Holiday far away, to stay, on a holiday, far away. Let's go today (Weezer)

Huka Falls and boating on the river by Te Rangiita

Wie geht's?

Jacky and I have just returned from our brief trip away from Maple Grove (huge thanks to my school for shouting us a two night stay at the Millennium hotel in Lake Taupo). 

We returned to a few familiar Taupo haunts and recharged for a couple of days.

Taupo (pronounced Toe-paw) has been a holiday destination for me and my family, off and on, for many years. My earliest memories are of motel stays on the way to the Chateau Tongariro but then for 4 or 5 years dad took us to his work colleague's place in Te Rangiita - a little settlement on the way to Turangi.

My parents then bought a section and built 'The Taupo house' close to Rainbow point on the fringes of the Taupo township.

Our children know this place well - we had many holidays there as they were growing up.

Rituals like Rainbow Point Store ice creams, the Lions' Walk, trips to the video store in town, the swings and mini-golf, cricket in the front yard, and visits to Huka Falls and Craters Of The Moon were part of our holidays there. As Keegan said recently - Taupo: The Greatest Hits!

Each time I'm visiting Lake Taupo I get flashbacks to events of the past.

As we drove to Huka Falls I remembered as a very young boy causing dad some instant angst. I have always loved puns and word play, so as we drove past a sign for the Lake Taupo Lookout I said from the back seat - Lake Taupo LOOKOUT!!! (shouting this last bit).

Oh Boy, did I get a scalding for that one.

Te Rangiita era - GNP. Photo by me.

Funnily enough a lot of my memories are from the Te Rangiita stays at the Jackman's house from when I was about 10 to 15. A beautiful spot and carefree days spent fishing, reading, mucking around in boats.

Sounds like a retirement plan right there! 

Love and peace - Wozza

Goodbye blackberry way. I can't see you, I don't need you. Goodbye blackberry way, sure to want me back another day (The Move)

Wie geht's?

Blackberry is one tough son of a gun.

For some reason it's charming when you come across it in England (calling it 'bramble' is also charming) but a miserable infestation when it's on your property in Nu Zild.

When we lived in Leigh-on-sea we would walk towards Hadleigh Castle with a bucket and pick blackberries from the bramble for a pie (in my memory Jacky and the girls made this). This doesn't happen at Maple Grove!

Yesterday, after repairing some deer fencing and clearing out the low hanging branches in the pine shelter belt, I decided to tackle a couple of persistent  blackberry spots. 

It always takes me ages. First, there's all the protective clothing, the double gloving, long sleeve shirts and the snipping away done very gingerly, and then the careful carrying to the wheelbarrow and the careful placing on the burn pile.

All while getting snagged multiple times and needing first aid from nurse Jacky for various cuts and abrasions.

Horrible stuff.

Love and peace - Wozza

Well, I'll never be a stranger and I'll never be alone, wherever we're together, that's my home (Billy Joel)

21st April 2021 at Nola's Cafe in Waipawa

Wie geht's?

Birthdays of friends and family (Jeanette, Jacky, Sallie, Nita) and anniversaries come thick and fast in April each year and so, naturally, I write about them a lot when they roll around (just use the search in the column next door and you'll see what I mean).

Here's a summary of the anniversaries:

• April 3 - My grandmother (Ma) 's death in 1974
• April 9 - My brother's wedding to Lynda in 1988
• April 18 - My parents' wedding in 1953
• April 21 - Jacky and Wozza's wedding in 1984
• April 23 - My mum (Dulcie) 's birth in 1930
• April 25 - Margo's death in 2018

Anniversaries are curious things. We all have these personal signposts/markers of notable events in our lives.

If I overlayed anniversaries from history then mine would become invisible, however, my personal collection of anniversaries mean more to me than anyone else and certainly more than any historic ones (April 3 was also when Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England in 1043... see what I mean?) 

Happy anniversary Jacky and thanks for the past 37 years for allowing me the pleasure, the privilege of being your husband.

Love and peace - Wozza

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor falls, the major lifts, the baffled king composing Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Wie geht's?

The first term is over and done - sent into the history books by a spectacular House music competition.

A feature of the day at one of my campuses was a senior choir doing their truncated version of Hallelujah - the Leonard Cohen song from 1984 (the theme for the competition was 'The 1980s').

Now, I'm not a Cohen fan but I do like some cover versions of this song - Jeff Buckley's one is well known, but YouTube is chocka with great versions like this, this, and this.

They are great versions. It's a great song. But I think it's best done in a choir. This one featuring Rufus Wainwright and 1,500 singers is next level spine tingling!

