Taste of Kiwi

I mentioned last week that I was off to Wellington. I’m posting photos this week.

1. We left from Auckland Airport.

2. It was raining in Auckland, but we had wonderful weather in Wellington. There were quite a few unaccompanied children on the flight, flying home after school holidays. They cracked me up with their shrieks of joy each time we hit turbulence.

3. We caught the cable car from the inner city to the Botanic Gardens.

4. There were great views out over the harbor.

5. It’s autumn here in New Zealand and the trees are changing color.

6. It was ANZAC day and there were wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

7. We had dinner at the Backbencher pub, which is opposite our Parliament. Very yummy food.

8. The pub is known for its caricatures of our politicians. This is Helen Clark (a recent Prime Minister) and Winston Peters (very colorful is the kindest way to describe him)

9. And this is Jenny Shipley who was the Prime Minister prior to Helen Clark. She looks remarkably like the fairy godmother from the second Shrek movie.

10. This is the Buzzy Bee. Buzzy Bee is a well known childrens’ toy and is considered a NZ icon.

11. This is me at the rugby stadium, also known as the CakeTin.

12. The next day we went to Te Papa to see the Monet exhibition. I also wanted to see the colossal squid. The squid didn’t photograph very well, but it was very interesting.

13. This is me outside Te Papa. The Monet exhibition was crowded, but very good. My favorite was the painting of Monet’s wife Camille and their child. My hubby loved the one of the Haystacks.

And that’s me for this week. I’m off to Samoa tomorrow. I hope you’ll pop back during the next few days to check out my Samoan photos.

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Hubby and I fly out to Western Samoa on Friday. Hubby is packed. Even his golf clubs are packed and ready to travel. I haven’t started. Whenever my husband makes a comment, I tell him I can’t pack until Scotty goes to the kennels. She doesn’t like a change in her routine. Where hubby is concerned, that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

The truth is I don’t like packing. I always put it off until the last minute.

Which camp do you belong in—the organized packer or the last minute panic packer?

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My father and sister suffer from hay fever. I’ve always thought I escaped this curse, but I’ve noticed during recent years that when I go outside, I get a runny nose. Mostly it’s not a problem, but it means when I’m riding my bike I sometimes have to breath through my mouth. Why is it that the minute I open my mouth all these kamikazi bugs fly right in? I swallowed two bugs today before I knew what hit me. Ack!! Does anyone else have this problem?

I have a new release out this week called Currents Run Deep. This is another shifter book, but instead of my normal felines I’ve ventured into orca whales. The story has a sort of Romeo and Juliet theme to it, or at least my take on two enemies getting together. Reader Fran Lee made a book trailer for my upcoming release. Thanks so much, Fran!

When hubby and I visited Vancouver Island last year we did a whale watching trip with Five Star Whale Watching. They have a blog where they post daily photos of their trips. The photos are of whales and also birds, seals and other scenery. I always enjoy my glimpse of nature. They mentioned a documentary on whales, which sounds really interesting. Here’s the trailer for it.

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A lot of people love visiting museums and art galleries. They can spend hours wandering through the various displays and visit a different museum each weekend.

Not me.

I visited Te Papa this weekend, New Zealand’s big museum in Wellington. I checked out the colossal squid exhibition (very cool) and the Monet art exhibition in one of the private galleries of the museum. I also enjoyed this very much, but that was enough for me. I was ready to leave.

I’ve always been like this with museums. An hour or two is my limit. Knowing my limitations, I tend to pick the galleries that interest me most and head straight there. I loved the historical costumes in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The bog man in the British Museum and the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum in London all attracted my attention.

Any exhibitions that have things I can touch make me want to linger. I went around the colossal squid exhibit touching everything we were allowed to study at close quarters. A little girl followed me and we touched squid beaks and tentacles, grinning at each other the whole time. It was great fun. I didn’t touch any Monet paintings—all the guards put me off, but those “do not touch” signs really made me want to touch.

Do you like visiting museums? Do you have any favorite museums or things you love to see?

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My special guest today is online friend and fellow Samhain Publishing author, Maria Zannini. Her futuristic fantasy title Touch of Fire comes out in paperback on 28 April. Only a few days to wait!

Over to Maria…

Shelley always has the most interesting topics on her blog and I was sweating bullets trying to figure out what I could write about so I wouldn’t get sharp-beaked kiwis thrown at me like live hand grenades. *g*

My interests run the whole gamut of weird, but something I rarely talk about is dreams, or in this case, the stuff of dreams and how they are unique to each of us.

