Boards, birds and basil

It did occur to me that credit should be given where credit is due - my better half does all the crummy 'uncredited' slog so that 'young royalty' can have personalised name boards painted for them! 

From this............................................................

To this!    

 

Dankie my liefsteling!

 

 My incredibly talented sister has done 100 sketches in 100 days - Birds of prey (to be exact) and has put them up for auction to raise money (and of course awareness) for the work that they are doing with the rehabilitation of raptors.

 Do yourselves a favour and check out 'Radical Raptors' Plettenberg Bay; South Africa.
You can bid on stunning sketches like these ones and while you are there, (just in case you don't win the one you bid on) make a donation towards the fantastic work they are doing.

We are so proud to have three of these taking pride of place in our home.

 

So although we are in a 'rental' home - and the garden such as it is, is a jungle, there is a flower box just outside the sliding doors. The gourmet kitchen has shown a decided lack of fresh herbs for use in fragrant pots of winter fare, so the author has decided to try her hand at growing her own herbs - "how hard can it be?" Apart from a disaster with sweet basil, everything else is doing really well and has already provided flavour to many exotic and not-so-exotic dishes!

Could someone please tell me what it was that was so intent on destroying my sweet basil? (dusting it with bug repellant stuff helped not a jot!) I can't imagine that it should be grown indoors? or under netting?

 

Dis al!

Welcome, way back when and whoa-no thanks

Wanganui High School has a new headmaster - Mr Garry Olver. He said he was thrilled with his appointment and was keen to move here from Auckland as soon as possible. "We think Wanganui is a delightful city. But what makes it so very special is its people. An example of this is when I was waiting to catch a flight back to Auckland after a round of interviews with the board of trustees on Saturday, July 7. I sat in the departure/arrivals lounge at the airport and within two minutes a friendly local farmer struck up a conversation with me and we got chatting as if we were long-lost friends. I thoroughly enjoyed his conversation and we shared many a good laugh. This has never happened to me in Auckland, and I have lived here since 1993."

 

"It is a school that an educationalist can only dream of leading. It thoroughly deserves the outstanding reputation that it has across New Zealand, and internationally to some extent, as being a leading school in NCEA achievement, sporting events and cultural activities"

Mr Olver has been deputy principal at Rosehill since 2005 and is from South Africa.

 

 

On the subject of school days  - here is a photograph which has very recently emerged from the dusty annals of 'times long ago'. The author armed with sleeping bag, battered blue weekend case, hockey stick and trusty guitar has her straw basher (donkie brekfis) on her head and is accompanied by her friend Lydia  - who is equally weighed down with camping gear but sans the basher, electing a beanie instead as suitable headgear. Thanks Lydia for this pic - happy days!!  Circa 1972 ish? (PS - thinking about it, this has to have been taken in 73 or 74 since the bashers were only for 9's and matrics! )

 

The lass who is doing the talking in this cartoon, clearly doesn't have any issues with 'helmet hair' - but then, looking at the motorcycle in question, there doesn't appear to be too much room for her tail behind the driver-(however dainty and narrow the tail might be).
In which case a helmet for her would not come into it.

In any event, the






author would assume that it would be a tad disconcerting if her better half disappeared on the motorcycle (pictured below) - but questions would surely be asked within an hour, not a YEAR!

Members of the Wanganui District Council have threatened to take all possible action to stop the relocation of sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson into their community.

Wilson - also known as the Beast of Blenheim - is set to be released from prison on September 1 after being jailed for 21 years in March 1996.

Now 65, was convicted on 22 sex charges against woman and children between 1971 and 1994.

Last week the Corrections Department announced Wilson will be subject to what they believe will be the most stringent conditions imposed on any New Zealand prisoner upon his release.

The 17 special conditions include one that will make him the first child-sex offender to be tracked by a global positioning system (GPS).

He has to live in a $70,000 relocated state house on Whanganui Prison property and must be accompanied by minders if he leaves the property.

At a fiery public meeting this afternoon organised by councillors Ray Stevens and Michael Laws, more than 200 members of the public took turns to vent their frustration at the decision.

As a result, seven councillors - Mr Stevens, Mr Laws, Phillipa Baker-Hogan, Jack Bullock, Randhir Dahya, Hamish McDouall and Sue Westwood - signed a direction to chief executive Kevin Ross to call a full council meeting to discuss a policy regarding Wilson.

A resolution was also adopted that the council take all actions, including a judicial review, to ensure Wilson was not paroled into the district.

Mrs Baker-Hogan said members of the public were keen to speak at the meeting, ranging from victims of sexual abuse to those proposing ‘‘vigilante justice’’ on Wilson if he was released.

She realised Wilson had to be released under the law but said there were other options for his release such as army camps and it was unfair to lump him on Whanganui.

‘‘He’s not our bad boy.

‘‘I understand it’s a national problem, I understand he has to be released...but it’s using our city that’s had nothing to do with this man and is trying its best to survive in a recession and using it as a test case.’’

Mrs Baker-Hogan said she had little doubt the council would pursue legal options but hoped it would not come at great expense to the taxpayer.

Council chief executive Kevin Ross said he had received the direction and expected a meeting to take place in the next few days.



Needless to say, this is an ongoing saga and to be perfectly honest, it is totally understandable that Wanganui residents don't want this monster here - but how are the authorities going to pick a place - out of a hat? We don't think that there will be anyplace that will welcome him.



 

 

Matilda's jersey now safely in Vancouver, here is the little one made for the newest princess.

Thought I would take a photograph before they get parcelled up and sent off to faraway shores.

Dis al!

 

 

Winners and 'not anymore'

Miss New Zealand sans the crown - taken away from her and duly presented with much kerfuffle to the runner-up since the original winner was refused her New Zealand citizenship (we think she was not actually refused but more that Immigration was not prepared to bend the 'continuous time in New Zealand' rule, just for a silly, sparkly crown.) So there you go - one to the red tape, nil to the pageant organisers.

How exciting to have these two lasses win a bronze medal at the London Olympics! Rebecca (left on the photograph) is a Wanganui girl, whose brother Sam, works alongside the engineer - (better half of the author.) So, in a nutshell, Congratulations Rebecca - even us 'bloody foreigners' are basking in the reflected glory of 'knowing you'!!

And then there were the boys in the boats who rowed for their lives - and won gold! Fantastic!

Although we are naturally thrilled with all the rowing success the Kiwis have had - the best rowing team ever, anywhere!! - we had to admit that watching this quartet was just fabulous!! And it's gold to South Africa in a rowing event!! We just loved it! In fact, we pretty much felt like this!

 Gold for South Africa!



This was a very proud moment for all those who have ever wondered about para-Olympians being accepted to compete against the able bodied. Oscar, you are a legend!

Dis al!

Waverley beach natural arch

Some of our faithful blog followers will recognise this lovely natural arch on Waverley Beach.

You might also remember that this was one of the earliest acrylic paintings which the author did and which now hangs in our living room. Since I took a trip to South Africa, it seems that I really cannot turn my back and something dramatic happens!!! In the couple of weeks that I was away from New Zealand, there was a fairly dramatic and major earthquake in our immediate vicinity and this beautiful arch at Waverley Beach is no more.

I was really quite disbelieving about it, so we took a Sunday drive and went to see for ourselves - the arch is gone. I think I am glad about two things - one, I did the painting when I did, and two, that I didn't take a walk along the top of that arch, since I had absolutely no idea that there was even a smidgen of a possibility that it could all come crashing down!
Dis al!