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 12th 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).
