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16052009

17:42::16:05:2009 Saturday Evening

Virus detected!!

Hello there.....

"Trouble at mill" as the saying goes. Virii (or viruses) are running rampant, both in this world and the virtual! The Media have got themselves into a lather over the dreaded Swine Flu and closer to home Witchy has had a dose of the more regular flu and then recovered in time to do a marvelous job of looking after Wizard as the nasties take up residence in his sinus cavities.

As a side note, a recent article on the BBC World News claims that males have every right to be wimpy about colds and flu's because recent studies have shown that the male immune system is not as strong as the female immune system.

In an unpleasant reflection of the biological world the virtual world of Wizitch has also come under attack! The servers where this site resides were recently infected with a Trojan virus. While the infection has been removed unfortunately the Wizitch Image Gallery has slipped into a coma and is currently not working. That's the bad news...

The good news is that Wizitch.com will soon be relocated to a brand new server which will (hopefully) provide a more secure and faster service. Until such time as this occurs the galleries will remain unavailable. Appropriate announcements will be made in due course.

Other than these woeful tales there is not much to report - life must go on and so it has albeit at a much reduced pace. Witchy has introduced Wizard to the new type of paper tissue that comes infused with Aloe and Chamomile - Wizard thinks of them as "pre-slimed" tissues! There is no doubt these are much gentler on tender Wizardly noses but they are not much good for cleaning your eyeglasses!!

The leaves are continuing to part company with the trees - only the clingiest and most codependent leaves still remain stubbornly attached in the face of recent Northwesterly gales. These winds are a local feature. The techy term is foehn wind. These occur in places all over the world - France has the Sirocco, California has the Santa Ana, Montana and Wyoming have the Chinook, Arabia has its 'Poison Wind' called the Simoom.

In New Zealand, with the local penchant for really uninspiring names (like North Island and South Island) this wind is called simply the Nor'wester. Hot, dry and blustery, the local version is caused when warm wet air from the over the Tasman Sea tries to cross the Southern Alps (another inspiring name) on the (wait for it...) West Coast.

The warm air is forced upwards by the mountains causing the moisture to condense into rain - the Southwestern coast of the South Island is easily New Zealand's wettest area. After dropping it's rain the wind falls down the eastern faces of the Alps, compressing as it falls. This compression heats the air, just like a bicycle pump gets warm when you pump up the tyres. This same compression/heating phenomenon is what causes re-entering space vehicles to experience such great heat (not friction with the air as is often believed).

For us on the banks of the Avon River this means warm dry winds - excellent for drying your washing if you can keep it on the clothesline! These winds also create a related meteorological event - the Canterbury Arch. This is a long, high and very dense cloud formation, a standing wave of thick vapour running the length of the Canterbury plain. It is from this cloud formation that the Maori name for New Zealand is derived - Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud.

The Nor'wester is reputed to have a deep psychological effect on many people subjected to its hot, dry nature and it's been statistically linked to increases in domestic violence and suicide. The dry wind creates a buildup of positive ions generating electric fields which affect the melatonin/serotonin balance in some people.

Wizard however particularly enjoys the Nor'wester for it's warmth. At this time of year it's also fun to watch the Autumn leaves racing each other down the road like giant sprinting cornflakes on steroids......

In the meantime, till next time....

Wizitch

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace" --Jimi Hendrix

02052009

10:36::02:05:2009 Saturday Morning

Yeah, Gudday.....

Time for another Wizitch update - for the Northern Hemisphere it's Beltane, the Neopagan and Wiccan festival of the Spring, often widely celebrated as May Day. Here on the Other Side, the Southern Hemisphere, it's Samhain, more widely celebrated as Halloween. Sadly (in the opinion of Wizitch anyway) modern commercialism takes away a lot of the deeper significances from these festivals, particularly here in the South where Halloween is celebrated at the same time as the Northern Halloween.

