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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
| Morning commuters stream out of Britomart, scurrying to work, chattering away on near-invisible devices about their weekend plans or today's urgent meeting or how she just doesn't understand why we can't renovate the bathroom yet, sidestepping the pile of unadorned blankets and the man huddled within. I note, without ever making eye contact, his small comforts - the bag of bread rolls, the newspaper, a discarded disposable coffee cup - as though they might alleviate lingering guilt when I walk to Vulcan Lane for my lunch. But on Queen Street, curled up on cold concrete, meager belongings pillowing his head, no food, no blankets, no shoes, sleeps a man, and I sidestep him and keep walking because I can't be late for work. Free verse. 20 lines. Written for "Word Pictures Contest"  . |
| I have a photo of you, delighted by a rare sweet indulgence, the simplest gift, laughing, for no sooner opened than 'shared'.  I have a photo of you, strumming, smiling, a familiar soundtrack as we recover from Christmas lunch.  Now I take too many photos that you're not in, your abandoned role at center stage appropriated. And as presents pass to eager hands without guesses from absurd to accurate, without shaking, rattling, squishing and impatient encouragement... it's not the same. Free verse, 26 lines. |
| Ask someone you trust the following question and write about their answer: “What are my best qualities and what are my worst qualities?” ~ "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Elle: "Steve, I'm doing a blog prompt on Writing.com and I need to ask you a question." Steve: "A question or lots of questions?" Elle: "Two questions." Steve: "Okay, what are they?" Elle: "What are my best qualities and what are my worst qualities?" Steve: "I refuse to answer on grounds I'll incriminate myself." Elle: "Wow. Just wow." Steve: "Your best qualities are your boobs. Your worst quality is my lack of access to them. How does that sound?" Elle: "Terrible." Steve: "Terrible?" Elle: "Yes." A long pause. Steve: "Your best qualities would be that you're loyal and lovable. Your worst qualities would be subjective but probably your.... Your... Housework and your thing of not being able to finish anything you start quickly. There you go. Have I incriminated myself enough?" Elle: "Yep. Thank you." I called it. Didn't I call it, Charlie ~  ? Told you he'd say my lack of housework was my worst quality.  Nice to know that being lovable is one of my best qualities.  And so funny that he thinks my worst qualities are subjective but not my best ones. Because of course EVERYONE must think I'm lovable.  |
Write an entry inspired by any three WDC emoticons. ~ "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"    The Fine Wine Delivery Company had a free tasting of Bordeaux wines on Saturday, which was pretty cool. It's easy for us to taste New Zealand wines, because we can visit the local wineries, etc. But French wines are harder to try without buying a whole bottle, and then you run the risk of buying a bottle that you don't like. They had both left bank and right bank wines, but I didn't notice any real preference either way. Maybe the left bank wines were drier? I prefer a wine that isn't dry. We tried to discern a preference for a varietal mix, but (for instance) we tried two wines that were both 100% merlot and loved one, and disliked the other. *shrugs* It's so confusing! It seems to be more a case of knowing the exact wine you like and just remembering that. Which doesn't make it easy. How are you supposed to identify whether you might like a wine when you see it for sale online or in a store, or on a wine list in a restaurant? So despite the fact that I felt like I didn't learn much, it was really good because we identified a bunch of wines we didn't like and some that we did. And of course, we bought half a dozen to stock up our wine rack. Well, we actually bought two of the Bordeaux that I liked, and two that Steve liked. Then we bought a bottle of Coole Swan (which I love and I'd finished my last bottle - if you like Baileys, you must try Coole Swan) and a bottle of Clearview Estate Sea Red (a red dessert wine that I love and had run out of). As of now, we have 30-odd bottles. It's 30 in the main wine rack (which doesn't include my ports and fortified wines) and then a couple of 'special wines' that are hidden away because they need cellaring for a few years. It's better if they're not exposed to light if they're going to be cellared for a while. We don't really have the room to cellar a whole bunch, but we've got a couple stashed away. I really liked that they had a printout of all the wines, and pens so that you could make notes of the ones you liked and the ones you didn't. It made it so much easier. They also had cheese, crackers and bread available. Not bad for a free event! I was really impressed. They even had the cumin gouda I like.  Actually, I noticed that the cheese improved the flavours of the wines.These were the wines we tried, and my notes on them: Chateau Giscours Petite Sirene 2015 - Light. Steve liked it. We bought a bottle. Chateau La Fleur Bellevue 2015 - Okay. Just a touch sharp for me. Chateau Pont Rousset 2016 - Drinkable. A little dry. Steve liked it. We bought a bottle. Chateau du Taillan 2014 - Deep flavour, but a touch sharp. Needs some cellaring. Chateau Fongaban 2016 - Light and drinkable. Chateau du Brandelet 2016 - Drinkable but no wow factor. Chateau Plaisance 2016 - No. Chateau Lauretan 2015 - Slight woody smell. Quaffable. No aftertaste. We bought a bottle. Chateau Teyssier 2016 - No, too sharp for me. Labastide de Dauzac 2015 - Nice flavour, but a touch too sharp. Maybe needs cellaring? La Closerie de Camensac 2015 - Light and drinkable. Clarendelle by Haut Brion Saint Emillion AOC 2015 - Very drinkable, no strong aftertaste. It had been open for three hours when we tried it and the assistant told us it definitely needs decanting for a few hours before drinking. We bought a bottle. Chateau Dallau 2016 - Average. Dryish mouth feel. Not wowed. Chateau La Rose du Pin 2015 - Light. Watery. A touch sharp. Chateau Lestage Simon 2015 - Didn't like it. Dryish mouth feel. Chateau Senejac 2015 - Woody smell. A touch too sharp for me. Chateau de Lamarque Marquis d'Evry 2015 - Dry mouth feel. Just to be clear, 'drinkable' pretty much means I liked it. And quaffable means I found it really easy to drink, which is a high compliment.  I know my notes are pretty crap (just 'no'! ), but at least I can look back and see if I'd be happy to have it again or not.After the tasting, which my sister and Dad came to, we went to the appliance store next door. Not sure why, but they seemed to want to browse. *shrugs* I found the perfect wine fridge. It's the exact right size for the space in our kitchen (which was built for a fridge but is too small for our actual fridge/freezer). It's designed to keep wines at the perfect cellaring temperature, rather than for refrigerating beverages to drinking temperature. I want it! Alas, it was $2,500 and Steve said 'Hell no'. We don't have that kind of money, so I get it, but ugh. It's perfect. And then I could buy more wines that I could cellar! I know, it's spending money so I can spend even more money. It's not surprise that I'm so shit with money.  |
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