Sunday 29 September 2013

Petone Foreshore and Pottery Exhibition


Last Thursday (26 September) was a busy day. In the morning I went to visit my sister’s pottery exhibition in the Thistle Hall Gallery at the top of Cuba Street. And in the afternoon John and I went for a 27 km bike ride along Petone Foreshore and up the Hutt River trail. Then in the evening I went to my regular Scottish Country Dance club night. So by the end of the day, the old undercarriage (feet, knees and thighs) ached a bit.

My sister, Aimée McLeod, is a well-respected, professional Wellington potter. She has been potting for over twenty years. She first learned her craft in Japan, and has a Certificate of Craft Design (a two-year course) from Whitireia Polytechnic, and a Diploma of Art (Ceramics) – four years part-time by “distance mode” – from Australia National University, Canberra.

“Amaze/Aimée’s" Pottery Exhibition in the Thistle Hall Gallery

The exhibition is titled “Amaze/Aimée’s” – a play on words, as the two words are pronounced the same. One of Aimée’s bugbears is that her name is often mispronounced as “Amy”. It is a French name, which should be pronounced “Emmay” or like the initials “MA” (as for the degree Master of Arts).

Aimée’s work is very versatile, ranging from domestic ware – cups, mugs, plates, bowls; to decorative platters – some with carved details inspired by Polynesian designs, some with just awesome glazes; to large hand-built sculptural creations.


Domestic ware - mugs bowls and platters

More domestic ware


Japanese-style glazed bowls

"Sgraffito" platter and saucers, and carved porcelain cups

"Gastropods" on the left, and "The Head Honcho" on the right



I love the colours in this platter

The exhibition is on until 3pm on Sunday 29 September. If you’ve missed it, you can still see her work at her Open Studio Sale Weekend on 23 and 24 November. She also has a stall at the Thorndon Fair in early December. A very good place to start for your Christmas shopping! Check out Aimée’s website here.

While I was at the Thistle Hall Gallery, I held the fort for half an hour, so that Aimée could run an errand. During this time, I had a phone call from John suggesting we should go for a bike ride since it was a beautiful day. So as soon as Aimée was back, I tootled off home, to scoff a quick lunch before going out again. BUT, once home, I discovered I still had the gallery key in my pocket. What a dope! So we had to return it before we could go on our ride.

We decided to ride along the Petone Foreshore, and to carry on up the Hutt River trail. We have ridden both those areas before, so we didn’t spend too much time stopping and taking photographs. We wanted to get a good few kilometres under our belt. Still, there are always sights or views which merit a photo.

Right at the start of the foreshore, there is a gravel path between the beach and the road. A nice place to take a walk, with places to sit at intervals.

A nice place to enjoy the sun. The Petone Wharf is in the background (photo by John)

Soon the track petered out and we rode on the wide Esplanade foot/cycle path. Near the Rowing Club there is a weathervane in the shape of a flying fish, on top of a post. When we started our ride, the wind was coming from the south. By the time we came back this way, the vane had turned, as the wind was coming from the north-west.

Flying fish weather vane

At the end of the foreshore, the path goes around the point at the mouth of the Hutt River. Then the narrow gravel track leads through a small park, to end up just before the Waione Street Bridge. There is a signpost pointing the way to the “Estuary Boardwalk”, along the wetlands below the road. John ventured down there, but as it was narrow and winding, and without edges – a sure recipe for a mishap, I thought – I chickened out and kept going on the footpath towards the bridge.

The Estuary Boardwalk, near the Waione Street Bridge (photo by John)

The track carries on under the bridge and beyond, but John only followed it for a short distance. He ended up walking, as biking was a bit dodgy – just as I thought it would be. Then to get back to the road, where I was waiting for him, before the bridge, he had to carry his bike up the steps.

John had to carry his bike up the steps

Once across on the other side of the river, we looped back to the track that goes under the bridge, to follow the Hutt River Trail. This is a lovely smooth path, and one can pick up a bit of speed (I’m getting good a this now!).

There is a place where the river appears to split into two streams. I wondered whether there might be a sidestream joining the river, but we could see no evidence of that. There is a finger of land, pointing downstream, with a culvert at the top end which probably has the function of diverting some of the water, when the level gets too high. It looks like the water level at the top of the finger is higher in the river than in the sidestream.