Regardless of what it's called this time of marks the halfway point between the Equinox - when day and night are of equal length - and the Solstice at midwinter (of course that's midsummer for all you Northies!). Here the nights are getting much longer, the sun is lower in the sky and temperatures are dropping - though we've been blessed with some nice Autumnal days with temperatures in the low 20's. Autumn Leaves

As usual the trees are putting on their Autumn colours, these ones are on our neighbours cherry tree (well, they were this morning!). All along the riverbanks the leaves are slowly changing through their fall colours. Meanwhile, the northern hemisphere is marking Nude Gardening Day. It's a little cool for that here but as far as Wizard is concerned almost any day over 20 degrees Celsius is a Nude Gardening Day! Just ask the neighbours! Nudity is not illegal in New Zealand/Aotearoa and Wizard says the very best way possible to get back to nature is to garden au naturelle.

Though the temperature wasn't suitable for such agrarian pursuits as nude gardening it was perfectly appropriate for a very pleasant visit from Tatiana (the Queen of the Fairies) - she's the wonderful daughter of Tatiana some dear friends of ours and she came to spend the day with us. This meant awakening far earlier than Wizitch is wont to do but as a bonus included yummy pancakes for breakfast.

Tatiana is always one of our most favourite visitors as she always arrives with a sunny disposition and a good supply of funny stories.

So, what's been happening at Wizitch.com? Well after much head-scratching and trial and error (predominantly error) Wizard has managed to get the first part of the planned galleries up and running. On our 3d Art page we have the first album of fantasy images and the Photo gallery has an album of various slide photo's taken by Wizard many years ago.....

12:10::06:05:2009 Wednesday Morning (Early)

Woops! A time warp occurred just now, a Chronometric Aberration otherwise known as a temporal anomaly - Saturday slipped away from us as visitors arrived with beer and fine conversation in the Autumn sunshine. This was the sort of interruption to one's workflow that one is more than happy about!!

The following day (Sunday) also was nice - the folk from next door came over with their little baby Taurean and cousin Luke who is a fellow guitarist. We had a fabulous day jamming with the guitars in the sun. Wizitch is almost always ready to drop what we're doing for a good bash on the guitars.

We didn't achieve many of the things we were intending to achieve this weekend but we can't complain as we've both really had a good time.

Wizitch Cottage We didn't know it at the time but it appears that the 1st Sunday in May is International Laughter Day - which we celebrated accordingly!

Here's a picture of Wizitch Cottage on the banks of the Avon River. As the leaves are falling more and more of our little place can be seen from the far bank.

Here also is close up looking at Wizard's bedroom window taken earlier that day.

Wizard's Bedroom Window

Wizitch just loves the internet!! Wizard was just Googling about (or 'gurgling' as our friend Bry calls it) and discovered the ancient sport of Mangelwurzel Hurling which has recently been revived in the North Wiltshire village of Sherston. It's played by teams of three who hurl mangelwurzels in turn aiming to get closest to a large leafless mangelwurzel known as 'the Norman'! This little tidbit may be the very best piece of trivia Wizard has ever encountered! Even if it's not the best bit of trivia Mangelwurzel is still one of those truly cromulent words that rolls of the tongue in such a satisfying manner - not unlike 'dodecahedron'.

Apparently mangelwurzels are also used for brewing a potent alcoholic beverage - something that can't be done with petanque boules or Bowling Balls!!

Well that's it from Wizitch.com for today - We're hoping that this month will see sufficient time for further uploads of visual delights to our galleries and other goodies as well.

In the meantime, till next time....

Wizitch

"The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear." Herbert Agar

Autumn in Christchurch (Otutahi, Te Wai Pounamu, Aotearoa)

Dragon

08042009

04:42::08:04:2009 Wednesday Afternoon

Hi and Haere mai.....

It's been a while since our last news update - and visitors to the forum will have noticed they are currently closed. They may well stay that way, depending on developments. The forums were vulnerable to spambots and, due no doubt to us still being in the process of learning, modifications made to prevent the proliferation of spam did not work.

Websites are almost always in constant state of change and there is always work being done in the background and so we're currently exploring other options. As soon as there is something to report it will be reported here. We are working behind the scenes to come up with something interesting.

Seeing as we can't say too much about the website (in case it just doesn't work out the way we're envisioning) instead we'll talk about the weather!

Sunset over Canterbury

Here's a photograph from Wizard's recent trip up onto the Port Hills on Banks Peninsula near Christchurch.

The view is looking Southwest over the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps in the distance.

