EITHER CREATE SOMETHING EYE CATCHING OR LET'S JUST FLAG IT

 This (above) is the current New Zealand flag. The Southern Cross (stars) speaks of the southern hemisphere and the Union Jack pays homage to our colonial past - The Tangata Whenua (The original indigenous people) are not included - not a Maori motif in sight.

The government is spending NZ$26 million in a process that it hopes will create a new flag that we will reflect some sort of consensus. These 40 designs (above) have been chosen from over two thousand flag design submissions. This is how the process works:

1 - Flag submissions are made.

2 - A government appointed panel chooses forty designs.

3 - Four  designs are short listed from these forty designs.

4 - The public votes and chooses one of these four flag designs.

5 - The public then vote for either the existing flag or this one new design.

My feelings about the need for a new flag are somewhat ambivalent, as are the rest of the general public. My ambivalence has only been amplified by the rather insipid and uninteresting designs that have surfaced in the whole process.

This flag (above) featuring New Zealand footwear in the form of a pair of Jandals by New Zealand Herald newspaper cartoonist Rod Emmerson was submitted for consideration but did not make the long list of 40 flags (no surprise really).

I am not saying that I would want this particular flag with jandals as the new New Zealand flag but I think we need something of this ilk, something arresting, interesting, eye catching - something that has that 'Wow' factor. Most of the designs to date look more like corporate logos. I wouldn't be surprised if when 'push comes to shove' at voting time we just retain the status quo, not through conservatism, the inability to change or any sort of intransigence but simple because nothing that is being presented so far actually 'knocks our socks off'.

Although we are no longer a colony of Great Britain we are still part of the British 'Commonwealth' (Englands' club of old former colonies) and have other colonial attachments. As I post this, Queen Elizabeth the second is officially also the Queen of New Zealand and we have a Governor General who is the Queens representative.

Perhaps the time for a new flag is when New Zealand becomes 'The Republic of Aotearoa.'

GARY LARSON - ANOTHER GREAT CARTOONIST EXTRAORDINAIRE

Gary Larson is another great cartoonist whose cartoons I like a lot.

This cartoon takes on a certain poignancy in light of the recent killing of Cecil the Lion in Africa and the pending visit to New Zealand of another Looney Tunes hunter who seems to think that killing for pleasure is something that should be considered 'Sport' and be applauded.

_____ SWITCHING ON THE LEUNIG TORCH (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) _____

It is better to light one small candle (or switch on a Leunig torch) than to curse the darkness.

________________________ NEW BEGINNINGS ________________________

Together until we all meet again:

Left to Right - Grandson Zane, Daughter Charlotte, Son in Law Nathan, Son Nikolai, Son Alex (Zanes Father), Daughter in Law Ramiza (Zanes Mother).

The crossroads of young lives are full of comings and goings, endings and new beginnings. In a few days our daughter Charlotte and son in law Nathan head to England for a few years. We wish them well in their new beginnings. We will miss them a great deal. They go with our love and blessing.

___________________ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ___________________

Before..................

.......... After

______________________ TRANSFORMATION ______________________

The downstairs self contained flat is now ready for the carpet to be re-laid. It has been a bit of a mission to get it completed but it is now finished and I am reasonably happy with the results. New paint always makes a room look clean and fresh; its the blank canvas upon which the room will be decorated with carpet, curtains, furniture, book shelves etc, etc, etc.

As I mentioned in the previous post, it makes my eyes cross eyed and fuddles my brain trying to decide whether the colour of the walls is 'Quarter Tea' (Light Brown, English Breakfast) or 'Quarter Tea' (Light Grey, Earl Grey). The fact is the colour seems to change a bit with the changing light.

I was able to paint these rooms all up for under $300. So there are considerable savings to be made if you do things yourself compared to having work done professionally. For example, having the original carpet that I pulled up so the floor could be resealed, re-laid, and approximately one square meter of lino laid in the small kitchen area completed professionally will cost nearly $800. But I am happy to leave lino and carpet laying to the professionals.

I will now turn my sights on getting the Starling completed and the diesel engine taken out of Mariner and some big decisions regarding either repairing the engine or purchasing a new one.

