Kay McKenzie Cooke

Thoughts are with the whānau of my favourite teacher in the world, Pam. I knew her as Mrs Tarama. A beautiful & kind woman. I’m so sad I can’t be in Oraka at Te Takutai o Te Titi Marae & then Orepuki for her burial. Just missed being able to go by one day. Glad to have been at her 90th 3 years ago.

London Street, Dunedin 1972. Photo with poem to go with.

“Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.”

Christina Rossetti

The best acronym so far. It’s for fear. Future Events Already Ruined.

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50885/...

I adore this poem. So much great poetry, so little time.

Saved in my To Read Later folder when I have the time to read deep and really take in what it was like to have this amazing opportunity.

Cosy blanket on the bed writing day for me today. I look out the window and see seagulls in the sky & Kāpukatāumāhaka winking at me.

like bells

Crows
from foreign trees,
the sound for me a reminder
that I am not in my comfort zone.
Where are the seagulls?

Hooded crows cry out.
Bells without tongues.

KMC

Young & Old Circa 2020 Bayfield HS wall art. I’ve always loved this photo of one of my mokos and David Bowie. The painting of Bowie has gone now and my moko is a lot taller, her hair longer. There’…

kaymckenziecooke.com/2026/02/06/y...

Thinking about stuff. And suddenly the day is over. Time to have a cup of tea.

‘Tui’. My birthplace. Delivered by the famous Dr Elder.

Latest trip south I visited amazing resource - Central & Western Murihiku Archive museum in Tuatapere. Need to visit again w family records & written memories. & of course discovered the woman volunteering that day just happened to be related (Riddell / Riddle). Random. Not random. Southland.

‘Lost in Paradise’ I’m tempted to call this part of the main road south, Silo Corner On the road again, this time heading south to Invercargill where I attended an Arts Murihiku trustees meeting. I’m stok…

Another trip south, this time for an Arts Murihiku meeting and then farther south to touch base with old, familiar haunts. I wonder how many know about Gabbytippy hill?

kaymckenziecooke.com/2026/02/01/l...

Seeing a beautiful, sparkling granddaughter off to her first day at Intermediate with a hug and a light kiss on her lovely, smooth forehead … so special. Being a Grandma has its very tender moments, have to say.

My view as I write in the car.

Cosy as

Down Town (Invercargill)

*Maisie Chilton

On my way to Waihopai Invers for Arts Murihiku Trust workshop.
Great to view Maisie Cjilton art on display at Arts Murihiku’s Whare Taua

Zipping past silo corner …

If I don’t put a kaymckenziecooke.com blog post on FB, or here, my only readers are overseas and mostly American. Catching motes in a sunbeam. A flake in a snowstorm. A dot in white noise. I can’t imagine what my eleven-year old self would’ve made of any of this. My 70-something self remains amazed.

Rhona Haszard (1901–1931) Rhona Haszard (1901–1931) was a New Zealand artist. She was killed when she fell off a four-storey tower in Egypt in 1931 the night after her last exhibition opened. She was 30. via W #PalianSHOW

Never knew this artist existed. Went to Southland Girls High #learnsomethingneweveryday

palianshow.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/r...

Rainy day delights today. And a crossword I only had to look up 2 answers …

Woooh

See. I said it was unsalubrious

Ubiquitous cafe outside seating Chch. Lovely round E&B pie & decent coffee in an unsalubrious suburb - my favourite kind.

Leonine

Voltaire’s expression epitomises that half-impish, half bitter look of a writer.

‘Fish in the Sea … River Running Free’ … I thought the wooden Start ‘post’ above was an appropriate pic for this, my first post for the year 2026. The marker where I stopped and turned around, feeling somewhat satisfied to hav…

kaymckenziecooke.com/2026/01/16/f...

Books read, remembering the albies, ocean waves & little creeks, poetry book ms sent off, novel up to 9000 words. Danced to Sugar, Sugar, myself & the mirror the only witnesses. Nothing like 60’s bubblegum pop to get the good-mood vibes going.