We've had a good assortment of weather recently - Saturday in particular was stunning as a large High Pressure system crossed the country bringing clear skies and warm weather (my favourite kind). Since then however we've had a couple of warm overcast days, some rain and a noticeable drop in temperatures.

We'll no doubt have more warm days as the year goes on - the change between the seasons is much less well defined here than in the Northern Hemisphere. This means we can expect pretty much any kind of weather, any time of year!

It's very rarely warm enough for Wizard - after spending time in the tropics some years ago he finds he has a marked preference for warmer weather. Perhaps his blood is thinning as he gets older!

Mr. Swan

Here's a snap of one of the local swans taken in the early evening with a spectacular sunset reflected in the river.

You can see the under lit clouds in the second shot at right. Because of the geography in Canterbury it's not unusual to get a thick blanket of cloud overhead when the wind is coming from the Northwest. This orographic cloud formation is known as the Canterbury Arch and it usually indicates warmer conditions though little direct sunlight until the end of the day.

Here's Wizard meditating in the sun on the back lawn after a session of yoga. We are lucky enough to have a very sheltered and secluded garden which affords us the privacy to wear what we please. For Wizard this often means wearing very little. Yoga is such a centering and relaxing way to exercise and it's all the more enjoyable when freed for the constrictions of sweaty clothing. The combination of sun and breeze is a sheer delight.

Naked Yoga is apparently a fast growing trend in the US with more and more professional yoga studios offering naked yoga sessions to their customers. Whilst Wizard personally recommends it there are definitely some poses which are ... less dignified than others.

We've recently found out that our new cat who we've been calling Gremmel, is actually Gremmils. We've decided to stick with the second spelling as that is what she was originally named - and there is a lot of power in a name!

Gremmils The Cat .

""What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognise the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"
--Michelangelo

Wizitch Seal

30032009

23:02::30:03:2009 Monday Night
GREETINGS.....

Well seems like just the other day when I posted the first blog entry - that was on the 1st of March. Now it's the 30th of March (and will no doubt be the 31st before I'm finished!)

The website's been open for a month now and the initial flurry of visitors is dying down. I had some pretty ambitious plans for what I was going to be able to display which unfortunately have not come to fruition as I've been researching and looking for the best online Gallery software so I can show more pretty pictures. I'm still learning and am at that stage where I know enough to be dangerous!

This last weekend has been marked by stunning Autumnal weather - warm sunny days cooler evenings. We marked Earth Hour by sitting outside around the potbelly stove and toasting marshmallows under the stars - we were out for closer to 4 hours so I guess that makes up for anyone who didn't turn off their lights!!

Wizitch.com has now been live for a month and the feedback so far has been very positive. This is possible because my dear Witchy - fellow Wizitchian and all-around-bestest-buddy ever - arranged this Domain name and web space she presented to to me on my Birthday, back in January.

Dog's Birthday
Witchy took this great shot of our neighbours Reuben (L) and Kelly (R).
Around their necks are ribbons holding Birthday Gifts for Wizard. These compliment the other gifts he recieved including the very space this web site resides on!

We've had a great summer all in all - good friends , great company, wonderful food and at least some sunny weather warm enough for Wizards bones. It's not all been plain sailing - after all life's just not like that. But all the while that good days outnumber bad days you're winning, right?

The gardens have done well again this year - our tomatoes and courgettes have been outstanding! We've added an outside room which we now use for meditation, yoga, exercise and just simple 'chill-out' space. We've created a new Secret Garden and a new un-secret garden which we've planted for winter crops. We've also cleared out and enlarged the newly named Really Secret Garden (formally known as the Secret Garden). We've weeded and thinned, mown and sown, irrigated and fertilised and the grounds are in good shape for the coming winter.

This year we've had the supreme pleasure of watching another summer unfold along the riverbank - the birds are always entertaining as are the constant streams of dog-walkers, cyclists, skaters, jigglers, joggers and canoodists that travel either on or beside the river.

The birds include this family of Black Swans and their six cygnets photographed back in January.

Yesterday we were awoken by the sounds of thousands of flapping feet. The annual City to Surf fun run went past the house but sadly I was too tired to get up and take some photos. This is not because I am a lazy type - here to show that I do get outside away from the computer is another Witchy photo showing me up a tree behind the garage. This area was sorely in need of a good paint job so Witchy and I got stuck in and over a couple of days we sanded and scraped and repainted the whole wall.
The result is rather pleasing and adds to the overall ambience of our new Secret Garden.

