Ite Delaibatiki Cammock ...

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITE

Today is Ite's birthday ... I am hoping the time difference between Bulgaria and NZ does not make me late. We think Ite is beautiful! I always knew that Mack would marry a gorgeous woman and he has. 

In September 2010 ... it was the weekend of September 4 EQ, Pete and I were staying at the Matthews ... Mack called to tell us he was going to marry Ite. We had only met her once before when Mack brought Ite and her cousin up to ChCh and they stayed with us at 371 River Road ... they were not dating at all then. We had no idea that Mack was even dating Ite so we were very surprised when he called us with his news. We drove down to Dunedin to meet Ite ... I was so nervous! What would she think of us ... would she like us ... what is she like? So many questions going through my mind. That was the beginning of our relationship.

Ite has a beautiful smile ... she has amazing hair ... a wonderfully infectious laugh. She loves and I mean loves netball and will watch it 24/7 if it is on TV ... she loves rugby and since she comes from Hamilton she is very loyal to her local team the Chiefs. She comes from a large family ... 11 children and she is one of the younger ones. She has a wonderful family and her parents are very proud of their children. She is a wonderful Mother to Elizabeth, she is patient, playful, kind and she adores Elizabeth. She is very friendly and welcomes many people into their home for meals or to stay, she is LDS and not shy around her beliefs. She is proud to be Fijian! She is a good friend. She is in the final stages of her PhD. She is independent, strong willed, non judgemental, she has a great sense of humour and she loves Mack. 

We love having Ite as part of our family ... we love her energy and she is easy to have around. We love her Melanesian culture that she has introduced into our family. We love the celebrations that we have been part of ... Elizabeths 1st birthday ... Mack & Ite's wedding ... that have been brought alive by the richness of Ite's family and culture. We love you Ite. We hope that you have an amazing day and that Mack and Elizabeth pour lots of love and gifts to you on your special day.

Ite in Traditional Fijian Dress

  

Leaving ...

We have arrived in Franfurt ... waiting to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria where we are spending 3 weeks with Steve & Tanya Bailey. We flew Air Lufthansa ... a big plane, very comfortable and on time ... almost to the minute, the cabin crew were very friendly, with a stopover in Frankfurt on the way. I think you can tell a lot about a country by their international airports. Frankfurt's airport is very industrial looking to me ... lots of grey and low ceilings. Exposed pipes and corrugated iron. Very orderly and very clear instructions to navigate your way to your departure gate, we still got lost though.

We flew through Frankfurt on our way to and from Barcelona a couple of years ago.  Barcelona's international airport is amazing ... high stud ... lots of natural light, lots of white and a feeling of lots of space. I thought it was very vibrant and alive. I remember the contrast between Frankfurt and Barcelona airports as being quite dramatic.

We had a really nice drive to Boston with Mike, Chris, lars and Roxcy. Mike took us to lunch at a cafe that sells real pies ... owned by Australians ... the pies and sausage rolls tasted like home, along with  Crunchier Bars. Then we drove to Logan International Airport and said our goodbyes! We both felt very sad saying goodbye ... especially to lars and Roxcy. Lars said a couple of times that he would miss Pete and me a little bit ... so cute!

When we were young parents and busy parenting children I never really thought about the future, or when our children would be all grown up and gone. Our lives seemed so full and busy ... I felt like it would last forever, there was always someone at any given time that needed something, extra time or attention,  a sport of some sort, some kind of activity, trying to keep a track of who was doing what, when, where, how and with who. I/we really wanted to create a life of memories and family rituals for our children, something that gave their life meaning and a sense of belonging. Today we said goodbye to Mike and his family and I am still trying to figure out how we got here ...I look at lars and Roxcy and think where did that time go ... did we miss something ... if only I had known, 'I wish I/we had .......'. I remember Marg and Great Grandma saying from time to time, 'enjoy them, it doesn't last'. I thought we were ... I get it now! There are some gaps/holes that are not easily filled ... leaving or saying goodbye to our children is one of those gaps ... it is always there and we learn to live our life's with it.

