A New Year dawns and may it bring you all that you love best. May it always shower upon you  health and happiness.

I missed writing a blog last week because Christmas Day was on a Tuesday, the day I usually compose my blog. 

The above quote is from an old postcard in the ‘FT series’ that shows the old wharf in Picton and a small steamer heading out towards Mabel Island. The card was obviously designed to be sent by holidaymakers at New Year.  I don't know if producers of postcards still follow this tradition.  It could be helpful.  Annoyingly there is no date on the card but I have noticed that also with postcards produced today.  The makers do not seem to realize how important a postcard can be historically in documenting changes to a townscape or landscape.

I bought my father a digital thermometer for Christmas along with the requested ‘big’ box of chocolates. It tells the indoor and outdoor temperatures and on Christmas Day we were all horrified to learn that it was a scorching 34 degrees outside. The temperature in his retirement village is controlled and sometimes especially in winter I suggest he takes a jacket when we go out which he is puzzled by because it’s so warm inside he can’t believe that it might be different outside. I guess this is one advantage of living in an old villa, you do know how cold it is.

On the evening of 29 December we had the loudest thunder I have ever heard, a temporary power cut and then a major power cut. I went to bed at 8.30pm, very unusual for me as I usually stay up late reading or writing so I have no idea when the power came back on. Now we are having strong gusty north-west gales, the sort of weather that is very difficult for boaties and not enough rain to keep the garden from drying out.

Four NZ King Salmon farms have been approved by the Environmental Protection Authority. The Board of inquiry has released its draft report. The four farms granted are at Ngamahau Bay in Tory Channel, Papatua in Port Gore and Waitata and Richmond in Pelorus Sound. Thankfully the importance of Queen Charlotte Sound as a recreational area was acknowledged. The Board was concerned about navigation, recreational boating, the natural landscape and Maori traditions. Farms that were denied were Kaitapeha and Ruaomoko in Queen Charlotte Sound and Kaitira and Tapipi and White Horse Rock in Pelorus Sound.

The hearing took nine weeks and heard about 1200 submissions.  The full draft report can be read on the Marlborough Express website www.marlexpress.co.nz

Submissions can be made by all submitters and certain other parties until 8 February but the Board has indicated that these four approved sites will go ahead. An issue of concern to Council is that its resource management plan clearly separates out recreational and industrial activity. This decision on marine farming will not please anyone. The final report will be released by the EPA Board on 22 February.

For those travelling by ferry or boat and those not familiar with Queen Charlotte Sound or without access to a map, Ngamahau Bay in Tory Channel is located four bays on the Picton side of Fishermans Bay where the old Perano whaling station can be seen.  The old whaling station is very close to the entrance to Cook Strait. This Tory Channel salmon farm is bound to cause controversy. The last point you see heading towards Wellington is Perano Head where the sailing ship the City of Newcastle was wrecked. Her anchor forms part of the memorial to fishermen lost at sea at the eastern end of the Picton Foreshore (erected in 2012).

Did you read the interesting and well written piece by Cheryl Maister in the Marlborough Express (24 December 2012). Cheryl had been to visit the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka in Blenheim with two grandsons. She writes that she was particularly impressed with the skill of Weta Workshop in creating models and scenes. She records an event in World War I when thousands of soldiers at dusk on 24 December 1914 stopped shooting at each other for a short time to celebrate Christmas. Cheryl reports that carols were sung and one carol was sung in German which many British soldiers hadn't heard before: ‘Silent night, holy night ...’ The soldiers took time out to bury their dead on Christmas Day and apparently there were some reports of soccer games being played.

Rower Joseph Sullivan was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's Honours list along with his double sculls partner Nathan Cohen. The pair won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.  Joseph Sullivan also organised a surprise for his parents while they were away visiting relatives in Australia to thank them for the time and effort they had contributed to his career. He arranged for a makeover of their house which they were delighted with on their return.  A huge number of Marlborough businesses got together to assist with the project.

All the best for 2013. Don't worry about the resolutions. You can always keep trying throughout the year and there's always next year.

 

 

 

 

Nature brings to every time and season some beauties of its own.

Charles Dickens

In the light of all the dreadful things that have been happening around the world I am endeavouring to keep track of sending Christmas cards to friends and family and posting presents, stocking up on essential supplies like cans of tomatoes and chick peas, gardening and reading a National Library interloan that has to be returned by 7 January. It is a lovely time of year with all the fun of Christmas parties and events. Even travelling by road is enhanced as motorists in Marlborough are tempted by roadside stalls selling cherries, apricots, raspberries and strawberries.

   I am trying to ignore the end of the world this Friday as predicted by the Mayan calendar. Many people it seems want to concentrate on food and drink while the world ends. I love a poem by US poet Billy Collins. The sentiment in the poem is to be doing what you love while the world returns to chaos. Apparently Jason Kerrison one of the judges on NZ s Got Talent has built a concrete bunker up in Northland and has three years’ supply of food stored. He feels people are changing from a materialistic way of life to being 'more inner-directed and spiritual'. A group has set up an eco village in Motueka near Nelson with a view to being self sufficient (NZ Listener, December 15-21).
   
   All very resourceful, but surely this is a pessimistic view of life? In the same issue of the magazine scientist Brian Cox says we should raise our eyes from the ground and look up at the stars but even he doesn’t have a lot of faith in the world going on forever on this 'little ball of rock we call home'. Imagine all the art, music and accumulated knowledge being obliterated.

   A draft decision on the new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds could be announced this week.  People are being advised to keep an eye on the Environmental Protection Authority’s website.  The final decision is expected on 22 February 2013. Also a letter from the CEO of NZ King Salmon was published in the Marlborough Express commenting on Leona Plaisier’s petition.

Some random thoughts:

Can the devastation caused by Cyclone Evan in Samoa and Fiji be attributed to climate change and deforestation?

