Finding Beauty

A while ago, a blogger friend (I can’t remember who it was now – apologies to the person who inspired me) reminded me how important it is to enjoy beauty, wherever we find it. It’s taken some time to get to this post, but I haven’t forgotten the message. Finding beauty in the everyday brings me great joy. Here are some things I recently found beautiful:

• My redesigned engagement ring that is now a pendant
• New ear-rings bought for me by my husband, for my recent wedding anniversary
• A tui in our trees or on our fence
• The perfect red of a punnet of cherry tomatoes
• My blue-and-white porcelain lamps (bought in Thailand over thirty years ago)
• The sun playing on the different angles in our house
• My screensaver photos – a view of Queenstown; another view of a valley framed with flowers in Switzerland the day the cows came down from the mountains; Lake Bled in Slovenia, a tree-lined Polish road in autumn, a temple in Bangkok, and dozens more.
• The sculptural shapes of our cabbage trees caught in the evening light
• The moon shining between the branches of our oak tree
• A colourful sunset
• A bright, sparkling, cloudless day after a gloomy weekend (earlier today), and
• The beautiful contrast of dramatic dark clouds coming in from the south (now).

Autumn: The season of complicated emotions

The arrival of autumn is often a shock to the system, not so much because it is a surprise, but because I had been hoping that summer would hang on just a little longer. That’s when I have complicated emotions about where I live, a lost summer, and not travelling in NZ enough to really enjoy summer. It’s the season when we look at projects we wanted to do, and see them unfinished, or worse, even unstarted! It’s the season when we realise that the year is one quarter over already, and yet New Year’s only seems as if it were yesterday. But once I have managed to reconcile those feelings, there are more things I love about autumn. I’ve written about them before (and there may be some repetition), but here are five favourites:

• Seeing the changing colours. We don’t get a lot here in evergreen Wellington, but there are plenty of deciduous trees in gardens, and as their leaves turn, we get to enjoy the changing beauty of nature. Today we were driving down the street, and a single orange leaf was floating straight towards us, reminding us of the season.
• It’s a gorgeous season in my house. Our house looks so good when the sun streams in; it brings light to all the rooms, and the rimu wood floors and ceilings glow a glorious warm golden hue. In summer, we end up having curtains and blinds closed on the western side of the house, as it heats up too quickly, too much, and we have no way to cool the house afterwards. So we try to avoid getting heat in. But at this time of year, when it is chilly outside (as it has been the last week or so), welcoming the sun in feels happy and joyous.
• Sleeping is so much more comfortable. We have a heavier cover, the light is a little later (though not quite so much after daylight saving ended), and it’s colder in the mornings, so snuggling in bed is just lovely!
• Exercise is easier. I don’t have to worry too much about sunscreen when I go on my walks around the neighbourhood hills. Likewise, it’s cool enough to wear some kind of jacket with pockets, meaning I can easily carry my phone (important for my audiobooks/music etc), keys, tissues etc. (I have a good portable snap-on pocket holder for the summer, but my new phone doesn’t quite fit.) And the weather is calmer too, and I’m more likely to exercise outside. (I hate walking in the wind for various reasons.)
• Apples and spices are perfect at this time of year – some of my favourite flavours.

A productive afternoon

I have an ottoman. We bought it years ago, very cheaply, and it has been the perfect size and shape for our living room furniture. But sun and age battered the cover, which cracked, split and tore over the last year. I was unwilling to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a replacement. So, in a fit of ambition, I trotted off to the fabric store, and found some upholstery fabric I thought might be fun. I bought some extra padding too, and after several weeks delay, finally began putting it together.

Precision was required for a smooth fit, so I had to pay attention to measurements, ensure the circle for the top was indeed circular, and meticulously match the patterns together – my fabric wasn’t wide enough to go around the ottoman base in one length (width?). As I did that last part on the floor, it took a toll on my knees and back, and I needed a break. But by yesterday, I knew I had to get it finished.

It was a gorgeous day. I fully intended going on a walk, but was more determined to finish the project first. I opened the window, listened to the tui serenading me all afternoon, turned on Stephen Fry’s seemingly endless (but also endlessly amusing) audiobook of Mythos, and set to work. Pinning, tacking, then finally sewing the various seams took time, measuring each time, checking and checking again that it will fit without wrinkles and lumps and twists. I even had to figure out how to do buttonholes again – my sewing machine, bought at university back in the 1980s, seems to have lost its buttonhole programming, but otherwise works well – so when I reattached the feet on the bottom they wouldn’t tear the fabric. But I got it done. And it fits. The satisfaction of a good afternoon’s work.

My tuneful tui visitor

A Kiwi long weekend

Easter is the second longest holiday of the year in NZ after Christmas/New Year – which I lump together, because most people take it off all at once. There’s Good Friday when all the shops are closed, and Easter Sunday also has restricted trading hours. Most workplaces and schools are still closed on Easter Monday, and schools don’t go back till Wednesday. It’s a really good break.