Having said all of that we are on our way ... Chris and Mike shared their travels with us round Turkey and we are excited. I am looking forward to a balloon ride. Lonely Planet says Bulgaria is one of the top 10 destinations on the planet. Lots to look forward to. But before we move on I really wanted to capture our last hours on our blog ... we are excited and nervous. There is much to look forward to and adventures to be had that we cannot even begin to imagine. There will be moments ... good ones and bad ones. A lot of letting go! I am wondering what will fill this empty space that we have created both in us and around us.

We are down to 3 outfits each or there abouts, 2 pair of shoes ... walking shoes and sandals, I have a 38L pack and Pete has a 40L pack and that is it. We have sent a rather large box of clothing and things back to NZ that are surplus to our requirements. We are going light! No fancy shampoos, skin care, aftershave, makeup ... all things that have been part of mine or Pete's daily ritual of getting ready for a day. No wearing something and throwing it out to be washed that night and then returned washed and folded in 2 days time ... instead we will be wearing it over and over and over again. Pete is going to write more on our minimalistic adventure, so I will leave that space for him. I have found that there is something freeing in letting go of all the stuff I thought I could not do without!

Any way, enough of my blabbing ... photos!

Lunch

Missing these guys ...

Goodbye ...

Food ... Food ... Food

Who does not like food ... I have become a food snob over the years. I have my favourite places I go for food ... The Cheese Monger comes to mind ... they have the best cheese sandwiches ever and you get to hand pick your own cheese. Cheese, lettuce, a little relish on yummy fresh bread made on their premises ... I go out of my way for one of these. Yoghurt ... Bliss or Collective ... my favourites, raisins from Piko ... so sweet and delicious in porridge, with frozen berries, almonds or walnuts and yummy yoghurt with a pouring of soy milk. Hot Chocolates ... I have yet to have a hot chocolate here in the US that satisfies my yearnings ... my favourite is She ... their spicy mix. Wandering round Riccarton Market on a Saturday morning and sampling all the yummy treats to be had there ... buying Salmon ... delicious, the assortment of summer fruits ...  artisan relish's, cakes, meats, pies breads, so yummy. I feel really spoilt that we have been able to buy organic veggies from the Mallards, we have been buying from for over 20 years. They grow the most delicious veggies ... yes there really is a difference in taste. Tony & Lynette Mallard are some of the best people I know!

Food holds such a potent significance in our lives ... I think of going to my Grandparents as a little girl for our Sunday Roast ... Grandma Worsfold did the best Sunday Roast and I loved her chocolate self saucing pudding, which I still make today, a family favourite now. Grandma Worsfold also made a delicious Christmas Pudding ... with coins in it. My brother and I would have competitions over who could get the most money, which meant we had to eat heaps. I make Christmas Pudding every year ... with no coins in it ... most of our family don't eat it and ask the same question every year ... 'why do you make that, no one eats it',  I do ...  I make it around November and leave it in the fridge waiting to be boiled up on Christmas Day, it has become a yearly ritual for me. I am sure that each of you have a story or a memory around food that holds a powerful cultural and personal story.

Food is linked to so many events in our lives ... weddings, funerals, births, birthdays ... I know for us food is the centre piece of any get together that we have in our family ... whether it be a celebration moment or come over for a meal and I love to go all out! I love having people over for meals and cooking something really yummy for them. I love to set our table and have it looking amazing ... there have been times when there has been so much food on our table and not much room for people to sit. My main worry when cooking for people is 'will there be enough'? and there always is. When we had lots of family living in Christchurch I would have them over for a Sunday meal and it was not uncommon to have around 20 people sometimes ... they were fun days.

There have been days when I have really missed some good old Kiwi food, at least some of my favourite food, but I have had some yummy food here. The best lasagne I have ever eaten was cooked by Cheryl Larson, Chris' Mum ... I have tried and tried to replicate her magic, to no avail. She makes awesome cookies too. Cookies in the US are softer than NZ cookies or biscuits as we call them. Cheryl also makes the most delicious cinnamon roles ... we ate a batch in half an hour I think.

