Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular column about her recommendations for a good read, and life as she sees it ...
It's been a busy old week again.
Apologies to everyone who said they would have come to the book swap on Saturday had they been told about it.
And thanks to everyone who DID get their email in time and could make it along - it was very last minute but a great thing to do.
I promise it will happen again, but next time we will give ourselves more than a day to let people know.
No thanks to everyone who called to say my media management skills are greater than my fundraising ones.
I will admit that the QT published a very large article about me and the tiny amount of money raised.
My friend Ali got no credit whatsoever, shocking really, as she was the rattler of the moneybox - a task she performed superbly.
As ever, all the people who support all the community efforts were there, and we are so lucky to have so many generous people in the Wakatipu who turn up at even the tiniest events.
And we are losing some famously generous residents.
Wendy and Willy Roberts are heading back to Hong Kong.
From the minute they first arrived and wowed us all by handing back to the charity the Mercedes they won at a local Raleigh International fundraiser, they have been involved in so many events that they will be enormously missed, not least for being the partiest people ever to grace the district.
Lucky Hong Kong and poor us!There were tears at the airport on Sunday as well.
My darling and a group of friends who like poker, golf and fishing (all male, funnily enough) returned from Fiji.
Their wives and girlfriends were so sad the holiday was over.
It's amazing how relaxing a man-free week can be! Of course we missed this group of romantic fools like crazy, but we coped bravely.
And on the subject of romantic fools, I can confirm that Garrick Tremain, poet extraordinaire, lies in bed at night composing poems for his next book.
Not-so-lucky wife Jill isn't getting serenaded with love poems, though, just very smutty nursery rhymes.
Don't sleep too well, Garrick, everyone is waiting for Volume 2.
This week saw the Oscars as well - Hollywood might have thought their do was posh, but Dorothy Browns turned on a very smart red-carpet bash as well.
Congratulations to Jay Cassells and Caroline Jessop, who won the prizes for best turned out.
Sue Farry came along poorly disguised as Dick Jardine, and looking VERY glam.
The Dorothys team showed clips of their own nominations - Mackenzie was the standout as "Timtim", and projectionist Chris made a lovely "Guy with the Dragon Tattoo".
They should definitely have won Oscars.
Winning is on so many minds at the moment - the Motatapu race is on in under two weeks and the hills are alive with the sounds of heavy breathing and hearts thumping as runners run and cyclists cycle getting themselves in tip-top condition for the big race over the hill from Wanaka to Arrowtown.
The beauty of this event is that everyone can take part in it and enjoy it.
I did it a few years ago, with a startling time of nearly eight hours. My darling refused to go through the finishing chute, as he was so ashamed of our lack of speed.
He had expressed surprise and displeasure at the "snacks" I took for the race - a kilo of chocolate, and a big pack of steak sandwiches for a picnic.
I always like to be prepared for an emergency.
I don't know why, but so many locals have their birthdays this week - Roger Tompkins turned a delicious number this week, and Nicky Tompkins, Greg Turner, Noriko Watanabe and Prue Flacks all get an extra candle on their cakes as well.
Our daughter Bella finally turned 5 - Leap Day babies grow up SO slowly! Happy birthday all of you and hope you were all truly pampered and adored.
We duly pampered and adored our baby in Dunedin - it's pretty easy to please someone who lives in a student flat. Anything is better than home-cooked food if that is your home.
Luckily it's not our home, and we dreamt of excellent steaks for dinner. We'd heard there was a great butcher in Omakau but couldn't find it.
A sign for Lorimer's Knives caught our eye and we thought a knife shop would know where the butcher was. Seems there isn't one in Omakau, but it was a treat to see this workshop.
They are having a stall at the Easter market day in Arrowtown. Do have a look at his beautiful handmade knives - they are extraordinary.
There's been little time for reading this week, so it was lucky Andrew Miller wrote the neat and nasty little Pure.
He won the 2011 Costa Prize for this novel set in pre-revolutionary France.
On the king's orders, a young engineer is sent to empty an overfull cemetery.
It's gruesome but funny and the mix of whores and miners and priests and skeletons is thrilling and shocking and pretty darned brilliant.