New Zealand is not a religious country, but we still observe religious practices in our institutions (eg Parliament), and our calendars. These practices no longer reflect the New Zealand of today, where (in the last census) almost half the population (48.6%) reported that they belong to no religion. The religious nature of these practices and public holidays has never sat well with me, and in 2024 it all seems even more outdated than ever.

Most New Zealanders only recognise Easter and Christmas in a secular way. They are cultural, not religious, occasions. Christmas is celebrated because it is the end of a long year and the beginning of our summer holidays, and involves family gatherings and good cheer and lots of food and fun. At Easter, we eat Hot Cross Buns because they are seasonal and yummy. We buy chocolate because the supermarkets are full of it. These days I make homemade marshmallow Easter eggs (because stupid Cadbury* stopped making them when they moved production to Australia), because that’s what we eat at Easter in New Zealand. The food for the celebrations have lasted longer than the meaning. (Although let’s be fair, “the meaning” we might refer to today was changed centuries ago from the original pagan festival.) To be honest, the religious aspect of these days is irrelevant to most New Zealanders and, except to a small minority, it is largely an anachronism. Something that doesn’t fit in with modern life in New Zealand, and hasn’t done for a long time. So most of us ignore it. It’s more convenient and less controversial. I think that’s why these practices have continued for so long. But that’s not really fair to all those who either weren’t raised in the dominant religion or who no longer adhere to it.

Not to mention the fact that a northern spring celebration occurs here in autumn, when the temperatures dip and the trees start to turn. (Sigh. Once again, we suffer from the tyranny of the north!) Talk about out of place! Still, toasted spicy buns, and a roast dinner with the first winter vegetables are perfect for this time of year, so we have adapted. And a break at the end of summer/beginning of winter can be great. If the weather is good, it’s one last hurrah out in the sun. If it isn’t, then we have an excuse to collapse on the couch, grab a book or watch a movie, open a bottle of red wine, and light the fire/turn on a heater. I’ve done combinations of all the above this weekend.

Just as we have replaced Guy Fawkes with Matariki (the Maori midwinter celebration), maybe it is time to replace our other holidays. Just as long as everyone continues to get the same days off, and we still get to eat spicy buns and chocolate marshmallow eggs!

* don’t get me started!

Some Recent Delights

It’s “Naked Lady” season. My husband loves them. Before you’re too shocked, they are flowers (Amaryllis belladonna), native to South Africa, but they love the environment here in New Zealand too. We don’t have any planted on our property, but fortunately a lot of other people do. So I’ve seen them everywhere lately, and they always make me smile.

We had several days of no wind, which meant I could go on long walks. (I don’t like walking in the wind – my eyes stream, even when wearing glasses, so exercise inside instead.) It was lovely being out and about in my neighbourhood. I have missed it! And I’m glad I got out before autumn really hits, even though some of the leaves on the trees are just starting to yellow.

Dinner with an old friend at a new (for me) wine bar/restaurant. She introduced me to an Asian fusion restaurant late last year near her house, and I’ve since taken The Husband there and we love it. This is a sister restaurant with a Mediterranean theme, equally as good. Of course, the conversation was as good as the food. And now I have someone new to take The Husband too.

The next morning, a coffee with a friend, chatting about our shared love of travel, followed by a sandwich on the seashore because the day was just gorgeous, and I didn’t want to come home! The sky was clear, the sea blue and calm, the weather gorgeous.

I was given a book voucher last year, and had to go into town to a particular store to spend it. That’s fine – this is the best bookstore in the whole region! I used to buy books there when our bookclub started, before we resorted to e-books. And after cleaning out a number of old handbags last year, I discovered I had about five or six loyalty cards with multiple stamps for previous purchases, meaning that I had some free books coming to me! I took them up to the counter, asking if they were still valid, knowing very well that they were at least 13 years old! (That’s how long I’ve been reading e-books.) “No problem,” they said, cheerily. “Don’t be embarrassed. We always honour them. And the most that someone has brought in was 42!” They consolidated , I walked out with two new books, knowing I have more free books to come. Such a delight.

I have a plan for a gift. There are multiple birthdays in my family/friends group coming up. My plan for one of them is causing me to smile. I can’t say anything more, but will report back.

Last but not least, yesterday I ventured over the hill to the Wairarapa, because as I implied above, I’ve been enjoying getting out of the house and the city. The point of the trip was to see a good friend. A yummy lunch and some delicious treats picked up at a French bakery before I left were the perfect backdrop to a good catch up. I listened to Stephen Fry’s Mythos on the way there and back, frequently laughing out loud – not the reaction I had expected when listening to Greek mythology. And although parts of the drive are a bit scary for this flat-lander (okay, Wellington is set amongst steep hills, but this mountain pass is another matter), I found myself actually appreciating the very active driving that is needed to safely navigate this road. Driving over the Remutaka Hill Pass road can never be passive. It always requires keen concentration, and deliberate, conscious attention and actions, taking the curves proactively rather than just following them around. Yesterday, the gusts of wind at the north-facing corners reminded me of the attention needed to ensure I didn’t hurtle off a bend and plummet to my death hundreds of metres below. Danger doesn’t usually delight me. But yesterday the trip made me feel alive.