Cardinal Pell

Cardinal Pell.  Yuck yuck yuck. Pell, friend of the far right, bully and now convicted pädophilie. The decision by the jury was unanimous. Those poor kids. I ran into a bully recently and it makes me shudder to think about it. No wonder those kids buried their feelings for so long.

Australia, though, is having its Trump moment with far right commentators jumping to Pell's defence. (egThe Bolt report on Sky News today.)
Read how this affects victims

Yuck yuck yuck.

Warlight - a wonderful read

It has been a week since my last post and in that week I have learned what a nightmare shingles can be.  It isn't the itchy blistery rash that is the worst part, but the seering nerve pain that follows. Not everyone experiences it, but if you do, you won't quickly forget it. Coupled with nausea and exhaustion, it makes you feel as if you might never recover.

I am recovering however, incrementally, day by day and today I have finally spent a day on a chair instead of in bed. The St John's Wort, VitC+Zn,VitB12 (I am taking every safe  substance that is recommended) seems to be working.

One boon has been reading Warlight, the new book by Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient. It's a wonderful work and deserves to be read slowly. It's a very unusual sort of who-done-it, though to characterise it like that does it an injustice. Definately recommended.

Meditation with bees

Outside my window is a bush with little  butterfly-like flowers. The bees love these flowers which renew themselves daily as their long stalks grow even longer.

I sit and watch as the flowers bob up and down with the weight of the bees. This meditation on bees is about the limit of my activity at the moment. Perhaps tonight the goddess of sleep will visit and make me more capable on the morrow.

St John's wort (Johanneskraut)

I am on day six of the antivirals against shingles, one more day to go. I thought by this time I would be ' over the hump' but no, there is not much change. You can't sleep and everything itches. The nurse did say they can't do anything about the initial infection, but they can 'manage' it and stop it spreading, thus the antivirals. I am very grateful to have them. If this is how bad you feel when one nerve is affected, what must it be like when internal organs are pulled into the viral orbit?

One silver lining is that I am reading through the pile of books I had waiting. Today in Davina Whitehouse's (actress) autobiography I discover she had shingles in her eighties. She caught it early though, took the antivirals, then a friend gave her St John's wort oil which magically made the spots on her face disappear.  I used to make this oil in Germany from flowers in the paddock next door. There it is called Johanneskraut, and we used it for all cuts and abrasions. I didn't know about the disappearing act it does on shingles spots though.

From 'Davina' by Davina Whitehouse

Alan Pearson, artist

I have been looking through the photos I took of Alan Pearson's portraits in Nelson's Suter gallery and in Wellington's national portrait gallery. I read that he is probably New Zealand's most well known portrait artist. If I had known his work previously I had forgotten it, so it is a real pleasure to discover/rediscover him.

Pearson often works in shades of grey and, as I said in a previous post, his work is memorable. Here is a collage of four of his works.

Queenstown to Sydney

I didn't see much of Queenstown this visit as shingles makes you feel quite off colour and causes all sorts of odd aches. I developed a very sore muscle in my inner foot that made me hobble! Luckily I could just veg out and be fed at my lovely hosts place.

By yesterday the antivirals (one every 5 hours for 7 days!) were starting to kick in; the foot ache suddenly disappeared from one hour to the next and I was able to fly home. The gods must have been in my side as the connections home by train and bus were very quick - I just caught both with a minute to spare.

I am glad I have no activities planned. It's veg-out time.

Shingles ...ba Humbug

I had been waiting for Shingrix to arrive in Australia. It is a vaccine against shingles that is very effective.   The current alternative is not so very effective. Turns out I waited too long. B*gger#*#.

I am lucky though that it is on my lower torso. Some people get it on the head. I am learning a thing or two about nerves too. Who knew that a single nerve fibre reaches from the spine to the tip of your finger? Or right around your half torso? . Shingles affects a nerve which is why the rash develops around your torso stopping exactly on the midpoint on both sides.

I always imagined that there are chains of nerves through the body. That's what comes of being a botanist rather than zoologist.

Incidentally, someone told me they'd had it twice, both times developed while on holiday. I think we don't realise how much stress our bodies are under on holiday.