After the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, people are asking if changes to gun control laws will be enough? Mental illness among other issues needs to be addressed also. I read a very interesting article placed on Facebook by a friend, written by a US mother with a troubled story of her own to tell about her son's behaviour.

It was such a sensible decision to keep Salisbury School in Nelson open. The girls who attend deserve to be able to learn in an environment free from bullying and possible abuse.

The Green Party wants a second international Internet cable. This seems like a good idea as the Internet is a vital means of communication now. So many businesses rely on the internet. You can't even read the newspaper or a magazine now without seeing thumbprints you can scan with a smart phone for more news. One morning I couldn’t get a Telecom connection to check email and reply, do my banking, do online research, follow up on the day’s news or tweet.  Also I have recently joined Pinterest, an online clipboard for photographs so the Internet has certainly taken over my life.   It’s hard to believe all this technology has become essential in what feels like a relatively short period of time.  Sometimes I complain that it is all so time consuming but really I love it. I always have. I got a computer as soon as they were on the market in New Zealand, an early Apple followed by a Toshiba laptop and later a mobile phone - whenever they first appeared.

   Technology takes you into a space that writers and artists inhabit while they are creating art, a world within a world, and when you emerge you need to remind yourself what time it is, whether you have eaten, and what other things you need to do with your day.

 

 

 

 

 

It always seems impossible – Until it’s done. 

Nelson Mandela

[Source: www.facebook.com/101PowerfulAffirmations quoted in This and that, a free monthly Marlborough publication.]

Yesterday, 12/12/12, was fun.  Spent the morning at Bookchat making a miniature driftwood Christmas tree. Pam, one of the staff, is very talented and had made up kits for everyone so they could make the tree on the spot while she issued clear instructions.  Then I headed off to Le Cafe, my favourite cafe, for an end-of-year lunch with Picton Poets and shared original poems in a seaside setting with great food, wine, coffee and scenery. One of our members who broke her leg made a supreme effort (with the help of a friend), and joined us after weeks of being home bound.  Seeing her happiness at being there made it more enjoyable for the rest of us.

    In the evening I went to an interesting art exhibition with my ‘temporary’ neighbour at the Diversion Gallery on the waterfront in Picton. Artist, Dick Frizzell collaborated with poet Sam Hunt and created a silk screen work incorporating words from ‘The Harpooner’s Song’ that talks about living in Picton, whaling in the Marlborough Sounds and in Nantucket.  Gallery Director Barbara Speedy took time out to explain a complex multi-layered lithograph by John Pule to us both and handed round pieces of Christmas cake she had made herself.  We half expected Sam Hunt to walk in the door and proclaim in his usual gravelly voice.

    The aim of the Frizzell/Hunt art work is to raise money for a National Whaling Centre in Picton, Te Tari Tohorā o Waitohi*.  Along with the art work there are other items such as flash drives for sale in the shape of a whale, some are preloaded with images and information about the various whale species. There are also boxes of paperclips in the shape of a whale.  More information about the merchandise is available on the website http://www.aworldwithwhales.com

*Waitohi was the original Maori name for Picton and has been retained in a number of place names around the town.  It would be good one day to have a dual name on the map, Waitohi/Picton, like the NZ Geographic Board is suggesting.

   Other artists' work is also available to view at the Diversion Gallery and there is a selection of unframed prints in a set of drawers that you can ask to see. The gallery used to be at the Grove Mill Winery but fortunately for us and for visitors has been relocated to Picton.

   Picton Museum is also hoping to build an extension to house two boats associated with the whaling industry in the Marlborough Sounds.  Both these ventures will attract visitors and complement the existing ‘whale watch’ experience in Kaikoura. With the suggestion of the ferries possibly moving to Clifford Bay by 2020 Picton needs such attractions to become a destination in its own right.  I am still thinking through the ramifications of this so will comment further in a future blog.  The proposed move is certainly causing concern and now the Government is soon to appoint a ‘commercial director’ to head a team of experts developing the proposal.  More information is apparently available on the Ministry of Transport’s website.

   It’s good to read that Steffan Browning from the Green Party accepted Leona Plaisier’s petition on the steps of Parliament after all those other MPs refused earlier this year. See www.marlexpress.co.nz  (Wednesday 12 December 2012).  Leona has collected 11,000 signatures for her petition against the proposed salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds. Laura Honey was on hand to document the event. We look forward to seeing Laura’s documentary Against the Current in the New Year.

   Tonight I am going to the launch of Michael Ponder’s latest novel, Four Kings, at Paper Plus in Blenheim. This thriller is set in Zimbabwe and is a sequel to his previous novel, The Windsor Conspiracy. Michael Ponder is well known as an artist and also for a book, The Good Oil, which he wrote while growing olives.

      Now I just need to find time to see The Hobbit, screening now in Picton and Blenheim, make a gluten free Christmas cake and deadhead and feed the roses with a concoction recommended in the NZ Gardener. Thanks to the library I keep up with the latest issue and don’t have masses of magazines accumulating to be dealt with ‘some day’. The pile of newspapers on the verandah is waiting to be turned into ‘hot logs’ over summer with a handy gadget purchased by mail order from a Nature company in Nelson. One weekend newspaper makes a great log for the fire. Fortunately today it’s sunny with a light breeze here in Picton and it might even reach 29° in Blenheim.

 

 

 

Little by little, one travels far. 

 J.R.R.Tolkien

Springlands School has won an environmental award for its contribution to the conservation of rivers. The students formed an environmental group called ‘Go Mad’ (Make a Difference), and created a Writers' Walk on the Taylor River. I blogged about this earlier in the year. The poems set on stone on the banks of the Taylor River can be found near the Beaver Road Bridge.

   Another initiative of the group was to install blue plastic fish near storm water drains to alert people to the fact that some pollutants would harm fish and native plants. The fish are inscribed with ‘Drains Rain only’.  Isn’t that great? Other schools have since joined in and there are around 300 blue fish in Marlborough. The School Environment Award is presented every second year.

