Do we have the Easter Bunny to thank for a couple of days off each autumn? Does the New Zealand government have such sympathy with chocolate lovers that we have an annual state-sponsored festival of indulgence?
While adults will confidently answer ‘no’ to those questions, many kids today may have no idea what’s behind the celebration of Easter in modern New Zealand.
After the sad death of Margaret Mahy last year, the title of greatest living children’s author in New Zealand must go to Joy Cowley, author of literally hundreds of books.
How lucky we are, then, that she has teamed up with Catholic priest Donald Morrison to produce the best Easter picture book I’ve come across.
What’s really important to you? Could someone tell by looking in your diary or on your household calendar? Do you spend time on what you think is most important, or does other stuff crowd it out?
How well do you know stories of your ancestors?
I go back five generations in this land, on each side of my family, but what came before that is pretty hazy for us. I know that one of my sets of great-great-grandparents farmed what is now the suburb of Northland in Wellington. I know that one ancestor who emigrated from England was a French polisher, according to census data. Continue reading »
Kids don’t belong everywhere. They’re not an orchestra’s target audience and the tense whispers of snooker commentators suggest that toddlers wouldn’t be welcome at tournament finals. But what about church services? Continue reading »
Once I started looking pregnant, strangers started treating me differently.  My own policy is never to assume someone with a little roundness in the abdominal region is pregnant – it just seems safer that way, right?  But it turns out this is a less popular approach than I’d realised, and pretty much every day from about six months along someone in a shop would ask ‘When-are-you-due-do-you-know-what-are-you-having-oh-i-suppose-you’re-buying-green-and-yellow-then?’ Continue reading »
My Grandma was a big part of my childhood. Â When I was little, I used to get on the bus and go and stay with her in Eketahuna (yes, Eketahuna) for a few days of the school holidays. Continue reading »
