Quiet closure - it's curtains!

Today has been very quiet indeed, with the return to cooler cloudy weather being a part of this. We are always affected by weather, whether we think so or not.

Just look at the differences generated by the vastly diverse weather patterns of NZ and Australia. The constant Aussie sunlight, the deluges of rains, the fierce bushfires, all these combine to make a tough and resilient Aussie, at the same time an outgoing and normally happy one. The mainly windy and challenging time we have here in Wellington does indeed make for resilience, but of a different kind. The Kiwi is at once tough and reliable, but more silent, less responsive, because he knows that he has to look after himself, and usually his neighbours. But mainly himself, and he jealously guards this priority close to his bones. So consequently, spontaneous hospitality is not really the norm here I have found, although the Kiwis are a generous and most giving people.

My friend Tom is an example of the latter. He hangs curtains for a living, a good living, but he works hard and looks after his close friends. Today I was at his home for a hanging of a most beautiful drape in the hallway of his once and still elegant, Edwardian home. The material cost $200 per metre originally he told me, but of course he bought it for a song at a sale. Of beautiful shiny cotton with Chinese motif designs on it, it now hangs elegantly draped with a tassel shaping its fall, its base piled up decoratively on the floor below. It could have been in a French palace or castle. Tom has impeccable taste and judgement and I love experiencing his gentle attempt to educate the proletariat like me.

Today he also had visiting a young three year old called Adam, born in Malaysia but adopted by a Kiwi male couple, of whom one is Malaysian. Adam is a delight and will surely have an excellent life-start because of his new parents. He was shy at first but warmed up and I wanted to take a photo but was to slow to ask. Perhaps another time. A great example of modern laws facilitating a good outcome.

Serena likes our simple curtains too!

Different Strokes Wellington at the pool

DSW drying on line

Finished the Easter break with a return to the pool - I am getting so that I need the weekly swimming hit or I don't feel so good, the other swimmers are also such a good bunch they are a delight to be with.