Please Vote for Ben's Sketchbook

If you've visited Ben's Sketchbook blog, and like it, please vote for him for the 2007 Photoblog Awards via here. Thanks!

And Speaking of Minnesota...

I read about this 2005 movie called "Aurora Borealis", which presumably takes place in Minnesota, for the first time this morning; it's showing in our quasi-Art House theater this week, so I must go.

Then I Googled movies which shot in Minneapolis. I can recall the Grumpy Old Men series, (my mate Liz's Dad Oscar was in at least one of them as an extra); Jingle All The Way & Feeling Minnesota (in these last two, I recognized some of the areas; the former possibly also shot in St Paul), and some teenage romance to do with ice skating, which I never saw. I was never sure if the Ducks ice hockey series was really shot in Minnesota. Oh, and of course, the original Airport.

I found quite a lot, but I don't think some made it all the way across the Pacific: The Ketchup Conspiracy (2001), for example. I also found a few TV shows, (though it could be just one episode in a series), other than Mary Tyler Moore Show, shot there, too. I guess I said several times by now that I lived across the street from the house used in the opening shots of that show.

Minimalist Swedish Music

A while back, Per started posting sound clips from Stockholm here. For me, it's nice to hear the sound of subway swishing out of the station, (never thought I'd miss it, but I guess I do!); espresso machine sounding just as they do here, and a Swedish person speaking Swedish, after having lived in Minnesota off and on for nine years and listening to Americanized Swedish.

But here's one that needs no language; it might take a bit before he starts playing, but trust me, it will make your day!! Nah, it'll make your whole weekend cheeful!!

If you think about it...

When we post or comment here in our cold office in Nelson, New Zealand, pics and a few words (or not so few) travel at lightening speed to somewhere in the continental US, and then come right back to pop up on our screen almost instantaneously... That has got to be a wee bit impressive by anybody's standards, yeah?

Favorite Kind of Weekend

Some days, Nelson Pine looms harsh, orange, and palatial, some days not so. I love it when it completely disappears. Looks like we're heading for a PJ-All-Day kind of a weekend, suitable for blogging, reading, and boob-tubing. Yum. I might even bake a few naughty things.

Dear Sister

I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I wanted to send you something to cheer you up, but I couldn't decide what might brighten your day. So, what do you think of these cute heart-shaped cookie cutters? They are plastic, and they nest inside each other; I think there are five hearts of different sizes in a set, and the cardboard sheet shows the cutest ways of icing cookies.

The cute store Full House on Bridge Street you liked so much is now twice as big as it was when you were last here. I will call you this weekend.

Well, Whaddya Know!

Look, Workout 13 this month. I actually went three times a week during the month of June. Staff Karla and Sigi were very happy for me; I am the worst Prodigal Member, you see.

I gained 500g in the month, and I blame the Retreat, the cakes, puddings and cream, but I lost a couple of cms, so it was worth it.

Now I know I'm going to let them down because I've got a few things coming up and don't know if I'm determined to go three times a week in July...

A Stapler and an Art Piece

I couldn't resist the Pacifica look of the stapler at Arts Marketing yesterday.

Some Unrivetting Updates

1. The jeweler's clock is still 15 minutes late; I almost missed the bus again, today. Surprisingly, there aren't many others who miss/almost miss the bus, so nobody else must rely on that clock!

2. Gym: did my Workout 2 or 3 for the week, which means that when I go on Friday, I will actually have gone three times a week for the month of June. I can't believe it. I signed up for the 30-day challenge because I thought the intention to go was important, but never actually thought I would do it. Having been to the Retreat this weekend and having eaten lots of sweets I don't normally eat, the weight/measurement challenge is not worth the mention, but by Friday, I will actually have gone to the gym 3 times a week this month. Imagine that!

3. We received a letter yesterday, dated 18 June, from the bank. It explained which card incurred how much "compensation" in the period prescribed by the Commerce Commission, so technically, I could go dig up the statements from that period and calculate to make sure they paid me back everything owed us. No apologies, of course. Bugger them.

They changed the Internet banking screens early in the week, though, so where all our account balances used to show up on one screen before, we now have to take two further steps to go see the status/balance of one account. Bugger them.