Finally, a word about a dear departed friend. Kryten was a Prince among Cats - faithful companion to Witchy for an impressive 15 and a half years and buddy to Wizard for 9 years. Sadly he died recently due to liver complications arising from old age. The odd but nice thing is that he still seems to be here, haunting our home in the gentlest way. I still see him, sitting in the shadows or ghosting around my ankles while I load the dishwasher. The other day, while vacuuming the carpet I found one of his long white whiskers. It was a lovely moment - although he's gone he's still here - missed and appreciated and loved.
.
"Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny."
-- Carl Schurz --

Whanau - Family

Blogpage18032009

19:38::25:03:2009 Wednesday evening

Hello again.....

Isn't it funny when you think you have got everything all figured out and your just starting to feel all smug and pleased with yourself when you suddenly discover that you're mistaken? This happened to me this week - I was feeling very pleased with my efforts so far to build this webpage, and particularly proud thinking I had all my links working as required. Well pride comes before a fall as it's said so my pride was somewhat dented yesterday when I realised I had 3 dead links - not just on one page but on each of 12 pages!! D'oh!

I'm happy to report that I've now fixed those pages and I'm feeling good! Man, this webpage stuff certainly keeps you on your toes!

After an initial flurry of visitors the action has died down on the website and forums. A couple of interesting conversations have started on the Wizitch Community forums but we really need more members and more input there to get some really provocative talk happening.

The following is quoted from one of those discussions and is copied here for those who may not have seen it:

"I think there are two basic types of meditation - one where we seek to achieve a state of no-mind, a condition of timeless awareness without thought. This state is about connecting our conscious and unconscious minds more effectively.

The second type, which is not really that different from the first, is a state of unified mind - and we achieve that state anytime we focus with totality on one thing - whether it be a chant or a mantra or a Mandela or performing music or dramatic acting or gardening or cooking or doing 3d stuff on your computer.

The key here is to do what you love and do it totally - it then becomes a meditation, it stills the mind and sharpens it. Almost any act of creation, be it artistic or dramatic, done with love, is meditation.

One of the key clues that your mind has reached this state is the fact that you lose awareness of time and many other external factors. You stop noticing your hunger, or tiredness or chronic pain - in fact you are so focused on the now that everything ceases to exist except the act of creation and focus in the Now.

Enlightenment is an ongoing process. A star must keep shining to shed light - and the tighter we focus that light the brighter it becomes.

There is a Zen proverb that says: Before Enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After Enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.

I believe you can also add - During Enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.

Remember Buddha's great realisation under the Bodhi tree was that he had already achieved enlightenment.

Thus anything you do with a meditative state of mind can become a meditation - and this is always easier to achieve when doing something you love doing.

Hope this helps".

~0O0~

So what do you think? Your opinion is as valid as anyone else's - let us know your thoughts by joining the Wizitch Community Forums, pulling up a virtual leather armchair, lighting your virtual pipe or perhaps a fine virtual Cuban cigar, grab a glass of Port or a Whiskey or two and indulge in some pontificating. Go on, have an opinion - not just on this topic but on any topic you can think of (that isn't actively promoting pharmaceutical supplies!)

"S/He Who Knows That Enough Is Enough Will Always Have Enough."

-- Lao Tzu --

Note: Wizitch Community forums are no longer running at this time. Wizitch apologises for any inconvenience

22032009

10:30::22:03:2009

Hello and Happy Equinox

Today the days and nights are of equal length and we are halfway between the summer and the Winter. For those North of the Equator it's the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox and for those South of the Equator it's the Autumn Equinox. Here in Christchurch the weather has been suitably chilly with rain and cold Southerly winds. We've started closing the curtains at night to keep the days warmth inside.

The trees along the river have taken on a definite golden hue and the leaves are starting to drift alongside the road. To Witches and Wizards of the Southern Hemisphere it is the traditional celebration of Harvest Home. We have certainly been enjoying the fruits of our labours in the garden with lots of fresh home grown produce in recent weeks. We've been particularly pleased with our tomatoes this year - sweet and juicy and utterly delicious sliced on toast. Additionally, we have enjoyed our courgettes and now know how much space they need!