_____________________ Anyone For Earl Gray Tea? _____________________

Flash new drain. Before this was installed rainwater would lie here forever unless I went and dealt to it with a yard broom. Now it drains beautifully and leaves the area nice and dry when the sun comes out.

 

My inspiration for becoming Picasso the house painter comes from the antics of our grandson. On a recent visit there was a longish silence. He was found with a ball point pen and a big smile on his face beside this little stool that he had removed the cushion covering from. Good on ya little fella, a blank canvas is begging to be drawn on!

Here is Picasso the elder, not in his wildest dreams is he able to match his grandson for panache and originality.

This is the first of two rooms to be completed. The paint on the walls is called "Quarter Tea" (I don't really know why they don't just call it "Very light brown") ........ anyway the wall looks more grey than brown ....... maybe the "Tea" the paint shop was promoting was Earl Grey Tea and I wasn't paying enough attention? Bugger.

------------------------------- Retirement - What Retirement? ---------------------------------

Here is the main reason that I am not making much progress at the moment with the Starling Project. The downstairs 'Granny Flat' got flooded earlier in the year and it was time to roll up the sleeves and put things right.

The concrete floor has been painted with four coats of two pot epoxy paint to seal the surface and hopefully keep the water out. The grey coloured lines in the floor are where some extra epoxy has been applied to cracks in the concrete where water has being getting in. Under todays more strict building regulations none of this water problem would occur. This work combined with some flash outside drainage pipes should restore these rooms to their former use.

I have painted the skirting boards and the scotias and done some jib stopping of the walls ( Photo above - left under the wall plugs and above the recessed book case.

My new WorkMate folding bench has come in useful for this work as has my growing collection of saw horses. I have modified most of my saw horses by attaching strengthening battens on all sides and baffles on the ends to make them as strong as possible. They now easily take both the weight of a scaffolding plank and me.

Painting and decorating, renovations and the building and restoration of yachts always reminds me of the contrast between the huge declarations of intent that can be contained within a few sentences and the reality of making it happen!!

Tomorrow I begin painting the walls.

__________________________ INSTAGRAM ____________________________

My son takes very 'non chocolate box' type photographs and posts them on Instagram. This photograph is of a mural on a wall somewhere - I quite like it. The word 'bald' is either the artists signature or perhaps its proclaiming that the image is a Bald Eagle.

https://instagram.com/nikolaiasmith/

DO WE EVER CONFORM TO THE DICTATES OF COMMON SENSE? NOPE, MOST OF US ARE TOO BUSY HAVING A GOOD TIME

Someone once asked,  " Do you really think it's sensible to buy a yacht that's less than say.... 20 metres long and that doesn't have standing headroom?"

In response someone answered:

"Hey, let's not pretend there in any practical use for a sailboat. And buying a sailboat is obvious insanity. Let's not kid ourselves. We are all nuts. My boat has all the amenities of a wind tunnel. But then, I didn't buy it for sleeping. So... yeah. I think it's sensible to spend large amounts of money and free time for an uncomfortable floating wind tunnel - if that is ones particular form of madness. Otherwise, I recommend a large bathtub and a warm quilt."

Yeah, Nah - can't say fairer than that Bro.

It's Not Exactly Christmas, But Hey! Who Cares? Merry Christmas Anyway

I found this on someone elses blog. It's kitschy and baubly and I think its great. I love the way the snow splashes on the road - if the snow keeps turning into water like this; soon someone is going to need a dinghy just to be able to  cross the road.

______________________________ BIRD ______________________________

                BIRD

It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air - 
and there, night came in.

                   
When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography - 
I saw how wings worked,

how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.

                  
Pablo Neruda 

___________________ WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD ___________________

I remember when I first heard Louis Armstrong singing this song on the radio. It must have been in the late 1960s. It always makes me smile when I hear it because of its optimism in a world that is often such a vale of tears for many of its inhabitants. But despite everything it's a message that I believe, need to be reminded of, and are required to work at to make it a reality. 