Kiwi Bank, here I come.

Lake Superior State University Banished Words List of 2007

I can't remember when or how I found this, but this is a list I've enjoyed for a few years now. Here's the Lake Superior State University Banished Words List of 2007. "Awesome" and "chipotle" are officially out. They even allow you to make comments directly.

Not Litterarty, but....

I went into a used book shop in town, called Litterarty, on Wednesday, intending to photograph the shop and post it here or on NDP. It's one of the fun places in Nelson CBD where I can spend quite a number of hours audibly oohing and aaaahing, and the young owners are involved and supportive of the art scene (I don't like this phrase, but I can't think of what else to call it...) Well, as you may have guessed, I got too into the books and forgot to photograph, so here are some superior alternatives until I can get back there this week.

Jam/John's bookshop is from Melbourne, Florida; clearly, they don't have earthquakes.

F is for Friends

Found in front of The Magazine Shop on Hardy Street on Wednesday (should have been Friday, don't you think?), and dedicated to Alphabet Soup of Melbourne.

Melbourne is sometimes likened to our Christchurch, as Sydney is to Auckland; the former are considered wooded/gardened, cultured, "English" cities, whereas the latter are glitzy, blingy, and exciting. Melbourne has had that train crash, and a daytime shooting rampage in the middle of the CBD, on top of the drought of the century. My heart goes out to my favorite city across the ditch (Tasman Sea).

Ms Soup and I started our blogs within one day of each other, last August. I noticed the mutual-admiration-themed posts in both blogs this week; the timing was unintentional, but the admiration thing has been going on for a while.

Overdrive

I've got all kinds of deadlines and I can't sleep. Yesterday I got up at 7:20 after fitfully falling asleep around 3AM, (you get the picture, but I watched an interesting doco on the real Great Escape.) I made two kinds of soup and half-baked two loaves of bread for the weekend, (I'm still not sure how much soup I need for 10 mouths!). I fringed, washed and pressed two scarves; I was pressed for time so I made extraordinarily skinny fringes. Go figure. The whole day was a fight against the clock, gym hanging heavily on my mind, and I finally coasted in there 40 minutes before closing.

All day I was frustrated and blamed the workshop for making me prepare all the food or the gym staff for making me sign up to the 30-day challenge (I pledged to go three times a week for the month of June), but I got a strange kind of peace of mind while I was washing the scarves, reminding myself that nobody made me do anything, that I volunteered for all of it.

The weather was gray, cold and miserable, except when I was washing, when the sun came out and a big rainbow to the East; the pic looks to Northwest about 5 minutes after the rainbow, at around 4PM.

Today, I have to deliver the scarves to the Exhibit selector, go buy yarns in Richmond for next week (a baby blanket for a baby due next Friday), buy the requested groceries for the weekend, pack, go to the gym (Workout 3 of the week) and head for the workshop. I can't wait to get back to my normal, sluggish self.

Foreign Currency Fee Compensation

We were credited $73 in our credit card account yesterday. I don't remember the details but recently the Commerce Commission ruled that our bank did something naughty in overcharging us when we used our credit card to pay for overseas purchases. It's mostly my Amazon.com and Halcyon Yarns accounts.

While I'm happy to take the $73, why do they call it "compensation", when it's really "We're-sorry-we-had-no-right-to-take-your-money Refund"? What about a letter or email of apology? And, well, there's no sane way I can go back and figure out if $73 is the amount they overcharged us, is there, without finding the small print somewhere that explains it all. Because from memory, we're talking about charges made up to 2002 or 2003, (though I could be wrong here.)

Now, usually, I'm all for using and buying New Zealand-made stuff. Someone from Sydney thought I was so provincial, but when you live in a small place with a small economy, that's how you keep each other employed. So though I don't mind Starbucks' coffee and a good mate works there, I go to locally-owned cafes as a rule.

However, we have always banked at this Australian-owned bank, because overall they have the best customer services, and their Internet (and other non-human) banking has been top of the line. But this is the second time they got caught doing the naughty that I remember. And because one staff has been in charge of us for over seven years, even though she's technically no longer our banker, we can still email her or ring her for questions, and I must say, I do feel a certain amount of loyalty to her.

