PO Box 3413
Wellington 6015
New Zealand
4 August 2004
Dear Friends,
For some time, we have had an apartment in Wellington and have been dividing our time between Wellington and our house in the Sounds. Now we have decided to spend a little more time in Wellington and have our mail delivered to the Post Office address on the top of the page. This makes sense, because I get so much school mail it doesn't fit into a normal mail box.
Our big house in the Sounds is being sold, but not the cottage next door. When we go back to "Arohanui" the little house in the bay, we relax. I can still listen to the bellbirds chiming morning and evening. I can still walk along the beach gathering driftwood and shells. I can still catch a fresh fish for lunch, and I can still enjoy seeing the two acres of garden I cultivated around the big house next door. But, I don't have to do the work.
The main reason for the change has been that I'm getting both older and busier. I wasn't coping and it was necessary to make life simpler.
In Wellington, Terry and I live in an apartment in an old wharf building built in 1926. It was originally a brick wharf shed in which bales of wool were stored, waiting for ships to take it to the Northern Hemisphere. Two years ago, a clever architect redesigned the inside to make 42 apartments. Our apartment has a high arched window with a view of a lot of old buildings - the station, the old government building, parliament, right through to the Tinakori hills. There are no bellbirds here, but lots of pigeons, gulls and sparrows.
It has taken me a while to get used to living in a small space in the city, but the really good thing is that we still have the sea beside us. We are at one end of a waterfront walkway and we can stroll along the edge of the harbour for an hour or more without going on the busy road. Sometimes we take bread for the gulls or ducks. Sometimes we watch rowing teams on the inner harbour while we sit eating ice cream. At the weekends we can listen to jazz bands, watch conjurors and clowns, or admire crafts at the little stalls that suddenly appear along the waterfront.
I still spend much of the day writing. There is the mail, of course, and new stories. Some younger readers may be interested to know that soon dear old Greedy Cat will have his own big picture book. For many years, that fat old cat has been in early reading books in schools, and parents have said, "Where can we buy Greedy Cat books?" Well, they were school books and they couldn't be bought. But now there will be a 32 pages full-size picture book which children can own. It's called Greedy Cat and the School Pet Show and it has very beautiful pictures by Robyn Belton.
I feel a little sad every time I talk about cats. Terry and I had to find homes for all our lovely cats. They have good homes, and I can still go and see them, but at the time, I fel as though I was giving away my children. Two weeks ago I saw two of the cats, Bill and Grace, in Auckland. They have both become fat Greedy Cats in a very short time, which means that they have not lost their appetites. They were happy see me but like the other cats, were also happy with their new "mothers."
Maybe I'll have to invent a lot of new cat characters to keep me company,
With love,
Joy Cowley