I have taken photos of some of my favourites while here ...

MacNamara Chocolate Milk ... it is the Best. We would drive over the river and buy it from the farm.

I do not understand anyone who does not like Resse's Peanut Butter Cups ... Yummy

A very desirable alternative to Reese's and ordinary Peanut Butter.

A very yummy smoothie ...

Chris and I would live on this ... such a yummy combination of cheese and relish on cracker!

Berries grow like weeds here and they are good ...

The best cherries I have every tasted ... blue berries we buy and eat as a snack ... peach was delicious!

Food tastes the best when it is shared with people you love!

I plan to take more photos of food as we travel and share my loves ...

Last Days

We leave for Bulgaria on Saturday ... our time here in Windsor VT is coming to an end. I am conflicted about leaving, we are looking forward to spending time with Steve and Tanya, but a big piece of my/our heart remains in Windsor. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to Mike, Chris, lars and Roxcy, I get teary just thinking about it, separation anxiety. Pete is much better at saying goodbyes than me ... the only time I have seen him visibly upset was when he said goodbye to Rob after spending the summer of  2010/2011, Rob's last summer! Don't get me wrong ... he really misses our children and does not like being so far away from them. When I say goodbye to our children or family I no longer wonder when will I see you again, I now wonder will I see you again? A hang over from the Feb 22, 2011 EQ.

We have had a wonderful time here in Windsor VT with our family and Chris' extended family. As I have mentioned ... Windsor has become a second home for us. I/we never thought that our children would marry and live offshore. We both had the fantasy that our children would marry ... live close by ... Sunday dinners ... baby sitting ... family christmas' and celebrations ... well that hasn't happened. We have no children living in Christchurch and 2 children living offshore  ... could end up being 3. The upside of this is that we get to travel to Melbourne to see lucy and the States ... a lot ... to see Mike, Chris, Lars & Roxcy. We have become very attached to our US side of our extended family, The Larson's and look forward to our visits with them. We are very grateful that we have been able to visit so frequently.

This time our trip is different ... we are continuing to travel for another 9 months. After the Feb 22 EQ life was hell ... as it has been for a lot of people in Christchurch. One day while flying into Christchurch a thought came into my mind ... 'you need to get away from here for a while'. I went home to Pete and shared my thoughts and things grew from there. I could feel us being ground down by everything and I remember thinking one day 'I don't know how much longer I can do this!' So here we are ... taking a break for a year, rediscovering ourselves and the excitement, beauty and pleasure of life again.

There is excitement and fear, anticipation and anxiety as we branch out onto the next leg of our travels. Windsor has been the perfect start as we get used to being together 24/7 and get used to hot and muggy weather. We are going to a lot of hot countries. We arrived here at the end of spring and it is now coming to the end of summer. I have been thinking about the highlights of our trip so far and  here are some ...

 These look like Ballet Dancers

The Color Combinations here are Stunning

I love the peace of Lake Runnemede and we will miss our walks ...

I am so grateful we made our trip to see Ben in NYC ...

Most dramatic bridge walk ever ... with some of the best people ...

Meeting up with Old Friends ... Wonderful Time ... I am sorry Larry was not with us.

Old Friends ...

These Guys ... Cousin Time

These Guys and taking them on rides in the WeeHoo

Family ... Family ... Family

Guardians of the Galaxy @ IMax

We loved this movie! I am very excited for Harriet and MacGregor to see it and wish that it was me that was taking them.

This movie is witty, well paced, good storyline, good action, good acting, excellent special effects and a great sound track ... and there is going to be sequel. The music took me right back in time to the 70's ... lots of music that I loved as a teenager.