There are two New Zealand-owned banks; I honestly can't be bothered looking up their service options, and can't even think about switching banks, but maybe it's time.

Bug/Gym

Last Wednesday, I went to the gym after having had two small glasses of champaign; my toastmasters club was celebrating its first birthday. It was quite interesting because I kept sliding off the machines, and time went by quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Last Friday, I went into town dressed for the gym, but felt sick all day that in the end I didn't go. So on Saturday, even though I was not feeling great, I went. That was my Workout 3 of Week 2 and I thought I was going to fall on my face afterwards.

First weekend of June, Ben had a massive headache, and the following Wednesday I was sick. I was recovered by Thursday lunch time, and I thought, "Well, that's me sorted for this winter!" Wrong! We never got rid of it, and this week I just can't shake it off. I know at least two other women who thought they "did" their day or two this winter, and find themselves still feeling unwell.

So today is Tuesday, and I'm not going to the gym with this headache, and we're off to the Retreat Friday afternoon. Which means, if I want to go three times this week, like I pledged, I'll have to go every day for the next three days. I know which way this is going...

At least I've been productive on the loom.

(And the last two have been two of the most boring posts I've done on NAWOFW; now do you believe I'm really sick?)

Monday Night

I had a productive day today. It's only at the end of the day when I'm closing the curtains that I think of shooting, but I do like these cold, clear nights.

Boy, tonight looks a lot like last night, except for the position of the moon...

Sunday Night

Unlike my esteemed colleague, I just stick my hand out the window and hope for the best.

I have the Area Exhibit stuff due this Friday, so I have to love you and leave you again, but I hope you all have a great start to the week.

Saturday Night

I was supposed to go to a friend's 50th Birthday Party, something I had been looking forward to for quite a while, but I'm sick, so I stayed at home. Darn.

I didn't retouch this one; I think I'm going to have another lie down.

90 Seconds Ago

This was taken from our living room window about 90 seconds ago.

I hope everybody had a good Tuesday/Monday. I'm also feeling a bit guilty because I haven't visited your blogs in the last few weeks, but I'm hoping that after Winter Solstice, I might have time to do that.

Meanwhile, eat something yummy, read something interesting, and hum your favorite song. And don't forget to hug someone you like.

And here's Ben's sky approximately 36 hours before this.

Small Parties' MPs Promise to Behave

I hope this link doesn't die soon. True story, from Wellington, New Zealand, people. It can get rather rowdy in New Zealand's parliament: Stuff.co.nz.

Oh, Canada... Seriously???

I could not believe this when I heard it on the radio yesterday morning.

For 20+ years, Canada had supported the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; after a short visit from Australian Prime Minister (and W's chum) John Howard, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper changed his mind.

From Oz: ABC; from Canada: the Global Mail.com.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

I rely on the clock in front of the jeweler next to the bus stop when I want to catch the bus, because right now I don't own a watch that works, and at any rate I don't like wearing watches, and because my cellphone keeps dying so I don't trust its time any more.

Today, I missed the 11AM bus and the noon bus, (my route runs once an hour at best) coming home, and I couldn't figure out why, so I went into the bus company office and found out the jeweler's clock is 15 minutes late!!!

It wasn't all bad, though, because I ran into Kate, who was supposed to be in South America or London; she's in town just for a week, and is going back to the UK again.

On my way home, I kept hearing Eric Idol's hopelessly upbeat song from Monty Python. I'm putting this down to a good start to the week.

Standing Inside a Tree

It was one of the coldest days so far this winter. More here.

Weekend

Poster on the right says "Starts Tuesday 8th May"; the small one on the left says they're closed for winter, and will reopen in spring. (Our spring starts around September.) Whatever...

Robin Slow's Art

I mentioned having happened upon Robin Slow's exhibit in town. That's him above, with the main piece from the exhibition. In person, the painting is deep and has a great impact and in places almost scary. This is yet another example of no matter how good the reproduction, the real painting's layers and nuances could never ever be conveyed in photographs.

Below is the gallery owner in front of one of the pieces that has the buttons - can you spot them?

Both photographs courtesey of the Nelson Mail.

