The grand show on Great Barrier Island Ten weeks! The longest gap between posts since I started writing them in 2015. Editing is the culprit, but a wonderful culprit! A bunch of juicy projects came my way all at once and they’ve taken over my computer time. A work in progress, chapter by lovely chapter, is Through Her Eyes: 16 women of Aotea Great Barrier Island. It’s a beautiful and insightful book gathering together the life stories and philosophies of a diverse group of Barrier women, with several fine art photos of each of them. Then along came the latest in a long line of master’s theses over the years by Japanese graduate students. They’re elementary teachers or high school teachers of English as a second language who’ve been learning to use “whole language” to teach English. I’ve written before about the glories of whole language, with its learner-centred approach based on authenticity, experiential learning and integration of the language arts skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Whole language develops learners’ language competence by engaging them in meaningful communication. It’s the natural, organic way humans have learned language effortlessly through the millennia. My current book is another in my big group of favourites, though it’s with “if only” wistfulness that I savour its ideas. It’s by Francean McCall, an experienced teacher of Steiner, Waldorf and enquiry-based learning. Fran has been recognised as one of the most inspiring teachers in New Zealand! Her book is a guide for homeschooling parents as well as a description of her absolutely brilliant online homeschooling programme, www.functionaleducation.com. Fran created Functional Education as a solution for parents facing problems with their children’s education. The few Steiner and Waldorf schools in New Zealand have long waiting lists, many parents were thrown into homeschooling at the deep end because of COVID, others who’d already been attempting it have encountered difficulties, and others are dissatisfied with traditional education or their children are struggling within it, but they lack confidence to embark on a homeschooling journey on their own. Each chapter is so refreshing I could weep. The world would be a different place if all children were educated along the lines of her programme. I wish I’d been! Working with Fran is a collaboration made in heaven. It’s a real joy to draw upon my experience in alternative education to advocate for the educational change I’m passionate about. I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to help Fran get her message out and attract parents and children to her unique and much-needed programme. Waiting in the wings are books by friends Keith and Mary in the UK. Mary’s book is about her MirrorStones, a “self-reflective tool” she manifested for times when more clarity and understanding are needed. When read and reflected upon with open heart and mind, they’re gentle guides to awareness, inspiration, growth and self-healing. I’ve immersed myself in some samples and I know their power! Keith has written more than 5000 poems, which he’s sorted into over 60 categories! I know Keith well enough to know his ideals are of the highest, his poetry ideas form in his heart and emerge through his sharp intellect, and I’ve read enough of his poems to know he has valuable insights to share and remarkable facility with words to express them. Some of his poems are very funny as well! from Searching Don’t Look Don’t look for what you have not lost You’ll muddle matters more, So many things you’re sure to find Yet not what you search for Look to yourself, the master key Lies waiting deep within, Unlock the door of Self to see No lack have you therein from Words, Signs and Symbols Wordless Truth Plain imprecision dogs the task, Exasperates right from start, All effort wrought, all meaning sought By language of the heart By word we fumble to express, Communicate the real, To touch the heart, to impart Truest sense of that we feel Yet word is not the thing Oft thrashing distant from the fact, And silence may more surely say By wordless truth exact from Freedom and Adventure The Gateway Through Come with me, let’s up and flee And we shall see what we shall see, I know not where the path may lead But let’s chase dreams, this rasping need To search out places far away Beyond this world in disarray Both worlds within and worlds without We’ll wend as one devoid of doubt, To never tire, to never cease, Resolve life’s puzzle piece by piece Until at last we step into Sweet namelessness, the gateway through… ending with something completely different, from Silly Rhymes Our Soup Bum of rat and toe of dog, Hair of bat and heart of hog, Mash them up and make a stew, Just enough for me and you Add some slime of slug (with salt) And don’t forget that cheese you bought, Stir well, don’t spit or dribble in Our soup from your now drooling chin And finally let’s serve our broth Upon that gaudy tablecloth, Two spoons and napkins quickly place Before we slurp it in our face! Come