You may never know what results from your actions. But if you do nothing there will be no result.

–Mahatma Gandhi (seen at the ‘Seeds of Hope’ exhibition)

ʘ Thursday 13 June. Cool, overcast beginning today, some blue sky later. Very still and the outlines of the hills are standing out more than usual.

   Had fun at the Wine Club evening recently. Jim Jerram from Ostler Wines in the Waitaki Valley in Central Otago spoke about the wines they produce and the limestone terroir and cool climate that helps to produce them. We got to taste a pinot noir from a variety of vintages including the award winning Caroline pinot noir. Interestingly when Jim asked the audience which of the three pinots they preferred there was a very mixed response, about 1/3^rd voted for each year’s vintage. www.ostlerwine.co.nz

   Our weekly Quiz team continues to achieve its goal of coming second to last. In fact last night we had $60 to spend at the bar having been second to last twice in a row and winning the Baffler question last week. The answer was a ‘crocodile’ and we guessed it on the second round along with four other teams so there was a play off and we won. So last night we bought a bottle of merlot and a bottle of chardonnay (Kim Crawford – not much choice really, and did you know Kim is male not female?), and $10 worth of chips to share. By filling out the prize vouchers our team is in the draw to win $5000 in a national competition.

   Two of the people in our team ride a tandem bicycle and have taken part in the grape ride on it so if you see them struggling up a hill near you please shout encouragement.  

Eco Artists Exhibition

   I am collaborating with a Christchurch glass artist in an Eco Artists’ exhibition to be held in Wellington in September in the Department of Conservation National office atrium (DOC’s exhibition space in central Wellington).Together we are looking at the Kaipupu Point project. This is a very good example of a community working together along with the Department of Conservation, Port Marlborough and local businesses. The theme of the exhibition is: ‘What are you, (whanau, group and so on), doing for Conservation Week?’’

   We hope to express through art the concept of cooperation with DOC, local businesses and the community and the importance of looking after the land and the flora and fauna associated with Kaipupu Point and the Sounds. With the recent DOC restructuring it is worrying that there may be fewer resources to achieve this.  I can’t say too much about the artwork itself except that it will incorporate a poem of mine and an interpretation of photographs of mine and also some sketches. You will have to go and see it.

   At Bookchat this week we wrote down our ‘Top 10 reads’. Some opted for a ‘desert island’ list or a ‘trip to Mars’ list and others came up with books they would like to read again. The Collected Works of Shakespeare and the Bible featured and for some of us the Shorter Oxford Dictionary. It’s huge and unbelievably heavy and in two volumes and I refer to it a lot. The local bookshop owners were very pleased when I bought it (a birthday gift from my father), as it cost a considerable sum of money. I have just voted in the Whitcoulls’ Top 10 competition. The incentive was to go in the draw to win $1000 worth of books! It only takes 5 minutes to vote but I might have been better off spending the time reading Life after Life by Kate Atkinson which is now overdue from the library.

‘Seeds of Hope’

   I volunteered to sit on the ‘Seeds of Hope’ exhibition and saw this quotation about sustainable development. It’s a phrase that gets tossed into a lot of discussions and I thought this was a good definition:

   ‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising      the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.

[From: Brundtland Commission report: Our common future, 1987]

And:

Future generations

Life on earth

Country

Family

ME

 Notes: 

  *We continue to await the outcome of the proposed Clifford Bay move.    

   *A couple of the local cafes are now offering lots of gluten-free options so that’s progress.

   *The editorial in the latest ‘Listener’ has worrying news about book publishing in this country – not great news for writers.

Recommended reading:

The Rosie Project, George Simsion [I laughed a lot]

Recommended Films:

Silver Linings Playbook – [funny/sad and a great ending]
Song for Marion [sad, take a tissue]

Recommended CD

‘The Latin Soul - Jennifer Zea & the Antipodean Collective’, produced by Nathan Haines [purchased by mail order from ‘Everyman’ shop in Hardy Street, Nelson – easier than encountering the claustrophobic shelving in the Warehouse.]