Word of the day

Boffola – a joke or a line in a script intended to get a laugh; an uproariously funny joke; a hearty laugh.

Neat Places in Oamaru and Waitaki

Neat places featured include:

Clay Cliffs

Cucina

Del Mar

Elephant Rocks

Grainstore Gallery

Inc Design Store

Steampunk HQ

Whitestone Cheese

You can learn more about what to see and do in the Waitaki District here.

Left/right rose surprise

Robert Fulghum reports from Crete:

TRIANTAFYLLO – ROSE STORY

The place and the time:
The far western district of the Greek island of Crete.
The foothills of the high mountains.
Spring-becoming-Summer.

Valleys are blanketed with vineyards, groves of orange trees in blossom, and infinite olive orchards. Sheep. Goats. Wildflowers – poppies, daisies. The landscape is laced with a web of narrow winding roads that began as paths laid down long ago by donkeys and human beings on foot.
Now paved, thanks to the European Union – still narrow, still winding.
This latticework is marked with small villages and remote farmsteads.
You can imagine. . . .

It’s where I go to play a game – Left/Right/Surprise.

The rules: Driving south from my village of Kolymbari, I wait until impulse directs me to turn right at the next intersection. Continuing on that narrow road, I turn left at the next crossroads, and right at the next – keeping my eyes open for the unexpected.
Chance directs my way on.
Looking for surprise.
So as not to miss anything important, I coast along slowly, stopping often.

This particular morning I pass a long fence supporting an extravagance of rose bushes in full bloom – casting their perfume in through the open windows of my car.
A surprise indeed. . . 

Clicking on the link at the start will take you to the rest of the story.

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Ka mahuta a Matariki i te pae, ka mahuta o tatou tumanako ki te tau. When Matariki rises above the horizon, our expectations rise to the year ahead.