One big adventure

Since the last post, Annette and I have had a small holiday and I have turned a vase. We tend to take small holidays - just a few days at a time - long enough to see and do something different, but short enough not to miss the familiar comforts of home.

A few hours drive got us to Mosgiel, near Dunedin where we had a comfortable eco cabin in the middle of nowhere. We were last in Dunedin when Bethany was having her spine straightened (about fourteen years ago) so a visit was well overdue. While there, we took the train up the Taieri Gorge and the Queen of Hearts found her throne at Larnach Castle.

The Otago Settlers Museum was well worth a visit and is a very affordable family venue with plenty for young people to see and do as well as a remarkable zero entry fee. We also enjoyed mooching around the railway station - a remarkable witness to the affluence of Dunedin in the 1900s.

Dinner with the Dunedin Prattleys rounded off the trip and the next day had us heading North towards home where, back in the shed, the lathe awaited a fresh piece of wood. Which, eventually, gave birth to this Kwila Vase. This is my second Kwila piece and I really like this timber - it is very heavy and coarse-grained, and working it feels almost like turning soft metal rather than wood.

When it's all stripped down, life is an adventure. Whether its a road trip, turning a piece of wood, making images, or simply learning something new - it's all one big adventure. I like that. Tomorrow, of course, there is another adventure waiting at the office. (It's true, I tell you. It really is!)