if they're good.

I read about unlearning and
it made me think about
the way we value knowledge more
than kindness, beauty, doubt.
While in relationships forget-
fulness is seen as best
when hurtful actions threaten bonds.
So why like memory tests?

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

New home

2005-07-18T19:08:00.000+12:00

We've settled in and how I love
this house we bought in town.
The drive is steep the section slopes
and lots of steps lead down
but once I get inside the trek
seems worth each healthy puff,
the house is lovely, feeds my soul
and that is quite enough.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
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fatigue

2005-07-01T17:39:00.000+12:00

It's Friday. I'm a couched potato, stuffed
and drowning in exhaustion. Buffed
by years of knowing chores build up,
I robot-cleaned before my cup
of tea. Television keeps my mind
off what the weekend adds to lined
and drooping facial skin. Paid work:
A crawling load that I can't shirk.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
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school show

2005-06-25T20:18:00.000+12:00

This morning I went searching for
some costumes for our show.
I needed Superman and Bond
and astronauts and so
I trailed 'round the dress-up hire
places in the rain.
I got bow ties but boxing gloves
were asked about in vain.
Dinner jackets, buttoned shirts,
in children's sizes -found!
Superman in triplicate
but... no astronauts around.

This afternoon, like every evening
I have spent this week,
I sat with my sleek laptop open,
making pictures peek
on powerpoints that highlight all
the decades that have passed
of our departing principal
for whom the show is cast.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
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pantoum - depression is the root of all... art

2005-06-16T18:08:00.000+12:00

Art from Depression

Sufferers seek solace salivating,
licking lips at details that depress.
Suffering is deepened double-dating:
company is misery's success.

Licking lips at details that depress,
(reliving bitter scenes) inflicts self-doubt.
Company is misery's success
but loneliness lets inner demons shout.

Reliving bitter scenes inflicts self-doubt -
abscessed pain must drain or it will burst
but loneliness lets inner demons shout
with paintbrushes and pencils, image-cursed.

Abscessed pain must drain or it will burst,
constant aches build barriers to break
with paintbrushes and pencils, image-cursed.
Explosions tear excuse-veneers we make.

Constant aches build barriers to break,
artists are corrosively inspired;
explosions tear excuse-veneers we make
and desolate creations are admired.

Artists are corrosively inspired -
suffering is deepened double-dating
and desolate creations are admired:
sufferers seek solace salivating.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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being bitchy

2005-06-15T20:19:00.000+12:00

The tongue is very light and yet I haven't learnt to hold it,
sometimes I wish I'd bitten on my tongue as if to scold it.
For then I mightn't make a mean and pointless observation
about a person I have judged by first impression. The temptation
to jump to bitchy unsubstantiated base conclusions,
is one I should have overcome along with youth's confusions.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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time

2005-06-14T18:55:00.000+12:00

As usual there is far too much
to get through every day.
I learnt a while back that there
is only one sane way
to cope with all the various
demands from all directions:
focusing on straight ahead,
avoiding most corrections.
There'll be a lot of interruptions,
lots of deviations
but as I get through each big task
I'll ride with my elation.
The little things fall into place,
they happen in between
while all those unexpected chores
are fresh and keep me keen.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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Shifting House

2005-06-10T19:50:00.000+12:00

Packing things might be a chore
but 'though it's work, it's so much more;
anticipation cannot bore
and finally I don't ignore
the little tasks I can't adore
like clearing off a wardrobe floor.

I wrapped up pictures off the wall
and stacked them up so they can't fall
inside a box stacked up with all
the other boxes. I'll recall
the contents since my neatest scrawl
is labelling each, big and small.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

goodness

2005-06-08T20:50:00.000+12:00

Thinking how a friend is good and kind and selfless too
it dawned on me that good is something I don't want to do.
I act the part and when it comes to choosing right I will...
I know I won't have any choice... but something in me still
rebels and thumbs its nose at doing what's expected by
the moralistic culture western governments hold high.
As usual this rebellion stems from wond'ring what is 'right'
and how the 'truth' can be defined without a godly light.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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down

2005-05-28T16:30:00.000+12:00

I'm feeling down, the lack of sun? A high just yesterday?
I wonder why the body throws these hormones into play.
I had a great day solving things and learning little tricks
but yesterday is gone and now I'm drooping, maybe sick.
Today I went and looked at shops with dining tables, chairs...
I love to plan new purchases so why do I despair?
It's been a good week, life is calm and organised, I cope.
But underneath I want to curl up, read a lot and mope.