   There is a great write up (and a lovely photo), in today’s Marlborough Express about Clara van Wel winning NZs Got Talent. Currently in Auckland giving interviews, appearing on television and so on, she will be back in Marlborough soon to catch up with her friends. Apparently three of her original songs will be available on iTunes very soon and then in the shops later and Sony is producing a CD in February next year. By the way the editor wants to know what we think of today’s paper.  I love Tuesday’s paper because it covers the arts – in a paper that one could say is a big follower of sport.  On Tuesday there is an arts' page but I might prefer the arts to be widely reported every day.  Just look at the range of work by artists and artisans on display in the mall in Picton from now until the end of February.

    I have just received email images (digital photos), of my book on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair. What a thrill to see it on the stand in the company of other titles along with the NZ Society of Authors banner: Principal advocate for the professional interest of writers.  www.authors.org.nz
   
   Today I have been reading about Cook’s Second Voyage and about all the different versions of the manuscript as outlined by Beaglehole.  I had momentary doubts then about my aim which is to present to the modern reader Cook’s actual words and thoughts while he was in Queen Charlotte Sound. I guess I will have to include some kind of an introduction.  Cook confessed to not being a writer, to having spent all his life at sea and to have progressed from 'seafarer to Commander'.  He must have spent such a lot of time writing. My transcribed notes for his Second Voyage that only deal with the time he spent at Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound amount to 13,000 words so far. Cook would sometimes have been cold, sometimes wet and suffering from rheumatism but his powers of observation of geography, people and native fauna and flora and the meticulous record of longitude and latitude, tides, wind and weather are remarkable.
   
   The three writing groups I belong to make me aware how each word has to be carefully chosen then scrutinised for its value. What is the essential thing you are trying to say? I must say that when blogging I don’t seem to have the luxury of putting a piece of writing to one side to edit at a later date because it’s the immediacy of writing about what’s happening right now that appeals to me about blogging and tweeting.  

 

 

Wine is bottled poetry – Robert Louis Stevenson

Note: For some reason my blog appears with Pacific time as the header which is a day behind NZ time so I have decided to write the date in brackets if significant.

Tourism NZ has now labelled New Zealand ‘Middle-Earth’ so that’s fine though my father seems a little bewildered by the analogy and I don’t know what Captain Cook would have thought about it seeing he was convinced NZ was in the Southern Ocean.  This information we gleaned from reading The Press while waiting to see a nurse at Wairau Hospital to check my father’s pacemaker. I tried to explain but it’s a bit like trying to explain the Internet, Google and Smart phones.  Being interested in the share market he does get the success of a company like Apple.

   Since he had his stroke he doesn’t always remember about the pleasantries like ‘Good afternoon’, ‘thank you', and so on. The first thing he said to the nurse was that he had heard some upsetting news on the radio which he wanted her to confirm. It seems that if someone with a pacemaker is cremated the device can explode. She reassured him that the doctor would know so he wasn’t to worry. He has a plot already marked out at the Picton Cemetery alongside my mother so he really doesn’t need to be concerned.  He just thinks someone should have told him instead of being informed through the media.  ‘Well seeing you’re talking about it’, she said, ‘let me tell you that a pacemaker doesn’t prolong your life. When your ‘natural time comes to go’, it won’t stop you.’ Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to accompany him! My neighbour later told me that there is a doctor in Dunedin who has a museum of pacemakers and some get sent to him when they are removed.  Earlier ones she said were quite large.  I don’t think I’ll tell my father that.

The Hobbit

   One thing I really like is live television.  While I’m writing this (Wednesday 28 November), I’m half listening to TV One screening live from Wellington for the build up to The Hobbit movie, the red carpet, Tamati Coffey speaking elvish and sporting those ears and an interview with Peter Jackson (in red sneakers), Mark Hadlow and the Air NZ Boeing 777 aeroplane flying over Wellington decorated with hobbit images. Independent Booksellers’ Page and Blackmore (Nelson), recently posted on Facebook to remind everyone that it was first a book. I own a rather battered copy which belonged to my mother. Who’s your favourite hobbit and will you go to see it at the movies or wait for the DVD?

Artisan market

   The artisan market in the mall is attracting a lot of interest.  There was an article in the Marlborough Express yesterday. There’s furniture, carving, fabric work, weaving, photographs, books, cards, herb labels and jewellery. Great gifts for Christmas and the mall shop will be of interest to the tourists over summer.

Literary awards

   Congratulations to Leona Plaisier (mentioned in my last blog), who received a Local Hero’s medal last night (27 November), along with 5 others, from the Marlborough District Council. Also congratulations to Sam Hunt, Greg O'Brien and Albert Wendt for winning the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (worth $60,000). The awards were established in 2003 when Helen Clark was Prime Minister and recognises writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry who have made a significant contribution in these genres. This was the same year the USA invaded Iraq.
   In 2011 I went with a poet friend to hear Sam Hunt at Le Cafe in Picton. It was crowded and the audience really enjoyed the performance.  In the 1980s I lived in a house across the road from the inlet at Paremata where Sam Hunt resided in his boatshed.  I never met him though and only ever saw him giving poetry performances.

Sam Hunt

 

   A few days after the performance in Picton I was talking to someone who told me how she and her girlfriend used to fish in front of Sam Hunt’s boatshed at Paremata and she told me about all the bottles.  So I put the ideas and experience together and came up with the poem below. When I read it to a poetry group I belong to and reached line 10, one or two people admitted to being less than enthralled by the ‘familiar gravelly voice’.  Vive la difference!

 A Good Night

A crowded cafe,

impossible acoustics

chairs scraping on a tiled floor

audience fuelled by wine

merlot and a dash of lemonade

in the sav, a tall lean figure appears

he says, ‘you notice I’m wearing glasses,

first time I've seen the audience in 40 years.'

