Good In-Flight Manners

Hello from Hong Kong.

Okay, so I am going to start my travelogue blogging with a bit of a bleat. 
You head to the airport all full of vim and vigour, and happily wait through the three hours before departure that international flights now seem to require for security purposes.  You even happily wait for your row number to be called before crowding into the boarding queue.  It's a nice steady walk down the aisle of the aircraft to your seat, which if you can count up to 50-something and read A through J, is quickly and easily spotted.

So far, so good. 

If you have been a good little camper and followed the whole, simple process then there is a good chance that your flight will start off really well.  What comes next is totally out of your control.  Just like the old saying

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

Only now it's not YOUR family that you need to look out for.  Unless you are travelling en masse with every extended family member you have, you will be surrounded by strangers.  Eww yuck.  Okay, I'm not a socio-phobe (is that a real word?).  What I am is a manners freak, especially in confined spaces.  You know.  Like aircraft.

What I don't want to suffer from on an aircraft that will be my home for the best part of twelve hours is a small, annoying, but old enough to have better manners child kicking the back of my seat.  Even in a rhythmic, get used to it, it'll be soothing you to sleep soon kind of way.  Neither do I want someone who thinks that their seat needs to be as horizontal as possible as soon as possible and intends to keep it that way, food service included.  In the same vein are people who recline their seat without checking if you are writing or still have a glass of drink on your tray table.

Crying babies on the other hand - not a problem. Who can blame them?  After all they have no idea why it feels like their brain is going to explode on takeoff. 

So, those are my pet peeves.  

Just for the record, on the flight to Singapore I had a kicker for the first fifteen or so minutes until I peered through the gap with a specially selected scowl after which the kicking ceased.  And in the last food service of the flight was treated to the delights of a bouncy teenager having a hilarious giggle-fest with her twin sister.  The hilarity not being my problem so much as my mobile glass of water.  But like they say, you learn your behaviour from your parents.  At one point in the flight I saw her father repeatedly push back upright the seat directly in front of him as it's occupant tried to move to a sleeping position.  Apparently it was okay for him to lean his seat back into my next-door neighbour, but not for the person in front of him to have the same privilege.  He was long of leg, I'll give you that. But he had the option of sitting on an aisle seat instead of his wife - and he chose not too.  That was a piece of the most blatant in-flight bad manners I have ever seen.

On behalf of all reasonable air travellers, I humbly request that you take your best manners with you as carry-on when you board your aircraft, don't check them into the hold with your other baggage!

Kingston Estate Shiraz - 2005

The Wine:

Kingston Estate Shiraz 2005.
Another purchase from Corporate Direct for NZ$ 12.95 a bottle.

Tasting notes:

From the winemaker:

The wine has a deep crimson red-purple colour. The nose is reminiscent of dark cherry and plum with some eucalypt and pepper.

From the bottle label:

...with an abundance of plum, dark berry and cracked pepper flavours.

The full pdf file from the winemaker can be downloaded from the winemaker's website or you can click on the link below.

Kingston Estate Shiraz 2005 - Tasting Notes.

The verdict:

My first thought when I placed my nose in the glass was: 'blackberries'. I still don't get the cherry or plum thing. Maybe it's because I'm not a big eater of them. I got the eucalyptus though and I even managed the cracked pepper. This has to be the most accurate and comprehensible description of wine for my tastebuds and nose yet.

Anyway, it is a lovely warming winter wine. It reminded me of mulled wine in that wonderful spicy, throat warming, cozy-making sort of way. It is not too sharp or mouth-drying and the winemaker says it should cellar for 5 years.
On the whole this is a really nice, rounded wine.

I will be on the phone to Corporate Direct to book some more bottles of this wine, that's for sure. If it's available in your locale, take the time to try it out. If you get it at about NZ$ 12.95 a bottle, I'm sure you will be pleased.