I have never seen a movie on an IMax screen and seeing it in 3D certainly added to the entertainment of the film for me. The storyline is simple ... reluctant hero saves the planet. What a great pick as a lead ... Chris Pratt ... he is a natural. He is being compared to Harrison Ford and I must confess there are some Han Solo type moments with him. Vin Diesel is fantastic as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket ... a great ensemble for a team of heroes. I give this film a 10 ... a satisfying watch that has enough happening in it to satisfy most tastes in this type of movie. Yes the script is formulaic, there is nothing new here, but we found it very entertaining. A must see in 3D.

Ready for our IMax ... 3D Experience

One of my favourites from the movie ... enjoy a bit of 70's Nostalgia ... I love this song!

Boston Dreams

On Friday Mike, Chris, Pete & I went to Boston for the day. We had a great day together, I loved it. The weather was perfect ... we are noticing a cooling down here. Boston is a beautiful city ... my second best love to NYC. So many cool places and buildings to take photos of ... so I didn't. There are some beautiful Brownstone buildings ... I love them! Boston Common ... where Pita camped when he did a stint at Harvard ... we saw a few homeless people lying around on the Common and I thought of Pita.

Taken outside Boston Temple ... We love these 2! 

We started out at the Boston Temple, it was a small session,, only 5 of us all up. We had a nice experience together. Had a couple of photos taken outside and then we rushed of to see Guardians of the Galaxy. Met up with some of Mike & Chris's friends at Max Brenners specialty chocolate restaurant, I had my best hot chocolate so far in the US. Then Chris and I headed of to Katy Perry's concert ... WOW!

BFFs ... Beautiful Women ...

Beautiful People ... We really like hanging out with these people and their families.

Katy played at TD Garden which has a 20,000 concert capacity and it was 3/4s full. I have never been in a venue with so many women and girls, it was incredible and I was not the oldest! I saw a few young girls around about 9/10, could even be younger and older women dressed up in their Katy Perry wigs and outfits. Everyone was having a good time. Katy came out on stage to Roar and the screaming was overwhelming. It was not really a concert but a Stage Show. She was making sure that everyone was going to have a good time and had an evening of entertainment and music for us.

Hello Katy ...

Some of you may know about Chris' Dartmouth Roar video lip-syncing to Katy's Roar ... it has been very popular and raised the profile of Dartmouth Children's Hospital. Chris along with some others choreographed and created the Dartmouth Roar video (see below) to raise money and the profile for the children's hospital and some of the children that were part of the video were very, very sick and some have since died. It was a great project for Chris and for the hospital and because of the success of Dartmouth Roar Chris is now the Creative Director of Dartmouth Hospitals Video Department. We have family members who love Katy Perry. Our nephew Chucky followed Katy's tour over the States in 2012, I think ... he loves Katy. He introduced me to her music and is probably the reason I took the opportunity to go to her concert. As you can see Katy has had quite an influence in our family.

Katy had her audience on the go ... women and girls every where were up dancing and screaming.  My casual observation of Katy and her concert is that this woman has a lot of power and influence. Women and girls love her and love her songs. They dance and scream without inhibition. They dress up without inhibition ... it is like Katy gives them permission to be who or what they want to be and they love her for it. Some of Katy's lyrics are overtly sexual ... California Girls comes to mind ... some of them sing about being great, loving yourself and being strong and overcoming hurt, pain and lost love. This female strong audience loved it! They were inspired by her, they adore her, they want to be her! Katy is their voice.

I loved the boldness of some of these women in the audience ... I thought about how different these women are from me, in my long black dress, Ked sneakers and short grey hair. I loved their boldness, I loved that for 2 hours they felt a freedom to express themselves in a way that felt empowering and authentic for them. I loved being in an audotorium with all of these women ... screaming, singing, dancing and just having an all out good time. Katy gave them permission to do that.

