Scene+Setting+Place

My Room

My room has a lovely double double hung window. The architraves form a cross at the centre and the sun streams in through all four quadrants. The light is dappled as it is filtered through the leaves of the pohutukawa tree right outside. As we lie in bed we can hear song of tuis as they flit through the branches. The walls of the room are a soft yellow. The room is dominated by our Queen size double bed with rimu headboard. There are other large pieces of wooden furniture, including a giant set of draws that almost reaches the ceiling. These draws look oddly like a museum display case, each draw is inset with a large lozenge of glass which allows you to view its contents. The wardrobe has two rimu doors which are glazed with leadlight lattice.

My House

My house perches like a party hat on top of a steep bank where the road has been carved out of the hill. It is capped off by a dormer window in front near the centre. It is united by its colour, but is otherwise disparate, an ecclectic combination of styles from different periods. The core is a colonial cottage, but it has pieces of villa and bungalow attached. There are a few broken Victorian finelles remaining like the last remaining teeth in an old man's smile. The lower storey is partly obscured by a row of native trees and plants, including a maturing lancewood to which I am quite attached. On one side the large double hung window are rounded at the top like eyes looking out over the city.

My City

My city rings the harbour like a necklace. A night you can see the orange lights along the motorway strung out like beads. On a sunny day the harbour glissens and Somes / Matiu stands out like a green oasis in a desert of blue. Across the harbour a long deep valley opens, carved out by the Heretaunga River. The hills rise up on either side of the valley and create wall around the harbour like the sides of a bowl. Is this to keep the harbour in or the people.