Waipu ukulele or Waipukulele

Bob, me, Jan, Robyn and Mary the Waipu Ukulele Band!






I have been so inspired by the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra that I asked my friend Robyn to teach me and then we began studying with Bob McNeely, a fantabulous guitar player and teacher. Now there are four of us women playing and two more who would like to join us in the Waipu Ukulele orchestra, also known, perhaps, as Bob and the Waipuukuleles! at a recent party we had our first public performance - truly a rehearsal for our upcoming performance - and we were a hit! At least we were in our own minds...and we had so much fun it was hard to believe. Watch this space for more and perhaps a conncection to YouTube soon!

I am also thrilled to announce that I'm going to the British Ukulele Concert at the Wellington Festival of the Arts soon, and if you think I'm nuts. google both British ukulele and Wellington Ukulele and check out their videos on You Tube.

Returning to the future

Have I blogged since Christmas? can't recall, but Sarah, on my right in picture was here and then came back later with Blacky and Dairney for the Black Seeds concert. We had a great time, as you can see here, and then the year progressed!

In 2008, I'm returning to past loves in hopes of going forwards. Five years of travelling to and from Titirangi have led to lots of undone chores at the Glorious Tangle, and synchronicity has brought me many friends over these holidays who have loved being here and working on the land. Weedeating has been happening thanks to various friends and yesterday, on the sixth anniversary of Hans's death, Pablo finished restoring the plastic house!

Pablo is my friend Rosa's brother, a 38-year-old Chilean immigrant to NZ. He's a mechanical engineer and is staying with me for a while to practice his English and in trade, has put the plastic back up. YAY!!!

This restoration is just in time for the Northtec course I'm partnering by using my land as a campus for their Sustainable Rural Development course. We will have students here learning and working - a tutor who is a permaculture specialist, Jamie Hancox, is in charge and hopefully some business opportunities for all of us will arise. This blog may become more of a sustainable gardening site, which suits me.

Dan Mills is still here while he works on the murals at Waipu Cove and Ruakaka. His girlfriend Katchka comes on weekends and the barbecue has been going for lots of wonderful summer evenings. Check his work on http://www.danmillspaintings.com/

I've also been Nordic Walking with Barbar Faust and helped her with her website text. Check it out on http://www.nordicwalkingnz.co.nz/

Ukulele practice is also fantastic fun and we have a performance coming up so must dust off the video camera for that!