sit, fix bibs, just smell and stop As bum of rat floats to the top, Our steamy soup looks better than Cow pie that’s noshed by Desperate Dan! Can’t Live Without Music on Aotea FM Our beloved Jordan was on the show talking about his 58-day sailing adventure in a small yacht from Tahiti to British Columbia via Hawaii last year. It was just Jordan and the captain aboard, and alas they soon found they didn’t get along very well – a familiar tale on long voyages in small craft. Jordan’s life aboard ship was round-the-clock six-hour watches, with colossal containerships and supertankers never far from his mind, and the rest of the time sleeping, eating and hanging out in the galley, which were his quarters. He told tales of high seas and near catastrophe, doldrums with little progress, the resulting dwindling supplies of food and water, and great relief when they arrived, as much about survival as about parting company! With all that, it was a magnificent trip that he’d do again in an instant! The Ring Gold, gods, giants, dragons, airborne horses …. murder, love, greed, folly, valour and devotion – this Ring is The Ring of the Nibelung, the 15-hour epic by the German composer Richard Wagner. The Ring is as revered now as it was at its first performance at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany in 1876. It’s a mammoth undertaking presented in four evenings that’s still performed in big opera houses, and tickets always sell out on the first day of sales! After all, it’s among the mightiest single monuments of art created by one person. The Ring is performed in opera houses, but its four parts aren’t called operas because they don’t follow opera conventions such as arias and ensembles. The four “music dramas” are The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung, which means Twilight of the Gods. Earlier this year for six or eight weeks, most nights from around 10 pm, Ro and I watched 15-20 minutes, until we’d experienced the entire Ring! We were encouraged by our music lover friend Robert, who knows it well and has been to several performances. And we’re glad we did! A wild horsewoman of the air, the Valkyrie Brunnhilde In the classical hour on two of my shows I summarised the story of the Ring and played highlights of its incredible music. I pasted in below*** the summary I wrote, if you’d like to get an idea of what it’s all about. And if you’re keen for a profound experience and to watch a most BEAUTIFUL production in every way, search for “The Ring of the Nibelungen, Bayreuth 1979, English subtitles, youtube” and you’ll find each of the four parts. It may take some searching for the right ones. I can send you the links – just get in touch. You too will be very glad you did! Check out Aotea FM on livestream at aoteafm.org or radio-new-zealand.co.nz/aotea-fm and let me know a song you’d like to hear! The first Aotea FM schedule after presenters could return to the studio Chooks in the studio! Organic NZ Check out the current issue of Organic NZ magazine! Starting on page 40 you’ll find the article I wrote with our friend the medical herbalist Mary Allan (included in my last update). Very exciting to have an article published in ONZ! On page 8, “Things We Like”, you’ll find a wee review of the Wholefoods Handbook 2020. Still passionate up north in Okiwi Exciting happenings at Okiwi Passion, where our hard-working friends the market gardeners Gerald and Caity grow beautiful vegetables, fruit and herbs for weekly produce boxes for as many as 100 island households. You haven’t tasted a carrot til you’ve tried one of theirs! They also grow salad mixes and microgreens for island cafes and the two food shops, plus hundreds of punnets of seedlings. Their popularity has exceeded their infrastructure capacity! They’re crowdfunding for a large greenhouse for seedlings, for a low-tech planting device that will save hours of crouching labour when they’re planting them out, and a walk-in chiller (to replace ice packs in styrofoam boxes, can you believe it?). Read their inspiring story and see beautiful photos and videos of their market garden at fundrazr.com/okiwipassion The Wholefoods Handbook is one of the rewards! Caity and Gerald rely on three fit and dedicated interns every summer, when the gardens at Okiwi Passion are at full tilt and the cycles of abundance need to be planted, tended, harvested, packed and distributed. Their interns are usually from overseas, but this year, of course, there won’t be anyone from overseas. Even two-month WWOOFers would be lifesaving. Read more under “Learn” on their website: okiwipassion.co.nz. If you or someone you know might be keen, let me know and I’ll put you in touch, or contact them directly. Guaranteed to be a wonderful experience in a very special place! One of eight one-acre growing blocks Smaller scale growers share their harvests Greg brought beetroot And we made borscht! Jordan brought a bag of limes and Santi made them into scrumptions key lime pie, using a recipe I’ve had since the 1970s! Annette left out heaps and crates