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New home

2005-05-20T19:49:00.000+12:00

At half past 5, after work
we viewed a house for sale.
The last few I had seen had been
so boring, 'though my male
thought potential was enough...
But finally, a house I love!
Each room was so exciting,
the layout far above
my every expectation,
this place just spoke to me.
We made an offer which they countered.
To our next, they could agree.
So now I'm packing nightly
remembering details,
the house has interest value
beside which, money pales.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
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2005-05-20T19:48:00.000+12:00

My new house

house hunting

2005-05-04T20:00:00.000+12:00

I spent the weekend looking for a house where I could live,
at open homes I'd listed from the paper.
I'd checked them all beforehand on the web and thought OK
but 3D viewing is another caper.
There's something in the street appeal that really shouldn't matter
but houses have to feel right when you see them;
there's something in proportions when you walk around inside
that whispers nay or yes this is a gem.
But going through the motions is supposed to help us feel
more informed on market value stuff.
I saw a Lockwood house that I could live in happily
but viewing goes on daily. When's enough?

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A painting

2005-04-30T16:29:00.000+12:00

A painting in a shop spoke to me the other day, it was enigmatic, the tenseness of the characters made me come back to it several times. A couple in a cafe. I wanted to try the reverse of the saying 'A picture paints 1000 words' so here's a sonnet -
A POEM PAINTING A PICTURE:

Still Life

Low watts in cornered light bulbs hide her clenched
left hand and unseen bruises form where knees
appear demurely placed to please entrenched
conventions. There, glare reaches in to tease.

Her shadowed back triangulates the contrasts,
colours draw the eye past clothes, to lips
that shimmer, partly open as light shone casts
focus on the way her smile slips.

He leans away as one bright finger points
out worry on his brow and strokes a line
diagonally down. A spark anoints
his wedding ring - that slashed round warning sign.

They met for drinks but guilt keeps them apart.
The painting hangs unframed inside her heart.

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sold

2005-04-28T21:22:00.000+12:00

I went to town today and signed our place away.
Potential buyers fought and upped the price I thought
we'd get, by quite a lot. So now I'm on the trot
and checking houses every day. I'll limit what WE'll pay.

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS
AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS
SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE

My father

2005-04-25T15:22:00.000+12:00

He's gone and only memories will keep
my father from oblivion - that hell
where, stripped of voice, death-rest is all we reap.
And yet he's here, for I remember well...

Insistence on high standards in all speech,
on logic, understanding 'what' and 'why'.
Yes, I recall his criticisms, each
a wing-clip meaning we soon yearned to fly.

He showed he cared with knowledge shared; it seemed
as though his mind was packed with filed facts.
A clever man, not hinting that he dreamed
for us or for himself - but that was Max.

He lay there lifeless in that coffin bed
but I can hear him still, inside my head.

Michael Barrymore, Gary McCormick, Tim Shadbolt

2005-04-09T17:59:00.000+12:00

One week to go and then we have, two weeks of holidays.
I seem to wish my life away by counting down; it says
a lot about my attitude to work and time away
particu'ly the weariness that's settled in to stay.

But lately I have socialised a lot (for me) and been
to watch a famous travelling show, I dressed up, really keen
to see "Chicago" live and thought that Barrymore would mean
a top performance from a cast to match his brilliant scenes.

Yes, he was charismatic and the other leads were good
but all in all it wasn't great and "My Fair Lady" would
outclass it any day in my opinion. Could
the Napier Operatics go professional? They should.

Then Thursday night I sat upon a barstool laughing hard
at jokes that poured like spirulina, thick and fruity. Bard
and entertainer, Gary McCormick played his every card,
then Invercargill's mayor came on and both of them then sparred.

But now I'm on a downer, silly. That's what happens when
you spoil yourself and gad about and see a lot of friends.
The real estate 'for sale' sign is up; it's helped to send
5 buyers through on tours, so each night I clean till 10.

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Easter

2005-03-29T19:10:00.000+12:00

Easter was a time to tidy up around the place,
we cleaned and cleared and trimmed and dumped and sprayed. A hectic race
with time that made me stress a bit but now at last it's done.
The signs go up this week and now each weekend I shall run
the frantic race again for open days until the tenders
roll on in. My inlaws come- a hip replacement renders
men a little worse for wear, so they will stay with us
until the hippy trauma site recovers from the fuss.

Aside from heavy labour we had tea one night with friends
and planned to watch 'Chicago' live next Sunday and that sends
me into pleasant fantasies of jazz and Deco gear
so I feel well rewarded for my broken nails here.

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