I tend to remember my dreams in vivid detail, as if I were recalling a movie moment by moment. That’s fine if it was a good dream, the kind you don’t want to wake up from. Not so pleasant if they were nightmares, the ones that chill you long after you wake.

Unlike most ‘normal’ people I have two peculiar traits when I dream. My dreams are always in gray with only one item in the dream manifesting itself in color.

The other quirk is that I take on the pov of every person or object in the dream.

I know what they know in intimate detail.

The really weird part is when I take on the pov of an inanimate object. There are no feelings involved, but rather a rudimentary understanding of what I am and what my purpose is.

It’s surreal.

Which I suppose describes dreams perfectly.

I’ve written stories based on dreams, but there is still one dream that haunts me and begs to be written. In the dream there is a young woman, not more than twenty and she’s at a family picnic. The setting is noisy and she’s surrounded by her loved ones, laughing and playing. Then she gazes across the park and sees a very old man giving her a long mournful look.

She’s drawn to him for some reason. She doesn’t know if it’s pity or something else, but she feels compelled to invite him over to the picnic.

I remember analyzing this dream while I was having it because I couldn’t understand why I was having such a strong attachment to this very elderly man. Then I popped into his pov and immediately understood the connection.

This young girl and this old man were soul mates in a previous life, but he was born too soon and she was born too late and they missed each other by several decades. I instantly felt his profound grief. He had lived his whole life looking for her, never realizing until that day that they had been born too far apart in time.

Meanwhile the young woman was just trying to be kind. She didn’t understand the strange compulsion she had to care for this man, and I, as the dreamer couldn’t tell her. It was something she had to discover on her own.

As the dream drew to its conclusion, she looked into his brilliant blue eyes (the only thing in the entire dream that was in color) and realized who he was. She broke down into tears and couldn’t stop crying. As I woke up, I found my face wet as well.

I think about that dream a lot. The romantic in me wants desperately to give them their ‘happy ever after.’ Maybe someday, I’ll write the ending they deserve.

Have your dreams influenced your writing? Is there a dream that still haunts you? And why do you think it does?

***

Visit Maria at her website, blog or follow her on Twitter.

Read an excerpt of TOUCH OF FIRE.

Feeling Lucky? Post about TOUCH OF FIRE for a chance to win a prize package worth $100. Go here for details

TOUCH OF FIRE hits bookstores on April 28.

***

Okay, it’s safe now, Shelley. That crazy woman is gone. Thanks for having me over!

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Today I have a gardening post about how to plant an upside down tomato, courtesy of Mr. Munro.

UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER by Mr. Munro

What to do with that old paint pot or unwanted container.

It may seem strange to plant a tomato in an UPSIDE-DOWN container, but there are benefits. Very little soil related disease as the plant and its leaves have minimal contact with the soil. Roots easily absorb the nutrients as gravity provides a constant flow. Regular watering is crucial as gravity not only feeds but drains – there are larger than normal holes at the bottom of the container.

To make an UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER procure a suitable vessel. A 10 liter (2.5 gallon) pail is ideal. Whether it is a new or old paint container, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that it has a lid and a handle. The lid can be adapted from anything but it must be able to retain the soil / potting mix once the container has been inverted. You are now wondering why we are turning the container upside-down. Think about it, it is an UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER!

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Before inverting the container we have to fill it with suitable material, potting mix would be preferable with a slow release fertilizer. Put the lid on and turn the container upside-down. Cut 3 x 30mm (1&1/4inch) holes in the bottom, which is now the top!! A 10 liter container should be able to cope with 3 plants, smaller containers perhaps only one plant. Now plant your seedlings in the small holes.

After a week or two the plants should be established and able to cope with the next procedure. This entails the container to be raised up, turned over and held by the handle, discard the lid and hang by the handle. The plants are now hanging from the bottom of the container but will soon head outward and upward.

DON’T FORGET TO FEED & WATER!!!!!

Enjoy your UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER suitable for any sized garden or apartment.

I know some of you are gardeners. Do you grow your own vegetables? Do you prefer to grow flowers? What do you enjoy most about gardening?

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Thirteen Things about Wellington and my upcoming weekend.

1. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is about an hour flight from Auckland.

2. It’s always very windy in Wellington. I’m hoping we have reasonable weather for our weekend since we’re intending to do a lot of walking and outdoor things.

3. We’re going to visit the Botanic Gardens and ride the red cable car to the top of the hill, walking back down through the gardens.

4. There’s also a teahouse. I’ll probably need a cup of tea to warm up since we’re heading into winter down here in NZ.

5. We might wander past our parliament buildings, also known as the Beehive because of the round shape.

6. There’s a pub near the Beehive called the Backbencher where they have 3-D puppet heads of NZ politicians on the walls as decorations. We’ll probably stop by for a drink.

