Concomitant benefits….

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“Yes Prime Minister” never gets old. only we do.

Sir Humphrey : Notwithstanding the fact that your proposal could conceivably encompass certain concomitant benefits of a marginal and peripheral relevance, there is a countervailing consideration of infinitely superior magnitude involving your personal complicity and corroborative malfeasance, with a consequence that the taint and stigma of your former associations and diversions could irredeemably and irretrievably invalidate your position and culminate in public revelations and recriminations of a profoundly embarrassing and ultimately indefensible character.

Jim Hacker : Perhaps I can have a précis of that?

Te Reo Maori

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Pure kai na te tamariki

Kia ‘akameitaki ia te Atua
No te kai ta matou ka kai

ia akatapu mai koe te reira
ia akamatutu i to matou kopapa, manako ete vaerua

I roto i te ingoa o Iesu
Amene		Thank you God
For the food we are about to eat

May it be blessed
To nourish our body mind and soul

In Jesus’s name we pray
Amen
Pure kai na te tamariki

E nā kō nei kōtou kia pure

Topiri mai te mata
Pure totau i te pure a te atu
Nako tatou kia pure.
E to matou metua i te ao ra
Kia tapu toou ingaoa
Kia tare ki toou basileia
Kia akonoia toou anoano
I te enua nei
Mu tei te ao katoa ana

Omai i te kai e tau ia matou
I tera nei ra

E akakore mai ita matou ara
mei ia matou i akakore
I ta tei ara ia matou nei
auraka e akakure ia
matou kia timata ia mai
E akaora ra ia matou
Mei te kino
Noou oki te basileia
E te mana
E te kaka
E tuatau ua atu
Amene.		Our father,
which art in heaven,
Hallowed
be
thy name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done
on earth,
As it is
in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us for debts,
As we forgive our debtors ,
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and power,
and glory forever & ever.
Amen
E nā kō nei kōtou kia pure

Wawel Castle

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Today Dad and i visited the famous Royal Wawel Castle in Krakow. It is an imposing structure with buidings from many different chapters of history with the Main Court designed and built by a famous italian Architect and Sculptor Fiorentino.

The friendly Lady taking us on a guided tour talked about how it was to live in this time and about the so called etiquette in court.

One of the kings had the ceiling adorned with hundreds of faces looking down at visitors – the result was rather scary. Several dozens of these still survive today.

Very quickly it became clear that our host had a real passion for tapestry – lucky for her the castle holds an impressive collection of these and that before they became the makers of the best chocolates the Belgians were very good at making tapestry.

Wawel Castle

For centuries this imposing structure served as residence of the kings of Poland and the symbol of Polish statehood

History Land

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August 28, 2019

Country: Poland | City: Krakow | Coordinates: 50.0655829, North, 19.9449197 East

Today i visited History Land, located in the old Main Train Station of Krakow. What makes this Museum so interesting for kinds is the fact that all Exhibits are made from Lego bricks, most exhibits of well over 100,000 pieces of Lego that is.

Exhibits are focused on the long and mysterious History of Poland starting with the Biskupin Settlement that was built three thousand years old. That’s right – there was a small city there 800 years before Christ was born in an are where it was a lot tougher to live than in Galilee and Palestine.

Other exhibits depict the battle of Grunwald in 1410, Wawel Castle, Westerplatte, Monte Cassino and the Gdansk Shipyard Strike which was another and thus far the last turning point in Polands rich and colourful history.

Historyland Krakow

Historyland in Krakow, www.historyland.pl

Related Links: English Site | Polish Site

 

Heaven was needing a hero

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Your Tio Claudio died Baby girl. He was my very best friend, he was always there for me, to advise, to laugh and cry with me, to lean on. He loved me and he loved you. You have some beautiful letters from here in Letters from Ohana. He was family.

I have been talking now for weeks with Tio Pino y Tia Rosy. Claudio was all that time in hospice but he was unable to talk. We used to send him videos, short messages. Pino said he liked looking at them but it was so difficult for me to do because what do you tell to a friend who is dying? Rosy and laura asked for happy messages. We tried to take some sadness away, we talked garbage, we tried to make him feel the part of our every day life and more than anything we let him know that we think of him and love him. But I never addressed the seriousness of his situation apart from one message but don’t know if Rosy showed it to him. I felt like I can’t just ignore how sick he is and that he may not recover.

At that time we knew there is no chance for recovery and he suspected it too. Then he understood there is no more hope. We stopped making our short videos because we were told Claudio just cries when he sees us on the video message.

It wasn’t long though before they would start sedating him heavily so by the time he dies he was hardly present.

It has to be so difficult for his family, his two sisters and his mum! I got very close to Rosy and Pino. I hope we will remain close and i hope baby that for you these people will become a bit like Tio Claudio.