A ‘finger’ of land. Note the difference in water level at the top of the finger (photo by John)

A bit further along, the path goes under a railway bridge, and as we were going under it, a train came chugging very slowly over it. I think it was going so slowly because some maintenance people were working on it.

The train chugged very slowly across the bridge

The track meanders along the river’s edge, and evidence that spring is definitely here is showing in the fully greened-up willows. In some places the gravel track had muddy patches and puddles, as we'd had a few days of heavy rain earlier in the week.

Freshly mown grass and green willows – Spring! (photo by John)

When we had covered 13kms, we were at the level of Fraser Park, and here we decided to cross the road, to get onto the smooth cycle path on the top of the stopbank for our return trip, and thus avoid the puddles and mud. Near the former TV studios at Avalon, the rain had left rather large puddles in the sportsfield behind the stopbank, which seemed to have attracted the local seagull population.

The seagulls liked the puddles left after several days of heavy rain (photo by John)

From here we continued without stopping until we got back to Petone. And as the path was smooth and flat, I ventured into using my sixth and seventh gears, which, so far, I hadn’t actually used. My bike has seven gears, and after a discussion some days earlier about the merits of seven versus 21 gears, I thought I should try using my higher gears.

It was a revelation, an epiphany! I discovered that I was able to cover more ground, in less time, for less effort! What a thrill! I was flying along. I was actually able to keep up with John!

Now most cyclists worth their salt will probably be scathing about how dumb I am. How could anyone not know that? Well, my excuse is that I am not mechanically minded, and I’d never stopped to think it through. Duh!

I asked John why he’d never mentioned it, and his reply was “Well, some things you should discover for yourself”. Gee, thanks a lot, John!

Actually, he has tried to explain how gears work – many, many times, he says – but my mind switches off when he comes over all scientific. And really, in the back of my mind, I did know and understand the relationship between little cogs and big cogs, etc. I just never applied that to biking or to the amount of effort needed. So he was quite right in saying I should find out for myself.

And so we raced along till we got to the dairy on the Petone Esplanade, where we stopped for a well-earned icecream cone. Another little detour onto the Petone Wharf – which is 400 meters long – to make up the final kilometer on our counters, making up the day’s cycling total to 27 kms.



Monday 16 September 2013

Wellington South Coast - again


And another lovely day for cycling on Saturday! A fine day, with a light southerly breeze. Where to go this time? We tossed up between Pencarrow, or Hutt River or Wellington South Coast. The latter won.

On our way to Owhiro Bay, we drove past Carlucci Land, a park with weird and wonderful sculptures made from all manner of old machinery and metal junk. I’ve been meaning to go and have a look in there for years, but somehow it was never the right time – it is in the shade in the afternoon. We didn’t want to stop on the way to our ride, but thought we might on our way back. But again, it was too late by the time we headed home, so it will have to wait for another day – soon, I hope.

We parked the car at the end of the road, near the Owhiro Quarry, and the beginning of the track to Red Rocks. We were surprised at how many cars were there. It’s quite a large parking area and we got the last spot. The gate to the Red Rocks road was open, and quite a few 4WD cars were driving through.

We got the last car park near the Owhiro Quarry

From a distance, the track looked in much better condition than when we visited here after the 20 June storm. So we thought we would try riding it, and see how far we could get. Not terribly far, as it happened. It was still very rough, and the gravel was quite deep, so rather unstable. So we turned around and did the easy thing – riding on the foot/cycle path towards Island Bay.

The Red Rocks track was rough and the gravel deep and unstable

I am so glad we’ve got ourselves into this cycling-exploring lark. We get to see so much more from a bike than from a car. And I really appreciate the beauty of the Wellington coast more than ever.

Rocks near Owhiro Bay beach (photo by John)


Although it was not very windy, there was a bit of a swell ... (photo by John)


… and quite a surf – maybe a rip? – at Houghton Bay Beach (photo by John)

At Island Bay there is a building sitting on a rocky outcrop, called the Bait House. It houses the Island Bay Marine Education Centre, and an aquarium. I have never been inside, as fishes are not exactly my thing. Next to it is a large rusting cauldron – a former whaling pot – and nearby there is also a large anchor. This area was badly “re-arranged” by the 20 June storm, but all looked very calm and tidy today.