This is a very different type of feminism ... some women may say that it is not feminism at all ... some might be appalled at how Katy markets herself and the kind of role model she is for women and young girls. What I noticed at her concert is she is a voice for 1,000s of women. I think what Katy is marketing is power ... women can have power ... they can be strong ... they can be vulnerable ... they can risk love ... they can be sexy ... they can be different ... they can rock the night away without feeling embarrassed, shy or self conscious ... they can be their own true selves in what ever form that takes. Katy has Girl Power ... who am I to say that is not ok ... I am all for difference ... I am all for women, girls feeling good about who they are and feeling confident that their voice is welcome and heard by all ... even if it is not the same, no matter what their social, cultural, economic back ground is and in that difference we can find oneness. I am very different to the women at Katy's performance, but I felt an incredible sense of oneness and I loved being with these women and girls, dancing, clapping and singing along with Katy. A great way to end a perfect day. A fun night with one of my favourite people ... thanks Chris.

Prismatic Glasses for Katy's light Show

Women's Work

As many of you know Mike & Chris have been renovating their house @ 14 Pine Street and had hoped to have it mostly finished by the time we arrived. Due to circumstances beyond their control renovating stopped suddenly and very little has been done over the last couple of months. There is a beautiful big space that looks out over Lake Runemede, but no partition walls, flooring, a rather large perfectly square hole in their floor, no kitchen, electricity, plumbing and no way of getting to the up stairs ... so they had to find temporary accommodation and today we had to move out of that accommodation for new tenants that are moving in tomorrow. What a job!!

Packing up house, shifting it and cleaning up the house is exhausting and stressful work. We have done it quite well with no blow ups or breakages ... yet. We have all moved into Brig & Chelle's home with their 3 children ... the excitement for lars & Roxcy to be with their big cousins. We fit in perfectly ... at the moment. Pete and I will be moving into the Inn on Sunday for our last week here in the States. We have used this opportunity to pack our three outfits into our new packs to see how everything fits ... we have done it! But that is another post.

Mike had Cindy and Dominique, who he employs to clean the Inn and rental properties when they are vacated, to come in and clean 18 Pine Street after we had moved everything out and I did a bit of cleaning with them. I spent a couple of hours with them and really enjoyed their company ... they did an amazing job ... from top to toe ... 18 Pine Street was looking spic and span when they had finished and moved on to their next cleaning job.

As I worked with them and observed them I realised how intimate cleaning with someone else is. Cindy and Dominique had a comfortable intimacy between them that only comes from spending hours working along side each other. I reflected on the times that I have helped someone clean their house, the women that I have worked alongside as we have cleaned and talked, shared stories, laughed and cried. The women who have come into my home to help me clean and pack, the richness of those times and the closeness I felt with them for a few hours. A moment that stands out for me is when we were shifting from Doncaster Street back to Dominion Ave in 2012, about a year after the Feb 22, 2011 EQ. I felt completely done in ... Cathy Matthews had come over to help me clean up Doncaster Street and we were working in one of the bedrooms together and I fell back against the wall, burst into tears and said "I feel completely broken Cathy". She didn't really do much or say much ... she came over and put her hands on my shoulders and said a few words and I felt comforted, an intimate and vulnerable moment for both of us. Some women I have cleaned alongside I have not known very well at all and after a couple of hours working alongside them that has all changed ... I have had some really lovely relationships develop doing Women's Work.

Cindy & Dominique are Mothers and cleaning is what they do for work and fit around their families schedules. They really enjoy their work and they enjoy working together. They are interesting, competent, capable women that really made a difference for us today. I know that I could not have done what they did with such good humour, good energy and do a good job. There was something incredibly powerful in who they were and what they were doing ... their work and who they are is anonymous ... they come in after everyone is gone and are gone before the next tenant moves in. But their influence or presence remains ... in that moment when the new tenant opens the door, goes to use the oven, puts their food in the fridge, uses the bathroom ... everywhere they look Cindy & Dominique have cleaned. They have made someones first experience of moving into their new home something exciting and pleasurable. For some reason today I have found this deeply moving and incredibly powerful ... today I have felt the immense power, connection and intimacy of Women's Work.

 Meet Dominique & Cindy

 Who doesn't love a clean fridge?

Welcome ...