Golly

What a lot has happened since I posted last.
A right wing terrorist from another country committed an act of terror against Muslims at prayer in two mosques in my home town. Fifty have lost their lives and another fifty injured. Many families suffering terrible loss, and these vulnerable people are immigrants so without the local support networks that would cushion the blow. I,m from an immigrant family and I understand how much you miss by not having a network to support you when you are in need.

We're devastated because this is an attack on our notion of safety and security. But that isn't to confuse our loss with the loss of those directly affected.

In the aftermath of the fire at my home, it's hard to take in. I think we must call out right wing extreme hate speech now, not let it go, no matter how embarrassed or uneasy we feel tackling it, we will just have to find a way. Also we need to recognize that people of colour in our country are subject to everyday racism, and we need to put a stop to it wherever we see it.

After the fire we stayed for a few weeks with a neighbour until a flat came available that is just a few hundred meters from our house. Three moves in three weeks! We are now settled and have the internet as of today, but I have flown the coop.

I've finally made it away for my holiday, I am in Golden Bay/ Mohua , listening right now to the call of wekas, which are a feisty little native chicken. They live all around our house and raid us to steal anything shiny, actually, anything they can get including washing on the line.

There's been a drought but this afternoon a gentle rain began. The river might get cooler, but the sea is still unseasonably warm. I've already had one swim in the sea while visiting with my sister, and there will be more this autumn.

While with my sister in Motueka we spent a day decompressing at Kimi Ora Spa, I used the spa, the infra red sauna, the steam room, the ordinary sauna, and the warm pool with artificial current to get a decent swim. Went to bed at 8 pm and woke at 8 am. That's what a spa is about, isn't it?

Now I am listening to the rain and watching the misty hills in the dying light, a glass of Chardonnay in my hand and it is goodnight from me.

Now I have some time I will blog a little more about my interesting times, including a radical and involuntary Marie Kondo experience.