The more I get to know, the less I find that I understand (Porcupine Tree)

The coastal view looking towards NP from Oakura

Wie geht's?

Visiting a new baby was one of the reasons for our recent trip to Taranaki in the second week of my study break. Kerry and Shamara's latest son is a bonny baby - all are looking good and doing well. Along the way we caught up with some friends and family, which was cool! 

I kinda realised (again) how many old friends we have in the 'naki - more than we can visit with in two days that's fersure.

One of the other reasons was to commemorate the anniversary of Patricia Smith's passing (Jacky and Michelle's mum). That meant a visit to one of her old haunts - The Teahouse in New Plymouth's majestic Pukekura Park. Unfortunately, they didn't have any lamingtons in their cabinet (a poor show). Never-the-less, it has become a fitting ritual. 

Rest in peace Pat. And thanks again, for producing two rather remarkable girls!

We missed seeing a few friends and I didn't get to A Records (a new shop in Fitzroy), so we'll need to revisit in the near future.

Taranaki!! A happening place!

Love and peace - Wozza

I'm going to wrap my love around you (The Waterboys)

Wie geht's?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I would sometimes  spend nights on my own at Ma's place in One Tree Hill.

Ma was my mum's mum. She lived alone at 11 Kawau Road and she could cook trout to perfection.

My brother is allergic to fish. I love fish.

So, from time to time, mum would drop me off at Ma's and I would do some gardening jobs and Ma would cook a trout meal for me and it would taste like heaven.

I'd sleep over, so together we'd watch some TV programmes that I was never allowed to watch at home, later than I was allowed to stay up at home. Most notably The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I'm keen for Asher to have something like that experience.

Study breaks are a great opportunity for this. Recently, we picked him up from Palmerston North and he stayed overnight at Maple Grove. He even helped me out with getting the firewood in, so he earned $1.

We watched the first episode of Star Wars, the under-appreciated The Phantom Menace, up to the end of the pod race before he went to bed (a bit later than normal). We finished it after breakfast.

Will he love his times with Papa and Mema at Maple Grove as much as I did with Ma? I really hope so.

Love and peace - Papa

It's the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together (Yoda)

Wie geht's?

Thanks to Star Wars, dualistic opposites continue to be on my mind of late. Particularly while watching TV programmes like Alone where survival opposites are either find food/stay warm or tap out, and Dance Moms. Yes - Dance Moms. It's a matter of winners and losers.

On the surface Star Wars is about an evil, sinister, power-mad Empire and a group of freedom-loving, worthy rebels with a Princess on their side, but it's way more nuanced than that.

Anakin, Luke, Kylo Ren, for instance, have on-going inner battles with their various instincts and emotions like anger.

Recently we re-watched Episodes 7 to 9, Solo and Rogue One. In each there is a clear interplay between truth and lies, appearance and reality, goodness and evil, being active and letting events play out. The key word being 'interplay'.

In Alone, the battle to survive the harsh elements is also of the inner variety. We've started watching Alone: Frozen (6 returning contestants need to last 50 days for a share of some prize-money). Very quickly two men decided they couldn't continue. The interplay between expectations, the pull of home and a knowledge of what was to come made them reflect on what they were doing in a freezing Labrador.

In Dance Moms there is a raging battle going on every episode within the moms - do they intervene? Do they swallow their thoughts? Do they confront Abby? And the on-going battles between the moms are fascinating as well.

Abby Lee Miller (the owner of the studio) is no saint, that's for sure, but she also doesn't hide her dark side or her intentions (win at all costs).

Nuances within nuances. That's what keeps me tuning in.

Love and peace - Wozza

If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf (Nikita Khrushchev)

Wie geht's?

Lately, we've been binge watching Alone - season 10, 11 and now 12. Samantha and Andrew got us started on this series and it's retained its appeal.

For the uninitiated: Alone is an American survival competition. It follows the self-documented daily struggles of 10 individuals as they try to survive alone in the wilderness for as long as possible using a limited amount of survival equipment. With the exception of medical check-ins, the participants are isolated from each other and all other humans. They may withdraw from the competition ("tap out") at any time, or be removed due to failing a medical check-in. The contestant who remains the longest wins a monetary prize.

The early episodes of each season are all about settling into who's who, and predicting who will tap out first. Once the ten has been reduced to about five, the show develops a different kind of intensity.

I hadn't realised that so far there were only two episodes of season 12 to view on TV One on demand, so we'll need to wait a while for it to stockpile more episodes before returning to this one.

In the meantime, we figured we would return to Dance Moms for season two. Oh my! This programme is so hilarious and frightening at the same time: Episode 1 and one of the moms calls Abby a whore!! Twice!! Yikes. 

These women are more vicious than any of the predators the contestants experience on Alone!

Must watch TV? Yessireebob!

Love and peace - Wozza

Breathe, breathe in the air; don't be afraid to care. Leave but don't leave me (Pink Floyd)

Photo by blocks on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Recently, Jacky and I were talking about where my love for records came from, and I had to go back to my parents' influence to explain it.

While watching Alone, we were both struck by how much the participants discussed the influence of their parents - notably fathers.

The success with which human beings grow, mature and enhance their power as psychological agents depends on their ability to properly internalize the personality traits they've inherited, on their ability to properly negotiate between being active and passive, self-assertive and receptive, independent and dependent, in relation to their parents and other role-models (Star Wars and Philosophy Strikes Back).

Interestingly, while Jacky also had music and records featuring heavily in her childhood, the record collecting bug never bit. While for me - gazing at magical record covers in my parents' collection (along with books on their bookshelves*) lit a burning fire in me to collect records and read books.  

*An aside: some of the books I remember still from gazing at my parents' collection beside the fireplace at 18 Korma Ave.: the Doctor in The House series by Richard Gordon; Alistair McLean novels; Nevile Shute; Hammond Innes. I can still see the spines.

Love and peace - Wozza

The temples are the links to lead us through our past (Mike Pinder)

Photo by John Moeses Bauan
on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Robert Bly's summary of the Wild Man's qualities in Iron John rang a bell with me.

The Wild Man's qualities, among them love of spontaneity, association with wilderness, honoring of grief, and respect for riskiness, frightens many people. Some men, as soon as they receive the first impulses to riskiness and recognize its link with what we've called the Wild Man, become frightened, stop all wildness, and recommend timidity and collective behavior to others. Some of these men become high school principals, some sociologists, some businessmen, Protestant ministers, bureaucrats, therapists; some become poets and artists.

Risk involves the possibility of failure but failure is good. The Wild Man path involves 'intensity, awareness of the wound, alertness to impulse, the possibility of a fall'.

It's good for former high school principals to keep that in mind.

Love and peace - Wozza

Love and marriage, love and marriage: go together like a horse and carriage (Frank Sinatra)

Wie geht's?

Robert Bly on marriage:

In marriage, there can be boundaries, and valid
points of view on each side of the boundary. They don't have to merge into one view.

This seems a no-brainer to me. Although couples merge in many ways, each person in a marriage is distinct. When I think about my parents' marriage, they merge as 'Dulcie and Graham'. 

However, they were two distinct people with clear differences in background, personality, interests, and characteristics. By the same token, they are forever united in my brain as one unit with the same core values and the same approach to parenting.

I tend to see my own marriage in the same way. We merge as 'Warren and Jacky' - but we are also a unit with the same core values. That said, we still each have valid points of view on each side of the boundary.

I think that view also holds up for the marriages of our friends and whanau.

Love and peace - Wozza