The preciousness of people
A knock on the door revealed a stranger holding a white enamel colander full of strawberries. We had moved into this house in town the day before, and he introduced himself as a neighbour. That was a...
View ArticleCould this experiment change the world?
Andrea was a Dutch woman who had lived through the German occupation of Holland. Her brother hid in a wardrobe in her bedroom for the whole five years of the war to avoid being carted off as slave...
View ArticleWhen the cows come home
The cows were lined up by the fence as I drove to a halt by the stop sign and orange traffic cones. Lovely chunky brown and white ones with thick white curls on their foreheads. They were curious, and...
View ArticleA tearful (sob) tale !
If I’m going to cry I want it to be when I’m laughing. I think that may be one of my favourite pleasures, to laugh till I cry… but it’s not something that can be planned… such moments seize us …...
View ArticleThe world – our village
Whenever we hear the sound of a helicopter circling overhead, we know that someone is in trouble in our little village. The helicopter lands on the school playing field, and the one in need is whisked...
View ArticleOur beautiful world
The wind is blowing in the trees. It sounds like the sea. The sun is on the mountain. And outside the house, a pair of nesting quails are foraging among the bird seed that has spilled from the bird...
View ArticleKintsugi, art and life
I wrote a column about my collection of cracked and chipped blue and white china thirty years ago. Some people received the idea of a collection of cracked china with derision and laughter… something...
View ArticleThe gifts that keep on giving
I’m always slightly envious when people reminisce lovingly about their mothers, since mine disappeared when I was six, not to be found again until I was in my fifties when it was too late to rebuild...
View Article“Old soldiers …”
Leafing through an old notebook looking for a blank page to pull out to write a shopping list, I found these words I’d forgotten I’d written. Timing isn’t always everything I decided, and though I’m...
View ArticleLet them eat ( Christmas ) cake!
Poor Marie Antoinette. She never said it. But she’s suffered from that blighting propaganda ever since. What she needed, and still needs, is a good spin doctor to right her dreadful wrongs, but until...
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Comfort and Calm in the Crisis
This is the first day of our NZ lockdown. We are in self-isolation in our forest, enjoying peace, solitude and solicitude. Not just words, and offers of help from our little caring community, but the...
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