We have celebrated Harvest Home quietly and modestly this evening with a fabulous Witchy roast meal and lots of reviving cups of tea.

Finally got the last of the main pages up and running so the About Wizitch and About Witchy pages are now visible.

Please remember this coming Saturday March 28th is Earth Hour between 8:30pm to 9:30pm local time, wherever you live on Planet Earth. 1,858 cities, towns and municipalities in 81 countries have committed to supporting this. Please do your bit and turn off all unnecessary electrical appliances and lights, just for that 1 hour. Here at Wizitch HQ we are planning to light some candles on the back deck and play our guitars ~ should be a good night!

"The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else.

The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self."
-- Whitney Young

Blogpage18032009

04:09::18:03:2009

HI There.....

This is the Third Wizitch Blog update.

And it's taken a lot longer to get here than I anticipated but at least I've learned some things along the way! So what's been happening? The website now has it's first image gallery showing some of recent my 3d Art. Secondly the way this Blog/News page is written has changed- though you won't see any difference it should hopefully make it easier for me to update....hopefully!

The World of Wizitch has been as busy as usual - Sunday saw a record number of visitors to our healing garden, encouraged no doubt by the spell of lovely Autumnal weather we've been having. One special visitor (of the non-human kind) was this Red Admiral butterfly which landed on our garden Buddha statue and The third eye of the Buddha two caged cockatiels also visited briefly on their way to a new home in a friends aviary! (We get all sorts here!!)

This past week has also seen the planting of some winter vegetables and a tidy up session in the front garden.

Saturday night was fun - our wonderful neighbour celebrated her 11th birthday and came through the fence with some of her friends to roast marshmallows in our outdoor potbelly fire. It was great to have so much delightful youthful energy and vitality around and everyone had a great time.

Gremmel the cat has settled in beautifully and has taken to sleeping on the spare chair in our computer room!

Today's thought...

"It's so hard to make things fool proof, as fools are so ingenious" --unknown--.

A rose by any other name...

10032009

03:56::10:03:2009

GREETINGS.....

This is the second Wizitch Blog update. I've been busy learning lots about website construction (those who've already visited will be able to see some changes to layout and format). At this time I want to express my deepest appreciation to Nic Gibbs who has been very generous with his time and knowledge in assisting me - thanks Nic. You can visit Nic's own website here where you'll find some great info and downloadable goodies for your computer.

Life is still busy as ever and the year is rolling on - leaves are turning golden brown along the river as Autumn fast approaches. The temperature is starting to drop now although it's still quiet warm (22 C, light cloud). The sun-lover within me wishes I could be out get some last minute tanning in before Winter but, nice as that would be it would not do much for the website!

Recently the local Custom and Classic Car Club had their annual rally around the rivers which means they drove right past our place. We sat outside with a table and umbrella, a few beers and some delicious Witchy food and watched the parade go by. It was a great day, warm and sunny. A good time was had by all.

Even more recently we had a new addition to our family arrive in the form of Gremmel the cat. Gremmel As you can see she's a tortoiseshell tabby. She has come to us from an unhappy divorce and unbelievably, neither partner wished to take her. Thus she ended up here with us and has moved in with no problems whatsoever.

Well that's your update for today - time to go a wrestle with some more HTML code! Have a great day!

"Spiritually focused people do not desire to retaliate, doing evil in return for evil. They forgive from heavenly love"

-Emanual Swedenborg-

Blogpage03032009

03:20::03:03:2009

Hello again.....

This is the first Wizitch Blog update.

Things have been quite pleasantly busy around here with lots of small developments occurring around the garden and house. Trees have been pruned, garage walls cleaned and repainted, lawns mown and so on. We've also had the usual stream of visitors - they know who they are!

With the Website there's been not so much occurring - what with all the gardening and entertaining of guests there's not been so much time available - today should be different though. I have plans...Mwahahahaha!!!!!

In the meantime, I've put up some 3d Art and some Photo's to whet your visual appetite's

Till next time, our best wishes go out to everyone and may you feel the magic.

And remember...

If 'less' is more, just think of how much more 'more' would be!

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