Mary Stanley . . .
I'm reading lots of poetry again. This by Mary Stanley (1919 - 1980) and included in her slender volume of poetry - Starveling Year (1951). The Wife Speaks Being a woman, I am
not more than man nor less
but answer imperatives
of shape and growth. The bone
attests the girl with dolls,
grown up to know the moon
unwind her tides to chafe
the heart. A house designs
my day an artifact
of care to set the hands
of clocks, and hours are round
with asking eyes. Night puts

Twinky by Betty Larom . . .
Been thinking a bit about the books I loved as a child. I still have quite a lot, although the majority have been lost to time, moving house and younger siblings. Many were the original Lucky or Arrow books purchased at school, which was a regular thing for us. A while back I got all nostalgic and started to collect them again, managing to purchase original editions through a great U.S website called alibris.com I was always able to vividly recall the illustrations, so eve
Seriously funny . . .
This woman is an absolute star and I will be following her from now on. She says all of things most of us as freelancers are afraid to say but are really thinking. Brutal indeed, but perfectly true! http://badhostess.com/about-2/

The fire in Freswick Street . . .
I'm really fascinated by history and in the last few years particularly that of my own family. For that reason our very own 'Papers Past' is a goldmine of information. We are very lucky in New Zealand to have so many papers digitised and freely available and with a relatively brief colonial past, there is a lot to discover for anyone who cares to look. It was such a surprise to come across this article recently which to anyone else won't seem important, but was quite a fin

Elephants on roller-skates . . .
This week is the closest I've ever been to throwing in the proverbial towel as far as my work goes. I've been thoroughly finagled, attracted my first facebook stalker (who thinks I'm really working for a secret French cult - yes, seriously) and just feel generally tired by the push and pull of it all for the first time in nearly three decades. In the last year I've been paid with a tree and hit by a bus. Yes, seriously and don't ask - but recent interactions have brought c