Web Only: Letters to the Editor - Issue 41

I WANT TO APPLAUD NZ Life & Leisure for printing Kitty Brown’s letter of disappointment with Issue 39’s cover. I read a lot of magazines and I know it is very rare for them to publish negative feedback. Good on Kitty for having the guts to write in in the first place and for you taking it to print. I think we can all grow by looking at the opinions of others; constructive feedback is a vital part of our world. We cannot always get everything right and appeal to everyone’s tastes but, although I absolutely love your mag, I can appreciate Kitty’s comments. After I read her letter I had another look at the cover and realized that she was bang on the button. Sometimes having real-life raw images in a magazine is a great way to get across messages you are trying to portray.

Gail Kennedy, Napier
 

I HAVE TO RESPOND to Kitty Brown's very negative comments about the July/Aug cover because the model is my lovely granddaughter. I eagerly await each issue since I started receiving the magazine early this year and there are always very interesting stories. Keep up the excellent work everyone and "get a life" Kitty Brown.

Barbara Ingle
 

THE COVER with the clean and washed vegetables?  Most of us urban vegetable garden legends clean and prepare our harvests before entering our kitchens to keep the soil from our food-prep areas.  And, hey, what’s a bit of artistic license? Keep up the good work, NZ Life & Leisure. I have just restarted my subscription after having twins – will read them in small instalments I am sure!

Amanda McCreadie

MY MOTHER BOUGHT ME a subscription to your beautiful magazine at the beginning of the year. I especially enjoy the contemporary look and feel of the magazine. The quality of the paper sets it apart from the huge choice of magazines on the market; it even has a special smell that is particularly appealing. I enjoy the feature articles with the stunning photography and just when I think I have finished, it is a wonderful surprise to discover The Essentials ad directory at the end where there is suddenly a whole lot more information. I find it really interesting to discover the huge diversity of small New Zealand businesses out there. I enjoy clicking on all the websites and then forwarding them to friends who I think would be interested.

Rachel Thornton, Christchurch

I HAVE TO SAY your magazine is very addictive. My friend and I have bought a house bus which will be parked on some land and I have been going through my past NZ Life & Leisure magazines, making a collage of all the ideas on how to create a bach-type, crib-type hut that could be built beside our bus. Such an inspirational book with lots of ideas; now I have to find someone to put them into reality. I so look forward to your magazine – what great photography. We have some really fantastic locations here in New Zealand. 

Sue Dyer, Wairarapa
 

SINCE BEING GIVEN a copy of  NZ Life & Leisure by my granddaughter as a Christmas present, I have avidly read and reread every copy and saved them up to take to Colorado to entice son and family back to New Zealand.  Having just returned from our annual visit, we now have an American daughter-in-law absolutely determined that she is coming to experience firsthand the delights of the country she has heard and read so much about. Thanks, NZ Life & Leisure.

Jocelyn Coburn, Kawerau

THANK YOU NZ Life & Leisure for your company on my journey through breast cancer. You have been a wonderful companion during the sleepless hours at night, letting me share other peoples’ lives and homes and travelling to new places without even leaving home. A wonderful and greatly appreciated distraction when dark thoughts threaten to overwhelm me. I am coming back into the light, have successfully attempted several of your tasty recipes and am now giving thought to redecorating, inspired by the lovely homes featured in the magazine. I look forward to many more wonderful issues to interest and inspire me.

JM,  Hawke’s Bay

I LOST MY CROCHET NEEDLE this morning and had to think of something else with which to pass the rainy day. In the corner, I found a pile of magazines that my sister forgot the other day. NZ Life & Leisure caught my eye. I took a quick look.
It`s now 9.44 pm. I made a delicious dinner (coconut tamarind prawns, thank you, Annabel Langbein), I Googled loads of places (my destinations-to-do list isn`t growing any shorter) and I came up with several fresh ideas for the new decoration that`s making its way through the house.
I should get back to my crochet (or at least be looking for my needle) but I catch myself still sitting near the fire, getting to know people`s stories, enjoying page after page of beautiful images that show bits of paradise. To be honest, I don`t mind this day being rainy. I don`t think the next one will bother me either. Big thank you!

Kristina
 

IT WAS GREAT to read of the home the Hardys have created in Havelock North (The fruit of their labours, Issue 40). I went to Tauroa in 1992 on a Fine Homes and Gardens tour and remember Audrey Hardy talking to us of the cost of reroofing and the plans she had for the house.
I loved it then and was enchanted by the figures hanging from the light fittings and the wonderful old plug system in the baths. It was obvious that the whole thing would be a labour of love and here it is now well loved, cared for and in good heart.
Thank goodness there are people like the Hardys who are prepared to tackle the big jobs or they would go to wrack and ruin and the country would be poorer without these markers of our past.
Thanks for the opportunity to revisit.

Barbara Hill, Tauranga

IN MY TIME I have been to my fair share of museums as I have a passion for history. I spent a long time enjoying every word of the story about the Transport & Toy Museum in Wanaka (Hunters & Collectors, Issue 40) and losing myself in the photographs of the pieces on display which brought back some fond memories of my own childhood. I have never been to Wanaka but I have marked it as my next holiday spot so I can visit this extraordinary place. I must say, as a bit of a hoarder myself, my children are amazed that I have kept all their toys from nearly 40 years ago which my grandchildren now enjoy. There is something about toys from the past which makes them superior to the technological gadgets young ones today seem to be obsessed with. Jason and Nicky have given me a few ideas of how I can ensure that my grandchildren’s generation grows up aware of what life was like before their time. As for Nicky and Jason, I am sure they will continue to grow their collection and continue loving what they are doing.

J Gee, Gisborne

HELLO to my New Favourite Magazine! I've decided to shout myself a Christmas present – a subscription to NZ Life & Leisure.

Reasons:
- I'm always interested and inspired by the unique people and places profiled in every issue.
- The articles are consistently well written and accompanied by beautiful photographs that really capture the essence of the subject.
- I love reading about New Zealanders who perhaps aren't celebrated in other media – people passionate about retro caravans or bookbinding or making mosaic monsters in their gardens.
- I like seeing and reading about "real" people (rather than so-called celebrities) and homes that don't look as though they've been designed and decorated according to a formula.
- I like that the fashion and beauty pages aren't full of skinny, preteen models.
- I like the luxurious look and feel of the magazine. It's an affordable treat.
- Reading NZ Life & Leisure makes me proud to be a New Zealander, knowing that there are many other subjects just waiting to be featured in your pages.

Cathy Dunn, Napier
 

I WAS INTERESTED in your thoughts regarding the silver fern on our future flag. While the fern means a lot to the people of New Zealand, it means nothing to the rest of the world. The Royal New Zealand Air Force had it on their aircraft for a while but it bombed big time (excuse the pun) and they got rid of it because everyone thought it was a white feather, denoting cowardice. In due course the country will become a republic and the Union Jack on our present flat will become meaningless. We need a more distinctive flag than the silver fern.

Marie Thomas, Whangaparaoa