Under the auspices of the Kapiti Running & Tri Club, being hosted by the Salt & Wood pub which is the start and finish point.

For you night owls (like us) it’s a run/walk that starts at a civilised time of day!

The blurb:

Come and join us for the first event in our Summer Series!

These fun events cater for everyone from social joggers and walkers to top athletes.

Walkers start at 6.10 pm, runners start 6.30 pm
Entry fees: FREE for KRTC members; Others – $5 (or $10 for families)
Enter on the day from 5.45pm
Spot prize draw immediately after each race with an array of prizes to be won.

It isn’t that long ago since the previous change of ownership.  Details on TradeMe

In Europe it probably got overshadowed by the commemoration of the 1918 Armistice, but for Jews everywhere, Kristall-Nacht (crystal night) was a major event of 1938 when Nazi Germany decided to demonstrate anti-Semitism quite violently, in a foretaste of things to come.

It began in neighbouring Poland when the anti-Semitic government there decided it was going to strip Jews living outside the country of their Polish citizenship so they couldn’t return.  This was unacceptable to the Nazis so they proceeded to round up all the Polish Jews living in Germany, put them on trains and dump them across the border.   A relative of one of these Jews responded by going into the Germany Embassy in Paris and shooting dead an official.

It was just the excuse the Nazis needed to engage in an orchestrated pogrom which took place on the night of 9-10 November. According to the Wikipedia article:-

When deaths from post-arrest maltreatment and subsequent suicides are included, the death toll climbs into the hundreds. Additionally, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.

Jewish homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland, and over 7,000 Jewish businesses were either destroyed or damaged.

Of course, anti-Semitism didn’t begin with the Nazis — it was a European tradition going back centuries — and it didn’t end with them either: the main perpetrators of it today are Muslims, including many of those who have migrated to Europe from the Middle East.  This article reports Muslims disrupting a Kristallnacht commemoration in London by shouting:

“Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,” thereby referring to the 7th century massacre of Jews by Muslims, when the latter expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, which lies in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

For most of us living well away from the Middle East and Europe, hostility towards Jews makes little or no sense, particularly when many look the same as other white Europeans.  Still, for the Nazis of the 1930s and many (but not all) Muslims today, Jews are a race to be hated.

It is possible to stop defining people by race, and view everyone instead as individuals?

We mentioned in the 23 October post that a Waimanu Lagoons Care Group was being formed, and then above KCDC advertisement appeared in the Kapiti News.

It would seem logical that key members of the Care Group also form the focus group, although the suspicious word “development” suggests a wider intent.

But it could just be an innocuous update to Waimanu Lagoons Management Plan from 2000, viewable/downloadable here.

An exhibit in a display at the Tutere Gallery

In August 1914 it seemed like a great adventure to colonials on the other side of the World and soldiers who quickly enlisted were worried about missing out because it could be over by Christmas.

The ideology was simple — the British Empire was the best empire.  The allies were the French empire and the Russian empire.  The bad guys on the other side were the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.

It wasn’t over by Christmas and it was anything but glamorous.  Muddy, lice ridden trenches, clouds of poison gas, cannons of all sizes, barbed wire, suicidal no-man’s lands and machine guns were the reality. It ended after four years, three months with 16 million dead, which included 18,000 NZ servicemen.

The war had its consequences.  The feeling that the suffering and destruction had achieved nothing had to be countered by the rulers, so at the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to pay substantial reparations and the German empire disappeared — colonies in Africa were given to the victors; NZ got Western Samoa — the Austro-Hungarian empire was broken up and the Ottoman empire became Turkey and the territories of the Middle East; the British got the newly formed Palestine for 30 years.  France got Alsace-Lorraine back from the Germans.  (The Russian empire had exited the scene in 1917 following the communist overthrow; Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent, and in 1919, Poland reappeared on the map.)

In Britain, 11 November is known as Armistice Day and in America as Veterans Day, which marks the service of all those who have been in the military.

Although veterans were often despised after the Vietnam war, even if they had been drafted, the popular feeling has turned more positive today with a better expression of what the military is there to do — getting rid of despotic/menacing regimes that care nothing about human rights being the most important, but it also gives servicepeople valuable skills in technology, emergency management and engineering.  In fact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is heavily involved with civilian infrastructure like creation of waterways, irrigation and ports, and it owns and operates a quarter of America’s hydro-power generation, see below.

Both Cushla and her sister are regular readers of our site and of Kapiti Independent News, and both in turn have featured some of her artworks of rare birds, which can be seen in the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve.

The pic is of her and Finola Chamberlain’s Feather & Fibre Studio at 470 Te Moana Road, Waikanae which has plenty of inexpensive gifts for conservation fans. It was on the Arts Trail, but can also be viewed by appointment (phone 293 3504 or featherandfibre@xtra.co.nz)

See this post for pics taken 2 years ago of garden ornaments outside.

It looked nice when we took this pic two months ago, but appearances can be deceptive: a press release from Wednesday by the KCDC:

The test results from yesterday’s water sampling are back and show high bacteria levels in the Wharemauku Stream where the stream comes out at Raumati Beach. The results from just downstream of the overflow site at Coastlands are lower which is consistent with the effects of an overflow of this nature.

People are advised to observe the warning signs and stay clear of the stream and where the stream comes out at the beach until further notice. If people have been in contact with water from the stream in the last few days and feel unwell they are advised to contact their family doctor or phone Healthline 0800 611 116.

We’ve often called into Shona’s studio at 22 Marine Parade in Paraparaumu Beach for a chat over the years we’ve lived in Kapiti.

Her paintings are frequently in large sizes and full of bold, striking colour with textures that come from the liberal application of oil paint, although that aspect gets lost in print and on computer screens.

Her joyous and expressive work has attracted plenty of interest from overseas and in 2009 she held a successful exhibition in London when all her paintings sold — article.  However, the cost of exhibiting there meant it was really only a break-even exercise.

Recently she has added novel writing to her achievements with the book The Trajectory of a Fallen Angel (which is not an autobiography!) written over nine years, and available at select bookshops as well as directly at her studio.

Another reason for visiting her studio is that it is directly opposite the council’s controversial and costly redevelopment of MacLean Park so you see what the council is up to.

Shona’s website

But not the business. Realtor‘s description:

Located on the Main Road through Waikanae, this well-appointed iconic property housing the Maison 8 restaurant in Waikanae (some may still remember it as Country Life) has finally been put up for sale on the open market.
The Tenant has just renewed their lease for a further 5 years and increased their rights of renewal.
By far the best use of the property is as a restaurant, however, as it was originally built as a large stately home, this two storey property could perhaps one day be returned to its original use, with further development undertaken on the balance of the section.
• New 5 year lease
• Land and Building for sale only