march

Poutu-te-rangi

Posted 2nd June 2020 by robeanne

So many #wahinetoa i te whare tēnēi põ with a heap of awesome tane backing them up… @riahallnz @annacoddington @troykingi @flymyprettiesnz @hgartsfestival @hamiltongardens

A wee cheat – I didn’t take this photo on 1st March but it had to be included – a whole heap of amazing NZ artists all on stage together at the Hamilton Gardens Summer Arts Festival. Wahine toa – Ria Hall, Anne Coddington, and others who have amazing voices and skills and the Tane – Troy Kingi and heaps. of others too. Fly My Pretties brings them all together.

Dropping down through the cloud into Whanganui-a-tara. Travelling for work again…

The stories they tell. I love the kōrero I hear and the trust that kāiako put in me when I facilitate workshops. Whanaungatanga.

Hump week in the capital. Working in Whanganui-a-tara this week and Nigel is also down here because we are heading out to see Rhiannon Giddens. Would have included a photo of the concert which was amaaazing, except that no photos allowed in Norman Fowler Centre. Though I think Nigel might have taken a sneaky one or two…. shhh! This photo is pre-drinks and chillax before the show.

Ata marie. He timatanga rawe. Parakuihi me te taupuhi o tõku manawa. #breakfastwithmybeloved💓 It’s actually not often I have breakfast with my husband – we’re up at different times and out and about so this was a rare treat.

I worked with an amazing group of totally underrated members of our learning community today. Teacher aides who do vital mahi with our most vulnerable tamariki but who are underpaid and often forgotten when it comes to professional learning. These wonderful people shared so much of themselves, showed an immense passion for their learners and for their own learning I was humbled. This was an activity at the start of our session so essentially I could get to know them but they reflected on how much they learnt about each other too. This was a sentiment echoed when I did a similar activity with some teachers earlier in the week. But it also linked to our mahi about digital technologies – using different language, code, symbols to express ideas and solve problems, and to organise and sequence.

So many other great photos from today but this has to take the biscuit! It got more likes on social media than any other I posted! We have such smutty minds!

Out for a bike ride today with my running buddy. I’m still suffering from a fall I had 10 days ago when I badly bruised my quadricep. Running is still very uncomfortable so opted for some cross-training which seems to have worked. The river trails along the mighty Waikato were stunning today but very, very hot!

Learning te reo Māori with rakau. The Ataarangi method. It’s fascinating. This image represents the colours of the Māori world – Ngā tae o te Ao Māori…

My first whiskey tasting! Delicious. Unfortunately, they sold out of my favourite before I got to the counter – clearly it was everyone else’s favourite too!

More te reo learning – visual, oral, aural and written to tax an old brain!

I don’t take too many photos of food but this was a breakfast fit for the Gods!
Parakuihi mõ ngā ātua! Anyone want to share? #morethanenough #breakfast #workofart via Instagram ift.tt/3aRbMWp

I went to visit Maria today, I. sat by her. side and had a wee kōrero.

I toro au i a Maria tēnēi ahiahi. I noho au i te taha i a ia, i kõrero māua mõ te ao me ngā tangata #connecting #friendship #puttingtheworldtorights #aroha via Instagram ift.tt/2U5SJkt

A wander up a river to a hut. Just stunning weather and a great adventure! Wairarapa and the Rimutaka Range.

A beautiful day to be up high, looking out over the world, spending time with friends and remembering what happened a year ago today in Aotearoa. #maumaraha #aroha So difficult to comprehend why some people feel the need to bring evil into such a wonderful world.

This wee girl was such a livewire! Play-based learning – having fun and learning your limits.

I hikoi ahau tēnēi ahiahi. He wahi tino ātaahau me mārie. I went for a walk this afternoon. What a beautiful and peaceful place.

Exploring digital storytelling with Book Creator.

I te pupuhi te hau i Te Whanagnui-a-Tara tēnei ata – it was windy in Wellington today!
Went for a walk/run with Sarah along the Paekakariki Escarpment Track – stunning views, very airy!

Life seems to be all about COVID at the moment. We have some excellent medical experts sharing some very useful information – just wish more people would listen to them than each other!

Sitting at Wellington airport with a glass of beer, waiting for my flight home. Might be my last flight for a while – Level 2 announced today – I’m thinking we will very quickly be moving to Level 3 & Level 4. A smooth on ramp to prepare us for full on lockdown…. #COVID19

We didn’t know this at the time, but this is the last time all 4 of us are together in the same room for a while. Setting up a Discord server for the family…

Aotearoa went in to Level 3 today. Level 4 by midnight Wednesday. Huge decision and we are all left reeling despite the ‘smooth onramp’ and the fact that we suspected we would move very quickly from the Level 2 announced on Friday to Level 3 & 4.
If nothing else it has prompted me and my sisters to connect – we’re not very good at making the effort to talk altogether, usually just fleeting comments on Facebook posts. This is us having fun with effects in Messenger

Probably the last time I’ll get out into the bush for a few weeks. Just enjoying the peace and quiet.

