Nature's Evening Hat Trick

The setting sun put on an amazing display this evening - a rainbow, pink tinged snow and a brilliant sunset. 

Star Wars

Intergalactic guests from Outpost 42 of the 501st Legion were the stars at my Star Wars school holiday story time today. 

Te Reo Singalong

Great to catch up with Sharon & Alan when they stayed on Monday night and they put on a fun & energetic show for the little kids at Paraparaumu Library on Tuesday. 

Hall Family Reunion

Forty five descendents of my great-grandparents, George & Emily Hall, got together on 4 May 2019 to learn about our shared ancestry and enjoy getting to know the extended whanau. 

Chloe y su arpa

Chloe nos entretuvo con su arpa durante nuestro reunion del grupo español. ¡Que sonido tan lindo en mi casa hoy!

Zak Meets Jacinda

Zak met Prime Minister Jacinda Adern at the Taite Music Prize presentation this evening. 

I wonder what was going through his mind. I remember when he met All Black great Richie McCaw he wasn't impressed because the flag Richie gave him was a bit munted. OK, so he was only about 5 then. But what does a 14 year old boy think about meeting the Prime Minister? I'll have to ask him when he gets home.  

Terrorism in New Zealand

Terrorist attack in New Zealand. I never thought I would see those words in the same sentence. Not in this little country that has felt safe and isolated from such events in other parts of the world. But there is a new reality that has come at a huge cost to my country and the many innocent victims - nowhere in the world is safe.

The terrorist came from another place, not just another country but a psychological place of evil and extremism that I cannot begin to understand. The harm that one person wrought in a few minutes on a Friday afternoon is overwhelming in it's horror and sadness.

But one thing my fellow Kiwis have shown in the past week is that we can stand together, not just to condemn such an obviously despicable act, but to genuinely care about the people who were killed or injured. Eight million dollars has been donated in one week via the Victim Support Givealittle page. That's pretty amazing from a population of 4.8 million people. Jacinda Ardern gets a big tick from me for her strong, decisive and compassionate leadership at this time. 

From masses of flowers and practical assistance by people on the ground in Christchurch to the beautiful comments on our paper hearts and in the condolence book at the library it gives me hope. I feel hope that the racism we must acknowledge exists in New Zealand will be overcome by good people not looking the other way but showing by their words and deeds that we are so much better than that. 

Christchurch Terrorist Attack

We never thought it would happen in New Zealand. I am so sad for all those people who lost their lives and their loved ones in Christchurch today. 

Thirsty Hedgehog

This little guy must have been very thirsty due to the dry weather and summer heat. I noticed him licking drops of water off the plants I was watering in the back garden. So I put a container of fresh water down and he lapped that up. Then he pushed his snout into some leaves and pulled out a weta. He crunched and munched his way through that tasty morsel until there wasn't a single scrap left. 

Best Books of 2018

So many books, so little time. I need an extra day each week for 'professional reading'.  I could certainly improve my readers advisory skills if I could devote some work hours to reading books. But the actual job of being a librarian has nothing to do with reading books (unless I count the picture books I read while selecting suitable resources for story times).  Most librarians love reading so we don't see the hours spent reading in our own time as work, rather it is a leisure activity that has the added benefit of being very useful for our customer service skills. 

Carolyn's top picks for 2018 (with links to Goodreads and Goodreads ratings) are:

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (fiction, Alaska, family drama, 4.33)

Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer (fiction, drugs, family drama, 4.21)

See You in September by Charity Norman (fiction, NZ cult, 4.30)

Legend  trilogy by Marie Lu (teen fiction, dystopian, 4.18)

Educated by Tara Westover (autobiography, 4.47)

Dictatorland: the men who stole Africa by Paul Kenyon (non-fiction, 4.45)

A Higher Loyalty: truth, lies & leadership by James Comey (non-fiction, FBI, politics, 4.21)

The Big Thirst: the marvels, mysteries and madness shaping the new era of water by Charles Fishman (non-fiction, 3.95)

Daring to Drive: a Saudi woman's awakening by Manal Al-Sharif (autobiography, 4.3)

Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird (children's fiction, Syria, 4.28) 

Nevermoor: the trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (children's fiction, fantasy, 4.40)

Lyla by Fleur Beale (children/teen fiction, Christchurch earthquake, 4.02) 

Boy Underwater by Adam Baron (children's fiction, funny & serious, 4.18)

Stick Insect

This is the third stick insect I've found in the past week.  Or maybe it's the same one I've seen three times. If so it would be a case of third time lucky for the little fellow. I spotted the first one on the carpet just before it went up the vacuum cleaner hose, the second one nearly got washed off the windows during my (infrequent) window clean, and this one was on the recycling crate today. 

4 Jan:  Found a big stick insect in the camellia tree as I was cutting it back this morning. Another near miss for the local stick insect population. 

New Year's Day 2019

Lunch in the garden with a good book on a warm, sunny, summer's day. The book was excellent (Find Me Unafraid: love, loss and hope in an African slum by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner) and lunch included a few strawberries from my garden. A relaxing day although the game of squash with Lynda this afternoon was quite the opposite to lazing under my sun umbrella.