A Round-Up of Things Read Lately ...

I loved this possible love story out of New Zealand.

I'm absolutely enjoying The Pa Boys movie.  I'll post an interview with the writer/director at the end.

I enjoyed this story: Bringing a Daughter Back from the Brink With Poems.

And this ...  Ballet Dancers in Random Situations.

The stories of refugees are, almost always, heartbreaking but we don't often get to read of them in our everyday news, so I'll share the story of Mazhar.

I photographed Sinan Antoon while I was working in Berlin, and listened to him speak.  I will find his book, The Corpse Washer.

I have been introduced to a new blogger.  He made me smile with this story.

And then there was this: Over 200 works of Marc Chagall have been gathered worldwide for this major retrospective exhibition to discover from 28 February to 28 June 2015.  In Brussels.

I have interesting friends on Facebook and so these mostly come from there, then it's also where I share.   This morning it seemed like an idea to share over here too. 

Perhaps there's something for you ...

Days of Quiet & Recovering

I have never had so many things go wrong on a journey as went wrong in Italy this time.

I came home skinnier, tired, and feeling a little bit defeated ... ready to tear off my wandering wings, buy myself a dog and stay home.  Writing of life.

But good food, warmth, and simply being home has allowed me to put myself back together.  Helped, I'm sure, by my lovely friend Inge who mailed me a much-longed for New Zealand movie.  I watched it on my first night home and loved Himiona Grace's film - The Pa Boys. 

And so it's Friday.  I picked up a couple of exciting new projects yesterday  ... inspiring me to download the last of my photographs from Liguria.  My new website is back on the table as that thing that must be done.  There was no time for anything creative while in Italy this time ... just a few photographs.  (The book was not completed).

So ... an end to the whining and on with everything else.

Pa Boys, a New Zealand Movie by Himiona Grace

There's a new New Zealand movie due out this February and I want to see it.  I found the song below and loved it. The movie is The Pa Boys.

I wandered off and discovered this interview with the man behind it all, Himiona Grace - ‎director, writer, photographer and musician too. 

I desperately want to see it but I guess I'm waiting until it comes out on DVD. 

Listening to Himiona's story unfold brought back memories of a weekend spent at a writing workshop on Stewart Island with Himiona's mother, one of New Zealand's best writers, Patricia Grace.  And then he's married to New Zealand writer Briar Grace-Smith.  Someone I missed the arrival of by virtue of losing track of New Zealand's arts scene.  He loved the anonimity of this ... he was either Patricia Grace's son or Briar Grace-Smith's husband.  Meanwhile, he's quietly got on and created something marvelous.  Or so it seems.