85/366 25th March 2020 That’s it. Official. We NEVER close our gates! #covid19nz #level4 #lockdown #shitjustgotreal gates close as NZ goes into Lockdown or Rahui… 11.59pm we will be officially in our bubbles

Day 1 of our Rahui…the Māori translation sends more positive…we are protecting our land and our people in the face of a threat or a sadness or grief to redress the balance and show respect.

87/366 27th March 202020200327_094418-01

Day 2 Rahui
essential workers are out there keeping us safe.

I spent today weaving these kono…baskets made from harakeke #rāhui #keepingbusy #relaxing I have joined an online course run by Veranoa Hetet – a renowned Māori weaver. It is fascinating learning not just to weave but about the tikanga and history of the art.

Today I made another kono and I learned how to make putiputi (flowers) so I added bling to my kono!

Day 5 Bubble walk which didn’t go too well. We’re all getting a bit frustrated..well maybe it’s just me. I’m an argumentative cow and like to be in control.. I ended up taking myself off and physical distancing to extreme!
On the other hand, it’s important to notice the little things and my #brightspot was noticing the acorns. There’s something about them that reminds me of my childhood, simple pleasures, autumn…

Aonghas playing his music…I love listening to him. I managed to persuade him to play so I could record to send to his cousin for her birthday tomorrow. She’s 14 and having her birthday during the Covid rāhui

March 2019

Posted 6th April 2019 by robeanne

On the first day of the month, we made a last minute dash to see Eddie Izzard’s show, Wunderbar. Despite a horrendous jourtney up ther, we had a great night.

Still summer – breakfast on a sunny Saturday morning in the garden.

A chance for a long overdue catch up with a friend. Our conversation on that morning was a topic that warned of tragic events that happened later in the month.

Summer evenings in Kirikiriroa. Making the most of late summer. The changing face of the view from the trig – earthworks for the new road layout at Cobham Drive.

Only in Aotearoa….

Ararimu – working with a new school so I like to have some photos of the landscape to get an idea of the place where their feet are. Ararimu means ‘pathway through the Rimu trees’ – it seems that there was no Māori settlement here but it was on the road between Tamaki Makaurau and the Waikato. The documented history here seems to start with European settlers.

The Mighty Waikato river – evening trailruns. Enjoy them while they last!

Tap takeover at @Crafthamilton. A smorgasbord of Garage Project beers with accompanying food tasters. Ended up being a bigger night out than we had planned! The dangers of wearing an ‘iconic’ Garage Project Tee-shirt when the brewers were in the bar!

Early morning on the Waikato river – the Kirikiriroa marathon is run by some friends of ours and so I spent the day volunteering as a marshall.

The nights are starting to draw in and card games and whiskey seem to be in order! This evening Victor Hugo seemed to get turned over more often than usual. Quite serendipitous for my hand this time!

Autumn skies

View from a teenager’s bedroom door…….

It’s not often my 19 year old will come out for a walk with me – especially at midnight! But I needed some fresh air after a long day at the computer and Nigekl was in Oz. So, we took a football and played footie on the way – maybe it;s not often that a 56 year old Mum will play footie with her 19 year oild son?!

Values….

“The darkest day…”

We were travelling down to Taranaki to the WOMAD festival when we heard about the events in Christchurch on the news. We were in shock as we listened to the radio. All around us was the beauty of the New Zealand landscape. How could such a thing be happening in Aotearoa?

Campervan life – got to have a tea cosy!

Aging hippies!

Aonghas received a parcel in the post….. a trophy! Something to do with his online gaming – signs of a misspent youth!

I had the pleasure of attending a meeting about the Tainui Education Plan (Kawenata) at which Ann Milne spoke. Inspiring and challenging.

Technology projects at schools in NZ…. design thinking, authentic contexts, problem-solving. Some way to go methinks!

Full moon at Ohope beach. This time on Saturday we’ll bve walking along here on our penultimate leg of the Oxfam 100km!

One week on … #headscarfforharmony. There has been a lot of kōrero about the rights and wrongs and appropriateness of this gesture and Jacinda Arderns’s choicve to wear one in the last two weeks, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do to support our Muslim community. I still think it was the right thing to do.

Those stop banks! Much easier in the daylight and they had been mown! But there was some long grass and uneven ground for us to wade our way through – this was about 30km into our 100km walk for Oxfam.

We made it! It was a long last leg; we were hurting but we kept going and made it home in well under 20 hours. For a while, we thought we might make it under 19 hours but it wasn’t to be!