March 25, 2013 6:34pm ... I guess I'm in love ... not just with the model, and of course the tri-color collie, as was our first, Brandywine Lady, and in keeping with my avatar and puppy photos of my second sable collie, Robbie ... but the fact that an old best friend of mine was David Lowe, a wonderful photographer there in Napier. He liked my concept for an International Center for the Arts ... as one might see completely, all fifteen pages (!) thanks to MM, under "About Me" (my profile) here on my /477863 MM website, with some of my child and teen portraiture on the other site, one of MM 's first, linked in to /750. My ICA dream project of 1994 was initially and hopefully intended for "the North Island of New Zealand" if approved, and your Ministry of Culture was very excited back at its inception in the spring of 1994 ... chatting with me so very often, even while gathering on a Sunday at their Wellington office to watch a football match!! David Lowe sent slides of his favorite sites around Hawkes Bay, although we both recognized that much is sacred land. Many businesses, restaurants and even pubs around the Bay were contacted for their opinions on the concept at that time, as well. Much later, then Prime Minister Helen Clark, my 15pp elegant brochure proposal in hand, felt that New Zealand was not the appropriate location. My initial reasons are in the proposal on the site here, but I have since been a bit concerned about Pacific Rim locations anywhere for projects aspiring to last through centuries (tsunamis, earthquakes, and even the 22-foot sinking of Napier itself in the 20's... :() ... but the beauty of your nation, the incredible variety of climates and terrain, and the marvelous and friendly people there, all make me long for that first choice ... as I might long to sit with an elegant blonde and a collie in your New Zealand fields! ...all so very beautiful! Al
