Yes, for the last ten days I’ve been officially en vacance and it’s been fabulous.

I realised a little while back that I hadn’t had a proper break, ie a complete r’n’r break from the everyday work and routine since before the September 2010 earthquake—and of course it’s been quite the two years since then, with Christchurch’s plus 10,000 earthquakes and all the aftermath of that. (Touched on in the Earthquake Reports in the sidebar, for those who may be new to the blog.)

At any rate, since we all know the adage about ‘all work & no play’ and I didn’t want to risk that awful fate for the writing, I decided that a holiday was called for. And all in all it felt like ‘just what the doctor ordered’ to depart this…

… for this:

Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables behind

Although the holiday had it’s road trip elements, Queenstown—which sits in the shadow of the Remarkable mountain range (and several others, in fact), beside Lake Wakatipu in the alpine area of the South Island’s Otago province—was always the intended destination. Once there the combination of mountains, lakes, sunshine, vineyards and the spectacular great outdoors were enough to make staying a ‘must.’ Although I have to say that there was plenty of sitting around with a good book as well—several good books in fact. (And yes, the ‘reports’ back are coming! 😉 )

In fact, expect several more holiday posts as the week unfolds—but in the meantime, here’s another holiday ‘lakes and mountain’ shot to enjoy:

Lake Wakatipu, looking south & west towards Glenorchy

One of my favourite flowers is the hardy and common Flanders poppy—or ANZAC poppy as it is known here, for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps that served in Flanders & elsewhere throughout World War 1.

So this little series celebrating spring with a few “just this” moments from the garden wouldn’t be complete without some shots of the first poppies coming into bloom—these ones by the very traditional white painted fence! 🙂

The white flower growing alongside the poppies is alyssum, another common flower but still a favourite of mine.

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“Insist on yourself. Never imitate.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I saw this on a friend’s calendar, and liked it so much I had to share, especially as it seemed good for life, not just for writing. 😉

And of course Emerson was an essayist and poet as well as a philosopher—but to find out more about him you can read both what Wikipedia has to say, here, and also the American Transcendentalist Web, here. (Emerson was an—or the—leading American Transcendentalist of the 19th century.)

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I haven’t even gotten around to telling you that I had Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone to read, let alone that I enjoyed it when I actually read it earlier this year, which is something of a mea culpa for a writer’s blog…

But never mind, I hope to make it all up to you very soon because the sequel Days of Blood and Starlight has just arrived (hurrah!) and I shall not only be reading it, but with luck, doing an interview with Laini Taylor—I would love to do one and bring it to you here but it may depend on the author’s availability as well as mine. We shall see. 😉

But in the meantime, I really like the cover—and here’s what the back cover ‘blurb’ has to say:

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“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is–and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she’ll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?”

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Sounds good, doesn’t it—and having enjoyed the first book, I really hope that it is!

Not necessarily “terribly important” thoughts, but when I posted Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s quote on Saturday, I visited the Nobel Prize website.

The visual context of the site struck me in quite a profound way. Across the top is a header, which reads:

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Physics … Chemistry … Medicine … Literature … Peace … Economics

The fact that Literature was there was “the thing” that struck me—not because I think it is in any way out of place, but because the impression one gets in discussions of higher education funding in our modern world is that the humanities are definitely seen as a third or even fourth class citizen to sciences, engineering and commerce.

Yet Alfred Nobel, who according to the site was a “Swedish chemist, inventor of dynamite, engineer, armaments manufacturer, [and] business man” endowed one of his 5 original prizes to Literature, alongside Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Peace. (The Economics Prize was endowed later by the Sveriges Riksbank.) In Nobel’s eyes at least, therefore, Literature was perceived as both First Class, and equal…

Perhaps, in our contemporary consideration of what has value in societal and learning terms, we need to ask ourselves why Nobel might have given Literature that standing.

Or perhaps the answer comes from the citation for the very first Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded to the French poet and philosopher Sully Prudhomme, who in his poetry showed the “rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect”.

Heart and intellect—and offering us a lens perhaps, through which to examine ourselves…

Literature, a pursuit of equal value with Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Peace.

Who’d have thought?

On Sunday I promised you some more “just this” photos to celebrate spring and in particular spring/early summer in the garden.

And on Friday I featured the new cookbook from Claudia Roden the Food of Spain that I “just had to have.”

So in the spirit of both posts here is a “Just This” photo featuring the kitchen garden…

(Hmm, you can still see a remnant of liquefaction film over those bricks though…)

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… a poem on children’s fun

Oh when I wake up in my bed
And see the sun all fat and red,
I’m glad to have another day
For all my different kinds of play.

There are so many things to do–
The things that make a man of you,
If grown-ups did not get so vexed
And wonder what you will do next.

I often wonder whether they
Ever made up our kinds of play–
If they were always good as gold
And only did what they were told.

They like you best to play with tops
And toys in boxes, bought in shops;
They do not even know the names
Of really interesting games.

They will not let you play with fire
Or trip your sister up with wire,
They grudge the tea-tray for a drum,
Or booby-traps when callers come.

They don’t like fishing, and it’s true
You sometimes soak a suit or two:
They look on fireworks, though they’re dry,
With quite a disapproving eye.

They do not understand the way
To get the most out of your day:
They do not know how hunger feels
Nor what you need between your meals.

And when you’re sent to bed at night,
They’re happy, but they’re not polite.
For through the door you hear them say:
‘He’s done his mischief for the day!’

by E Nesbit

from “The Story of the Treasure Seekers”

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I just thought this poem was fun—and with lines like “They look on fireworks, though they’re dry//With quite a disapproving eye”, reassure that in some respects there is very little that is new under the sun.

Or is that reassuring? Oh well, never mind—have fun with the poem anyway. 🙂

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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub—and link to other Tuesday Poets posting around NZ and the world—either click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.

Sometimes you see  a book and “just have to have it.”

This was one of those books for me.

As you may know by now I am something of a ‘foodie’ and also like to travel a little via my interest in food and books, so this book, with its beautiful photographs and detailing of the cuisine of Spain by region ‘spoke to my heart.’

I also feel, looking at that glorious cover, that it is what Bookman Beattie would call a “handsome” book—and he would be quite right!

I love the cover and the whole wonderful look of the book, from the map of Spain and its regions on the inside front and rear covers (and the facing pages) and detail such as Spanish tile design around the border of the page introducing each section.

I know I am really, really going to enjoy reading it in detail even before I try out any of the recipes. But I will also make food from it: I always do.

If you’re interested, here are a couple of recent interviews with Claudia Roden, the first on the Food of Spain, the second an older interview from 2006:

•  The Guardian Observer interview
• Bookslut 2006 interview

Plus her Wikipedia entry, here.

Recently I posted a few photos of the wisteria in bloom in my garden, here and here, including quoting from Rupert Brooke’s poem “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester”, which I then had to post as a Tuesday Poem here.

And because I am enjoying the spring, the garden and the photos, I thought I’d post a few more for you “at random” so you can share in the “just this” moments.

Today’s photo probably speaks for itself, but I love the crimson colour of this rhododendron: enjoy!

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“The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange, and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power.”

~ Toni Morrison

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In a way this quote is the antithesis of “write what you know”, but no less than what I would expect of a writer of Morrison’s power. For me , “write what you know” is a good starting point, but this quote of Toni Morrison’s—again for me, but I feel it exemplifies a goal which as writers we strive to attain evey time we pick up a pen, or sit down at the keyboard.

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If you want to know more about Toni Morrison, her Nobel Laureate’s (1993) biography is a good starting point, here.