Trials of Acrylic Painting

 In the first few months, we went on a road trip down to Wellington. Part of the trip included a stop in Napier, where we visited a museum. This museum featured several audiovisual displays, and one of these was about a woman named Mei Whaitiri. She had been chosen at the age of 13 to be the model for Pania on the Reef.

I thought she had quite an interesting face, even though she was about 70 or 80 in the video. I found her to be a compelling character to draw. My first effort, however, ended up looking more like a baboon. Fortunately, after about four iterations, I managed to produce a drawing that I was reasonably happy with—though it wasn’t a true likeness, as you can see from the photo of her and my drawing based on it. I had great difficulties with the head being slightly tilted back.

You can see a video of her here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYUUiDJLpzA

I then decided that this would make a good portrait to try in acrylics. Unfortunately, the results were so alarmingly terrible that I lost all enthusiasm for painting portraits. Maybe it’s just something you have to keep practicing before you gain any real proficiency. Still, I’m puzzled as to why I can draw something reasonably well, yet the moment I pick up a paintbrush, everything turns to custard.

 I will not show it here as it is terrible.

Along these lines, earlier on I had seen a picture in the foyer of our retirement home. I was quite taken with it—it showed some buildings with water in the foreground and a few boats. I thought, That’s a good project for me, especially since I had found a canvas beside the road. The canvas, however, had been painted orange, which didn’t make things easy.

I soon discovered that simply copying someone else’s brushstrokes is not as straightforward as it seems. I ended up with something I thought looked terrible. I propped it up against the wall, planning to paint over it later. But after a while, I got used to the picture. I thought, Well, it’s a picture. Thousands of people paint thousands of pictures, and they all look different. Why shouldn’t mine be just as valid? Even though it’s not very professional-looking—who cares?

A Road Trip from Auckland to Plimmerton and back

  This is about a road trip we took about May 2025. The purpose was to go and visit our daughter who lives in Pukerua Bay which is just north of Wellington. The plan was to drive our car down there and make it into a bit of a road trip, as we haven’t been down the country in many years.

One of the things that we had on the way down from Auckland to Taupo was a rock thrown by a truck into our windscreen but it did not break so ever after that we were thinking that one of the many trucks that we saw coming in the opposite direction was going to do the same thing which does not make for very relaxed driving.

The trip down from Auckland to Taupo is not not such a bad one as there is 110 km/h speed limit which was great. Leaving Taupo, we had to traverse the country from Taupo across to New Plymouth. This meant going by one heck of a lot of back roads and fortunately we were able to use the map function on Rose’s phone so that removed all uncertainty as to which way to turn. 

Our first stop was Taupo where we stayed at a resort which was quite adequate for what we wanted. It had a hot pool so that was used at night as well as in the morning and was absolutely wonderful. We stopped in and looked at Craters of the Moon, which was nice. Shown here:

 Arriving in new Plymouth we stayed in a Airbnb place which was way up in the hills of Mount Taranaki volcano quite a few way out of town. This was a very nice stay and we enjoyed it very much, however being out of town a bit meant we had to make a 15 minute trip to town which was not a big deal. Our first meal that night was in a pub on the corner of somewhere in the middle of town, they had Guiness on tap so all was good.

We were there for about two nights so we did a bit of exploring around the place went to Pukekura Park and that was well worth the visit. Driving around town, we went past what seem to be a spaceship that had landed in the middle of the city.

This was an art gallery designed with a stainless steel facade with a wrinkled facade, so it was quite impressive building. We went inside to see that the entry fee was $25 each at which point we thought, well we’re quite tired aren’t we. Turned around and walked out and went somewhere else had a cup of tea  and then we thought we are not here for very long we might as well get on with it and just pay the $25 to see what we can see.

So we went back in and they said "they’re putting a new show on so the entry fee is only five dollars", which we thought that’s great until we walked in and only half of the place was open and what was open was quite underwhelming. About three floors of matting on walls and things like that not terribly impressive to our eyes. Then again we might be artistic philistines.

We did go down to where the chimney was way down at the south end of of the city and that was quite a nice view.

Next day we went from new Plymouth down to Wanganui. Wanganui seem to be a large city even though apparently there do not seem that many people in there. We walked up one side of the main shopping drag and down the other and we were struck by the age of everything. The buildings seem to be years and years old.

