Some celebrations

Sitiveni turned 4 last weekend. It was a time to celebrate with his family and some of his little kindy friends. He had a Spiderman theme and mum made and decorated the cake for him. We just sent some cash up and mum took him shopping so he could pick out something himself. He bought himself a Spiderman glove that squirts water :) What else would a 4 year old boy buy :)

 

A week or so earlier Arlo turned 6 and he also had a party with his school friends. He likes to read so we gave him a fun book about a farmer who blew up the cowshed. And a card. A 5 year old card! I received a message from his grandmother "please message 

Great Granma and tell her I am 6, not 5." Oh dear. I knew he was turning 6, how did I make that mistake? But all is forgiven and we sent him another card with the correct age on it :) 

And I was celebrating getting my new specs, until I got them. Everything is beautiful and clear but nothing is sharp. So they need to go back but I need to see the optometrist again before they can be adjusted and can't get in until next week. Which also means I have to cancel an afternoon tea engagement as well as they're both at the same time. But I do need the specs adjusted so I'll grin and bear it. Otherwise wait another week. 

Tomorrow is a holiday for Matariki, the Maori New Year, so I thought I'd go and take a photo of our towns' matariki star cluster in the dark but it didn't turn out as I'd hoped as there are too many lights around it. A shame as I think it would be quite striking otherwise. 

A short explanation of Matariki taken from the internet.

 Matariki, also known as the Māori New Year, is a time of celebration, remembrance, and looking forward, marked by the rising of the Matariki star cluster (Pleiades) in the winter sky. It's a time for communities to gather, share stories, reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

Alice and Sitiveni are all dressed up in their Tongan national dress tonight to go to Alice's school celebration for Matariki. Sitiveni took part in his kindy kapa haka presentation earlier in the week. 

And just because I can - eldest daughter Jacqui sent me this photo of a feijoa she had sliced in half and captioned it

'It looks so happy. I don't want to eat it...😥'

And I'll leave you there.

Enjoy your week wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Until next time

Diana

Matariki

 Celebrating the Maori New Year

This is a new holiday in the New Zealand calendar, this  year is only the third year it has been celebrated nationally.

 I have to admit that it took me some time to work out my feelings about it as this is a cultural celebration belonging to the Maori people and as such has some aspects I'm not entirely comfortable with. 

I've come to the conclusion that those who wish to will celebrate in the way it is intended and others will treat it as another reason for a long weekend with the majority taking part in activities in much the same way as they would at Christmas or Diwali or other cultural celebrations - without having a full or true understanding of the celebrations.

Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. In Japan it is known as Subaru and in Hawaii Makali'i, and by various other names throughout different cultures.

It is also known as the wishing star. Māori traditionally would use this star to set their desires and dreams for the year, commonly known now as New Year's resolutions. (notes from the internet).

The pictures above are our town's depiction of the Matariki cluster and it looks quite special in the darkness, much better than in the photos.

Whatever you are doing this weekend have a wonderful time.

Keep well, keep warm, keep cool and enjoy yourselves.

Diana

Feijoa and other stuff

Today I have been brave and made feijoa chutney. Only a small amount because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. And after last years disastrous attempt at feijoa jam I thought I'd go slow and easy. It looks pretty good but the proof will be in the eating. I'll give my little mother a small jar to try, she's not too keen on the fruit but might enjoy it made into something different. Apparently it tastes a little like pineapple, but it's not like any pineapple I've ever tasted. Wikipedia says it is a type of guava native to South America. I think it is an acquired taste, unless you grow up eating it, which I didn't. I do enjoy it a little more each time I have it though. 

The weekend has been busy, starting on Friday night with an outing to 10 pin bowling with the youth group and then a craft afternoon and fish n chip tea with the Sunday school kids on Saturday. That was a lot of fun but very tiring. Sunday School yesterday and today was a day at home. Just mucking around doing what I wanted when I wanted.

I just love this picture of the snow owls the kids made. They are all so different and so expressive. As it was the night of the Matariki lantern  parade in town we also made lanterns and after tea tested them out so that the parents and kids could see how they had turned out.  They were really effective in the  dark but  my photo didn't turn out so, sorry, I can't show you.    

There is still a lot of this white stuff hanging around making it very cold and yukky. You may guess that I am a warm weather person. A few days before this dumped we had torrential rains for over 2 days causing floods and slips nation wide.  Bridges and roads were washed out and people evacuated from homes where the ground was falling away under them. We had one day reprieve and then the snow started. After 3 days of non stop snow moving up the country people have again been cut off and there have been more road closures, slips and power outages. Over a metre of snow has fallen in some places and while that is good for the snowfields it is a disaster for the farming community. Here where I live on the Taieri Plain it never settled on the ground and while that made me happy it meant the kids didn't get any snow days from school and were very disappointed. I just think we were extremely lucky when I see what has happened elsewhere.

And just to finish, here is a shot of the so called super moon, through the trees and as the clouds parted briefly earlier this evening. 

Happy Matariki

Diana