Old whaling pot next to The Bait House – Island Bay Marine Education Centre

Taputeranga Island is quite close to the shore. In the distance is the South Island, with recent snow on the Kaikouras


Someone had carefully balanced this piece of driftwood on the rocks (photo by John)


Approaching Lyall Bay, we were able to divert from the foot/cycle path, by going on a gravel track that skirted the water more closely.

Heading towards Lyall Bay (photo by John)

We continued around the bays till we got to Lyall Bay. There were a lot of people on the beach, children digging in the sand, and people playing with their dogs on part of the beach that was signposted as "Woof Woof Ruff Dog Exercise Area". All the debris that had been deposited on the beach by the June storm, was no longer there, and I wondered where it had all gone. Did people collect some of it to mulch their gardens, or was it collected by the council and dumped? Or probably - much more likely - it just got carried back out to sea.

At the airport end of the bay, there were a few surfers and paddle boarders riding the waves.

Surfers in the Lyall Bay surf. The Interisland ferry on the horizon (photo by John)

A caravan called “Ekim”, selling burgers of all descriptions, seemed to be doing good business, as there were quite a few people sitting on the benches near it, waiting for their orders. I asked if they did coffee, but the reply was “no, but we can do you a coffee milkshake”.

Ekim burgers galore! (photo by John)

So we had some coffee milkshakes, and a pottle of chunky chips. I hadn’t had a coffee milkshake for years. I used to make them regularly when my children were at school. They’d have milo milkshakes, and I’d have a coffee milkshake, when they came home from school. I must say my milkshakes – made with ice-cream – were nicer than the ones we had from Ekim, which had rather too much “thickener” in them. But their chips were very nice. And their burgers looked spectacular – but we didn’t have one.

We enjoyed watching the surfers while we had our shakes and chips, and John played “fetch the stick” with a dog that deposited a stick at his feet. The dog sat on the sand amongst the rocks, and waited patiently for John to take up the challenge. Unfortunately with the onshore wind, the stick did not fly very far, and soon both John and the dog gave up on the game.

Surf's up! (photo by John)

After our snack interlude, we rode back to Owhiro Bay without stopping. It took us just half an hour. We’d had a lovely afternoon’s riding. We did just over 17 kms.



Saturday 14 September 2013

Wellington Free Ambulance street appeal


Today was a fine calm day – rather surprising after the violent wind storm most of NZ suffered in the last few days. The Canterbury region was particularly badly hit, with hundreds of trees uprooted, power lines down and farm irrigation systems damaged beyond recognition. Those poor Cantabrians, many still recovering from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, and now this.

Wellington had its share of mayhem, but today was lovely. It would have been perfect for a bike ride, but I had something more useful to do, as today was the Wellington Free Ambulance street appeal. For the last few years I have helped this wonderful organisation as a collector for their annual street appeal.

I have taken part in collections for several other charities, but this one is particularly important to me, as I feel hugely indebted to them. They attended both my parents in Paraparaumu on a number of occasions. Twice they came to my mother when she activated her medical alarm (another service WFA provide) when she suffered a stroke. And they have assisted John several times – twice when he was having a heart attack, and twice more with heart “scares”. At all times the crews have been fantastic. I cannot thank them enough, and my time as a collector is a small way of saying “thank you so very much”.

The Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA) is the only free ambulance service in New Zealand. Everywhere else, patients get billed for their ambulance help. They service an area covering not only Wellington, but Porirua and the Kapiti Coast as far as Otaki, and the Wairarapa.

Another service they provide is education for Wellingtonians to learn CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) and how to operate a defibrillator. I went to such a course recently, and found it very interesting and useful – though I do hope I will never need to use the skills I learnt.

Obviously, for all these services to remain free to the people of the Wellington region, it needs to raise vital funds. So I thought it was very pleasing to see how many volunteer collectors were out in the city when I came into town to do my two-hour stint.

Street collecting is always an interesting experience. It’s an exercise in people-watching. The instructions collectors get before the event, are that they must not shake the collection bucket – it’s called “passive collecting” – and must not block any passage ways. So you try and attract the attention of passers-by by making eye-contact, and smiling.

On sunny days, people wearing sunglasses are hard to make eye-contact with. Some people studiously avoid looking at you, or quickly avert their gaze once you’ve made contact. Worse, a lot of people don’t see you at all, or are absorbed in their smartphone (I’m surprised that there are not more collisions on the footpath!).

