All posts filed under: Miscellenia

The Hawke’s Bay

Published by The Dreamstress

The Naiad’s* time in New Zealand is almost up.  For the last 4 months she’s been chefing at a fancy lodge in the Hawkes Bay.  She’s just finished working, so I flew up to visit her, and to spend a little time seeing the Hawkes Bay before she flies off to spend a year on working holiday in Australia. I visited the Hawkes Bay when I was first in NZ, and had a lovely time, but other than two slightly disastrous road-trips through in the ensuing years, I really haven’t spent any quality time there.  Time to rectify that! So what is the Hawkes Bay?  It’s everything between the big curve on the East Coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand and the nearest range of mountains.  The climate is perfect for vineyards, stonefruit orchards, apple orchards, berry farms, kiwifruit orchards, and every other sort of agricultural endeavor, giving it the nickname of the ‘fruitbowl of NZ’. In other words, Dreamstress heaven.  I’m all about fruit.  And the countryside.  Which is what most …

Why loving your body doesn’t have to equal revealing your body

Published by The Dreamstress

This is a follow-up post to my post on the phrase ‘real bodies.’ I’ve noticed a big trend lately for loving your body = revealing your body. You see it in shows like “How to Look Good Naked”, where women who hide their body under baggie clothes learn to celebrate it by doing a ‘boudoir’ photoshoot that is displayed on large screens in public places.  It’s a big part of the burlesque community, where you celebrate yourself by taking your clothes off. And these are fine, and there is something great to be said for anything that helps women to feel comfortable with who they are, but I’m not entirely comfortable with their message, both for personal reasons, and in a wider societal context. Personally, I’m quite a private person.  I don’t really tell people what’s going on with my life.  I hold new people at a distance until I really assess my character.  I hide my privacy in real life, and on the blog, with ‘public’ stories.  It’s amazing how people think they know …