A Weekend away

It was Russ's birthday on Friday. A special one too...the big 30! We decided to steal away for the weekend to a bach (NZ term for an informal holiday cottage/hut) on the slopes of a nature reserve not more than an hour's drive from us. It turned out not to be a "bach" at all...but actually quite a plush place! I loved the wooden interior with the high domed ceilings (How do they bend the beams like that?!) the roof windows and just the general, serene feel of the place. 

What really sold it though, would be the jacuzi overlooking the forest, with its jets delivering delicious bubbling water massages. Mmm. 

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It was here that I finished reading "The famished road" by Ben Okri; a fascinating read close to home. Thought I'll share this quote from it with y'all: 

"Heaven means different things to different people. They (the dead) wanted to live, to be more alive. They wanted to know the essence of pain, they wanted to suffer, to feel, to love, to hate, to be greater than hate, and to be imperfect in order to always have something to strive towards, which is beauty. 

They wanted also to know wonder and to live miracles. 

Death is too perfect."

The beginning of a love affair?

Lola has been giving the bump a lot of love...she will curl around my belly, usually with her head and a paw draped over it and purr for as long as I keep sitting! She does not even get deterred when bambino kicks her really hard! I am convinced that this is the beginning of a love affair...

Autumn

Autumn is finally here. Lola is clearly disgusted with the rain, but we have accepted the transition much more graciously this year; feeling that we really did have a magical Wellington Summer.

In Namibia the first rain smells of all things good, fresh, fertile, new, clean, herbaceous...it smells of life and is and will always will be my favourite smell in the world. It is the smell of home. Here in New Zealand the rain marrying the land smells of something far gentler; consistent, mysterious, soft, clayey and tinged with tales from the ocean. It is a smell I like and am fast growing very fond of.

so much time...

Wow...I see our last post was in January! So much has happened since then...we've moved to a beautiful new apartment next to a mountain in Newtown, Russ got an exciting new job as a writer for an international company, my belly has grown to a point where I can't see my feet anymore (they never tell one these things...!) I got a wonderful midwife who is fully supportive of a natural home birth, I sat another blissful10 day Vipassana course with my bump and SO MUCH MORE!!

Life seems to be speeding past this year. I am aware every day of an extra tightening of muscles and skin and watch in awe as the little being pushes his fists and feet out to form dancing bulges on my belly. Still can't quite wrap my head around it...it is absolutely magical.

We went for a hike out at the Pinnacles this last weekend. Eerie, beautiful place with an intense energy. We both felt blissfully tired and nourished afterwards.