Hong Kong Trip - Prelude I

Okay so we leave for Singapore and Hong Kong this weekend.
It's a business trip, but we are hoping to do a reasonable amount of sightseeing as well. Neither John nor I have been to Hong Kong before, so we are particularly looking forward to this leg of the trip.

I have no doubt that the usual packing fiasco will take place the night before the flight actually leaves, but that's not really too much of a drama. I have given up trying to be organised more than a day or so out from anything. I have also travelled enough over the years that I have what might be termed a fairly minimalistic approach to what will end up in my bags. Many, many moons ago I lugged a 20kg backpack around Europe participating in what New Zealander's call 'The Big OE' and I have long since decided that I am no longer 20 and don't need that sort of backstrain anymore.

As this trip is to modern cities and we will be staying in hotels, there is no need for extensive 'just-in-case' items. If I forget to pack the toothpaste, I guess I'll find the nearest supermarket and try a local brand. The only thing heavy will be my reading material for the 10 hour flight. So far I am having trouble deciding on which books to leave behind and how low my boredom threshold will be.

The whole concept of sitting captive on an airplane for 10 hours always produces interesting quandries. Will the movie selection be worth staying awake for? Will I be able to sleep? How long can I do crosswords before my eyes feel like they've been roughed up by 80 grit sandpaper? Will playing travel Scrabble result in an ugly news headline regarding 'air-rage incidents'? And can I manage to while, whittle or generally waste away a couple of hours playing computer games on the in-flight entertainment system? (Bless Singapore Airlines' little cotton socks for providing the modern equivalent of visual chewing gum.)

Have you noticed that the only thing I am planning to get off the aircraft with is eye-strain ?! Note to self: remember the eye-mask and ear plugs.

If you really are a list-oriented person you should check out my friend Bruce's packing list suggestions. He's managed a pretty comprehensive list, just take a look for yourself.

---

So, what's your travel packing style?

1. You throw random items into the nearest available bag and run for the door.


2. You make sure you have enough clean underwear for the journey, and that you have soap, toothpaste and deodorant. The rest looks after itself.


3. You have all your clothes washed, dried and ironed the week before you leave. You tissue wrap all items to discourage wrinkles. (You saw that the Royal Household do this for their guests, and you've never looked back since!)


4. You look puzzled and say: 'Packing? What's that?'

Come on, 'fess up!

Water, water everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

It's a rather appropriate piece of poetry. Only 1% of the Earth's water is fresh water that we can utilise. Another 2.5% is frozen over in the polar ice caps. The remainder is salt water.

Even in the midst of a very cold and wet few weeks of winter, it is important to bear in mind that our water is a precious commodity. In this country we generate about half of our electricity through our hydroelectric power stations so what the weather delivers is pretty important to Kiwis, both feathered and two-legged.

On the subject of water available for us to use personally, there is a lot of talk about conservation and taking greater care of our natural waterways.
I am the recipient of the ARCs "BIG CLEAN UPdate" newsletter and this issue is all about protecting our waterways, so I thought I would share a few bits of information that this includes. It doesn't really matter where in the world you live, the advice and information is probably still relevant.

Some statistics:
"In most households water consumption is fairly evenly split between the toilet, bathroom, kitchen/laundry and outdoors."

• Outside: 20%


• Bathroom: 25%


• Kitchen/Laundry: 25%


• Toilet: 30%

Obviously if you have a swimming pool, irrigation system or take regular baths rather than showers, your usage may vary.

So, where is all that water going then? Try here:

• Cleaning teeth: 5 litres


• Shower (8 minutes) with a normal shower head: 120 litres


• Shower (8 minutes) with a water efficient shower head: 80 litres


• Bath (full): 200 litres


• Toilet (half flush): 6 litres


• Toilet (full flush): 11 litres


• Garden hose (on full): 250 litres per 5 minutes


• Dish washer: Up to 25 litres per wash


• Washing machine (model dependent) Top loading: 100 - 200 litres


• Washing machine (model dependent) Front loading: 70 - 85 litres

If you live in a country/city/town/rural area where your water is charged for by your usage rate, then maybe the advice on the BIG CLEAN UPdate page might be of interest to you.

