This November my blog will be 16 years old. To celebrate I have asked you my readers to submit a Guest Post for my blog as a way of celebrating our connectedness as a community through social media.
I hope you will send me your story or at least a glimpse into your life I feel I know so many of you through the comment section and emails I hope this will introduce you to one another. Thank you in advance for being part of French la Vie / Tongue in Cheek.
Our Home in New Zealand
Greetings Corey,
I have been reading with you and about you for many years now and so it is nice to send through something from the other side of the world to share.
I live in the South Island of New Zealand/Aotearoa and the town is called Nelson. The population of around 52,000. We are known for our crafts/artists/wine and food and being on Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island.
I have a husband/partner of 24 years who originally came to NZ from Wales, I am a regular “Kiwi” gal of 61 years of age. I was born in the North Island on the East Coast in a town of a similar size but grew up in the Capital City of Wellington, the centre of our Parliament.
Coronet Peak is in the midst of a three-day spring snowstorm with 15cm of fresh snow on Tuesday morning.
We are meant to be going towards summer, but the country has been plunged into a spring storm with lots of snow blanketing many parts of the country.
The stormy last few days the countryside in the South Island’s lower reaches was covered in snow, sadly this has affected lambing, as many lambs are due now, so the farmers are counting their losses, which is always very heart wrenching, but at least one good thing has come from the cold, families are on holiday here for school break, we are pretty much Covid free so they are free to travel and the fresh snow means families can hit the slopes and have fun in the snow
New Zealand
Grasse France
Burano, Italy
Marche Aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, Paris
Africa
I have traveled quite widely with my husband as we work on economic development consulting we traveled each year for a number of years. Needless to say I have many images of my favourite spots around the world. One being Venice and of course Paris, where I made a point of celebrating my 50th Birthday. My husband and I had a lovely stay in Grasse some years back, using it as a base to explore the area prior to an international conference in Lyon, so we did a fair bit of driving and enjoying some of your part of the world on that occasion. However, in recent years I have not traveled as much, preferring to stay home, rather than travel so often. Now, of course with Covid19, travel is off for this part of the world and so my husband is happily at home too, working via Zoom calls instead, as many people are.I thought I had cruised through menopause until the anxiety thing kicked in and I ended up in a sort of depressive fog for a short time, not helped by my husband being in Palestine doing economic development work and talking about the threat of kidnap et al, so I think it was a perfect storm of too much going on, followed closely by the total lock down here and other places in the world for Covid19 which was a shock to us all. In the end the time together in lock down here in NZ was beneficial and I am so much better than I was at that time….life gives us these “lemons” but we just have to work through them and head towards the light
My home collection
I enjoy photography in particular but have a fondness for many things that you often talk about…the thrill of finding interesting things at markets/second-hand shops and even Opportunity Shops as we call them here, charitable stores…which I find things in and also donate to. I am an avid scavenger for textiles/crafts from around the world, with textiles, in particular, a favourite thing to find, so our house is full of many treasures.
The above photos include some old pieces, mostly African, certainly ethnic as there is a wonderful Navajo basket I got when driving from San Francisco to Portland via Yosemite (I am a big Ansel Adams fan). I have a collecting bug! I have Murano glass from the 1950s in another spot and lots of New Zealand pottery. The lovely owl in the middle came from my Africa travels and is from Zimbabwe, a real favourite I struggled to bring home in my luggage as it is a bit bulky.
We have a lovely small dog to walk each day, our little city is very compatible with that, and we enjoy traveling around our South Island in particular with our dog as a companion.
I am a step Mum to one, having lost my stepdaughter too early, she was a special needs person with a number of issues, she did not speak (was very good at some sign language, as her means of communication), and had limited brain development, but was a lover of music. She was well-loved and encouraged with her passion for music, as much as was possible and she had a very full and happy life.
New Zealand
We live in a large, oldish house, about 100 yrs old, but not old compared to many in your part of the world. We are thinking about downsizing for retirement and even where we might live, so that is something present in our thoughts just now, heightened by the Covid virus and being in our homes more of recent months…so it is an ongoing item of interest….where to from here?
Well, I think that is a little slice of my life to share, I am sure I could ramble on longer, but this is enough to get things rolling. I included some images I have taken of where I live and bits of NZ we love, to give you a sense of “Our Place” at the bottom of the world.
Cheers and stay well as you head into the wintery weather,
Jennifer
I will have to take a photo of me, for another time, I am not so good at having pictures taken of myself, preferring the landscape photos instead.
Cluster Navigators Limited www.clusternavigators.com Nelson 7010 | New Zealand
Jennifer posts some fun-loving videos on her Facebook here is one that made me smile, as accents I know can cause confusions…
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