 We stayed in a little Country style hotel which was also very old and very charming Our stay there immensely enjoyable, with dinner in their restaurant which was also really well patronised.

The next day we had to visit my wife’s cousin who has a outdoor furniture factory in Wanganui so that day was taken up a little bit by that, but before we met him, we were going to go in the elevator. Across the river and there is an elevator which takes you up to a different suburb. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and thought well, we’ll just go to the top of the elevator and leave it at that. Photo of that one:

When we got up there we parked the car an because it was a windy day Rose stayed in the car and I went climbed up a little set of steps to the top of the elevator on the outside and had a look at the view. Turning around and I saw there was a tower behind us which I thought was a water tower.

Turns out it is a memorial tower to people that died in the First World War. Open to the public, you climb up a spiral stairway up about five stories.  The view from there is  wonderful, so if you’re there in Wanganui go and have a look at that one.

Then onwards we went from Wanganui down to Plimmerton. That was a nice trip because of the unusual landscape that seem to be changing all the time as you went down there and Plimmerton seems to be a just a little collection of shops where we stayed in a unit at the back of a house.

It used to be a model railway enthusiasts room to keep model trains before being converted to a place to stay. Nearby was a  beach, which was pretty miserable with the wind howling around the place and rain, so no swims for Bill. 

The next few days were spent going up and seeing our daughter who lives up in Pukekura Bay.

Then to Napier. At Napier we had time to have a little drive around the town and go and see the museum. Onto the Napier to Taupo road, which I thought wouldn’t take very long at all but nearly all morning where we stayed at a little motel on the Lakeside.  Very nice but 70s feel, but still quite pleasant. Went for a walk around the lake a little bit. It was a nice little walk just on the lakeshore, shown here:

 Then it was back home to Auckland and rescuing a kitty cat from the cattery.

A trip to Phuket, Thailand in April 2024

 I was not keen on this idea, as it involved sitting squeezed up for 10 hours in a too small seat.

Plus we had to put Misty into a cattery. Not her favourite option!

But other people had different ideas so off we went.  As it happens, the experience was a delight most of the time.  We scored a nice price for a 5 star hotel on Karon Beach.  The hotel which will remain unnamed was set in a large acreage of land and had about 4 swimming pools, 3 restaurants and 1 cafe.  Two bars.

Built in 1982, it presented as very modern to my eyes.  The staff were excellent, and the overall service and facilities wonderful.

Part of the deal arranged by a couple who organised it was to have a Luxury Escapes package added to it.

This involved paid for meals (all of them) and a happy hour where drinks were free.  This was great but lead to a certain amount of over consumption.. After the third night most of us were just choosing a main or two entrees.

The hardest part of the trip is just getting there from New Zealand. You have to take a 10 1/2 hour flight from Auckland to Singapore. Then you have to wait around for around six hours before you get on a flight to go from Singapore to Phuket. 

 Once we got to Singapore airport, we were surprised at the size and scope of the airport, it seemed to be that you could stand in any one place and look off into the distance and it would still keep on going. Many nice things to look at. We looked at the butterfly garden, cactus garden and Lilypond. 

 Then nearer to our departure gate was an orchid garden, which had mosaic and concrete sculpture. Parts of them seemed to be metal. Very well done. 

The train itself went through a large building called the Jewel. It was a geodesic dome, so the whole thing was curved. It’s amazing. 

The train goes through the middle of it and it’s all open inside so it is a really neat place. Because the people were travelling with were able to go into Business class lounges, we were able to spend some quality time in very comfortable surroundings so that was great.

These are photos of the hotel:

We went on a half day tour to the Buddha on the hill and saw the old part of Phuket town.

:

This is an old Chinese house in the old town:

Then off to see the elephants- a feed and shower with the elephants experience. If you go, do not miss this.

The Stupidity of Modern Life

 This is just a short rant.  Obviously I could rave on for hours on this.

1. Just logged into my bank and thought, Ok, I will just put some money into my credit card account to make it into positive territory.  No, is says, you cannot do this, because it is not a business day. Huh????

You can pay bills, but not transfer money to your credit card?

Suffering from jet lag, I looked again and realized that the balance was fine and I did not need to transfer anyway....