Don't forget to check out your local government websites, they may have specific advice for your area.

World Refugee Day - June 20th

Today is World Refugee Day.

Around the world each year as many as 19 million people are under the aid and assistance of the UN High Commission for Refugees. These include displaced persons, asylum seekers, returnees and stateless people. This figure covers 117 countries on five continents.

So, what do you know about refugees other than what appears on your local television news?
I didn't know very much even though I have been thinking about the idea of volunteering to help with the local migrant assistance service here in Auckland. I had no idea of how many people were affected, nor of the different 'versions' of refugee status.
Here is what the UNHCR has to say about refugees:

What is a refugee? International law defines refugees as people who are unable or unwilling to return to their countries because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group. What international law does not describe is the sheer strength of spirit that keeps their hopes alive, wherever they are. Most of the world’s refugees are women and children, and on World Refugee Day in particular, we celebrate the tenacity and quiet strength of the millions of mothers and wives who hold their families together in the most difficult circumstances. They make sure the flame of hope is never extinguished. They are true heroes, and they deserve our respect.

If you can take a few minutes out of your busy day, today, and visit the UNHCR website and get a few basic facts about the lives and experiences of refugees that would be a great start. If you are a numbers person, then perhaps the statistics page is more to your taste.
And finally, if you want to find out how you can help there is the 'How you can help' page.

June 20th, 2006 - World Refugee Day
For more information, visit the UN High Commission for Refugees.

In Sheep's Clothing - Rett MacPherson

This is another "whodunnit" series that I stumbled on a couple of years ago.
It's initial appeal was the fact that the main character, Torie O'Shea, is also a genealogist and local historian.
Go figure that that would appeal to me! ;-)
The series is set in Missouri in the US, with this particular episode taking Torie to her Aunt Sissy and Uncle Joe in Minnesota.

These stories are simple, follow-the-leads, mysteries. You can guess a bit as you go, but Rett MacPherson manages to keep the 'I really want to know what the outcome of this is' feeling going. The characters and the storytelling is very comfortable, even though Torie is prone to bad-tempers and being blunt (read: rude, brusque, pointed, etc.).

The basic storyline here is:

Aunt Sissy finds and reads a manuscript that was stored in the attic of her house. She asks Torie and her husband Rudy to come visit, with the intention of convincing Torie to find out who wrote the manuscript. Once Torie begins to read the manuscript she gets hooked up in the story of the young Swedish girl who's diary it turns out to be. So she starts the process of finding out who the mystery girl is, using the local historical records. Her research turns up two unresolved historical murders from the late 1850s, and in short-order a modern murder joins in too. The story revolves around the young Swedish girl, her family and that of the murdered men, and how that traces down to the modern town of Olin where her Aunt Sissy lives. The story is reasonably compelling, especially if you have an interest in family history. I began this book in the bath early Sunday evening and was done by just after 10pm. It is only a little over 250 pages, so not a massive read, and I am not the fastest reader on the planet either. I just couldn't quite bring myself to leave the last 50 or so pages for another day.

If you are interested in finding out a little more, you can read the first chapter here at Rett MacPherson's website.

On my rating scale, a 2 out of 5.

The 'My Itch' Series: Bonded Labour

Have you ever heard the term "bonded labour"?

It isn't something that generally comes up in conversation; at least not in my experience. It isn't a topic that rates as top choice for polite conversation. Yet it is a topic that should be right up there with global warming, famine, and how we can sustain an ever-expanding population on the gifts that Mother Nature has supplied to us.

Bonded labour is when a person, often a child, is 'sold' into the service of another in exchange for a small loan. Here is the Wikipedia definition of bonded labour.

And here is how World Vision put it:

Struggling parents ‘mortgage’ their children into bonded labour to receive cash loans for family needs.

