Go fly a kite

We've had a few interesting things happen in the past few days, so I thought I would get one more blog posting up before we head into the wilds where there is no internet!

Yesterday, we headed out for Farewell Spit, but never did make it that far. There is a thriving arts community in this area, and they publish a very comprehensive studio tour booklet. Using this, and my copy of Gardens to Visit in NZ, we meandered northwards, stopping at various artists' studios and gardens along the way. At the studio/gallery of Marion Towns, I fell in love with a pastel called Soul Watching over Poverty Bay, and Frank has arranged for it to be copied to a high quality giclee (printed on canvas) for my fiftieth birthday--lucky me! You can view it here: http://www.mariontowns.co.nz/art-gallery.php?id=18 Today we went to meet Marion at her home (a lovely house high above Nelson with stupendous views of the sea) to make the arrangements, and she was also kind enough to spend considerable time giving me feedback on some of the pastel paintings I've created in the past few weeks along the way. Pastel is a new medium for me and I have lots to learn, so it was very helpful and generous of her. The painting will be a wonderful souvenir of our time here.

We also visited the home and studio of Anne Bannock, and nearly had to send up a flare to be rescued from her hedge maze! Fun. Anne is (besides being a painter of wonderfully colourful, joyous landscapes) a textile artist, and participates yearly in Nelson's annual "World of Wearable Art" show for which local artists create fabulous costumes. Pictured below is one of Anne's creations, from several years' ago, called Tall Poppy. She also had a gorgeous costume based on Birds of Paradise, and another with a Time theme--wacky but marvelous. What a creative person, and so warm and welcoming as well.

Today we also went to the Saturday morning market in Nelson, and enjoyed the colours and activity. I was sad that we are travelling tomorrow, as they had buckets of magnificent golden yellow and mango orange calla lilies (see below) for $5 a bunch! As well, I was astonished to find cut gentians (fellow gardeners will know that for us these are a rarity, to be coddled into bloom) for $4 a fistful! Incredible. When I expressed my regret at not being able to buy either of these, because we were leaving, the vendor promptly broke off a spray of gentians and a calla, and gave them to me, telling me to enjoy them for the day. New Zealanders! They are amazing people.

Just a block from the market, I visited the studio/shop of the maker of the actual "One Ring" for Lord of the Rings, Jens Hensen--actually, they had to make about forty of them in various sizes. The largest one shown below (about 8" across) is the one filmed revolving in the opening scenes. Pretty cool.

On the way back to the cottage, we came across a kite flying festival, with handmade kites in every imaginable shape and size, including the seductive mermaid below. There were penguins, pandas, fish, frogs, seahorses, two scuba divers chased by sharks, and even a pair of legs kicking a soccer ball! At the same venue, young men were racing kite-powered skateboards and dune buggies. As wind is the one thing you can count on in NZ, they have found lots of ways to enjoy it.

Our slightly strange final dinner here tonight included pork chops (cured--all pork products here are cured like ham), corn on the cob (a bit closer to cow corn than you might like...) and cauliflower (did you know that, when you run out of butter, and you only have whole wheat flour, you can still make a cheese sauce with olive oil? looks very odd, but tastes ok). We will be sad to leave here, as we have enjoyed the area very much--but Arthur's Pass beckons!

Oh, and in response to a question posed in a comment on an earlier posting: there are no screens on windows here, and everyone keeps all windows and doors open. The only insects are bees (which never come in) and enormous 'house' flies, which look very menacing but in fact almost never land--they just buzz in, take a reconnaissance flight around, and buzz right back out again. So, sorry, no trouble here in Paradise!