Maybe not with your bank, but with mine you cannot not set up an automatic payment for your credit card, so each month you had to remember to pay it off.  Great!  OK, you cunning bastards, I will put some money in there so it will always be in credit. Works ok most of the time.

My opinion of the bank has now slipped to new a new low.

2. I have just flown on an unnamed airline, in one step up from cattle class.  I put in a fairly low bid and this was accepted. The staff were wonderful and the service very good.  Wonderful food, you can see the excess kilograms from here.  Unfortunately some BOZO was in charge of the seat design.  The footrest was designed so a child might be happy with it, but they need to go back and revisit the design to suit adults trapped in there for 9 hours!

That's enough whining!

Book Reviews

 Holiday time.  Yay. I get to read books.  Science Fiction is my favourite, so these are of that genre.

1.The Sands of Mars by Arthur C Clarke.  This was an audio book.  In heavy traffic I have found this audio format is great as it passes the time nicely.  Written in 1951, he did not pick up on AI in this one, but gives a very nice account of space travel to mars. Good listening.

2. Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn.  A young adult book, why am I an older adult reading this...Still a good read about a girl, born on Mars who comes back to earth to do her schooling.

3. This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise.  I do not normally send a message to an author saying their book was wonderful, but I did in this case.  Reminds me of one similar by Doris Lessing years ago. A disaster theme, set in the UK ,some time in the near future. Society slowly unravels because the electronic part of society is messed around with. AI is a major player in the story.  A young couple find things stop working and the story is a journey to find answers. A must read for SciFi fans.

4. The Best of Us by Karen Traviss.  I nearly put this down after reading the first page.  Thank heavens I kept on with it, as it turns out to be a really good book.  The basic premise is what makes some humans worthwhile and others not? Set in a near future that has some sad disasters for parts of the earth.  A good take on possible AI.

OOps! Oh Dear.... time to stop trying to predict the future?

Well, here I go again, and while some of the predictions I made on Feb 13, 2023, as shown below

came about, well just ONE actually, I appear to have missed the mark again.

Just as well I have not enough money to invest in Tesla.....

1. The Starship will launch on 10th of  August 2023, based on Joe Biden telling the FAA not to issue a flight licence, until then. It will be ready to launch 12th March 2023.

>>>>>>>The first one launched on April 20 2023. So maybe not so far out.

2. Tesla to launch a low cost car (Model 2?) on 3rd June 2023, with manufacture to start

on 14th December 2023.

>>>>>>>NOPE! not even the sniff of one.

3. Tesla to sell the first Cybertrucks on 16th November 2023. 

>>>>>>Yay! only out be about 4 days!  Not bad.

4. Tesla to sell the first robots in 21st December 2023.

>>>>>>No, but they look like they have one ready for manufacture.

Maybe next year.

5. Tesla finally releases Full Self Driving to buyers of it's cars 28th December 2023.

>>>>>>It has released V12 to it's employees, but I missed this one.

6. Russia conquers half of Ukraine by 5th of  June 2023, but will be driven out of Ukraine by 3rd of December 2023.

>>>>>>>No, miles out.

7. China will blockade Taiwan on August 2nd 2023.  This will prompt a trade war between the rest of the world and China.

>>>>>>>No miles out.

8. China will attack Russia on 14th September, taking most of Siberia and the areas on the Pacific coastline.

>>>>>>>No, miles out.

9. Tesla shares will be US$500 on Dec 31 2023.

>>>>>>Huh? about $248 as at 30 Dec 2023.

As the saying goes, don't give up your day job.

Which by the way I seem to have, at the ripe old age of 77.  It is a contract position, which I got by prefacing my application letter with "I am not the man you want. I can however act as a fill in until you find someone"

I had been drawing houses for about 18 months, the sort nobody in their right mind would enjoy drawing, ie town houses, so when a quiet period happened, I made an application to a process engineering consultancy and was hired for about 2 months then laid off for 2 months, then laid back on.  

I even got invited to the company lunch at the end of the year, which was quite exciting as my last company lunch was a chicken burger and coleslaw.

The work is miles more interesting, pipework in dairy factories.

Manuka Cafe revisited

I drew this two years ago, and decided to do this updated one, below.  I used coloured pencils for the sky.