Last week when I took you on a tour of my sewing spaces, I left out one very important thing, simply because my post got too long. Well, three things actually.  These: These are Tahi, Rua, & Toru (NZ & Hawaiian readers will think me terribly unimaginative in my naming), my sewing sprites. They sit and watch over my sewing room, and every time I look at them, I feel happy. I don’t know where they are from, or how old they are.  They turned up at my local op shop, and I LOVED THEM the moment I laid eyes on them.  They look like they were designed by Miyazake. But I have an extremely firm rule.  No cat-themed ANYTHING but actual cat. When you are as well known as I am for your cat, you can’t risk having anything cat-themed, or your whole life will soon be cat-themed.  No cat fabric.  No cat crockery.  No cat cards or cat stationary.  The only cat in my house is my cat.  Otherwise I will never be …

After my rather sombre previous post about Vanuatu, I thought it was time to show you something fun, and something that Vanuatu is doing SO RIGHT. Or at least, fun for someone. I’ll confess up front that I’m writing this post because I know my parents will enjoy it!   And if you happen to enjoy it too  too, well, that’s an added bonus! My parents are permaculture farmers in Hawaii.  They grow every tropic fruit you’ve ever heard of, and probably some you haven’t.  There are vegetables too: anything that grows well in the tropics without chemicals and fertilizers.  I grew up planting lettuce and picking mangoes and washing bok choi.  I love tropical fruits and vegetables: I love eating them, and I enjoy growing them (well, at least for a couple of months at a time when I’m home visiting). So when I discovered the fruit and vege market in Port Vila, I just about died of happiness.  Held in a huge open air pavilion on the waterfront, the market runs  24 hours …