Avoiding the nightmare

C’est cauchmardesque – It’s a nightmare! This is the daily refrain of the inhabitants of southwest France, a horror echoed by many on Crete, in Spain and Portugal as forest fires overwhelm their homes, livelihoods…

The lives of people in different cultures have always interested me. I’ve read many biographies of political leaders, especially women, Golda Meir, Simone Veil, amongst others. But the lives of ordinary people are often equally…

The End of the Golden Weather was a one-man play written by Bruce Mason. It was about a boy growing up in the 1930s on the North Shore – Mason spent part of his childhood…

You may recognise these lines from the Coleridge poem The Ancient Mariner which describes the fate of a sailing ship becalmed at sea. However, after all the significant rain events we have experienced in the…

On March 26, the new Archbishop of Canterbury was installed. In 1400 years of Christian faith in England and after 105 men, Dame Sarah Mulally became the first woman to hold the position. “I had…

Times are tough – there is no denying it – both in Aotearoa and in many parts of the world. This week we learned of the planned closure of the Wattie’s Frozen Food Factory in…

In the Waikato, we are aware of the changing seasons, despite our temperate climate. After two weeks recently of glorious summer weather, everything has ripened or is ripening: peaches, plums, grapes, and tomatoes. If you…

Two weeks ago, I read an obituary for a lady who had died, aged 106. In a photo she looked like your ideal great-granny: white hair, glasses, broad smile, lively face. Her name was Sister…

One of the things I have appreciated as I have got older is the increasing realisation of how little I know and, consequently, the joy of learning new things and seeing the world differently. Recently…

Last weekend I was shopping for a birthday present for our granddaughter. I was impressed with one store’s great display –  they had of books by New Zealand authors for the eights to young adults….