You try to make eye-contact, but many people are absorbed in their smart phones

But many people are very generous. Many people dig into their pocket or purse to give you their “shrapnel”. Some are very generous with $5, or $10 or even a few $20 notes. I even collected a donation from one of the local MPs. Most people take a sticker – it shows they have ‘done their bit’. Some point to the sticker on their lapel as they eyeball you, as if to say “you’ve already got my money”. Some decline the sticker, saying “they don’t stay stuck”. And it’s true, I did see a lot of stickers stuck to the pavement.

I was stationed on Lambton Quay in the lunch hour, and of course the footpath is very busy with people escaping from their offices. There was a small parade of ambulances and Rapid Response Vehicles and support vehicles, complete with short blasts of the sirens, to draw attention to the street appeal.


A parade of ambulances and support vehicles

By the time I finished my stint, I was glad I was able to hand over a pleasingly heavy bucket to the Ambulance people.


Two of the wonderful Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics

The woman on the left in the above photo was one of the people in the TV programme "Street Hospital", which started on TV 2 last night (Thursdays, 8pm). This is a factual series which follows the WFA paramedics as they attempt to "treat those suffering from alcohol related harm, dancing injuries and other mishaps as well as more serious conditions in Wellington’s party central. [...] The series also shows how the WFA Street Hospital team works with Police, licensed establishments, door staff and City Council Walk Wise staff, in an attempt to reduce harm and in turn, allow others to have a fantastic time."


Postscript  -  On 21 September I received a thank you letter from the Wellington Free Ambulance, which said that the appeal raised $105,000. So thank you, people of Wellington!  



Tuesday 10 September 2013

Wellington Waterfront - again


Yesterday (Monday 9 September) was another lovely day, but the forecast was warning us of heavy rain and galeforce winds in the next few days, so we thought we’d better get another ride in, before the weather packed up.

As northwesterlies were expected during the day, we decided on a shortish ride, along the Wellington waterfront, where we hoped the wind would not be too bad. We started out close to lunchtime, so there were quite a lot of people about – walking, jogging, cycling or just sitting, enjoying the sunshine during their lunch hour.

Again we parked at the far end of Oriental Parade, and took photos of features and places we missed on our last “Ode to the Wellington Waterfront” ride (4 August).

The tide was out at Oriental Bay Beach (photo by John)

With the tide being out, the beach looked wide and empty. Near the Freyberg Pool, we rode down the ramp down to the small wharf jutting into the water. Next to it, and protecting a smaller beach, is an arrangement of large square concrete slabs. They give a sculptural effect, but also provide places for people to sit or sunbathe in relative privacy and with some shelter from the breeze.

Ramp down to Freyberg Beach (photo by John)
The spaces between the slabs provide sheltered places for sunbathing

Today, though, the wind was fairly brisk. John tried to prop up his camera on one of the slabs, so he could set it on automatic to take a picture of us both, but it was too windy for that, so he took one of just me.

It was too windy to prop up the camera for a photo of us both (photo by John)

On the other side of this wharf, is The Boat Café. This former tug boat is permanently moored here, and has been used as a restaurant for many years. A couple of years ago, the Parade Café, which was a popular café across the road on Oriental Parade, had to make way for yet another tall luxury apartment building. As the Tug Boat, as it was then called, was for sale, Parade Café bought it and moved in, and it is now called The Boat Café.

The Boat Café – the bar was extended to stick out over the water

Outside Bernie’s on the Bay pavement café, we said hello to Bernie, the Bernese mountain dog. He must have been thirsty, and he knew where to find water – he kept licking the dripping tap below the drinking fountain.

Bernie knows just where to have a drink! (photo by John)

John took another picture of Solace in the Wind, this time with the marina in the background. A bit later, I was amused to see a bunch of tourists leaning over to peer round the front of him, possibly trying to see whether he had “the real goods”.

Solace in the Wind (photo by John)

Next to Te Papa Museum of NZ is the striking black, white and red building of the Circa Theatre. This intimate theatre contains two performance spaces, and a café, as well as a restaurant facing the harbour. This building is intriguing because its entrance looks quite different from the rest of it. The front façade, which is on the Te Papa side, was the last remaining portion of the late 19th century Westport Chambers, which used to be across the road from its present location. The Westport Coal Company was once a big exporter in the British Empire.