of yacons for passers-by to help themselves Extra beauty in one of many bountiful goodie boxes from Bev and Les Once again grapefruits (and lemons) are coming in from all directions – Leo, Bev, Robyn, Jordan, Maxine, Orla, Robin and David have all given us some! This is a special one amongst the dozens. NZ spinach going wild at the Community Gardens And Santi keeps on keeping us in sourdough rye! Swimming carries on, of course. Every day, depending on waves, wind, temperature, sun and tide, it’s eeny, meeny, miny mo for Medlands on the east, Blind Bay on the west or (the cold option!) Kaitoke Stream. After an autumn swim at Medlands Circus comes to Claris Soon after Kiwis could travel freely again, the island had a treat – the Cirque Lemuria, a wee circus travelling around the NZ coast and calling in at different places to do a show. As far as anyone can remember, it was the only circus ever to have been here. It was a grand show and just about the whole island came to see it! Traveling the NZ coast 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 Dear Lucia was here for lunch. As I was “plating”, Jordan turned up. I got out another plate and made three into four, and then we all had the best time! I LOVE that young people like to be with us. Rapturous Eunate at the Medlands overlook Bella realised her dream of her own barber shop in Claris The main road south to north, wharf to wharf from Shoal Bay in Tryphena to Port Fitzroy is 38 km, with many twists, turns, hills and saddles. This is one of the only two straightaways along the route. St Johns Church in Medlands was barged down to the Barrier in 1986 from its original location in Awanui, 7 km north of Kaitaia. Awanui 1986 Medlands 2020 The Barrier from the Isthmus – posted on Barrier Chitchat They say the island’s been easier to spot than usual. We’ve rarely seen the Auckland-Northland coast from the west side of GBI. (GBI is on the horizon, towards the left) This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. —John Muir Sunset at Tryphena *** The Ring in brief
Forever, the Rhinemaidens have guarded gold, a magic helmet and a ring that gives the wearer power to control the world. The dwarf Alberich tricks them and steals it all. The chief god, Wotan, tricks Alberich and steals it all from him, but Wotan has to give it to the two giants who built Valhalla, the palace of the gods, up in the sky. One giant kills the other to keep it all for himself. He turns into a dragon and guards the treasures in a cave for 20 years. The nine Valkyries are daughters of Wotan. The Valkyries are wild horsewomen of the air who rescue heroes fallen in battle and return them to Valhalla. The twins Siegmund and Sieglinde are also children of Wotan who’d been separated at birth. They meet as adults, after Sieglinde had been married against her will, and fall in love. Wotan has ways to find out what’s going on everywhere. He commands his favourite Valkyrie daughter, Brunnhilde, to kill Siegmund for his sins of incest and adultery. Brunnhilde can’t bring herself to do it, but Wotan enters and kills him. Then to punish Brunnhilde he banishes her to sleep on a mountaintop surrounded by fire until a true hero breaks through the fire and awakens her. Sieglinde gives birth to Siegfried but dies in childbirth, leaving him an orphan. He’s raised by the evil dwarf Mime, who intends that when Siegfried grows up he’ll kill the dragon and obtain the treasure, so that Mime can kill Siegfried and get it for himself. Siegfried does kill the dragon, but then he kills Mime. Wearing the ring, he follows a bird to the mountain summit, gets through the fire and awakens Brunnhilde. They fall in love. After some time, Brunnhilde urges Siegfried to leave in search of adventure. He places the ring on her finger before he leaves. He comes upon the Hall of the Gibichungs along the Rhine, where Alberich’s son, the evil dwarf Hagen, lives with the rest of his unsavoury family. Hagen wants the ring for himself. With the others, they plot to drug Siegfried so he forgets his bond with Brunnhilde and agrees to bring her back to marry Hagen. The drug also causes Siegfried to fall in love with Alberiche’s sister, Gutrune. Brunnhilde is devastated and completely at a loss to comprehend what’s going on. She can only think that Siegfried has betrayed her. Siegfried is eventually murdered on a hunt as a result of Hagen’s intrigues. In the last scene of the entire 15-hour epic, Brunnhilde, who now understands the deceit of the Gibichungs, commands that the vassals build a funeral pyre for Siegfried over the Rhine. Hagen attempts to remove the ring from Siegfried’s finger, but his hand rises threateningly and Hagen recoils in fear. Instead, Brunnhilde takes the ring from Siegfried’s finger before his body is placed in the fire. Then she commits suicide by riding into the fire on her horse, Grane, and returns the ring to the Rhinemaidens. Hagen is drowned as he attempts to recover the ring, and the gods and Valhalla are destroyed.
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