On March 17, we arrived early to our second art residency, at Wharepuke Sculpture Garden. We started our personal lockdown that day, a week ahead of the whole country. We learned on Friday, April 3 that New Zealand Immigration extended our visa to September 2020, so we may be in country, this land of new zeal, for a while.  I feel enormous gratitude for our blundering good luck to be tucked in a cottage in this magnificent subtropical food forest in Kerikeri, Northlands, NZ. 

Words feel like blunt objects: clunky, lumbering. Even without the words, I want to reach out and share – I’m thinking of you, my friends and let you know:  I’m fine, we’re fine, thriving, even. I hope you are well and even thriving. Yes, we blundered into a garden of exceptional beauty and fertility and I hope you feel that way about your location. 

Rather than more words, I’m going to throw up a big mess of images of the many delights of this botanical wonder. I’d love to hear from you, Jess