As some readers will know, Betty has been learning various aerial circus apparatus over the past few months. The other night was the circus school’s show, and Betty and a fellow-student presented a spot of static trapeze, like so.
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Preview of coming attractions
Frankly awesome:
Betty is going to blog a wee bit more in future, by the way.
Redeeming the time
Despite the eternal promise of a quiet start to the year, Betty’s 2012 has pretty much kicked off as it means to go on: most clients are back, noobs with resolutions flock to the studio, planning for university classes is well underway, and a whole evening was recently taken up with a year’s worth of invoicing. Last night, multitasking like a fiend, Betty packed the husband person into the car and drove over to the zoo, in whose general vicinity the husband person dropped off a pile of brochures. This task completed, they carried on to the circus school, which was suspiciously abandoned.
It dawned on Betty that it might have been an idea to check the timetable, because although there were open studio times over the last two weeks, the new term doesn’t start until next week.
Pro:
- An empty summer’s evening!
- Any number of beautiful suburbs, beaches, and parks on the way home!
- Cafes aplenty lining the streets!
Con:
- Betty was wearing a onesie
The husband person, in the end, bought a pizza, and they parked underneath the harbour bridge (a truly gorgeous spot) while he ate it. And then they went home, and Betty invoiced eight months in advance.
Never mind. Here’s something pleasing:
This weekend is a long one, so the adventuring will doubtless take a turn for the better. Happy Friday, everybody.
Happy thought
Sheepish
Betty and the husband person paid a visit to some friends the other day.
Going to Cornwall Park is lovely; there’s more than enough room to visit many times and never walk the same way twice. This time was all sheep and grasses, but if one wants massive fountains or flowerbeds or groves of trees or hills to climb they’re just as easy to come by.
Flotsam
Betty has been – perhaps “inspired” is not the right word; let’s say “transfixed” – transfixed by Natsumi Hayashi’s beautiful levitation photographs of late. Aren’t they lovely?
Photoshop is not the culprit. She jumps. You’re most welcome.
The House of Christmas
There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honor and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.
A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam,
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.
This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
GK Chesterton
Belated birthday
It was Betty’s birthday the other day, but as it was also a long workday, Betty left it until today to celebrate. Oddly, there didn’t seem to be any Christmas eve rush to get to the farmer’s market…
There was a rush on the fancy lettuce, though, of course, and no watercress to be found. But Betty got some kale on the way home, to make up for it. The market itself was pleasing – there were carolers and a jazz band, lentil and portobello pies, and delicious coffee (the last of the season: Betty is giving it up, Lent-style, over Christmas. It tends to play havoc with her blood sugar, and the summer break seems a good time to coddle the adrenals, so it’s peppermint tea from now on, at least until the pre-dawn teaching starts again).
And after the market, Betty and the husband person stopped at the beach. It had one of those oversized picture-frames mounted in front of the view. Is that a worldwide phenomenon?
Last seen wandering vaguely
Betty’s almost entire family were up in Auckland this week to watch sister number five, Right-Angle Girl, have surgery. In between vigils, sister six (not a blogger) went out for breakfast with Betty and the husband person.
They began with eggs Benedict at Revel, and wandered around Karangahape Road, and then took the bus to Britomart and walked through the train station. Baggins (sister six) sniffed Christopher Brosius perfumes, examined vintage dresses and perused Scandinavian stationery with the best of them. After much walking, they popped into Raw Power and had a bowl of soup. Civilised, no?
Cathedral Cove
For their first wedding anniversary, Betty and the husband person went to the Coromandel Peninsula. The first major leg of the adventures was to Cathedral Cove, one of the most renowned beaches in this part of the country.
It’s very beautiful. One walks.
For other parts of the trip, gentle readers will have to wait. But isn’t this a lovely spot?