Thank you for being so good and supportive. You are so lucky you had an uncle like tio Claudio. I always hope he will be always in your life because it’s a person from who you could have learned so much

Treasure you memories of him

Let’s keep him in our hearts baby girl, let him be your Guardian Angel. I would trust him with your life. Now each time we are separated whenever i worry about you I will say “Claudio, you better make sure our baby girl, your Nieta is safe”

Be safe and remember your Guardian Angel

15 letters

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so in one month you will be 3 my sweet little girl

You are cheeky, you break a cup and when I tell you “that was such a nice cup baby, just look at it” your answer is “it’s not that nice anymore Mummie”

You are clever. You speak quite a sophisticated English and considering you didn’t speak any at all last year in November and all you learned was in last half a year it is pretty damn good

You know 14 letters of the alphabet and it’s most cute thing to see you say it and “perform”

You are very big on “friends”. Friends becme important to you

you have a huge imagination and

you sleep through the night without wetting your bed and without needing to go to the toilet

while other kids demand or don’t see reason you are most of the time very polite which sometimes is quite infuriating when you say ” no thank you Mummie”  to things you “have to do” like taking your medicine but one can always negotiate with you and reason with you,. It has been like this for the last year. If you are given a choice and we make you promise something you agree and keep your promise and this is just awesome

 

You are such a joy and I love you to bits!!

 

Your Mum and often your “baby” because you love to pretend with me that you are the mum and I am the baby. How crazy and wonderful it is to rest my head on my baby’s lap and she strokes me to sleep and sings to me pretending she is my mum. Sorry I wrote so little but you keep me busy my love

The Year in Pictures

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This year was another eventful one in Haumea’s young life. Thank you for sharing it with us and we wish you a wonderful New Year.

2014 in Pictures

The Year 2014 in Pictures. Das Jahr 2014 in Bildern.

We buy a silver bullet trailer and have a baby girl...
We buy a silver bullet trailer and have a baby girl...
Rest in Pieces, Long Beach, CA
Rest in Pieces, Long Beach, CA

 

You can find a Google+ Version by clicking here

 

Tamariki Ora

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Haumea’s Skill Set as of 16-18 months : 

  • keeps track of things, even finds items that parents are looking for and that parents misplaced when they discussing their whereabouts amont themselves and even on the phone
  • hides things and can retrieve them days later from memory
  • feels compassion for the pain of other people, kisses and caresses affected body parts and even tries to apply ‘medicine’ (sun tan lotion, cream) asks aua? and waits for reassurance that pain has gone away
  • also empathises with other living things. Some moronic neighbours chopped down several dozen old Toa trees and she comments ‘bam, aua and for well over a month now points to the sad stumps that remained even when she cannot see them but in the right direction
  • understands and can point out:Shoulder, back, head, Eyes, Mouth, Nose, Titi, Stomach, Bum, Feet, Knees
  • Vocabulary as of 15 months :bye-bye, Mama, Mummi, Marcus, Milk, Mleko, Milch, Mimi, Kaka, titi, bottle, ball, am am (food), apple, (ba)nana, anya (Game), car, book, cat, dog, please
  • Vocabulary as of 19 months :bye-bye, Mama, Mummi, Marcus, Milk, Mleko, Milch, Mimi, Kaka, titi, bottle, ball, am am (food), apple, (ba)nana, anya (Game), car, book, cat, dog, pleasethank you, mine, up!, move!, down, off, where is?, there is, baba, this, no!, niema!/?, bam (boom), aha!/?, red, green, key, babja, baby, juice
  • Vocabulary as of 20 months :bye-bye, Mama, Mummi, Marcus, Milk, Mleko, Milch, Mimi, Kaka, titi, bottle, ball, am am (food), apple, (ba)nana, anya (Game), car, book, cat, dog, pleasethank you, mine, up!, move!, down, off, where is?, there is, baba, this, no!, niema!/?, bam (boom), aha!/?, red, green, key, babja, baby, juice,

    tschuess, one, two, eyes, tree, fish, boat, shoe, go!, teeth, uncle, auntie, bum, egg, ice cream, dead (when killing mosquitos), bubble, nose, arms, bird, ant, monkey, dirty, clean, out!, potty, maya, hat, Vaka, Cow, Goat, nose, ears, mouth, cheers!, bag, bike

  • January 25 2014 : push, cold, back, remote, dance, panties
  • January 26 2014 : cookie, cooking, biscuit, broken,spicy

Tongareva

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If you ask Manongi Latham what she does for a living you are most likely to hear a very modest ‘i weave’ and even that is an understatement as she and other ladies on Penrhyn produce some of the finest rito hats and other handicrafts made from finely woven pandanus fibers.

A normal day for Manongi starts at 4:45 am in pitch darkness as the island’s generator only wakes up later, to prepare for church. Powerful hymns that nearly lift the roof of Tongareva’s beautiful CICC church accompany prayers for god to bless another day under the sun in this remote corner of the south pacific. Coming back from church Manongi stops home briefly to cook a delicious breakfast for her somewhat unannounced visitors then picks up the phone to relay the daily readings from the weather station she manages for her husband who has gone to ‘neighbouring’ Manihiki Atoll to repair Navigation Equipment for Aircraft.

Reading the rain gauge, Tongareva

That done and dusted she is off to open the local Telecom Shop. Recent introduction of cell phones and reliable internet services ensure this to be a busy job as well. Any break including lunch break is used to nip back home to sell fuel and other bare essentials from a congregation of chiller storage containers at her home. Based on the intricately woven Rito hats that are made out of pandanus fibers bleached by a combination of seawater and equatorial sun to have the appearance of fine canvas many late afternoons must have been spent weaving these as well.

Flying to these remote and far-flung atolls proves to be very challenging. All Airstrips are unsealed already severely limiting the number of Aircraft that can even fly there at all. Add to that the remoteness, lack of alternative airports, flying over vast expenses of ocean and the cost and logistical challenge of having fuel for the return trip available and it becomes clear that despite their stunning beauty, excellent diving and friendly people those atolls will remain untouched….