I woke from an anguished dream about working as a wedding photographer for a friend and experiencing complete and utter gear failure. My camera batteries ran out, the flash wasn't attached correctly, I had no memory card ... it was a horror of a nightmare and I woke in a terrible panic that I had missed everything important of the wedding.
I briefly caught up with family and friends in Belgium via Skype then ran out the door to the Botannical Gardens here in Dunedin. I was meeting with Nikki's exceptionally lovely family for a quick photography session. She's a much-loved friend of my sister's and so I knew it was going to be a pleasure to take some photographs, just for fun.
But this morning I realised that for all the lightness and joy in my posts about coming home there is the growing awareness that it's almost time to leave this country I love. Driving familiar city streets this morning left me wondering what it is that I want from my life ... maybe the weight of the nightmare was still there in my mind because it seemed like a heavy thought on such a beautiful morning.
You see I have devoured the air as we have wandered the South Island, overjoyed to be smelling the yellow lupin and the cabbage tree flowers, sniffing out and identifying the wet stone-scent of Fiordland, the intense forest-bouquet on the West Coast.
I have loved the food, I have loved the people, I am loving summer in this place that I know so exceptionally well. And is that the lure ... the seduction? The familiarity, after 10 years away from all that is known to me.
Driving the city streets today, I was wondering if Icould return to New Zealand ... the little island-continent out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at the bottom of the world?
I think I need to go back to Europe now, revisit Genova because it gives me so much of what I require, check out Antwerp because I have this Belgian bloke who loves that city, maybe visit Paris on a day-trip once we recover financially ... just to explore what I need. And to try to understand what I would do if there were choices ... you know?
Meanwhile, my beautiful Katie-niece sat next to me as I sat here writing and downloading today's photoshoot. She photographed me at work ... so there you have it, a real-time photograph of the Di Creature.
