Retreating to a ‘bach’ or ‘beach’ this summer?

Merry Xmas from the ‘Land of Down Under’

Taking time out, yes at a Kiwi bach

Eating fish from the weekly catch

Hanging out by the communal pool

In the breeze refreshingly cool

On a cold night, lighting a fire

Dressing in PJs, the evening attire

Taking a ride in a rubber boat

Cooling down while afloat

Playing swing ball and monopoly with the one you love

Being serenaded by a solo dove

Reading ‘Whiskey Lima Golf’ in the shade

Under an umbrella that’s begun to fade

Blobbing on the deck in the sun

Just enjoying old fashion, meagre fun

Join the Kiwis at the beach this summer

Even if you are working through, not such a bummer

Then after hours, collect up your togs, towel and hat

Head for the beach with your loved ones, dog or cat!

Spring Fling & Read

The garden is amazing this time of year

So these are some photos I’d like to share

Please help me out with the names of the flowers

I’m bathing in sunshine between storms and showers

So here we have to my right

Watsonias, tall with flowers pure white

Over here now look straight ahead

Alstroemerias yellow and mostly red

But my favourite ones of them all

Sparaxis so pink and tall

Oh my god if that’s not enough

Our rhodos pink and strong and tough

The birds are out and enjoying the bread

While I’m looking at the island out ahead

And Tui are swarming high and low

Looking at us suspiciously here below

The Tui enjoying a frenzied feed

While I pick up my brilliant book time to read

Whiskey Lima Golf is now the talk of the town

So check out Bach Doctor Press and stick aroun

Crime Fiction: Hey check it out

Coming to a big wide screen

The best crime fiction I’ve ever seen

‘Whiskey Lima Golf’ is out today

Time to order, I would say

Written by Kiwi author Darin Dance

From Bach Doctor Press have a glance

He’s also written about the Trinity Girls

Three career gals with all the frills

Also based in the capital, yes no less

Check out how these snazzy girls like to dress

Sheninigans within Wellington walls

The meetings that go on between the floors

Train rides up and down the Kapiti Coast

Which character do YOU like the most?

Freya, Flat White and young Sven

And the tales of their gorgeous men

But for now let’s please concentrate

On Tom Yelich and his fate

A tall, young and swarthy PI

Solving a crime, with that roving eye

Just back from fighting in a war

A fascinating character to the core

Solving crimes while on the run

Does he ever have time for fun?

Find out deep within these pages

Just which character he enrages

And which girl really catches his eye?

And where is the hiding place of that spy?

Covid-19 ‘back in attack’ in NZ

New Zealand has had a lengthy break from Covid while the rest of the world has taken it hard, but now back in LOCKDOWN. Level 4 for all of New Zealand. The good news though for those who were away from home when the announcement was made by the Prime Minister on Tuesday eve was ‘You have 48 hours to travel home.’

Below is a ditty on the drive home, 10 hours by car door to door.

Kapiti Island, near Wellington

At 6 pm after the news, we pulled the plug

Packing the car our wee ‘Pug’

Leaving the next morning at half past six

Up at 5 for brekkie and strong caffeine fix

Icey Desert Road

Driving through derelict towns without a soul

Listening to Covid news the latest toll

Kiwis relatively lucky but now early days

As Delta variant a different phase

Wellington airport

On the road 4 hours til first compulsory stop

Hailed down by a country cop

‘On your way home?

‘Yeah. ‘Will avoid Auckland and the city zone.’

Desert Road, Central North Island

Cruise through the Tron and Bombays

Still no cops ‘Happy days.’

The Brynderwyns with 3 hours to go

And they stack up fast 10 in a row!

Lake Taupo

Then all of a sudden the trip picks up a pace

Two cop cars and one car chase

Meanwhile black ice, grit and rain round the lake

High winds on the Bridge I need to brake

Auckland (Rangitoto Island)

Plain sailing most of the way

On this unusual Lockdown (in transit) the first day

Kibbutz living, Co-housing, Tiny housing or regular housing?

