What am I doing creatively today?

 Poetry Adventure away from home

I have left my home town of Rotorua for four days and I am up in  Auckland.
I am  staying in  Dominion Road, Mount Eden at a  Bed and Breakfast  which is just fabulous.

 If I lived in Auckland I would choose Mount Eden because I like the feel of it. A lot of other artists live here. It has a wonderful volcano; (Mt Eden) within sight. It contains a lot of restored old villas and some cute cottages and many of the steets are tree lined.
 It's relatively close to the city centre but it has the feeling of a small town. It has some really cool cafes, my favourite being Circus, Circus  in Mt Eden Road and an independent bookshop called Time Out.  It smells really nice; maybe it's the combination of cooking  and tree and park smells.
  It also contains maximum security jail with a black /grey chunky bricked facade that looks like a castle.  It  all adds up to a pretty atmospheric place.

 Perfect Bed and Breakfast
 The hosts of the Bed and Breakfast, Bryan and David are creative and interesting, upbeat and friendly. David has a miniature wooly Daschaund called Jack who is his devotee.  Their  restored  villa  contains a collection of eclectic art and sculptures. It has the feeling of an olde worlde curiosity shop. It's a riot of soft colours with tall studs,brass bed ends with patchwork quilts, tapestries and quirky ornaments.  It  makes me want to haul my camera out and start snapping. It's a place that you feel very safe and nurtured in the minute you arrive.The breakfast is generous and tasty.

Dovecote
 There is dovecote full of white doves in the sculpture filled garden who are cooing  infront of my bedroom window.  This is like my perfect fairy tale  place, surrounded by birds  art and cheerful interesting people; what more could a person ask  for a Bed and Breakfast?

Poetry Workshop
I'm attending a three day poetry workshop at the Epsom campus of the University of Auckland; starting tomorrow. It is facilitated by Siobhan Harvey who is a celebrated poet. Siobhan has written many poems  and edited a number of poetry anthologies and other publications. My favourite being
Google her if you want to know more.

I love attending poetry (and writing) courses because they force me to focus entirely on my writing for a specified amount of time.  The people you meet on the courses are usually very interesting and focused on writing, so it is a classroom with a purpose.
 I have had poetry published that I have written in workshops over the years and  I have had fun.

This is the first time I have attended a writing workshop in Auckland; so it is a big adventure.
I know it will be challenging and probably quite emotional. When I read some of my own and others poetry; I am sometimes moved to tears because they often contain intense feelings that come from buried places. I like writing satirical narrative poetry that juxtaposesunusual associations to form a visual narratives.