‘Steamy’, says Sam, to an expectant crowd

referring to the windows, he laughs

and recites in that familiar gravelly voice

interspersed with colourful language

F... and Shit and Christ—

the audience love it.
 

‘Where do poems come from’, he asks,

overheard snatches of conversation

lines drawn from years of experience

chance encounters, love affairs

he ends with a Hungarian lament

and three poems about Picton,

whaling, Cook Strait, and above all

friendship, we are desperate to touch him

to share a personal memory,

to connect, but we don’t get a chance

he disappears in a flash of legs

daddy-long-legs – on stilts.

But more fragile than before

thinks the girl who used to fish

in front of his boatshed at

Paremata, back then the bottles

told the story of a good night.

 

© Julie Kennedy, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We write to discover ourselves.

Grace Paley

 

Thank goodness for Steffan Browning of the Green Party. He is prepared to accept the petition from Leona Plaisier of Pelorus Sound opposing the expansion of salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds by NZ King Salmon.  He says he will ensure that it is tabled in Parliament. About 11,000 people signed the petition, many of these online. Several National Party MPs who Leona approached earlier had refused to accept it and present it in Parliament. Thank goodness also for the Marlborough District Council who held firm to the belief that the current Marlborough Sounds resource management plan should be upheld despite Government’s thoughts to the contrary.

   Here in Picton and the Marlborough Sounds we might not have a major river to protect as they do elsewhere like on the East Coast (see November Forest and Bird magazine), but the waterways of the Sounds are our taonga (treasure). One prominent Picton family in the early 1900s had a seawater swimming pool at the bottom of the garden in the area where the Picton Marina is now and there were seawater swimming baths on Shelly Beach (opened in the 1880s, rebuilt 1911 and operated until the 1930s). The concrete remains can still be seen near the Queen Charlotte Yacht Club. With all the boats and shipping and possible pollution it is unlikely any local residents would want to swim there now (2012). Fortunately the Council is also concerned about this and is actively monitoring the water quality of various beaches and posting results on its website.

   A big congratulation to Shayne Olsen and Louise Bright, the owners of Lochmara Lodge Wildlife Recovery and Arts Centre for winning three awards at the Westpac Marlborough Chamber of Commerce awards, including the Supreme award (Marlborough Express, 19 November). If you are ever visiting Picton take the short boat trip over to Lochmara Bay or visit the lodge while walking the Queen Charlotte Track. This was the place where the concept of Eco Artists NZ was developed. It is a privilege to belong to this organisation and to be able to contribute to the support of the environment www.ecoartists.co.nz

   Last night I went to ‘Dickens’, a one-man show touring New Zealand and the world and Picton. What a performance, such a memory, such energy.  A full house and an appreciative audience. As my ‘temporary’ neighbour said it just goes to show if you bring a class act people will come. She recently went to hear Fiona Pears at Le Cafe, another excellent performer. She bought a DVD not just because of the music but because it had been recorded in Christchurch Cathedral, something that can never be repeated.

   Talking about performers the best of luck to Clara van Wel, one of 12 finalists in New Zealand’s Got Talent. A 15-year-old Marlborough College student she writes her own songs, impressed the judges early on, and has captured the hearts of many with her talent. “I just like words, words are cool, words are fun”, she says. She received some encouragement from the school’s librarian, Colleen Shipley, who is a member of the NZ Society of Authors Marlborough Writer’s group that I belong to. Clara has advice for other young people: “Never listen to anyone who tells you, you can’t do it”.

   Thanks to my other neighbour who has just left a small bag of kindling at my back door. It is still cold even though it’s November. Keeping warm takes up so much energy. And I wish my computer would get over its obsession with fragments! That’s the way I write. You would think it would have got used to it by now.

   Here’s a teaser from my book, a work in progress. I think I am getting near the end. The November weather seems fairly similar and all those gales and difficult sailing conditions mentioned by Cook don’t look good for the ferries moving to Cloudy Bay. It’s such a relief for passengers when they enter the calm waters of the Marlborough Sounds after the turbulence of Cook Strait. That’s usually when I head to the cafeteria.

From: Captain James Cook’s Journal

Voyage II, November 1773

Tuesday 2^nd.  Fresh gales with rain.  At 2pm passed Cape Campbell at the distance of one league, consequently entered the Strait with a fresh gale at south so we thought nothing of reaching Queen Charlottes  Our expectations were in vain, at 6 o’clock our favourable wind deserted us and was succeeded by one from the north which veered to the NW and increased to a fresh gale. We were at this time off Clowdy Bay [Cloudy Bay], we spent the night plying. Our tacks were disadvantageous and we lost more on the ebb tide than we had gained on the flood.

[Ref: The Journals of Captain James Cook, Voyage II: The Voyage of Resolution and Adventure, 1772-1775, edited by J C Beaglehole].

Note: Cook named the Sound, Queen Charlottes Sound, after the wife of King George III of England. It is now known as Queen Charlotte Sound. Also sometimes Cook writes ‘Clowdy Bay’ and sometimes ‘Cloudy Bay’ as it is now referred to.

 

 

A writer is someone who writes – John Braine

I have just been to a weekend Writers’ Retreat at Mt Richmond estate. It’s an old forestry camp that was converted four years ago into a cafe and motel complex by an English family. Each unit has a name like ‘Charlotte’ instead of a number like 27. They even had a grater so I could grate apple for my muesli.  The food was superb with gluten free and vegan options and the spa was very relaxing.  It reminded me of a writing weekend I went to many years ago with Michael King. He bought in various speakers to give advice like Christine Cole Catley. She told a story, I don’t know if it was then or maybe much later, about Michael King’s mother.  Apparently she used to ring him up and say ‘Are you busy Michael,  or just writing?’

   The ‘just’ says it all. People don’t seem to consider writing as work. I wonder why because it certainly requires concentration and sacrifice. There are so many other things you could be doing but for some of us if you haven’t put pen to paper or typed words into a computer, life doesn’t feel quite right.