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - Louis Armstrong

I see trees of green,
red roses too.
I see them bloom,
for me and you.
And I think to myself,
what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow,
So pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces,
Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands.
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying,
"I love you".

I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more,
Than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

Yes, I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

Oh yeah.

Four Horsemen - Feature Documentary - Official Version

If you really want to know what the truth is regarding the way the world operates then watch this documentary. It repeats and explains what a lot of us have been saying for decades.

____________________________ DIE SLOWLY ________________________

The Iris - My Favourite Flower.

DIE SLOWLY - Pablo Neruda

He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "it’s" rather than a bundle of emotions,
the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.

He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,
die slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck,
about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.

He or she who abandon a project before starting it,
who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know,
 he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort
 far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.

The Starling Project - Part 24

It has helped greatly to have the old splash boards reasonably intact so that I can use them as patterns. They have been particularly useful in enabling me to obtain the correct bevels and deck camber. The new mahogany splash boards are both thicker and higher than the old ones.

My new Black&Decker 'WorkMate' work bench has come into its own during this work. When I have finished using it - it just folds up and I put it back into my 'No Room To Swing A Cat' work shed.

The Starling now has port and starboard rubbing strakes at deck level, cockpit trim and new splash boards which were taped into place for the photograph. All of this new mahogany trim and the splash boards still require rounding and/or shaping and sanding before they get their first coat of varnish.

With 90% of the woodwork completed it is now time to turn her over and either begin painting or fiberglassing.

The Starling Project - Part 23

This is the aft part of the deck showing the underside of the plywood. I have painted this with a good undercoat paint leaving bare strips of plywood for where glue is required to adhere the ply to the deck beams.

The deck is now glued and nailed with silicon bronze nails. The nails have been countersunk with a nail punch and filled with mahogany wood filler. I was able to strategically place the cardboard deck patterns that I had made of the deck on a large sheet of Maranti marine plywood in such a way that I only have deck joins on either side of the forward ends of the cockpit. I hope I am able to sand out all the marks and stains so that I am able to varnish the deck. Time will tell.

I know I have turned a corner now, but wish I felt it as well. I think I feel like this because I am not looking forward to the amount of sanding that I have to do. Sanding is a job I don't like very much, whether it is hand or machine sanding.

At this stage I am still undecided as to whether to fiberglass the hull or not - And I wish that I had a proper workshop to work it, it's freezing weather and if I'm not tripping over stuff, I am out buying stuff that I know I already have but can't find amongst the clutter of a shed the size of a matchbox. Bugger it.

The Starling Project - Part 22

 

I made cardboard patterns to assist with the cutting of the plywood deck panels. I used the same  strategy for these deck panels as I have done for the hull panels and found it worked well. I cut the plywood using a handheld electric jigsaw.

Here are the newly cut deck panels that I have made slightly oversize. When they are glued and nailed in place I will trim them with a wood plane. The challenge will be to make a clean and accurate join between the bow and stern panels and to keep the plywood unmarked so that I will have a nice clean deck to varnish, rather than a deck that I have to paint to hide all the mistakes!

The Starling Project - Part 21

Today I had some much needed help from my brother Tony who held the cockpit floor battens in place while I fastened them from beneath the hull with brass wood screws. To do this I had to lie on the concrete floor and drill pilot holes with the electric drill, then drive the screws home manually with a screw driver - a very cold job until I got a couple of layers of cardboard to lie on to keep the the cold at bay.

Renovating a boat is a very good metaphor for life in general. Nothing ever goes exactly as you have planned it. I am only 90% satisfied with this little job as inevitably some things went wrong. But 90% is a reasonable percentage. A couple of times when I was building my yacht 'Mariner' I had to completely rip the work out and start again.

The next job is to put the plywood deck on.

The Starling Project - Part 20

I have cut four battens to length for  the cockpit floor. These  battens will serve two purposes. First they will provide foot grip on what would otherwise be a flat slippery cockpit sole and second they will strengthen the 6mm plywood cockpit floor.

As I planed and sanded these battens I found, yet again, the usefulness of this 'WorkMate' bench to hold small woodworking jobs.

The next step is to install these battens permanently on the cockpit floor with glue and screws.