Sunday, October 29, 2006

remember remember the 5th of Nov

Although Halloween may be a fairly new holiday here, Guy Fawkes Night is not, and the sparks began flying a week early. For a decidedly British event, it's a kiwi excuse to let off fireworks and throw parties. From the deck, you can see down to Paraparaumu -the main "city" in Kapiti - and the official celebrations must have started last night. We had a great view of a big display up near the beach and also managed to get one blurry shot for you here. And we still have until next weekend for the actual commemoration of Fawkes' inability to blow up parliament.

Much spring rain here, but not last night. Highs in the low 60's/lows in the 50's. A nice night for us to lean over the railing and watch the lights. I'm ready for summer, which of course we haven't seen in about a year with the timing of our move. Soon the hot December days of Christmas... ok that's just too wierd.

Posted by Jessica at 9:33 AM

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

golden pheasant

Saw a golden pheasant in the back yard this evening. About the size of a slim chicken. Apparently they can live in the wild here and are hardier than they look. It was brilliant, and I was sure it was somebody's lost pet until I looked it up!

Posted by Jessica at 7:57 PM

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less than perfect

There are a few things about NZ that I don't care for... the higher cost of living (compared to VA at least) the houses close together and frequently without insulation or central heating. Obviously being far from family and friends - though I can't fault the country for that.

Anyway we are in general happy with New Zealand. We love it here. I think our posts generally reflect that. But for the sake of those perhaps thinking of immigrating, it's very good to see both sides. And the upheaval of moving to a foreign place shouldn't be underestimated. With that in mind, take a look at Bruce's latest post. His wife (Tia - check out her lovely blog as well) is in Rotorua and finding it hard. In addition to Bruce's heartfelt post about life so far away from his partner and the difficulties they've encountered with the move, you'll also find some great photography pn the rest of his blog.

Posted by Jessica at 3:56 PM

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Saturday, October 21, 2006

market day

They were having the Market Day which takes place every spring and again at Easter (that sounds odd, but of course Easter is in the fall here). Lots of kids on the playground and on the blow-up 'castle' they'd set up for today. Got a wooden windchime and looked around. There was a jazz band at one end and rock at the other. Both were surprisingly good, but my pictures of them did not come out. Here are some shots that looked ok...







Posted by Jessica at 1:15 PM

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Monday, October 16, 2006

kapiti at 7pm


Posted by Jessica at 7:18 PM

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Sunday, October 15, 2006

new this week...

Halloween around the corner, and though it wasn't quite that, D headed into Welly to meet some friends he met through work (some of whom were models from World of Wearable Art that we both went to see a few weeks ago) at a burlesque show at the Paramount Theatre last night. Although the cabaret wasn't that great, he was a definite yes as soon as he heard those words - 'come in fancy dress' - which is what they call coming in costume here. He had the horns, makeup, the all-black contacts, the overcoat and tophat. Some attendees at the show thought he worked for the theatre. I'm hoping it gave him a small taste of Halloween glory, since there's pretty much nothing going on that I know of.

A lady from the Estuary group brought a packet of information here today - right when I was painting so I was a mess. Included a great book called Plant Me Instead. Native plants to use in place of common invasive plants and weeds that usually take over. I'd been looking in the library for something on native plants anyway, so that was a nice surprise. Anyway I'm going to plant natives that are beneficial to the wildlife with them the first Saturday in November... For my own garden I've been unable to find a decent birdfeeder and am probably going to try Petsmart which apparently has a phone line for international orders. Most folks here seem to just plant trees, shrubs and flax that attract birds, and the only feeders I've seen for sale are the ones that look like a plate on three chains.

Finally found out what bubble 'n squeak is... I know you probably had not been wondering. Potato pancakes with veggies.

Posted by Jessica at 8:54 AM

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

gardening

Yesterday we bought a lemon tree and a grapefruit tree to plant in the yard. almost everyone here has them, and we missed the free lemons we used to get at the rental house. You'd think citrus would be cheap in the store, since so many grow it at home, but it's not.

I also planted a miniature camellia by the entrance. It'll grow to about three feet (if i don't kill it). and I planted some lettuce as well. Have a container cherry tomato plant on the deck that's fruiting like crazy, and container basil and italian parsley - which would be doing a little better if we didn't eat it up so quickly. I have no idea what I'm doing in the garden really, and I suspect I didn't dig deep enough when putting potting soil in the ground. Lots of clay here.

Today I called about volunteering for the Estuary Care Group which does plantings, so if that pans out I might learn a bit about gardening while helping out there.

Posted by Jessica at 10:51 AM

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Friday, October 06, 2006

new look

Changed the look of the site today. Thanks to drogue designs for "the other eden." If you have any trouble with anything, please comment. (I stopped moderating comments, so anything you post will show up right away...)

Posted by Jessica at 9:50 AM

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Terra Incognito

I have never received a letter from an Oscar winner before (that restraining order doesn't count). Richard Taylor from WETA was kind enough to send me a letter. Granted it was a "sorry we're full. Should any of our staff contract elephantiasis your resume will be among the pile that we look through to replace them." It was still a treat. I run into people at the cart who tell me stories of working in the movie industry. Most of them are scary stories. But I would like to check this one off of my life's to do list. I unfortunately suffer from creative shizophrenia. The whole process makes me severely happy and supremely miserable. Poor J has been witness to this process as I usually drag her into assist me on whatever project I'm working. If by chance I can meet someone here who is interested in special effects makeup and the like, she can go free. I am sure that she won't miss plastering my head again this year.
For those of you are not familiar with my past attempts to make myself as uncomfortable as possible in the name of Halloween and just about any other opportunity to slather myself in industrial adhesive go to www.godsandmonsters.blogspot.com.

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Posted by Darryl at 4:43 PM

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