   I have also joined a co-operative. A group of Marlborough artisans have got together and rented out a vacant shop in Mariners Mall in Picton opposite the entrance to Fresh Choice. The market is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm. This is such a great initiative. You should have seen the number of people in there today. On the first day two of my father’s books about Ngakuta Bay sold and also one of my historic Picton postcards. The woman who bought it said, ‘I love post offices’. She was especially pleased to see the historical notes I had put on the back saying when the old Picton Post Office was demolished (1991).  She said that she and her husband had been trying to remember ‘just the other day’.  I am thinking of producing a postcard of Captain Cook standing on the beach at Ship Cove conversing with local Maori.  The image is out of copyright and available from National Library archives in Wellington.

   What a worrying report on an earthquake in Wellington — barges and helicopters as the only method of transport!  I have to go to Wellington in February for a Katherine Mansfield conference. A sculpture of KM is to be unveiled in Lambton Quay while the conference is on.  

  On Thursday evening we have our monthly Writers' meeting in Blenheim. Those of us who have been published are to talk about our experience. We also have to write 100 words on: 'If you've got it, flaunt it.' Also looking forward to an evening at the Gillan Gallery where winners of the inaugural Blenheim Bookworld short story competition will be announced. Then on Monday there’s a Charles Dickens evening, a visiting one-man show, at the Picton Little Theatre. So November is turning out to be a very literary month.

 

 

Every morning at nine o’clock I sit down and await my muse. If she hasn’t shown up by five past I start without her. Tchaikovsky

A big week.  A Kiwi jockey came second in the Melbourne Cup, Barack Obama has been re-elected in the USA, and this weekend there is a Writers’ Retreat at Mt Richmond Estate near the Rai Valley, Garden Marlborough and the Marlborough A & P Show.

   This weekend I am going to a Writers' Retreat at Richmond Estate near the Rai Valley township. Yesterday I picked up a carton full of books to take with me containing the journals of Captain Cook edited by Beaglehole, four large volumes and a series of charts drawn on the voyages.  I have interloaned the Journals twice before but have never seen the charts. I will be working on the Second Voyage during the retreat as Cook visited Ship Cove three times on that voyage and so there are a lot more journal entries to be transcribed.

   On 12 November until February 2013 there will be an artisans’ market in Mariners Mall in Picton. I am taking part with some local books for sale and also some cards that I have produced.  Also Reflections, an anthology published by Picton Poets in 2012 will be for sale. The idea is for this to be a cooperative venture with two volunteers on each day.  There is a charge for each artist to cover the rent but no commission on sales.

   This will be the first time since Garden Marlborough began that I have missed it because I opted to go to a Writers' Retreat instead.  I usually attend a workshop or a lecture or go on a garden tour (by bus), but most of all I enjoy walking around the market seeing all the stalls in Seymour Square on Sunday.  So many stalls filled with items to do with gardening, jazz music playing and the smell of coffee and food wafting in the air. This garden fete would be one of the highlights of living in Marlborough.

    I don't know what's happened to the weather, it’s so cold usually in November we can turn off the heating and stop lighting the fire, but not this year.  It takes so much energy keeping warm.  I remember when we were at school at Labour Weekend we had to put away our winter uniform and start wearing our summer uniform.  Many of us continued to follow this regime but not this year.

   This afternoon I’ve been invited to an open day at the Picton Visitor Information Centre (i-SITE).  This is for tourist operators in Marlborough and I offer heritage walks for cruise ship passengers. Congratulations to Rachel Holland at Picton i-SITE.  Also congratulations to the Edwin Fox committee who were joint runners-up in the Heritage and Environment category in the Trust Power Community Awards and also to the Picton Maritime Festival committee who won in the Arts and Culture category. These awards are in their 12^th year and acknowledge the work of volunteers and organisations in Marlborough. Next year we should consider nominating the Marlborough Writers’ committee. The group meets monthly and is a sub branch of the Top of the South Branch of the NZ Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc).

 

 

 

Be   humble for you are made of Earth. Be noble for you are made of stars - Serbian proverb quoted on Word-a-Day.

I’m late posting (usually Tuesdays), because I have had a few days in Nelson. My favourites: a studio at Tahuna Holiday Park overlooking the estuary and a tree in front of the unit exactly like the one from the movie Tree of Life and most of all walking on Tahunanui Beach. As it was midweek I visited the Farmers’ Market on a Wednesday afternoon at Fashion Island where I was tempted by flowers, olives and heritage plants. Usually I like to visit Nelson in the weekend so I can walk around the Saturday market. Later I visited the Suter Art Gallery to see the current exhibition and was inspired by a series of paintings showing colourful figures moving in space, blurring into each other with indistinguishable features.

   I always like to take my time driving home slowly. I called in to have a coffee at the Forrester’s Cafe right on the border of Nelson and Marlborough province. I wanted to check out the gluten free and vegan options as I am going to a Writers’ Retreat there next weekend. Do look out for the cafe and stop for a rest. They suggested I write to Council to reinstate the sign that tells you where the boundary is. At present the structure is still there but it is covered in graffiti. The road signs are all in excellent condition, on some bends it’s recommended you only do 25 kph!

   I love browsing in Havelock, home to green lip mussels. Sadly the Maori craft shop has closed. I always looked forward to touching the huge white bird just inside the doorway, sculpted by Clem Mellish. The business has been replaced by a shop selling outdoor motors and sporting goods.

   I arrived home to admire all my roses blooming after the half bucket of sheep pellets I gave them in September: Mutabilis, Gruss an Aachen, Fruhlingsgold, Katherine Mansfield and Sally Holmes, Souvenir de la Malmaison and Anais Segalas, a cerise-purple rose brought out by early settlers and found on old graves in cemeteries. I have previously mentioned Cecile Brunner used by the ‘Picton flower ladies’ for posies for Cruise ship passengers. Sadly I also read news on Facebook of a friend who had broken her leg while on a mission of good.

