Day 2, Level 2: Editing/culling, parks, nachos, Spitting Image and breathing

I've been working on an article about local regional parks for the Herald Travel Magazine - referencing five different parks. They want 850 words. Very tricky to fit so much info into that word count without it becoming bland. I've managed to get it to 980 and simply can't edit it down any more so will submit. With photos.

There's a big difference between editing and culling. 

Editing is about using grammatical rules to make sure language and writing is consistent, flows well and is in line with the grammar rule-book and preferred style. 

Culling is about losing words but not the essence. There are various techniques to reduce a paragraph from 50 words to 20 whilst retaining the story or word pictures - but it's never simple. And it often takes several attempts. Cull, read, re-read, re-arrange, cull. Repeat. 

Today has been all about this culling challenge. It's rather exhausting! But also exhilerating when you manage to condense word count without losing that essence. My first draft of this article was 1,600 words, so I basically had to halve it. Phew, done.Not easy.

The five parks I cover (all in the north of Auckland, not too far from Omaha) are:

• Scandrett Regional Park 
• Tawharanui Regional Park
• Pakiri Regional Park
• Te Arai Regional Park
• Atiu Creek Regional Park

All unique, beautiful and different. I've mentioned most of them in this blog at some point, with photos, as I've visited several of them recently.

Here are photos of each of the parks.

Scandrett Regional Park - small and idyllic

 

Tawharanui Regional Park - raw natural beauty

 

Pakiri Regional Park - pristine beach

Te Arai Regional Park (not taken by me!) - isolated and glorious

Atiu Creek Regional Park - remote and spectacular

Brett said he played reasonable golf in his tournament down in Palmerston North but not good enough to make the cut apparently, his annual dream of winning this thing dashed again.

For dinner I made nachos - using last night's left over pork mince as the base. I was going to mix it with some chilli beans but went to the cupboard - and uh-oh, no chilli beans! So I got creative and used lentils instead. Added some chopped chillis, chilli sauce and tomato sauce. A bit of mango chutney. Some vanilla coconut yoghurt. This created the right consistency - and a bloody good flavour! Layer it up with nacho chips and a blend of parmesan, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.Into the oven.

Topped with sour cream, chopped tomato, balsamic and avocado, it hit the spot perfectly. I made enough for three (used everything up) and ate almost enough for two!

On the news tonight I heard that Spitting Image is making a comeback. Good job, loved that show. My friend Jill in the UK worked there for many years in the late 80s, in its heyday. I remember going to some bloody good parties at their offices. From memory they'd moved into the new Docklands area which was all new and trendy. As you would expect, very zany parties!

Jill's mum sadly died a couple of days ago, in London. She'd been very ill. I'd seen her when I visited last in 2017 and we had a happy and entertaining outing. Jill and I have been liaising since her passing - and literally just after I'd seen that news item, Jill texted me to say that the funeral celebrant will be none other than an ex-puppeteer from Spitting Image who she used to work with! Jill is now a pyschotherapist, her own Spitting Image days long gone.But her connections still strong.

Oh how I wish I could travel to the UK.

Last night my friend Lyn, also in the UK, sent me some photos of me at a party held at her house, also in the late 80s. I have a baseball bat in my hand - we played a fun game in the next door field! I remember that party like it was yesterday. 

Oh how I wish I could travel to the UK.

I talked to Sam again tonight. He's off to Scotland in the morning. And they've just booked another trip to Italy. 

Oh how I wish I could travel to the UK!

And Europe.

But I can't go any-bloody-where.

It's bizarre because planes used to fly over our house quite regularly. High in the sky, and not noisy or annoying. I would often go out and look up and wonder who was coming or going from where. I love flight, I love flying, I love planes, I love travel. We've had months with no planes flying overhead. A couple have flown over during the last couple of weeks, and they're highly noticeable as they're so rare. It's weird. It's sad. 

I want to fly off somewhere far away. But I am literally trapped in New Zealand! It's a gorgeous country, sure, and I'm fortunate to be able to come and go between the city and the beach, and explore places in between and all around. But I'm someone who needs a regular dose of somewhere else, another culture, different scenery, seasons, languages, personalities. Food, wine, history, old buildings and diverse landscapes that beckon. Not to mention catching up with friends in far flung places. 

My itchy feet are getting more itchy by the day. All I can do is scratch them, and tell them to be patient. Sadly, it will be a while yet before they tread foreign soil.  

Tomorrow ... our Ziggy runs at Ellerslie. Race 4 at 2pm. We'll be there. Go Saintly Way! We adore you. Fingers crossed! I'll report back in tomorrow's post!

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Breathing ...

A vital component of life! And something many people don't do so well. Or don't know how to do well. It's something I've been mindful of for many years, having learnt breathing techniques along my pathway of life - not sure when or where but I somehow knew reasonably early about good breathing techniques.

When Mum got ill with lung cancer back in 2002 and her lung issues and difficulty with breathing became a daily thing, it made me realise that so many people don't breath properly. That is, they breathe oxygen into their lungs. This seems logical of course, because we're all taught it's our lungs that enable us to breathe and be alive.

However, correct breathing is about inhaling into your stomach. I guess I just assumed everyone knew this. 

If your stomach moves in and out when you're breathing, you are on the right track. If your chest moves up and down, you are on the wrong one. By design, chest breathing is shallow, high and light; stomach breathing, on the other hand, is deep, measured and fullsome. Try it and feel the difference!

Stomach breathing creates calm. It's what singers use. It gives a sense of stability and groundedness. 

I taught Mum to breathe correctly through her stomach and it helped her. Although I think her default was always into her chest. Which didn't help her.

Breathing is 99% sub-conscious and whatever type of breathing has been learnt or grasped early in life or on account of trauma or habit or whatever, is what the body will naturally continue to do. It's alarming how many people chest breath. It leads to anxiety, sleeplessness, and other things we don't want. 

Sometimes I consciously chest breath, to sense the difference. I immediately feel light-headed and constrained, not myself. Thankfully I'm definitely a natural stomach breather and don't need to think about my own breathing. But, just like education around bone health, there needs to be education around breathing.

Which leads to me the reason for bringing this up - there was a short segment on a local tv programme tonight about James Nestor, an American journalist and writer, who has written an apparently life-changing game-changing book about breathing. In the short live interview, he talked about the benefits of deep breathing for 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out (this isn't new!) and the importance of breathing through the nose not the mouth (this isn't new either!) It was a pretty surface level interview. Just like chest breathing, it didn't go very deep at all.

He never mentioned stomach breathing - which is the vital component of good healthy breathing and what everyone ought to know/learn. No doubt he mentions it in the book!

Everyone is too busy with botox and fake eyebrows and selfie-perfection - they're forgetting the very essence of life - good breathing!