Circa Theatre, with Taranaki Street gates

In several places along the wharves, there are large black spheres, which provide some lighting at night – probably just as warnings so people don’t blunder off the edge. They look rather attractive and dramatic. The ones in the photo below are close to the bridge across the lagoon entrance.

These black spheres provide feature lighting at night

From here we made our way through the throng of lunchtime walkers and joggers, and kept going until the end of the footpath, near the stadium. The former warehouse near where the cruise ships berth has an impressive black and white mural of kowhai flowers on its city-facing wall. I like the words along the top too: “Coolest Little Cruise Capital”.

The city-facing wall of the cruise ship terminal on Aotea Quay

In recent years Wellington has become a popular cruise destination. During the 2012/2013 cruise ship season, Wellington hosted 90 ships and over 172,000 passengers. Many of these passengers will have walked into town, under the attractive glass canopy opposite the stadium.

Covered walk-way for cruise ship passengers (photo by John)

We decided not to ride up onto the stadium concourse this time, as it was too windy – the wind really sweeps across the vast empty expanse in a vicious way. Instead we made our way back along the front of the new office buildings at Harbour Quays. I watched as cars, bound for the South Island, were driving onto the Bluebridge ferry.

The Bluebridge ferry, the Straitsman, bound for Picton

Everywhere along the waterfront, people were out enjoying the sunshine – making the most of a nice, though somewhat breezy, day before the weather packs up again in the coming week.

Enjoying the sunshine near the Meridian Building …

… and outside Ferg’s Kayaks. Love those bollards! (photo by John)

We had lunch at the Karaka Café, overlooking the lagoon. While waiting for our food, John was quite taken by the way the light on the water kept changing.

Sparkling sunlight on the lagoon. Tanya Ashken’s fountain Albatross is in the background, on the right (photo by John)

Back on Oriental Parade, and a photo of Tail of the Whale, a sculpture by Colin Webster-Watson, which was donated to the City of Wellington by the artist in 2005. Appropriately, opposite this artwork, a mural on the low wall between the footpath and the road depicts sea creatures of all kinds, including a chubby orca. Interestingly, pods of orcas are relatively common visitors to Wellington Harbour. They are often called killer whales, but in fact orcas belong to the dolphin family and are not true whales.

Tail of the Whale (2005) by Colin Webster-Watson (photo by John)
Orca, part of a mural on Oriental Parade (photo by John)

Finally, when we’d put the bikes away in the car, we made our way to Kaffee Eis, for one of their delicious icecream cones, which we enjoyed while sitting on a bench, looking out onto the water and the beach.

Icecream cones from Kaffee Eis (photo by John)
The Fishermans Table, a restaurant under what used to be a band rotunda (photo by John)

Postscript - As I finish writing this up, the predicted galeforce winds (more than 100km/hr) have arrived and are howling around the house. It's raining now too. I am glad we managed to get in two very enjoyable rides on Sunday and Monday before they hit.



Monday 9 September 2013

Hutt River Trail and art exhibitions


It seems like ages since we last went for a ride. It was nearly three weeks. We’ve had to battle colds – both of the health variety, and of the weather kind. John caught the lurgy I started with at the time of our last ride. And just as we were thinking we’d had a marvelously mild winter, and spring was here, winter let out one more last hoorah, and came up with a very cold snap. We huddled by the fire for a few days with our books and laptops and boxes of tissues – John and our rather geriatric cat Tim vying for the best spot.

But today was bright and sunny, although there was a bit of a breeze. I wanted to go and see an exhibition in Lower Hutt, so we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone (figuratively speaking, of course) by deciding to ride along the Hutt River Trail again. My favourite stretch – between the Silverstream twin bridges and Upper Hutt.

As we were getting the bikes out of the car, a train rumbled overhead on the rail bridge, followed almost immediately by another train, going in the opposite direction.

We've done this trail several times now, but it is always a little different from the previous time. Spring has definitely sprung, with tender new growth on the willows, flowering kowhai trees and the pungent smell of onion weed. The river looks different too. It is interesting to see how the water continually shapes and rearranges the gravel and stones in the riverbed.

