February marks the third month of the New Zealand summer.  The month started off with the publication of three of my pieces in the Right Hand Pointing haiku special issue and ended with the publication of another three pieces in John Martone's newly launched Otata ezine.  

Temperatures rose to record-breaking levels between 25 and 35 degrees Celsius while cicada's thickened the already sluggish air with their sound.  The harsh New Zealand sunlight pounded the earth into a soul-baked lethargy.

I spent most of these days reading and migrating the Living Haiku Anthology to a new web hosting server seeking to improve its functionality and ability to make available with ease a vast treasure-house of global haiku.  Don and I have been blessed with a great team who share our vision.  Richard Gilbert joined us this month.  His keen eye enhanced by his academic and literary skills are very helpful in bringing the original vision to an even greater and enduring fruition.

The reading month was capped by the receipt of a parcel from Sheila Windsor in England containing a copy of her first publication, Totem.  I continue to savour the contents as I treasure the gift.

I returned this month for several weeks to my roots in the deep north of Aotearoa / New Zealand visiting childhood memories and re-establishing contact with relatives I have not seen for over forty years.

Reaping the rich harvest of last month's departure to the narrow road to the deep north of my memories, I continue my journey through August into the deeper interior that is always with me.

This image is what I looked out to every day of my childhood.  It is an accurate portrayal of the hazy future that always tugged at me.

My writing output is much reduced this month as we moved home from Upper Hutt to the Kapiti Coast taking with us not only our possessions but also the accumulated treasures of our children.

We start to sink our roots down in to the area we now call home even as the earth goes through its own upheavals as if to uproot us and wash us away. The photograph is from on the Kapiti Coast.