Gym 2 of 3

I debated between having a third sick day today and going to the gym, and I decided to do the right thing: I went to the gym. Yay. That's Workout 2 out of 3 this week - if I make it tomorrow between 7:30 and 11AM, I'm still in.

OK, the Taichi thing. I wanted to learn how to do Taichi for a very long time, but in Japan, at least until the 90's, it was really an old people thing. In 2003, we had a chance to learn it here in Nelson, so we signed up. But I lasted about 7 months, Ben about 4.

The biggest problem was an image thing, believe it or not. We grew up seeing footage of graceful Chinese folks practicing Taichi in the morning in parks, so we definitely had ideas about how Taichi looked. In comparison, the style we were learning was very fast and not exactly graceful. Out style was developed by a Chinese master who went to Canada to start a new school, I think, and to us, it was far more athletic and less spiritual exercise. We kept telling ourselves it would get better once we learn the moves, but honestly, neither of us stuck it out long enough.

Besides that, there were extraordinarily long tea breaks where we had green tea and sat and got to know our classmates; it got to the point where the breaks were sometimes as long as the lessons. When you go to a lesson at 7:00PM, straight after Ben's work, and often before we've eaten dinner, we'd rather have gotten a good hour's lesson and then gone home straight away, than having long tea breaks in the middle of, from memory, 75- or 90- minute lesson.

I had another problem. I was expecting strange places to start aching because I don't use those muscles normally; well, about 2 months after I started, I got bad pains and tingles on my left arm. I just kept on going, thinking my body needed to learn to be used in different ways. Well, the arm got progressively worse, and after another 2 months or so, I was unable to lift my left arm without holding it with my right hand. That was the deal breaker. And it was a strange thing to happen in the period in my life when I was very rarely on the computer at all.

Still, I like Taichi. I might try another school in town.

To Gym or Not to Gym

I'm sick today. In fact, we've both been under the weather since around Sunday but tried to ignore it. We had Monday off for Queen's Birthday, and tried to have fun photographing the end of the autumn in the region, but after we came home, we were horizontal and lethargic.

On Tuesday, I felt crook but went to the Gym anyway and felt good, and then I had my date with Alan and felt terrific, so I came home and cleaned out the studio and thought I was going to have a productive week.

Yesterday I felt groggy but had a long shower fully intending to go to the gym, have a powwow with Kath in town, go to the Toastmasters meeting and then to be Bead Gallery to pick up a boatload of beads to be used on my hither-to biggest project! But I couldn't even stand up after the shower so it was back to bed.

This morning, I thought if I could get to the gym, I can have another productive day, but I have a headache and a mild fever and I feel queasy, so here I was staring at the Bead Gallery web page and not getting excited about the project. (Now that's so uncharacteristic, it's like a whale complaining she's too wet.)

This comes at a mighty inconvenient time, really. I signed up at the gym for this thing where we promised to workout, for the month of June, three times a week; if you loose the most weight or something, you get prizes, but I'm not in it for that because I don't loose weight or cm, but it's all about my love/hate relationship with the gym.

My love: I like the staff; the workouts are only 30 minutes, so no big deal; and I like the smugness I feel every time I finish a workout. Besides, I'm paying whether I go or not, so the more often I go, the cheaper the workout.

My hate: I hate the workouts; I've never cared for repetitive, mundane exercises, and preferred to play games where there were scores (didn't mind loosing, just as long as there were physical and mental goal to the exercise). I don't much care for the volume or the type of music in the background. I feel embarrassed that in the first six months, even though I went three times a week religiously, I didn't loose much weight or cms, and some of the staff were exasperated by my lack of results. Needless to say, going less often hasn't helped my "figure"; I'm still where I was when I joined in Jan 2006. I bought a couple of T-shirts last year as prizes for myself for clearing mini-weight-loss goals and they're still in the bags. Disheartening.

And the biggest reason why I don't like to go: it takes a lot of time away from work. The workout itself is half an hour (45 minutes tops if you count the occasional chatting and the stretching exercises at the end), but I have to take the bus home that runs only once an hour, so the best I can do is to go into town with Ben at 10, which brings me home at around 11:45 AM at the earliest; that's half a day gone.

