November went with a rush and a roar and now we're into December and still it doesn't feel like summer ...
I haven't felt inclined to get into the garden ...
and I only walk along the beach when the sea is calm and the tide low ...
Recently we took a break away to visit Robert's parents. On the Saturday we went for a stroll along the banks of the Arrow river.
A river when operating normally, is a soothing companion. This river contains gold. We saw some hopeful tourists panning for gold. Maybe they found a speck or two. It's all about the hunt.
We passed another group with a guide describing scenes from Lord of The Rings - or maybe it was from the Hobbit films? (Some of the scenes for those movies were shot around these parts). However, movies of Tolkien's imaginings do not summarise what this part of the country means to me.
For me, Arrowtown means family - my husband's family - and the gold-mining history that seeps from its every pore.
3 comments:
Hi Kay, I hope you are enjoying your retirement from full time work, and that you are finding adequate time for writing. I know how time slips away inconsequently when you don't have to get up for the daily grind.
Anyway, I was interested in your comment about the history of gold mining infusing the landscape, and that reminded me of a novel by English writer Rose Tremain called "The Colour" which is set in the gold fields of New Zealand during the Gold Rush.
Have you read it?
Hi Anne - Yes I have just finished reading it actually! I liked it and I guess the book was on my mind over the time we spent near the Arrow River (it is also mentioned in the book). In fact, the whole lore of gold-mining history was on my mind. Another book about gold-mining in NZ is of course, 'The Luminaries' by Eleanor Catton; a book I've started to read, but I discovered it to be a book that I COULD put down, and I have as yet to get back to it! One day.
hello, kay,
i want to wish you a blessed and healthy year ahead. i hope you are writing and doing okay. as you know, i have this month joined the private club of motherless children and i certainly understand how great the loss.
never give up, my friend.
love always
kj
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