Vanuatu is a nation in the South Pacific made up of eight main islands, and 79 further small islands . The islands are a united nation not out of any shared (original) language or culture, but out of shared colonial history: the great European powers in the Pacific, in their infinite wisdom, decided these islands would make a governable grouping based on a map, not on any links between the people. The national language of Vanuatu, and the one language that you can guarantee an Ni Vanau will speak, is bislama. As well as bislama, each Ni Vanau will speak one or more of the 100+ native Melanesian languages (making Vanuatu the most language dense country in the world), and possibly English, or French, or both. I was first exposed to bislama a year and a half ago, staying in a backpackers in the Hawke’s Bay. A group of young Ni Vanautu men in New Zealand as seasonal workers, picking peaches and nectarines, were also at the backpackers. They were shy and giggly, talking to …

Modernist writer Katherine Mansfield is arguably the most famous Wellingtonian, and, after Sir Edmund Hillary, possibly the most famous New Zealander, of all time.  (Yes, at the moment there are probably more people who know of, say, Peter Jackson, but in a century?). She was definitely my first introduction to New Zealand.  In high school I read ‘At the Bay’ and ‘The Garden Party’, both set in Wellington, as well as her London based ‘Bliss.’  I enjoyed Mansfield’s short stories: the sense of place and time, the ability to convey personality in just a few words. It wasn’t until I discovered Mansfield’s poetry that I fell in love with her work though.  The humour of A New Hymn, the magic of Butterfly Laughter, the picture she paints in In The Rangitaki Valley!  Gorgeous! In addition to being an amazing writer, Mansfield is  also fascinating as a person: her  life spanned one of the most interesting shifts in societal mores and expectation that history has ever seen.  Fashions, are, in fact, the perfect way to illustrate …

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 …