NZ King Salmon decision

   The decision on NZ King Salmon farms has been postponed until 22 February 2013. In relation to this today on ‘This Way Up’, I heard a radio interview and the term ‘surfenomics’. What is the value of things like a surf wave or a coastline or a walk on a wonderful beach? How much revenue/cash does the natural resource generate? How much would people be willing to pay to keep it if it was under threat or could be harmed? These are the same questions that have been raised in relation to the salmon farms issue. The government thinks it will be of value as more jobs will be created (cash). People feel their properties could be devalued (cash). Tourists might decide not to visit the Sounds and go elsewhere (cash). The main thing for me is altering the environment, a coastline that has been like this for centuries is under threat from a proposed built environment. How much would Marlborough people and other New Zealanders who own property in the Sounds or value holidaying here or even Tourism organisations be prepared to pay to maintain the natural beauty of the area for future generations? 

Marine reserves in the Ross Sea - talks fail

It was only recently when I went to a talk organised by Forest and Bird in Marlborough that I learnt about the number of countries involved in Antarctica. 24 countries and the European Union are members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). This organisation met in Hobart to discuss a proposal by New Zealand and the United States to set up marine reserves in the Ross Sea area which included creating a ‘special research zone’. Unfortunately after two weeks the talks have failed. Russia, China and the Ukraine were concerned about the fishing restrictions.

Literary matters

The Library Association (LIANZA), wants people to lobby their MPs to keep NZ libraries free. The relevant Bill is scheduled for 7 November. You can support the association at http://www.facebook.com/KeepPublicLibrariesFree and The Yellow Birds is a haunting war story set in Iraq told in spare poetic prose.

  

 

You don’t choose a life, you live a life.

The quotation is from The Way, a film about a small group of people searching for meaning in their lives who ‘connect’ while on a pilgrimage in northern Spain.  Martin Sheen plays a man who has lost his son in an accident while he was on a pilgrimage.  He decides to do the same pilgrimage himself, the Camino de Santiago, to cope with the loss and to try and make sense of his son’s death.  In the process he encounters challenges faced by several others making the journey and together they find a sense of community.  The film is written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen’s son (in real life), who incidentally got inspiration to write the script, especially the dialogue, while working in his vineyard.  His fiancée and his parents thought he had gone slightly crazy when he started digging up the front garden to plant grapes. Those of us who live in Marlborough would understand his behaviour.

Pacific migration research

   Recent findings by University of Otago researchers in Marlborough have given insight into Pacific migration patterns. They studied the DNA of four Rangitane iwi buried at the Wairau Bar over 700 years ago. Their study of the mitochondrial DNA showed they came from ‘a variety of backgrounds rather than from a tight knit family group’.  Future research on DNA from other Pacific countries may provide more information about Polynesian migration to New Zealand.

Inaugural Reeves lecture

   Did you hear the first Reeves lecture? This lecture was initiated to honour Sir Paul Reeves who has Marlborough connections. The talk was first given in August and broadcast on Radio NZ National at 6.05pm on Monday night (22 October). Historian, Dame Anne Salmond, gave the inaugural lecture.  It wasn’t mentioned but the story I like is about the swarm of bees that flew into St John in the Wilderness Church at Koromiko while he was being christened. This church also has associations with Katherine Mansfield.  When she was visiting Picton in her youth she would sometimes accompany John Greensill, a lay preacher, and travel with him in a horse and gig from Picton to the little wooden church at Koromiko. The church is on State Highway 1 on the RHS of the road as you are driving towards Blenheim. You can stop and have a look at an Historic Places Trust plaque set on a stone in the grounds.  It is possible to see inside the historic church. There is an iron grille on the interior door but you can look through and see the pews and a giant clam shell used for christenings.

 Against the Current documentary

   The documentary I mentioned last time, Against the Current, will be screening in Marlborough next year. A November screening is scheduled for Dunedin.

 

Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair is over for another year.  On Saturday (Friday night, Frankfurt time), Kim Hill interviewed people like the architect who designed the NZ pavilion and various authors and publishers.  The programme was recorded in four separate parts and you can hear a repeat broadcast on the Radio NZ website.  From all reports the fair was a success and the interactive screens in the NZ pavilion looked impressive from what I saw on TV. Apparently NZ has now been asked to be the Guest of Honour at the Taipei Book Festival.

Salmon Farms Update

   The Environmental Protection Authority Board of Inquiry has asked for a three-month extension because of the number of submissions received (1293), and the length of time the inquiry has taken (eight weeks instead of five).  Board Chairman Judge Whiting said the Board needs more time to make a decision. This was originally due to be made by 31 December. If Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson agrees this could mean it will be 22 February 2013 before a decision is made. Look out for Against the Current, a documentary about environmental concerns in the Marlborough Sounds. And how did a disused salmon farm pontoon float down the Pelorus River and end up in the Havelock marina this week?

Coast Watchers' Memorial

   Isn’t it interesting that it has taken so long – 70 years – to commemorate the  17 NZ Coast watchers who were killed on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), during WW2.  A ceremony was held and a wreath laid here in NZ in their honour yesterday, 15 October, the day they were killed in 1942, and NZ Post is funding a memorial wall in Wellington. I think one of the men was from Picton. According to some information I have read he took a tuxedo to war!  I often tell visitors on my foreshore heritage walk about these men, mostly Post and Telegraph radio operators, who were sent to the Pacific Islands to report on enemy movements.  The scow Echo which sits on the hard in Picton Harbour (eastern side opposite Edwin Fox), was involved in the war in the Pacific and spent a lot of time supplying Coast watchers with items such as radio batteries. She also rescued downed US airmen. See: theprow.co.nz for more details about the Echo. My uncle, Graeme McKay, spent time in the New Hebrides during the war and my mother said he wasn’t the same person when he returned.

