Ice-cream is a food group

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc

I went to my first festival event! Matariki Breakfast at the Stardome Observatory. Matariki is the celebration of Maori New Year - when the Matariki constellation rises above the horizon before dawn. This constellation is also known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Apparently every culture in the world has a story about the constellation. It is also visible in the evening during summer - so I might have more success in seeing it in summer then than I did in the morning.

First I was up really early (4am) to drive into town. Of course without any other cars on the road (although I must say I was surprised at the number that were on the road that early on a Saturday morning) it took me half the time that I was expecting it to take so I was super early. Second, when I got to the Stardome I actually pulled into a different parking spot first, blinding two men with the car's high-beams because I thought that they were part of the group but it turns out that they were not, in fact, part of the group but two pissed off citizens of South Auckland doing a deal. (I don't know if that's true but that's what I decided they were as they squinted at me through the windscreen.) Third, the sky had been clear when I checked at 4am but the clouds and wind had got up during my drive in. So after the walk up to the top of One Tree Hill all we could see was cloud and haze along the horizon where Matariki was supposed to be. It was blowing a gale up there! Fourth, our guide did her best - pointing out other stars like the Chief (he stands alone) and Reigel (Puanga) and some other constellations but we didn't have any luck. The clouds covered where Matariki should have been and then when the clouds had gone...the sun was coming up so it was too light. (I was well wrapped up against the cold but I think some others were freezing by the end.)

We did get to go back down to a fantastic, delicious breakfast (not enough coffee for that hour of the morning) plus a zip through what the stars should have looked like in the Stardome theater. Well worth the experience. There's something really elementary about looking at the stars and wanting to know what they are. You can feel a real connection with the ancestors as those were the same stars they were looking at. they bought more coffee out after the shows - but took away the sugar and milk. :)

Most embarassing moment - (LoM would say it was realising that the person walking behind us down the hill could hear every word of our conversation but...) when I went into the stardome the second time and it was dark and I didn't wait to let me eyes adjust so a) I tried to walk up the side of the chairs where there wasn't actually any space and b) eventually walked very quickly into the side of a chair.

#7 Visit all Auckland Regional parks

Also on Saturday LoM and I visited Ambury regional park. It's a cute little farm in the lee of Mangere Mountain. ARC uses it as an educational camping park so there are fun signs on the paddocks with animal picture and names like 'Timmy' (the turkey) and 'Freida' (the pig). We wandered around the animal pens before coming back to see the cows being milked (Amber and Fresia) and pet the calves (not named yet).

It was pretty windy out on the exposed farmland but since I was wearing polypro (whoever invented that stuff deserves a medal, it's brilliant) and a rain jacket I was warm as just popped toast. We ambled round the perimeter track and then took a little side trip toward the bird hide in the Watercare land that is right next to the park. Didn't actually make it to the bird hide as there were some words like 'quiet' and 'move slowly'. There looked to be some really interesting walks out to the stone fields so that might be something for another day.

Funniest moment - watching a brown sheep stalk a pukeko. The pukeko would nibble some grass. The sheep would sneak up behind it without actually looking at it. It would stand there. It would lower its head but not eat any grass. The pukeko would walk away. It would nibble some grass. The sheep would sneak up behind it etc etc. Hai-lari-oos.

Drove over to check out Mangere Mountain but since we'd have to get out of the car to walk to the top (in the wind) flagged it, went home, got changed then went to a couple of cafes. This is something on LoM's list. We managed to get to 2 so that was pretty good.

I got to recite "The Jabberwocky" which of course is poem one for #20 Learn 10 poems by heart. I am onto learning poem number two which is going to be "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon. Stanza four is used in military rememberance ceremonies so it is quite an emotional poem because of that.

To top off the day we joined up with some friends and went to see Lobby Hero at Silo. it was excellent. The audience was fairly quiet but warmed up after the interval. It took a little while for the actors to settle into their accents. No problems once they had and we were drawn into the story. Highly recommended. (Great set design too plus good direction.) It doesn't count as #43 See a performance that doesn't include anyone I know since I do know someone in it.

#35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook

No baking this weekend which I got stick for at work today.