Author: Fee Writes

Vegan Vibes Festival In All It’s Glory

Vegan Vibes Festival In All It’s Glory

When a group of compassionate, beautiful, gentle people get together, the Gods smile favourably.

We’ve had the most dreadful weather for days and days – rain, rain and more of that stuff, rain! The organisers of the Vegan Vibes festival held off till the last moment to make the decision whether to go with Plan B = Undercover. Of course, Undercover was not going to suit a lot of the food trucks at all.

But the moment of truth came and the decision was made to stay put… to go ahead with the open venue as it looked like there was to be a small window of respite.

What a grand decision. O.k. so the sun didn’t shine much, but did peep out on the odd occasion. Only once was there a small amount of rain for about 15 minutes mid-afternoon. But the rest of the time… Sweet! The Gods smiled.

I was wearing two hats that day – One for SAFE NZ and the other for The Vegan Society of N.Z. This made for good fun as I was able to go back and forth from one stall to the other.

All the talks were well attended
All the talks were well attended

Then there was the speech to deliver. Yes, I’ve spoken before, but it doesn’t make any difference as each time is different and I still am anxious that I will get a good reception. Luckily I had nothing to worry about, the seats were all taken, there was a mixture of vegans, vegetarians and omnivores and they all seemed to pay attention. Oh, and I did get applause at the end, so must have done something right.

I even managed to sell some of my books (always a bonus) and still can’t get my head around the fact that people wanted me to sign their copy.

Unfortunately, my anxiety was such that I didn’t really feel like eating and there I was surrounded by vegan food. I could have had anything that was edible on that site. I did manage a savoury scone with vegan butter. Funnily enough, I’d been with friends in a cafe the morning before and one had ordered a (not vegan) cheese scone with butter… the smell took me right back to my childhood kitchen and mum serving the very same thing. It was then I realised just how long it had been since I’d had a scone, possibly 30 years. Well, that vegan scone, with “butter” melting was AWESOME!

The guest speaker from the U.S.A. Kristin from Will Travel For Vegan Food was on after me and she had the crowd enthralled. I was lucky enough to talk to her privately – wow, what an adventure she is having. What started off as a couple of years in a small van around the U.S.A. with the intention of trying every vegan restaurant, has turned out to now be going around the world.

I’ll leave you with some more images.  Remember, I’m not the best photographer in the world and it wasn’t as if it was all sunny. By the way, the photos don’t really show it – but there was a brilliant crowd all day.

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Not a good example of the crowds!

vegan vibes festival

vegan vibes festival
SAFE Stall
vegan vibes festival
SAFE Stall
vegan vibes festival
Coffee Time
vegan vibes festival
It wasn’t ALL food.
Vegan vibes festival
A better look at the crowd and the SUN!!
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Absolutely amazing band

And in case you don’t know – this was held in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, New Zealand. Speaking to one of the organisers – they were that thrilled with the turnout, it’s going to be an annual event …. Bring it on!!!

p.s. – Sunday and guess what ….. it’s raining!!!!

 

 

 

 

 




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Don’t Wear Black

Don’t Wear Black

I am now safely ensconced in the new house-sit with Miss Lily.

And the title of this post really says it all. Beautiful white, long-haired cat – the stuff nightmares are made of for those of us who wear black.

So the black clothes (other than the work trousers) are packed away, not giving me much to pick on a day to day basis. But, she’s worth it. What a corker cat. She’s wonderfully nosey, not overly cuddly (good because of the white fur), a little talkative and easy to understand.

She has a couple of quirks – one being that her water bowl is in the bath. Her mum did tell me that Lily herself wanted it in there simply by jumping in the tub and trying to get water. Once mum put a bowl of water in there, Lily was happy.

2016-09-18-10-06-05The second – maybe not a “quirk” but quite delightful. I hang my bag on the kitchen door and Lily has discovered it. She rubs up against it, licks it and generally just hangs out by it. When she first started doing it I must admit I was a bit puzzled. Now I think I’ve got the answer. I have a small bottle of peppermint essence in there (wonderful for headaches) and I believe Lily can smell it. I’ve yet to have a headache, rub a dot on the temples and then get near her to test my theory.

She does demand her food especially at around 6.30 a.m. Then on the second morning it was waaaaay earlier when she started meowing and jumped on the bed. I staggered out, thinking it was for food, but, instead, Lily led me to the bathroom and there I saw that she’d tipped her water bowl over. I filled it up, went back to bed, Lily drank and went back to bed …. or where-ever she went and the house settled back down to more zzzzzzzzs

It’s either been raining or I’ve been out so haven’t really had the chance to explore the neighbourhood, but I do have some interesting neighbours so look out for that post when the sun shines and I can take camera with me.

