Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Counting Down


In less than 48 hours I am flying out of New Zealand on a one-way ticket. I am almost ready. I have sold my printing press, my car and my few pathetic sticks of furniture. My books and winter clothes are in storage. I have farewelled Whangarei and now I am farewelling Hamilton.

With just a few tasks left to do I am starting to normalise from a level of stress so extreme that I had no interest in comfort eating- an almost unheard of experience. The tenuous hold I had on sanity finally unravelled when my carefully packed and weighed suitcase broke in not one but two stress points. My finely tuned schedule had not timed in luggage shopping, and I had to over-ride my inner control freak to make the purchase without intensive prior research.

But with the support of some of the people who love me most in the world and who accept me at my most crazy, my pretty purple new ultralight bags are ready to jet off to Queensland for a winterless winter of paper-making, printing, forests, fun and of course, books!


Among the various projects I have in mind to keep my travels creative is to document bookshelves- those inherently attractive items in any homely home. As a taster, here are just a few of the beautiful books decorating Jo and Cam's colourful Hamilton home, including one of my own Mobius strip books (top).

4 comments:

nĂºria said...

Good luck,good journey!
and thank you very much, today I've received an enveloppe full of beauty and poetry, I don't know English enough to express my gratitude but I've something for you, tell me please where can I send it

Carol said...

Meliors, my very best wishes for your new adventure. May you have many happy hours doing all those things you are planning and much more. If you are in Sydney please get in touch, Carol

Tim Jones said...

Winterless Queensland! That does sound rather enticing in the too-small hours of a cold Wellington morning. Have a great time, and don't let any cane toads clamber into your luggage!

Anonymous said...

Meliors! A one way ticket? Your plans sound wonderful. You mention extreme stres and I worry for you. This seems a momentus change and I can imagine the inherent stress of lots of change entailing selling up and travel. Sounds like once you are there you can relax into a dream kind of life! All my best wishes, Meliors xxxxooooooooooxxxx
Jane in Dunedin