Wellington to Queenstown

Wellington on a good day is glorious. Blue skies, deep turquoise water, houses dotted along the hills all looking freshly painted.

Tub of flowers in a Wellington

Yesterday I flew from Wellington to Queenstown. We all climbed on board but we're then informed that our flight was delayed because of some sort of leak (never quite explained). They found another plane the same size so we were reseated in that. I overheard a staff member say that these passengers were lucky because it would take hours before the defective plane was ready to take off.

The Southern Alps were much more spectacular than my phone camera could record

 On our way south, passengers (the plane was full) were offered free wine for the inconvenience and the servings were very generous. When we disembarked the passengers clapped in appreciation.

Otago peaks, flying into Queenstown

Ah coffee...

A couple of days without coffee means I am really enjoying the excellent coffee at a little warehouse type coffee shop called Emporio Cafe in Wellington!

Emporio Cafe

Nelson to Wellington

Goodbye Nelson

I had a very smooth flight from Nelson to Wellington this morning. There were two smoke plumes in the distance and people were scanning the surrounding bushland for fire. The hostess said lots of her Nelson colleagues had been evacuated and we're living with friends.

Hello Wellington

Twenty five minutes later I was landing in Wellington to clear skies, a completely flat sea, and unusual heat. There has been a fire in the city here as well, but it was put out quickly. 

New Zealand String Quartet

The New Zealand String Quartet (NZSQ) is a national treasure, which is something I didn't know before coming to Nelson. They were on my radar but I didn't realise what a phenomenon they are. Then I heard them play and thought 'wow'!

The NZSQ are the organisers of the Adam festival, or perhaps artistic directors might be a better description although I was told yesterday that up until last year they even organised the rehearsal schedule.

 Their schedule is here: http://nzsq.org.nz/

Suter Gallery in Nelson

Nelson has a marvelous little gallery, the Suter Art Gallery, set in the Queens Garden, which is a green refuge near the city centre.

Queens Garden

 At the moment there is an exhibition of Alan Pearson's paintings and Steve Fuller's ceramics. Both are definitely worth visiting. Pearson's paintings, mostly portraits, many with some sort of grey tinge, are memorable (perhaps especially for a portrait artist? ) and Steve Fullmer's ceramics large, colourful, interesting and fun.

I especially liked a vase type sculpture with multi layers and written comment on the outside. 'Jesus said buy Steve Fullmer's art's said one inscription.

Steve Fullmer's ceramic

Watercolour of bridge in Queen's Garden, Nelson

Nelson fires (2)

Smoke haze enveloped Nelson in the morning yesterday.  Three thousand people have been evacuated from Wakefield just south west of the city. Then at 2:30, after the  afternoon concert we came out and could see that another fire had broken out near the city..

Fire near the centre of Nelson

it was just up the road from  my hostel and I got a note from my friend in Stoke (on the way to Wakefield) saying she thought she should come and get me as the hostel was very near a big nature reserve and if that caught alight I'd be having to leave in a hurry. So I am now in Stoke and much relieved.  We both felt better having someone to talk to about this unfolding catastrophe. The civil defence issued a notice saying anxiety is common in these situations and it is best to talk to others!

I don't think I would have slept much at the hostel even though the fire was largely controlled by nightfall. They had two helicopters working on it almost immediately.

Music and context

The fires near Nelson continue to dominate the news. The family of my concert seat neighbour were told to evacuate yesterday. She has been staying with a friend for some days. Last night she arrived at the concert saying " My neighbour emailed to say 'I hope you took your valuables', but what is valuable?'

The fires are making the context of the music we are hearing seem even more pertinent. Prokofiev writing in 1932, Bartok in 1916. You hear it in their music. The music curators included a very worthwhile session in the program explaining Bartok. I found it very useful hearing Vârjon explain the dissonances in Bartok's music and their relationship to the time in which it was written.

Várjon plays Bartok

Waitangi Day music

Today is Waitangi Day in New Zealand, and a public holiday. It is day 6 of the music festival and I am pacing myself, staving off exhaustion. It is a familiar feeling about day six as the concerts and sketching combine to keep.me going beyond capacity.