They are bonded until the family’s debt, plus interest, is fully repaid. The employers often physically or mentally abuse the children, who work in unhealthy conditions for little pay.

I don't know about you, but I don't think it is acceptable that people are put into the position that they need to 'mortgage' their children to pay for health care and other basic needs like food.

If the mere thought of that makes you queasy, try this from World Vision:

In India, these debts tend to be relatively modest, ranging on average from 500 to 7,500 rupees (about US$10 to US$160), depending on the industry and the age and skill of the child. The creditors-cum-employers offer these ‘loans’ to destitute parents in an effort to secure the labour of a child, which is always cheap, but even cheaper under a situation of bondage.

Human Rights Watch considers 15 million to be a reliable minimum indicator of the prevalence of bonded child labour in India.

Okay, so that's some of the story. Please don't be an ostrich about this issue, become an advocate for those who are not able to speak up for themselves.

If you want to read a bit more for yourself, visit World Vision New Zealand to get the whole story or look up your own country's World Vision website here.
For as small an amount as NZ$69 a child can be freed from bondage. That's probably less than most people spend on a pair of jeans in NZ ! Can you live without ONE pair of jeans for the freedom of a child ?

Need or want more information about this before acting? Try these:

• Worldpress article


• India Together article


• New York Times article


• US Department of Labour


• Human Rights Watch - "Small Change" (please read the Children's Testimonials in Section IV.)

Okay...

now that you have read some more. It's time to join me in scratching this itch !

If you need some ideas about how and where to scratch, I'll be giving out some ideas over the "My Itch" series, so feel free to hang around and see if any of them appeal to you.

Bladen Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc - 2004

The Wine:

Bladen Vineyard Marlborough 2004 Sauvignon Blanc.

We recently purchased this wine from Corporate Direct.
Online, it doesn't look like it's available from the winemaker.
It is touted as costing NZ$ 19 in this review by Geoff Kelly.
And at this online shop it's an absolute bargain at NZ$13.95 a bottle.

[Please note: I have NO affiliation with any of the websites or companies that are mentioned in this review.]

Tasting notes:

From Wine Uncovered:

Light straw in colour with a fresh, clean bouquet filled with aromas of gooseberry and white currants, hints of tropical passion fruit and capsicum to round off. The palate is dry and refreshing, showing the purity of fruit flavours that is unmistakably Marlborough, and shows good weight with a great balance and a long, crisp finish.

And from the Geoff Kelly review:

Initially opened there is a whisper of youthful sur lie sulphur and armpit, clearing acceptably quickly to good Marlborough sauvignon ripened to the red capsicums and black passionfruit stage. Palate is richly flavoured, judging dry, little or no oak contribution, just pure sauvignon. This could score higher in six months. Cellar 1 – 5 years, or longer if desired.

The verdict:

As I mentioned before, I’ve never been one for the floral language that winemakers and reviewers use, but I think Geoff Kelly might be a reviewer after my own heart.
I didn't get the sulphur and armpit odour as he did, but then I am drinking a bottle some 21 months later than he did.
John gets the passionfruit while I get light currants and general sweet fruitiness.

It is nice on the palate, strong but not overpowering, and despite the sweet nose suitably dry. The flavours linger and makes for a very satisfying mouth-feel.

I can say, with clear conscience, that this is a wine worth spending your money on. It won't blow your socks off, but if you get it for NZ$ 16 - $17 a bottle, you won't be horribly disappointed. If you get it for NZ$13 to $15 a bottle then I think you will be happy that you purchased it.

Matahiwi Estate - Sauvignon Blanc 2004

The Wine:

Matahiwi Estate Sauvignon Blanc - 2004, Nelson.

We recently purchased this wine from Corporate Direct.
Online, from the winemaker it costs NZ$ 18

Tasting notes:

Direct from the winemakers website:

This wine's soft ripe flavoured style has flavours of gooseberry and fresh herbs and a long dry finish. We love drinking it with pasta dishes using fresh herbs and delicious summer salads. While this wine is very ready to drink now, it can also be cellared for up to two years.

