Mates and family, they are definitely awesome! The best thing that has come from joining the Fire Service is the friendships that have developed. Last week we had a serious storm that blew a big tree across the road, destroying a power pole and tearing the lines from our rental property. Today two of my favorite people came over and helped restore things. That's Bain up in the basket and Vern down below. We had to spend the day trimming trees to re-thread the line, but it was very cool, we laughed, and I was very grateful. Days like today are also when family rallies around. While we did that To View More >>

With great sadness we have said goodbye to two family members over the past few weeks. The first farewell was to to my Auntie Rita, who passed away after a long but brave battle with cancer. She is actually my Mum's Auntie, but always felt like a Grandmother to me. A beautiful woman that everyone loved from the moment they met her. My first memory of Rita is when, as kids, we visited her family in Wellington. She made us "Spiders", a messy mix of Coke and Vanilla ice cream ... and instantly became my hero. My last memory of Rita is of a woman, her body failing her, surrounded by a family loving To View More >>

Hi Everyone. I have been away for a while, so am sorry for the absence of blog entries and thanks to those who wrote to see if everything is ok. Basically it was so busy through Europe that attending to email from home took priority and work has been silly busy since our return. The amazing thing is so much has been going on so hopefully I can catch up and share some of the stories soon. Stay well and look after yourself Stephen To View More >>

Well after less than a month with iPower I have moved web hosts due to their unreliability. I am sure this isn't the way they are permanently but over the last week my site was down on a number of occasions for hours, and I have lost my confidence. I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused ... grrr. One of the interesting observations is that they weren't prepared to go into detail of what the technical issue was, just each time that "it was a router and it's now fixed". I guess companies do this due to being scared of looking bad, but left with no convincing information I was forced to move To View More >>

Sometimes you see a music video that, although not for everyone, really hits home for yourself. This one, has beautiful cinema photography ... and as someone on YouTube commented, a voice that is "haunting beautiful" For me, since I can't understand the words I get caught up in my imagination ... and with the images and the sounds make up my own story. The coastline in this video reminds me of the places in New Zealand, where we would play as kids and you yearn for when you are away. Enjoy Sanvean (I am your shadow) - Lisa Gerrard To View More >>

One of the incredible blessings of working in the Queensberry Group is the wonderful people we get to spend our time with, and few are more inspiring than Peter Haythornthwaite. [flickr]photo:3099049094[/flickr] I was sitting at the kitchen table about to take a photo of this wood pigeon when I got an email from Peter commenting on my blog. Amongst other things he said "I guess a natural 'other' would be small videos of family discoveries at the beach - your area, your 'forest' area, your Titirangi - why do you live there etc." The timing made me smile as this beautiful bird perfectly symbolizes To View More >>

Danny and I are in Germany at present, Cologne (Köln) to be specific, visiting the Photokina trade fair. It's been a whirlwind tour through Europe getting here. In 5 days we travelled through Las Angeles, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne. What an incredible week of contrasts. The cities, especially Paris and Amsterdam, were incredible, so romantic with their old world charm and architecture, but with unfortunate modern contrasts. If Mc Donalds down the road from Notre Dame wasn't enough, how about the accommodation we have in Cologne? This is a table in the restaurant. The place To View More >>