I know it's only three half-days per week, and if you consider the long-term physical and emotional benefits, it's stupid even to contemplate the pros and cons. I know I should just get over it, and this time last year it was an automatic thing, that I didn't even think about whether to go or not. Silly, really.

Four years ago, I tried Taichi, and that was a whole different story. I'll tell you about it another time. I'm heading back to bed now.

A Family Do

Ben and I don't have family living in New Zealand, so we've created our own celebrations, rituals and events over the years. One's coming up soon, and we're looking forward to it like kids before Christmas.

I met then-Auckland writer Joan Rosier-Jones two months after we came to New Zealand, when I signed up for a creative writing course in February 1995, and since then, I've tried to get to her classes when I could. (Except one; we were too sick and we missed a retreat in '96.)

When we moved to Nelson, our contact became a little sporadic, until 2002, when Joan decided to hold a workshop in Nelson. Since them, she's had a workshop or a retreat every winter except last year, and this year she's going to have another retreat in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds over the Winter Solstice weekend. (Expect strange chants and dances from the Sounds!)

Joan has her "usual suspects", people we've come to know over the years, plus a few new faces, every time. Some are serious about their writing; some go there for the company. Ben, for one, doesn't write a word, but walks around the Sounds taking photos. (The one above was taken in 2005; he had a terrific shot in 2004, but we lost it when we lost his hard drive and the backup at the same time.)

I usually have a short story idea every year, but I'm not sure what I'm going to work on this year. Since I started blogging, I've become more interested in non-fiction, entertaining blog posts. Trying to write about weaving for non-weavers would help me, too. Anyway, Ben's got the Friday off, and we're looking forward to what for us has become a "Family Do".

(Joan has a couple of beds left; if you're interested, feel free to email me or Joan.)

Being Responsible for Your Face

My mom always said she wanted me to be responsible for my face. When I was four, I thought I needed to brush my teeth, comb my hair, and wash my face without being reminded. When I was sixteen, I was sure she meant I could spend all the money I wanted to on hair products. (I never wore much make up all my life.) But after hitting 30, you can't help but notice the way you spend your life, your attitudes, outlooks and experiences start to show in your face.

This is my new friend Alan, a local journo, and as it turns out, the father of a seriously charming young chap I've known for the last decade. Alan speaks with gentle, quiet voice, and has what I can only describe as cashmere smiles. I bent both of his ears for 90 minutes during his 30-minute lunch today and all the time, I was thinking of two things: how does one become so gentle, instead of becoming jaded, as one gets older and sees so much of how the world works, and, "OMIGOD, I have big holes under my arms in this sweater!!"

He's sitting in a rather awkward position in front of my pieces at the Red Gallery. I came home really refreshed and revitalized; I hope I didn't suck all the energy out of him.

Rugby, Again.

There have been 1069 (up to Brandon Leonard) named All Blacks to date; I found out each one has an All Black number. Only 11 were born in Nelson, and this side of 1945, there has been only one, Travor James Morris, All Black 701, in the early 70's.

The test (international games) against France on Saturday was a little underwhelming; I got the feeling the referee was just a bit partial, and the scrums didn't go well. Besides, I recognize only about half of the All Blacks. The plays looked, at times, sluggish, but what do I know.

I bought a book called How to Watch a Game of Rugby a week ago, (big motivation being it was on sale for $15), but author Spiro Zavos (a Kiwi living in Australia) has such emotional attachments to the sport and goes into great length recalling old games, that so far he hasn't explained any rules to me yet; I get the feeling he's not going to in this book. So entertaining, but thus far, not informative. I have three months left to learn the fine points of "ruck and maul"; goodness!

Eccles Cake

I had a Eccles Cake for the first time yesterday in Wakefield; immediately I thought of Leopold and Molly Bloom, but this is apparently from Manchester, not Dublin. Ours had sultanas and dates, but it's definitely something that would taste better baked at home. And to be had in front of the fire on a cold evening. Yeah.

The bakery in Wakefield (my goodness, they get internet orders from Japan???) is known for its Scottish Shortbread, but it's a lot less buttery than the stuff we bought there; in 1990, we came home from our honeymoon with over 20 tins/cans to be distributed to friends and family, of course, and a wee bit for ourselves...