I looked at today's program and wondered whether I had the stamina to attend: 10am - talk about recently (last 30 years) rediscovered Maori instruments and 2pm concert of NZ composers for those instruments and string quartet. 

I should have trusted the curators. It was one of the most moving concerts I have heard for a long time. I found tears welling up as the Maori flute (pūtõrino) and another long hollow instrument, both played by Rob Thorne, created sounds that seemed to connect the audience with eternity. He also played a conch instrument that sounded human and ethereal at the same time. These instruments were accompanied by string instruments played by the NZSQ to great effect.

Rob Thorne is an anthropologist and had been part of the group of four (including composer Gillean Whitehead and carver of instruments, Brian Flintoff) who explained the instruments this morning. I found his answers to questions thoughtful and nuanced. He is the sort of teacher you wish for every child (or, in our case, adult).

Addendum (8/2) : how you feel about music has so much to do with context. An Australian told me yesterday that he thought the 'piece' played at the concert was too long  and he was sorry the Maori music had not been more integrated with the western music. In fact there were 6 pieces played one after another (all described in some detail in the program). He looked very doubtful when I said I thought the music had been very successful in integrating the two cultural traditions but that the melding seemed to me to be the western musicians responding to the Maori instruments rather than the other way around.

Nelson fire

Coming back from a concert in a tiny church at Lake Rotoiti, we saw smoke  billowing from the hills nearby.

Poor Nelson. The sky is now orange, covered in smoke from a huge uncontrolled fire in  nearby Wakefield. The country is tinder dry as there has been no rain since Christmas.

Wednesday: the fire has doubled overnight with four farmhouses lost.  One of my concert seat neighbours got a message yesterday not to come home. The fire feels very close.

Smoke over Nelson yesterday afternoon

Hungarian pianist duo Dénes Vágon/Izabella Simon

While I am in Nelson I am sketching the musicians, especially Dénes Várjon and Izabella Simon, both pianists from Hungary whom I had met previously at the Maribor Music Festival in Slovenia (such a pretty and musically interesting place).

Dénes Várjon plays

The NZ Listener has published an article about them as they are the lead act for the Festival. They are travelling with their eight year old daughter and plan to explore New Zealand while they are here.

Wooden ceiling, good acoustics

The auditorium at the Nelson School of Music is an amazing structure, a 'heritage' auditorium opened in 1901 and known for its good acoustics.  It has a painted wooden ceiling that curves inwards towards the front where an organ is installed and makes you feel as if you are sitting in a large boat

I sat in a back row for the talk this morning, (an interesting interview with the Jerusalem Quartet conducted by a member of the NZ String Quartet) and can confirm that the acoustic is good.

Heritage auditorium at NCMA Nelson

Adam Festival 2019 opens

Adam Festival Facebook post

The organisers of the Adam Chamber Music festival in Nelson can be proud of themselves. They produced a wonderful opening concert.

Apparently it was sold out almost immediately. Their solution to all the extra requests for tickets was to add 80 seats behind the stage. It worked well and those who got the late tickets had a great close up view of the musicians.

Nelson Adam Festival

Nelson is a pretty place and just the right size for a pleasant existence. Big enough the house a school of music (what else is important?) but small enough to make driving and parking a dream, full of interesting shops and artsy people.

I am in Nelson for the 10 day Adam Chamber Music Festival which starts in a bit over an hour, staying a convenient two block stroll from the music hall.

The heat wave that has engulfed New Zealand had not  been so bad here, 26C and muggy but it cools down at  night. Just perfect for music making folk ( and everyone else).

Nelson Center for Musical Arts

Isel Park in Nelson

Nelson is dry and brown, apart from the vineyards with their rows of unnervingly green vines.

The picture below was taken in Isel Park in Stoke, a southern suburb of Nelson divided by  the road which leads south to Murchison and the West Coast. Isel Park ist a hidden gem, an historic house with a beautiful garden, enormous trees and wide, now brown, lawns.

Isel Park. The figure under the tree shows how big it is.

Two southerly storms over recent years decimated the place, blowing over many of these enormous giants not used to being so buffeted. I suppose the drought will weaken the hold of the remaining trees.

Agapanthus flowers are flowering everywhere in Nelson, including Isel Park

A stream through the park idyll.