The verdict:

I've never been one for the floral language that winemakers use. Every now and then I get the vague idea that I manage to smell 'berries' as promised in the marketing spiel, sorry I mean vintner's tasting notes.

Most of the time, however, the smells are very much more mundane for me. Our wine group gained the nickname "The Smelly Socks Club" as a direct result of one of the founder member's observations about the interesting odour that comes from a freshly opened bottle of French wine.

In this wine's case I have very little knowledge of gooseberries but am actually familiar with fresh herbs. There is a definite freshness to the 'nose' of the wine. It is light, palatable and certainly easy to enjoy. It is also dry as promised by the winemaker. If you check out the NZ reviews on the website you will be inundated with options to describe the flavours...

Gooseberry, passionfruit and fresh herb

Alive and sturmer apple with nice chunky overtones

nettley wine..

herbaceous wine with smooth, vibrant melon and capsicum flavours

No lack of choice then !?
Okay, like I said in the first of my wine reviews, I'm no MW so my take on this is fairly simple.

This is a very drinkable wine. Perfect for a summers day with a lovely barbeque and fresh salads. It is dry, but not overly so. It is green, but not grassy. It is reasonably soft, but does not disappear on the palate. On the whole I can actually recommend it as a purchase that you might want to consider.

P.S. if anyone can explain sturmer apple to me, I'd be obliged.

The Lord of the Rings - The Exhibition

This was one of the sightseeing events on our recent Wellington visit, courtesy of Te Papa.

I cannot recommend this enough. Even if the LOTR trilogy was the last thing you would possibly drag yourself along to the local Blockbuster to rent, seeing the intricate detail and effort that went into making these films is worth every penny of the entry fee.

As a LOTR fan, both book and films, who owns and has actually watched ALL the extended edition DVDs - including the documentary bits, this was great fun.

I just about choked on how much money someone must be making from the limited edition replica "Sauron gauntlet with One Ring" ornaments on sale, but boy are they and the replica swords the most amazing 'tourist purchases' I've ever seen on offer at an exhibition.

If you are able to get to it, visit Te Papa and take a look at the amazing craftsmanship and detail on each and every piece of clothing, prop, miniature and armoury item.

And enjoy the galleries of conceptual art that influenced the feeling and look of the movies. Much of which would not look out of place on your own walls at home.

And if you are feeling like playing the hobbit, spend the $5 on the forced perspective photograph. It's simple but very cute - just ask the kids who got to be bigger than their Dad !

It really is a piece of important film history in our own country. Enjoy it !

Clouds and Counterpanes

I love to travel.

I don't really care what the reason for the trip. I simply enjoy the process of going from one place to another, with all the attendant visual, aural and physical experiences that it brings.

On Friday I travelled by air from Auckland to Wellington for business and a day of capital enjoyment. It was an absolutely, positively beautiful day to fly into Wellington. We left Auckland on a sunny, crisp morning and soon were flying above the clouds.

Fluffy white clouds always seem to evoke cotton wool descriptions. I normally succumb to identifying them that way too, but on this trip I made a few more observations.

Yes, on first glance from above they do look like a pile of big, boofy cotton balls. But they can also look like that polyester stuffing that falls out of the tummys of well-loved and over-cuddled teddy bears.

And on this most recent trip, I paid particular attention to the changes in the clouds. They were not a continuous mass of fluff-balls. They changed as the terrain changed. In one place they looked like a field of white mushroom clouds rising out of a white landscape. In another they looked sparse and stripped bare as though they were wool being prepared for spinning.

It was an evocative trip back into childhood for me as I watched the clouds pass below. It reminded me of the lands at the top of "The Faraway Tree" with Moonface and Silky waiting to invite me to play.

But an even stronger piece of imagery came to me as we progressed on our one hour flight. A once favourite childhood poem - Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Land of Counterpane" from "A Childs Garden of Verse" .