Garden

   After all the wind and rain it is a lovely sunny day today and one of the first roses of the season, Fruhlingsgold, a pale yellow rose, is blooming on the pergola. The erlicheer daffodils have finished which is just as well because they would have all been blown over.  My Meyer lemon tree has died in its second year so I don’t know if it was frost or poor drainage.  I guess I will have to plant another so I can make lemon cordial. Bev McConnell has written a book about her garden, Ayrlies, in Whitford, recognised as a garden of international significance.  The book, Ayrlies: My story, my garden, has just been published.  

Recommended reads:

Fiction:

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (UK author). Also Wolf Hall, an earlier book by the  same author

The Forrests by Emily Perkins (NZ)

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (US)

Non-fiction:

The Meeting Place:  Maori and Pakeha Encounters 1642 to 1840 by Vincent O’Malley (NZ)

‘A book is finished when nothing rattles’. (Advice to writers: unknown origin)

Frankfurt Book Fair (10-14 October)

Kim Hill will be broadcasting on Radio NZ National from the Frankfurt Book Fair this Saturday morning from 8am (Friday evening, Frankfurt time). 
   Maggie Tarver, CEO, NZ Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc), has taken a synopsis of my book, Captain Cook in Ship Cove, so hopefully a publishing company will want to follow this up.  I'm especially keen on it becoming an e-book because the digital referencing will make it easier for the reader rather than endless footnotes or endnotes.  Recently I met someone from the Sounds and they asked me if I knew the story about Cook’s ‘hidden treasure’ in the Sounds – tantalizing.

Cruise Ships

The first cruise ship of the season arrived in Picton yesterday (9 Oct), Radiance of the Sea, carrying 2,500 passengers (plus crew).  It is so large in tonnage it had to berth at Waimahara Wharf in Shakespeare Bay, the deep water port. Passengers are transported by bus round to Picton and beyond to experience the Marlborough region.  Many will have booked to go on visits to wineries to sample sauvignon blanc wine which the region is well known for internationally. Some will visit gardens and go on tours, others will enjoy the small seaport atmosphere, stroll along the Foreshore, sample Marlborough food and wine in the local cafés and browse the shops. History lovers will visit Edwin Fox and the Picton Museum. A booklet has just been published by the Picton Historical Society covering heritage aspects on the Foreshore, the development at the Eastern end and items of interest over the Coathanger bridge, including the Echo (booklet available at Picton Museum, $7.00). I love the way Picton has two historic ships on opposite sides of the harbour.
   A further 19 ships are expected over the summer season with several smaller eco-cruise boats just visiting Ship Cove and the Marlborough Sounds. See schedule: www.portmarlborough.co.nz
   In Picton cruise ship passengers are welcomed by a 'Meet and Greet' team of volunteers and i-Site representatives and given posies to wear. These posies are especially made for each ship by a team of women volunteers and are greatly appreciated by visitors.  Yesterday some posies contained roses from my garden, an old-fashioned rose, Cecile Brunner (Bush 1881, Climber 1904), also known as the ‘Sweetheart Rose’,  a tiny porcelain-pink rose used by our great-grandmothers to make a posy.  I planted it years ago and it now straddles a high wall in the vegetable garden. My neighbour, one of the volunteers, had to climb a ladder to reach the top flowers. She thought it was worth it.

Salmon Farm update:

The hearing continues and is receiving excellent coverage in the Marlborough Express.  There are some question marks now about the forecast number of jobs and the economic benefits to the region of the nine new salmon farms proposed by NZ King Salmon.  Issues raised were concern over environmental pollution of the water, threats to bird life like King Shags, and the potential especially in Tory Channel of the farms being navigation hazards. Also in a region which prides itself on natural beauty, and with the Marlborough Sounds so unspoiled, there is concern about how tourists will respond to a modified landscape. Look out for a documentary: Against the Current.

Entertainment

And yesterday we finally got TV One reception again.  It's been a blue screen since last Sunday!  Never mind I got to see Homeland on TV 3 on Monday night, the first programme of the second series. 

 

NZ King Salmon is proposing the creation of nine more salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds. Submissions are currently being heard by a Board of Inquiry set up by the Environmental Protection Authority.  Hearings could take up to eight weeks. Opinion is divided on this.  Some people are opposed. They really care about the possible effects on the environment like pollution of the water and visual pollution. In fact 40 boats took part in a protest flotilla on Saturday. This was covered by TV One and print media.

   Earlier this year I went on a Dolphin Watch tour with visiting relatives. We called into Ruakaka Bay to view the salmon farm.  It seemed like a great enterprise but there was only one farm.  The seals basking in the sun looked happy. Then we went on to Motuara Island, a bird sanctuary and of course the place where Captain James Cook claimed sovereignty.  I dignified this inlet with the name of Queen Charlottes Sound [Now Queen Charlotte Sound], and took formal possession of it and the adjacent lands in the name and for the use of his Majesty.  As Cook hadn’t yet circumnavigated New Zealand he was probably unsure of exactly what land area he was claiming in the name of King George III. 

   With my visitors I climbed up to the top of the viewing platform on Motuara Island where you can get a panoramic view of the places mentioned by Cook.  On a clear day you can see Te-Ika-a-Maui, the North Island.  I read somewhere that ‘the fish of Maui’ could also have been a reference to the tail of the constellation, Scorpio, which resembles a fish hook.  The legendary Maui and other Polynesian explorers might have used this as a navigational tool to find New Zealand.

   I am currently working on a book outlining Cook’s time in the outer Marlborough Sounds.  He spent over 100 days at Ship Cove in the 1770s and it became his favourite anchorage to allow his men to rest, and to repair and provision the ships. In his Journal entries he describes the landscape, the weather, daily life and makes detailed observations of resident Maori.

   The main purpose of my book is to enable visitors to stand on the beach at Ship Cove or on the summit of Motuara Island or on the deck of a Cruise ship and read in Cook’s words what he thought, the problems he faced.  I am adapting the text for the modern reader. The way technology is going I think this will make a great ebook. It will be so much easier for the reader with digital referencing rather than having masses of footnotes or endnotes.  There could even be a children’s version with a treasure map.