The saga of housing continues, but hey there is many a choice of how you want to live, bit like ordering a coffee, do you want to go for regular or not so regular but increasingly normal?

Hanging on a Kibbutz, a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture, could possibly be another way to save the housing shortage, an equivalent to co-housing downunder here in New Zealand.

A year or so ago I went to a Co-house hui to find out about the pros and cons and logistics of becoming part of an organised communal housing project or even smaller an individual tiny house (that was compliant with the local Council’s regulations).

Back in the eighties before I even knew of these above options, I opted for communal living in a faraway land called Israel. And it went something like this…

Back in the late 80’s while London based

‘Let’s do a kibbutz,’ I said with great haste

The outfit that did this at the time

Was a tour group called ‘Project 69’

They did everything from booking your flights

And choosing a kibbutz for so many nights

You could pick the length of time away

A short time or a longer stay

The flight was an early start

Check in for a 6am plane depart

So the night before express train to Gatwick

Empty carriages take your pick

Being out at the airport the night before

A night’s rest on the airport floor

Flying Gatwick to Tel Aviv

I was now on annual leave

Arriving early safe and sound

Now on Israel shaky ground

A good-looking guy holding up a sign

For ‘Volunteers Project 69’

A truck pulled in with volunteers and many more

My truck reading ‘For Eindor’

I jumped in the front with a bit of luck

While the rest piled on the back of the truck

Yay I’m leaving London, her grey skies

Finishing work and flatmates, with goodbyes

On foreign soil, ‘the sun is out!’

Heaps of tourists all about

A long drive ahead in the heat

I wonder what sort of people I will meet

Nervous and excited – all in one

I knew I was up for some serious fun

Given new room-mates, and a gander inside our dorm

The next few weeks this type of living, the new norm

New jobs and duties delegated

And on these lists, I patiently waited

My name called out at the end

Factory duties is how I would spend

My new life working only indoors

Standing long hours on concrete floors

Doing shift work in Teldor

My new life in the Kibbutz they called Eindor

Flying Saucers and Shirley MacLaine

.Just finished reading Shirley MacLaine’s book ‘Sage-ing while Age-ing’ and lots of gems from ‘Being the change you want to see’ and the beauty of ageing, you get wiser as you take life’s pilgrimage. All those hours on Planet Earth, do pay off. There’s quite a bit on UFO sightings and encounters of the third kind.

Here’s a little ditty on her great book (which came out in 2007). I love reading her books, I read most of them around Europe on a bus tour back in the day (in the late 80’s) and here we are four decades later and I just happened to stumble across this one in the library, which literally jumped off the shelf beckoning to be read. I went in for a Ruby Wax book and came out with two of my favourite authors.

Great title, ‘Sage-ing while (the inevitable that comes to all of us) Age-ing’

Flying Saucers, flying craft

What do you reckon? True or daft?

Sightings in New Zealand on the Kaikoura Coast

Sightings by a pilot and TV crew – their recordings not a boast

Many seen in New Mexico State

It became controversial and quite a debate

Then there was the’ Roswell case’

In and around an Air Force base

I’ve just finished reading this book ‘Age-ing and Sage-ing’

Getting wiser on Earth while we’re aging

Many a chapter on sightings of UFO

And aliens and what they do and what they know

Interesting research and experiences by Shirley MacLaine

Exploring with interest the spiritual plane

I love like me how she’s on a quest

And sharing it the way she knows best

Through her books with a similar theme

Let’s work together for Planet Earth as a team

Everyone’s racing from A to B

Busy, Busy as a Bumble Bee

Slow down and focus and look around

Instead of on your phone and looking down

Get ready to BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

On this wonderful JOURNEY of discovery

Fairies Fabulous Fairies

Fairies aren’t they the most fabulous creatures?