7. We’re going down to see an exhibition of Monet paintings at the Te Papa Museum.

8. According to the Te Papa site we’ll see twenty-seven stunning paintings by Claude Monet – including works from his Water Lily, Haystacks, and Rouen Cathedral series – plus works by Impressionist masterpieces by Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro and others.

9. While I’m at Te Papa I’m looking forward to seeing the giant squid that they dissected last year. They broadcast the proceedings on the Internet and people watched around the world.

10. We might fit in some shopping and definitely some eating.

11. On Saturday night we’re off to the rugby at the stadium on the waterfront. It’s affectionately called the Cake tin because of its shape. Wellingtonians are big on nicknames!

12. It’s ANZAC day, the day where Australians and New Zealanders remember the battle at Gallipoli and our fallen soldiers. The curtain raiser match is NZ Army v Australia Army.

13. The main match is a Super 14 game (the tournament where NZ, Australian and South African teams battle it out) and the ACT Brumbies are playing the Hurricanes. (Australia team v New Zealand team) It should be a great match. I just hope it doesn’t rain!

What are you doing this weekend?

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I’ve been thinking about my website content recently. Along with my book info and excerpts, I have my blog, free reads, story background info, photos, a video trailer and a couple of travel essays and articles. My next project is to work on a family tree for my Middlemarch series to add to my site.

Do you like extra content on author websites? Do you read it? If so, what sort of extra content do you like to see? What things do you like and dislike on a website?

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I had to go to the doctor this week, and I arrived home with a bottle of large pills. I know the pills will make me feel better, but I want to know why they have to make them in a size that’s more suitable for large animals. I choke and gag and stress out every time I have to take pills of any description. I’ve always been like this and remember having an ear infection when I was a kid, and my father becoming exasperated with me. In fact, he told me I’d go deaf if I didn’t take my pills. I’d frustrated him that much.

I’ve passed my dislike on to some of my characters. This is Kate from Playing to Win.

The nurse returned, handing her a glass of water and two white tablets of a size suitable for horses and other large animals.

“Thank you,” Kate said, with just a trace of sarcasm.

I’m with Kate all the way. Pills are not made for human consumption or at least our consumption!

How are you with taking pills?

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My special guest today is friend and fellow New Zealander, Tessa Radley. Tessa and I were aspiring authors together. In fact, Tessa and I had a competition where the person with the least rejections by the end of the year had to buy the other lunch. It was a contest to make sure we both sent lots of submissions to editors and agents. I won. I forget how many rejections I received, but it was a lot! The lunch was very tasty.

Over to Tessa…

Shelley, thanks for inviting me to guest blog today!

I’m Tessa—and I write for Silhouette Desire. I’m going to confess that I’m a bit of a dinosaur. I don’t have an e-reader…but I’m thinking of getting one. But there are so many choices…it’s enough to do my head in. So if any of you have any advice, feel free to tell me which e-reader you prefer.

Part of the reason I’ve procrastinated about getting an ereader is the fact that I ADORE going to a real bookstore and browsing around. Last Saturday night we went to the city center and I persuaded my long-suffering family to indulge me…much eyerolling…and I visited Borders. Heaven! My family—very sweetly—scanned the shelves for my April release, The Untamed Sheik (if any of you have read my Saxon Brides series, this is Megan’s story).

Yet I have to admit that my fetish for bookstores is probably more costly than buying on line—so often I go to buy a book that I want NOW. I want instant gratification. But when I get there it turns out that the one copy they had in stock actually can’t be found. And my eye alights on another title…oh, must have that! By this time a copy of the original book that I’m after has been sourced—at another bookstore. Sigh. But because I really, really want that book…now, today…I’m off. By the end of my spree it’s cost me the book I originally came to buy, the impulse buy, plus two books out the specials bin and half-a-tank of gas!

So why do I do it when online ordering is so much less stressful, less time consuming…and usually much cheaper? I honestly don’t know. Maybe it’s the outing. It’s certainly an event. And there’s still something about going to a brick-and-mortar store. Seeing the piles of books…and paging through them. I love it. And if there’s a coffee shop, then that’s even better!

So what’s your favorite way of getting your hands onto books…or your eyes onto print? Bookstores? Online stores? Ebooks? And if you read ebooks…let me know which ereader you prefer—and why.

I’m giving away 10 copies of Mistaken Mistress, Joshua Saxon’s story. So if there are 10 comments are less everyone gets a copy. Otherwise I’ll draw ten random names from the commenters.

Tessa
www.tessaradley.com

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