The changes in cloud form presented the perfect image of the counterpane in a Victorian household. Next time you fly above white fluffy clouds take another look and see if you can see the little Victorian boy sitting in his bed...

The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

- R.L.Stevenson

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I'm not much of a photographer.
I have to admit it.
I love good photographs.
I would love to take great photographs.
But in my heart I know I am a snapper.

I think I must be lightblind.
I can see colours perfectly well thank you, but can I see shadow and light when taking photographs? No !

All I can say, is thank goodness for digital cameras. This wonderful technology has at last made taking photographs more cost-effective for me. No more under-exposed or over-exposed or out-of-focus photographs need be developed. And if I really must save the less than perfect, then I can always try to fiddle my errors away with Photoshop or FastStone.

In truth this is partly a problem of laziness. I have talked myself into believing that it is a complicated technical process which my brain simply refuses to grasp. And while it is true that my brain is refusing to grasp many of the ideas, it is also true that 'a little application goes a long way'.
Perhaps it is also about patience, and my lack of it.
I really don't like doing things badly. And I do photographs badly.

But every now and then I take a photograph that has some aspect about it that re-inspires me to really try to learn the skills. This morning while loading up some old photographs to Flickr I came across one of those images. It's a nonentity of a photograph. A snap taken to remember the moment. But today I looked at it again in the largest image size Flickr does, and was struck by a number of things.

• The beauty of the colour green.


• The intelligence and elegance of Earth's creatures.


• The quirkiness of natural design (see the "rolled up sleeve" look).


• The body language of listening, alertness and wariness.

All of these things made me want to do justice to such a beautiful subject matter, and not just settle for my quick snap.

The image that inspired this observation can be viewed here for you to see what I mean.

Te Hera Estate Pinot Noir - 2004

As this is the first "Wine Review" I am doing here, I feel I should point out that I am in no way, shape or form an MW. This review process is a purely personal one, and solely from my own tastebuds' point of view. I will simply be telling you what I like and what I don't like. It's up to you to try the wine and see if we have similar tastes. Remember, don't give up after the first review. We may not like the same sort of Pinots, but we might love the same sort of Sauvignons.

On to the review:

The Wine:

Te Hera Estate Pinot Noir - 2004, Lightly oaked.
We purchased this wine recently, among a number of others yet to be tasted.
It cost us NZ$ 14.95 a bottle.
Online I have seen it priced at NZ$ 18.95 a bottle.

The winery is in the grape growing region of Martinborough.
Contact and a small amount of background details can be found courtesy of one of my favourite websites, Cuisine magazine.

Tasting notes:

None available.

The verdict:

It was a perfectly drinkable pinot noir, although I felt that it had a somewhat odd aftertaste. We are currently debating whether this is simply a figment of my imagination due to a long overdue return to drinking NZ Pinot Noir, or whether my tastebuds are picking up something completely different from John's. If you have to pay close to NZ$20 for this wine, then I would suggest that you bypass it in favour of one of your old favourites. At around NZ$15 a bottle I wouldn't feel hard done by or ripped off, just slightly disappointed.

Phorpa (The Cup)

This was one of the DVDs that John chose for Queen's Birthday Weekend viewing.

It is a simple story about a Tibetan monastery in exile, and its soccer loving young monks. The story is set in 1998 during the World Cup.

Two young boys are smuggled out of Tibet to the monastery for a traditional Buddhist education. They are given a room to share with the most soccer mad of the young monks, Orgyen. The youngest boy is homesick and pining for his mother, while the older makes an attempt to adjust to life outside of Tibet, by getting involved with the highjinks of his roommate.
It is a very sedately told tale. For those of us who are used to fast-paced, complex (or maybe confusingly written) storylines in our films this movie certainly slides into the boring zone.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. It has made me question my need for complexity. Do I really need to have a twist to every story? Do I really need to be kept guessing? Does everything have to be over in a nanosecond? Do I have to be challenged by everything I see or read?