With fine and fabulous fanciful features

They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes

Always unannounced and full of surprises

You can see them in the meadows and amongst the flowers

Appearing more vivid between the showers

Red, pink, white and often green

The prettiest guys you’ve ever seen

All sorts of colours with a unique aura

Dancing around the foliage and the flora

If you sit there for a just a wee while

Out the side of your eyes you will see one smile

So next time you are out there amongst the trees

And suddenly from nowhere feel a breeze

It may be one trying to communicate

So take some time to contemplate

You never know what you might see

A feathered friend or bumble bee

Or maybe, just maybe

A wee sprite darting behind a tree

Up For a Trip ‘On Rails’ – New Zealand Style

Ever been fascinated by kicking back and letting someone else do the driving, take charge of the itinerary? Then a luxurious train journey across New Zealand or into work is the way to go. These two trains do the North Island, it will take you from Auckland to the capital city, all in a day or to work …

Sven our main character in ‘Sharks with Lipstick’ she is obsessed by train journeys, here is a pic of the one she takes each day into work, it is has it’s very own buffet car come bar.

Commuting to work with your mates

Talking about your latest dates

Travelling daily on the Kapiti train

Gossing with your mates, who keep you sane

The commuting train the Trinity girls often take

Even wanted to see the country, but in style

Then take a train and see each mile

New Zealand has so much beautiful countryside for you to see

Cruising inland and out again by the sea

Northern Explorer on the Mangaweka Viaduct

Take the Northern Explorer from Wellington to the City of Sails

Just twelve hours ‘on the rails’

Panoramic views along the way

A ‘fab’ way to spend the day

Checking out mountains – the National Park

Meeting fellow explorers, having a lark

Having a meal and a drink or two

Kicking back with so much to see and far less to do

A groovy retro milk bar where you can flip a little vinyl

Flat White finds the best little underground coffee bar in town and espies something and someone that probably shouldn’t appear on the front page of the daily rag. Check out what she gets up to.

While on my sightseeing little Wellington trip

I check out this coffee bar with regulars oh so hip

The Muna Muna, it’s Flat White’s new brilliant find

Translated as the Underground it’s one of a kind

Check out the decor and the two TVS

They do the best coffees and the best cakes

Retro music for me, it’s just upped it’s stakes

I love the colours orange and shades of green

The grooviest little milk bar I’ve ever seen

From Elvis Presley to Tom Jones

It’s here I believe Flat White sees something not quite legit

But being Flat White she doesn’t give a shit

So she takes a photo and sends it to a high powered bloke

OMG that person’s career now history and up in smoke

There goes Flat White, determined and on a mission as usual. What’s inside her bag?

A Flat White anyone? Just made surplus to requirements…

A Friday stroll following in Flat White’s footsteps around the down town streets of Wellington. Along the way checking out a couple of the famous landmarks that appear in the latest story about Flat White and her escapades with Judges and other High Flyers on the Wellington scene in ‘Scorpions in Stilettos.’ Recognise any of the places?

The Beehive camouflaged a bit like Flat White’s affair (well so she thought)

A literary tour around Wellington’s streets

With my headphones on my bright red ‘Beats’

Checking out the landmarks from the latest book

‘Scorpions in Stilettos’ now take a look

Striding off after being found out!

Listening to all sorts of tunes in my bubble

Stumbling past a demolished building and it’s rubble

A burnt out building another heritage class

Down to the courts with my visitors pass

The recently burn out building in Wellington

One of the pubs the Three gals hang out in after a hard day at their government jobs

Into the high court to where Flat White was unfortunately caught

Where many a high level case has been fought

Something went down there in full view

Unbeknown all was revealed on CCTV for all to view

Where Flat White meets her judge, close to the High Court

This time Flat White was crucified and severely judged

Her carefully crafted reputation now severely smudged

Never able to work again in Wellywood

Now out of a job and so misunderstood

A jet plane may be the way to go (pre Covid that is!)

Her grand life now in complete tatters

While all of the city incessantly chatters

Poor Flat White where can she go?

Oh, I’ve heard a rumour, I think I know.