Hold on to your hats - there's so much on at the moment that it's hard to keep up with it all.
Today sees the opening of master milliner Lindsay Kennett's hat exhibition at the Lakes District Museum.
Honestly, these hats are so amazing it would be worth buying a racehorse just for the hat-wearing opportunity. Or discovering a bit of royal blood so you can go to the big wedding in April wearing one.
We are so lucky having this fantastic museum in the district - we are even getting the Anne Frank exhibition later in the year. Sign up as a Friend of the Museum so you make sure you get updates on what's happening.
The tickets for Elton John are going on sale on Monday as well. I did love the story on him in one of the papers - he sued someone for defaming him and when he won, he said: "They can call me a fat, bald, talentless old poof, but they mustn't say things that aren't true".
I can't wait to go and see this truly tasteless, hugely talented performer again, but mostly I can't wait to go to a concert in the beautiful new Dunedin stadium. Every time I drive into Dunedin, it looks better and better.
Closer to home, bookings for the Festival of Colour open today for patrons, and next week for the public.
Lots of shows are coming over the hill to Queenstown and Glenorchy including Roger Hall's very funny rugby play C'mon Black and the big and very bouncy, beautiful Ole Ola, a spectacular show of South American dance.
If anyone has a spare child, please can I borrow it so I can go and see Passing Wind, a strange and magical comedian who makes flutes out of carrots and bagpipes out of rubber gloves?
And our own Mark Robins has just been swanning around on the red carpet in Los Angeles after being nominated for the Art Directors' Guild Awards for his work on The Voyage of the Dawntreader. Now that would be an occasion for a Lindsay Kennett confection ... brilliant effort, Mark.
Congratulations, too, to Lucy and Amelia Gain for a great launch party at the Spire Hotel on Friday.
These two sisters must surely be the youngest, most glamorous hoteliers in the world and I am most anxious to get back for another taste of all the little Asian bar snacks they are doing so well. They say the full menu will be up and running in a month or so - can't wait.
There were some very weary people around on Sunday after Saturday's brilliant concert. I was one of them, even though I hadn't gone to it. We got one of those heartstopping phone calls in the middle of the night that I hate so much, but all was well this time - youngest child and only daughter needed picking up from the concert.
Thousands of people and only two buses meant a very long wait, so I whizzed along to Littles Rd, where hundreds of young and very wobbly concertgoers were staggering home in the pitch dark.
The kids all said it was terrific, but I did have a bit of an old person thought when I could hear the music from our place some 10km away and felt rather glad I had been at home.
All this excitement is all well and good, but you just can't beat a good book.
Janet Jones recommended You Gotta Have Balls, by Lily Brett, to me ages ago, and I only just got round to reading it. It's pure delight, and if you liked A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine, you will probably love this.
Ruth is a worrier whose Holocaust survivor father, Edek, goes from causing her quite a few worries as he over-orders stationery for her letterwriting business, to major mayhem, as he gets involved in numerous ways with big-bosomed Zofia.
Edek is fabulous - he's Polish and 87 and speaks very mangled English. Ruth thinks of him as a frail old chap, but Edek has seriously got balls and he and Zofia take on New York in their own unflappable, unstoppable style. Thanks for the recommendation, Janet.
I've also been reading The Emperor of All Maladies, which is a far less frivolous affair. This is oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee's biography of cancer.
One in four New Zealanders is going to get cancer at some stage, and this is the story of who this horrible enemy is, and how the good guys have worked to keep it down.
Progress over the years has been slow but steady, and every year a little bit more is known, and a little more ammunition is available to fight it. I'm really fascinated by this story and even though there's obviously so much more to know and do in this battle, it's encouraging to see how much progress has been made. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, this book is a compelling mixture of science in a very accessible form, and history and storytelling.
I told you last week that Queenstown Montessori had just celebrated its first birthday. I forgot to mention that they are looking for baskets for their collections of natural treasures, such as feathers and shells, so do drop them in if you have any.
And Remarkables Primary School would love you to visit https://comms.nationalbank.co.nz/nationalcricketclub/gallery/index.html?... then click on Otago and Remarkables Primary.
If enough people vote for them, they will get some free cricket gear.
We have amazing schools here and the more our community supports them, the better they will be. I'm not allowed to make moaning, derogatory remarks about the pathetic Government funding our local schools get, so I won't.
Have a fantastic weekend and a very happy birthday to Kristin Darby.