Perhaps slowing down, taking time to appreciate things, and seeing value in simplicity is a good thing.
As the director himself says:

"I would like my stories to be moment-to-moment dramas," he explains, "Life is filled with so many dramas, but we tend to lose out the tastes and textures in our quest for speed and purpose."

Just a few observations about this film:

• There are definitely Buddhist lessons to be taken from this film, if you choose to look for them.


• Orgyen is a selfish, self-centred young monk - don't expect to like him too much. (Although the portrayal is very endearing, especially once his goal is reached.)


• Spoken Tibetan is a very interesting sounding language, quite unlike any other that I am familiar with.


• It is interesting to see tradition attempting to co-exist alongside modernity. Television in a monastery? What next?


• The cast of actors are very much who they appear to be on film. Visit the offical website and see what I mean.

And, if you are feeling so inclined, take a wander over to the Tibetan Government In Exile's webpage to get their point of view on who is and who isn't supposed to be a part of greater China.

Fantasy Triptych

I have been working on this for more years than I care to confess. It is not a small project, but the length of time it is taking is simply due to my lack of consistent stitching time.

I have a habit of doing several hours in a row on a weekend, once every 6 months or so. I am too embarassed to tell you how many *deadlines* I have set and studiously ignored over the last few years. But now, today, I have decided that posting progress photographs once a month might just might bring in the publicity factor that will stir me to regular, but restrained stitching sittings.

So here is the first photograph of my progress on Fantasy Triptych.


Fantasy Triptych - 1 June 2006

Originally uploaded by Twoflour.
If you want to see what it will end up looking like open this link.

Looking Outside of Yourself

Sometimes it's easy to focus solely on yourself.

My life.
My work.
My family.
My mortgage.
My problems.

These are all important things. To me.

Your list may be slightly different from mine, but nevertheless we all share the same inward focus on how our life is progressing.
This strikes me as being perfectly normal. There is nothing odd about wanting the best for myself and those surrounding me. But I have to admit to an itchy, scratchy feeling that bothered me for years. I don't know when it started and I don't know what started it. I know it was fed by my own conscience, and the judicial placing of television advertisements (who said TV doesn't affect us?!).

One thing that did push that itchy feeling front and centre for me was a small parable I came across in a book (the name of which I have long since forgotten) about counting your blessings.

A young boy was feeling sad about having to wear his brother's hand-me-down shoes. He felt that it was a terrible thing to suffer, as he was teased by other children for having to wear old shoes that were still too big for him. He confided this in his mother, who suggested that he consider himself very lucky indeed. It was possible, she said, to have worse things to worry about. She told him that there were people without feet in other, poorer places in the world, and that they have a much harder thing to live with than some teasing about their shoes. The young boy never quite looked at his hand-me-down shoes in the same way again.

It was a profound parable for me. I know it isn't particularly profound in and of itself. There is always someone who is less well off that you are. Just like there is always someone better off than you are. It's just the nature of things.

Finally, between the itching feeling, the TV advertisements and the parable I took some action. I scratched the itch.

A little over eight years ago, not too long after committing to a fairly chunky mortgage, I fulfilled my need to scratch. I fulfilled my need to help.

I became a Child Sponsor

His name was Justen. We chose World Vision. The children's detail folders came from a couple of agencies, but the photographs of the World Vision child (Justen) showed a cheeky young boy, while the other looked sad and downcast.
We chose the cheeky boy and the upbeat agency.

My itch was finally being scratched.

Eight years later and that itch is getting a good scratching now. I can honestly say that it is the least painful and most satisfying way of spending my money that I have ever come across. If you buy at least one coffee and slice of cake a week from a cafe, you too can scratch this itch.

Trust me.
Your waistline, your heart and your conscience will thank you for it.
So will your sponsored child.

If you have ever thought about it, now is the time to act on that thought. Don't wait. Poverty doesn't. Neither does disease. Contact a reputable agency in your country, and scratch this itch with me.