   Like the great scholar and historian John Beaglehole said:

   It is I think worthwhile sometimes to stand upon the spot where a great man stood and to look upon things – hills and the sea – that he looked upon ... We can see him perhaps, walking up this beach, and hear the voices of his men, we can take pride in reflecting that it was through him that our history became part of the history of the world.

   Getting back to the proposed salmon farms it is essential to balance the economic benefit to the Marlborough/Nelson region like the creation of new jobs (which the government is keen on), with the long-term environmental effects. What would Cook have thought about it? With the use of a seine net and the help of skilled Maori fishermen he was able to easily catch enough fish to feed the entire ships’ company.

Who can foresee the future? What kind of legacy are we going to leave for generations to come?  Let’s hope the Board's decision is the right one.

 

 

Over the weekend mowers were in action and neighbours were water blasting their driveway and it feels like summer is not that far away though heavy rain is being forecast for the South Island in October. And today is cold. I saw two bumblebees yesterday so hopefully they will pollinate my broad beans which have lots of flowers on them.

   Poetry is the theme this week.  Did you see the article in the Sunday Star Times (24 September, A 12) about Bill Manhire? His advice to writers is to ‘Read, read, read’ (unlike some others who say: ‘Write, write, write’). Why he has an AA sign saying ‘Katherine Mansfield Birthplace’ behind him is never mentioned!

   He is quoted as saying that he’s retiring as Director of Victoria University’s Institute of Modern letters (IML), to become ‘a proper writer’.  Damien Wilkins will take over as Director. Bill Manhire has a new book out, Selected Poems (Victoria University Press). The article made me dip into my copy of What to call your Child (Godwit, 1999).  A number of the poems are based on Manhire’s experience in Antarctica. My copy is number 673 of a limited hardback edition of 1500.  ‘Visiting Mr Shackleton’ was a poem that confirmed it was OK to write Found Poetry, a form we all had a go at. I loved the way he used phrases from a visitors' book.

    There’s also a villanelle about a lucky Lotto shop.  Interesting because we mentioned this form at our last poetry meeting when one of our group had written a poem based on this form.  Another well known poem, though not in the book,  is ‘Erebus Voices’, the poem he wrote in 2004 for Sir Ed Hillary to read at the service to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the Erebus disaster in Antarctica.

   Manhire talks about a ‘Wizard of Oz’ syndrome that is common to artists. You want the work to be ‘big and booming and occupying the whole world, but you’re just the little person behind the curtain, crossing out this word and putting in a better word.’ He doesn’t believe in inspiration, just hard work. That reminds me of the quote I put on the Picton Poets’ Facebook page a while ago.

     Bill Manhire acknowledges that in New Zealand poetry is important for ceremonial occasions like weddings and funerals but not so much in daily life whereas in other cultures it is very important to people’s lives.  In the introduction to Reflections we said that for Picton Poets poetry is ‘central to our lives helping us to convey our vision of life in this place we call home.’ Maybe looking back that statement was a bit esoteric but it seemed right at the time (Reflections, Picton Poets an anthology, (Prisma Print, 2011).

In October Bill Manhire will be at the Frankfurt Book Fair http://buchmesse.de/en

 

 

 

If I knew where the good songs come from, I’d go there more often.

– Leonard Cohen

 

I was tweeting about how there has been a change of stand for the New Zealand Society of Authors at the Frankfurt Book Fair to allow better access for New Zealand authors and now I have a German airline following my tweets!
   I know I said I was going to write more about 9/11 but today I want to tell you about something more inspiring. It is an initiative from Marlborough school students.  In 2010 Springlands School had the idea of creating a Taylor River Writers' Walk.  So far there are three poems engraved on granite plaques set on huge rocks along the riverbank.  The idea of the project was part of the school’s environmental education programme.  Students wanted to remind people to look after the river as it is special. Other schools plan to be involved in future.
    A third poem has been recently unveiled. The poem, a combined effort by three Mayfield School pupils, begins:

The Taylor River flows through Te Waiharakeke,

glistening in the sunshine,

drifting with the wind,

peaceful ...

 

   Another initiative from school students can be seen in Nelson.  Tahunanui Primary School’s Room 12 students decided to honour well known author Maurice Gee by placing a plaque on a seat at the start of the path leading up to the centre of New Zealand. The plaque reads ‘Bide a wee’ and was inspired after the students read one of Maurice Gee’s books The World around the Corner. Two of the characters meet at a seat which has a plaque with the words ‘Bide a wee’ on it. The students were disappointed to find there was no plaque on the seat as featured in the book. They wrote to the editor of the Nelson Mail and in response the Nelson City Council provided a plaque. This plaque complements the one on a chair on the banks of the Maitai River put in place by the Top of the South Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors in May 2011. 

   The Taylor River Writers’ Walk and the new plaque for Maurice Gee will be welcome additions to the Top of the South Literary Trail scheduled to be released as a brochure or website or both in 2013.
    My mother told me once that my great-grandmother of Scottish origin used to say things like ‘Bide a wee’ meaning ‘Stay a while’, and used the word ‘bairn’ instead of child. She was also told not to ask questions so we missed out on a lot of family history. I can’t remember the phrase she used to get my mother to stop being so inquisitive but strangely enough I can still hear my mother’s voice in my head as she told me about it.

 

Sources:

Leonard Cohen quote from:  The Exercise Book: Creative writing exercises from Victoria University's Institute of Modern Letters edited by Bill Manhire, Ken Duncum, Chris Price and Damien Wilkins, Victoria University Press 2011, reprinted 2012.

 

Information about Maurice Gee plaque from NZSA Top of the South e-newsletter 14 September 2012.

Article about the Taylor River Walk: The Marlborough Express, Friday 24 August 2012