The river continually changes (photo by John)

The last time we were there, I commented on the fact that some trees had apparently been damaged in a storm, and the area was being cleared. Today, we saw that it had been re-planted with sticks of willow, in neat rows about two meters apart, at an angle to the river. All part of the flood defenses, I think. These sticks will eventually sprout into bushy willows that will slow the scouring effects of the water and hold the soil in flood events.

These sticks will grow into willows as flood protection

Further up the river, there are other areas where the willows have already grown, and it looks like each “stick” sprouts three, four or more stems.

Each stick sprouts three or more stems (photo by John)

As we were getting close to Upper Hutt, John took a picture of a couple of mounds of stones, on one of the gravel islands in the river. I called them cairns, John said they were probably built by kids. But they have actually been there for years, so they must have been quite sturdily built. They are quite intriguing. I’d love to go and have a closer look at them, but you’d have to wade through the water to get there.

Intriguing "cairns" on a gravel island (photo by John)

When we reached Harcourt Park, we sat on our favourite seat by the pond to eat our snack, and watched the bird life. A pair of squabbling – or courting? – pukekos came rushing out of the high grass and to the water’s edge. Some ducks were sitting on the shrubby little islands. After a while a whole little family of ducks came paddling over to check us out – mum, dad and the kids. Five beautiful little brown and gold ducklings. They were followed by another drake, but dad soon saw him off. Two large grey-brown birds made repeated low swoops over the pond. We couldn’t work out what kind of birds they were. Definitely not hawks, maybe seagulls; but if so, they seemed to be rather a long way from home.

New life on the pond (photo by John)

On our way back, the track goes over a steep bit which actually climbs to a bluff overlooking the bend in the river. The view from up there is fabulous. And just look at that cloudless sky!

Hutt River, looking south (photo by John)

We’d had a bit of a headwind coming up the valley, then perversely, on our way back, we again had a headwind! But with the winding of the river, we kept changing direction too, so it wasn’t surprising that the wind hit us from different angles at different times.

As we came to a gate, for which we had to get off our bikes and negotiate the wooden zig-zaggy barrier, I said to another cyclist heading in the opposite direction, “Bit of a nuisance, these gates, aren’t they”. He agreed they were, but they were necessary to keep out the hoons on their dirt bikes (motorbikes). He pointed at the track on the other side of the river and said, “the other day I nearly got swiped off my bike by one of them. They’re complete idiots”.

Information board for walkers and cyclists (photo by John)

The distance between the bridges and Harcourt Park is exactly 10kms, so when we got back to the car we had ridden our targeted 20kms. Perfect!

Next on the programme was coffee and a scone at the Dowse Art Museum café. We had a look at the latest exhibition too. It is called New Olds – Design between Tradition and Innovation. The blurb says “Through both new materials and new ways of thinking about the function of objects, New Olds is a reflection on our changing world.” It displayed objects and furniture with a new ‘twist’. Some of it was interesting; some, I thought, was fairly 'arty-farty pointless', like chairs hanging from the ceiling. But then, I’m not an artist.

Bless, a hammock, and Afroditi, a "nest", made of thick rounded strips of polyurethane foam

Loop and Iglu, woven rattan seating and playhouse (photo by John)

After this we went to the Odlin Gallery to see the exhibition I had especially wanted to see: the Port Nicholson Weavers' Exhibition, entitled Between the Colours.

In a 'past life', I was a weaver myself, and was a member of the Port Nich Weavers. For more than twenty years I was obsessed with, fascinated by, and totally involved in weaving. In fact, I taught weaving for 18 years in community education programmes in several high schools. Then, I went back to full-time study, followed by full-time work, and time for weaving and teaching disappeared, along with the obsession.

Of course, I am still interested in seeing what my weaving friends are creating. Many of the names in the catalogue were still familiar, but there were lots of new names too. There was some interesting work there, and some impressive techniques.


Port Nicholson Weavers' Exhibition

In pride of place, right as you come into the gallery, were three exquisite tapestries by Patricia Armour. Trish was one of my very early weaving students, but I hasten to add that I cannot claim any credit for what a wonderful weaver and artist she has become. I never did any tapestry weaving. And Trish is now one of NZ’s foremost tapestry weavers, who has exhibited widely, both here and overseas.

"At rest" - a tapestry by Patricia Armour

I enjoyed seeing the exhibition, and though I was intrigued with some of the weave structures, and I reveled in the colours, I have no hankering to go back to weaving.