It's an interesting song and as I listened to my House senior choir practising it over and over again, it started seeping into my brain and wouldn't move during the week. Plus, I found myself puzzling over the lyrics.

It's one of those enigmatic songs that morphs and twists and spins so that it means something different for everyone and, for me, it changed shape on a daily basis.

The House choir version will live long in my memory - there was a live purity in those practices and they saved their best version for the audience of Friday. Hurrah!

Love and peace - WNP

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes as if to hide a lonely tear. My life will be forever autumn, 'cause you're not here (Justin Hayward)

Wie geht's?

More autumn thoughts for you:

We've had some great autumn days at Maple Grove lately - grey skies, rain, leaves falling, trees turning beautiful colours - you know the drill.

Yesterday, I had to drive to Gisborne for work and by mid afternoon I was stuck behind a cattle truck coming into Wairoa. Never great right?

Except this time it was!

The draft caused by the truck kicked up all the fallen leaves on the side of the road, and so I drove through a kind of snowstorm of autumn leaves for a couple of kilometres. It was so cool!

While doing this I thought about my deep seated and long established love of autumn.

Two things came immediately to mind: 

• That book I read as a child about an overgrown garden that Maple Grove's overgrown driveway continually reminds me of (I've written about this book a lot over the years in this blog - I wish I could find another copy)
• Driving home in Leigh-on-sea with Jade and Samantha from school in autumnal darkness. Cosy and safe, return to the womb style, I guess.

Both memories have really super impressed themselves in some fundamental part of my brain and they are triggered on weekends like we've just had - as I very contentedly gaze out of rain splattered windows at leaves on our huge maple trees changing colour under a dark broody sky, while a fire warms up the villa's kitchen.

Hard not to be in pensive and wistful mood on those occasions.

Love and peace - Wozza

If they make Tony Adams captain we could all go screaming in the park (Joe Strummer)

In one of my happy places

Wie geht's?

For the most part, I'm a happy sort of bloke. A colleague and I were discussing happiness recently and she offered to lend me some of Gretchen Rubin's books.

These are The Happiness Project and The Four Tendencies (which I'll write about in the Baggy Trewsers blog).

Why am I generally a happy bloke? 

According to current research cited in Gretchen's book - its mainly about your genetics, so I have my parents to thank for 50% of my predelection for happiness (age, gender, ethnity, marriage status, income, health, occupation, religious affiliation make up to 20% and the other 30% is a product of how I think and act).

So thanks to Dulcie and Graham, Jacky Purdy (she's beautiful inside and out), and me - I'm a happy bloke. 

It also helps that I'm a teacher on a good wage who lives on a few acres in the country with no neighbours to speak of.

I'm pretty sure my other 30% comes from my love of music (15%) and English (reading and writing - 15%).

Here are the things that are currently adding to my happiness:

• It's autumn (I LOVE autumn) and we had our first frost yesterday (so good!)
• Music and reading (on the day I wrote this post I finished a Desmond Bagley adventure story, started another Anne Tyler novel, dipped a toe into The Happiness Project while listening to Brand X albums in the warmth of our Garden Room while the dogs slept at my feet)
• Writing (I worked on some posts to four of my blogs)
• I enjoy menial tasks like hanging out washing, picking up horse poo, baiting rat traps (rats don't like winter so they start casting around for some warmer lodgings)
• Following Arsenal F.C. - we play Liverpool overnight so I'm forever hopeful (if they lose I'll be momentarily less happy)
• Looking at my record collection and posting photos on the Facebook vinyl group I belong to (the Brand X live album is great so I needed to share that today)
• Listening to MNAC albums and writing about them (Herman Dune was the latest band I never would have discovered without Alex, Lew and Tom's input) 
• Seinfeld (the show - it figures in my daily life in many ways - quotes come to mind and Pinterest groups have stills that instantly make me smile)
• The Beatles posters in my music room (as well as my other decorations in there - they bring me joy everytime)
• Watching Asher interact with his mum and us (Papa and Mema) is a real source of happiness!

Love and peace - Wozza

On the road again like a band of gypsies we go down the highway (Willie Nelson)

Wie geht's?

It's Easter and I'm resting up somewhat after a rough couple of weeks; being sick and low on energy for school takes its toll. Berocca tablets can only do so much.

So, although I don't feel like taking a physical trip during Easter, I'm going to indulge instead in a pleasurable recollection of virtual travelling from Al Ain to Dubai from a decade ago via Jacky's photos.  

Love and peace - Wozza