Helen Lowe's Blog, page 95

Boxing Day Reflections — Plus Happening This Week

Huka Falls

It’s Boxing Day — and although I realise that could mean indulging in an orgy of shopping, I really can’t think of anything more boring to do on a holiday. Not to mention wasting precious summer sunshine hours buying stuff I almost certainly don’t need anyway.

Instead, today I took a look at the fabulous Huka Falls where the Waikato River begins its journey from Lake Taupo to the sea. I think the photo gives you an idea of the power and force of water forcing its way through the go...

A Very Happy Christmas To You, One & All

“When the song of angels is stilled

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost

To heal the broken

To feed the hungry

To release the prisoner

To bring peace among people

To make music in the heart.”

â

by Howard Thurman

Fellowship of Reconciliation

â

I posted this poem for my first blog Christmas in 2010. I am reposting it again for Christmas 2016 because the words seem as rel...

Words of Wisdom from Jack London

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

~ Jack London, 1876 – 1916

—

I find this particular observation both humorous and motivational — and the observation is as true now as when it was first made, over a century ago.

Share

An Avid Viewer Special: Rebecca Fisher’s Top 5 Shows of 2016

Regular visitors here will know Rebecca from her regular Big Worlds On Small Screens column and will probably be as pleased as I am that she has popped back from her sabbatical (focusing on her studies — how does that work!

New Review for “The Heir of Night”

UK/AU/NZ

USA

I may not have been chanting “all I want for Christmas is a new review for The Heir of Night“, but it was certainly an unexpected bonus coming on the eve of the holiday season.

Tuesday Poetry: Christmastide

“A tide of summer…”

Christmastide

Christmasâand we
like so many others
are washed north
on a tide of summer,
our route signposted
by pohutakawa,
all flowering late
against a mirage
of cabbage trees,
dusty in the heat
that shimmers
above melting tarâ
the whole country baking
as the nation makes
its annual pilgrimage
of Christmas and New Year:
Good to see ya, we say,
or simply mate, pouring out
a cool one before we sit
down together, buoyant
with the sunshine
and the colour,
the high tide of su...

We’re In the Final Countdown — But Things Are Still Happening!

Yes, Christmas may be looming at the end of the week, but things are still happening in the interim!

Rebecca Fisher

First and foremost, this week Rebecca Fisher (of Big Worlds On Small Screens (BWoSS) fame joins the “Avid” series — only Rebecca (perhaps unsurprisingly given BWoSS) has opted to be an Avid Viewer. To catch her viewer’s take on 2016, check back in on Thursday for her Top 5 of 2016.

ICYMI, the previous two “Avid” features are here:

Paul Weimer’s Top 5 Reads of 1016 Karen McMillan...

One Day Out Writing—aka A Favourite Cliche

Sometimes when you’re writing — and reading too — you see something so often it becomes invisible. Seamlessly blended into the background, so to speak. (I’m sure you have similar experiences from other aspects of life, e.g. “domestic blindness”.)

One of the great things about writing, though, is that part of the discipline is to look at what you’re writing (as well as the world you’re writing about, Emily Dickinson style) “slant”. This involves looking out for cliches (although they’re very t...

An Avid Reader Special: Karen McMillan’s Top 5 Reads Of 2016

December being the Season of Lists, on December 5 I heralded the return of my Avid Reader guest series, which proved very popular in 2015.

Paul Weimer kicked off in style last week and today I am delighted to welcome Karen McMillan, who like Paul is one of the most indefatigable readers and reviewers I know, as well as being an author herself.

What I’m Reading: “Commonwealth” by Ann Patchett

On November 7 I did a somewhat longer than usual “Just Arrived” post for Commonwealth, titled:

“Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, with a Riff to Bel Canto, Inverse Correlations and Pascal”

There, I hope that title whets your appetite a little, because I do think it’s worth a read in its own right. However, I have now read Commonwealth so that’s what I need to talk about today, rather than my great and enduring love for Bel Canto and all the consequences of that.