I’ll leave you with a couple more photos of Lily when she went to ‘meet Olly’, (never fear, won’t be any more unless I can’t resist captioning one).

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Quick Post – What Do Vegans Eat

Quick Post – What Do Vegans Eat

A question I get asked quite a lot … “What do Vegans eat?

So here’s the answer.

FOOD!

Check out this awesome array – and, I might add, the chocolate cake was to die for!!!

mains
MAINS

desserts
DESSERT

 

 

 

 

 




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Take a Stand Against Plastic.

Take a Stand Against Plastic.

Yes I know, you just love those supermarket plastic bags ‘cause then you can use them to line your rubbish bins can’t you.

Of course, you also have a black bin liner in the big bin too and you go ahead and put in the smaller, rubbish-filled supermarket plastic bags into the larger black bin liner so they can all go to the landfill.

I’m not picking at you, hell no, I’ve been known to line the household rubbish bin with the plastic bag, and when looking after a dog – yup, picking up the doggy-do with one as well.
But I do try to limit the amount of plastic I do use – or recycle as much as I can. Even been known to re-purpose and give the plastic a new meaning in life.

I do use canvas bags at the supermarket … I find them easier to carry anyway, and the ones I have are a decent size. Inside one of them, I have plastic bags e.g. bread bags or nut bags that I have previously used. I soon learned that the bar code needs to be removed, so there’s a sticker over them. Otherwise, you get charged for a loaf of bread instead of a head of broccoli or a couple of onions. Hopefully, the last sentence tells you that I use these bags for veggies/fruit (buying loose where-ever possible). As for the nuts – well, I’m not that organised to be able to put the right nuts into the right bags, therefore, the bags have a few product numbers crossed out and the new one put on.

Having a stainless steel water bottle instead of a plastic one means I can put it through the dishwasher on occasions to get it sterilized …. I’m waiting for the day the supermarkets provide water stations where you put in 50c and you can fill your bottle with filtered water. Will I be waiting a while for that to happen???? Going to the States too often shows me what can be done.

Don’t use any facial product that has microbeads and use a bar of soap instead of bottled free-flow.

Would like to say that I make my own products as in cleaners, toothpaste, shampoos etc, but sadly, no. However, I seldom buy frozen foods, go more with cans and when I do freeze it’s in plastic storage boxes that I’ve got at the op shop, thoroughly washed and giving it another life. Use glass where I can and cover food in the fridge with those little doilies that you can also get at the op-shop for next to nothing.

My mother did without plastic. I remember she had a basket and a string bag to go shopping with. Everything came in paper bags even the meat was wrapped in paper. She bottled (or canned for my American readers), all the excess fruit and veggies. We had everything from pickled onions to preserved eggs, spaghetti to salted meats, not to mention the bottles of peaches, apples, feijoas, plums etc and the cakes and biscuits. We were lucky to have a walkthrough pantry – yup I said: “walk through”. That pantry was “heaven”!

It’s quite sad that we are all in such a hurry. ‘Convenience’ has taken over, meaning that we’d rather grab a new plastic bag for the head of broccoli than wash out a used bread (e.g.) bag and put it back into our canvas shopping bag.

Let’s be real, the politicians are not going to ban the plastic bag because it would upset too many people (probably including their own families). I will give kudos to those companies that charge for the plastic bags, but perhaps they could go one step further and offer a small discount if you bring your own recycled ones.

And, yes, I know there are countries who have actually banned the plastic bag… I just wish more would follow suit it would make a huge difference to our planet.

Do you do something different that helps the environment?
Your comments will be appreciated.

SOCIALMEDIA

 

 

 

 

 




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All Things Come To An End

All Things Come To An End

And house-sits are no exception.  A bit of a quick post today.

cd_57db1a3872cb7Yesterday I moved out of the lovely home in Devonport road and went to stay with my fab friends overnight and, of course, their lovely dog, Scotty who I have got to know over the years.

But before I left I went to visit the neighbour who has a great B&B in a really old home that has been lovingly restored. Well, a few modern bits and bobs e.g. kitchen!!!  It dates back to 1880 when it was built as a private home and the couple who own it now are only the 4th owners – not bad for an old shack.

Of course, I wanted to take a look around, as you do, and I have to say what a place to stay if you’re coming to these parts and want to be in the city. Pics below.
But, being two floors and on a different section, the view was different from the one I had been enjoying in my lovely house-sit. That’s where the featured image up there at the top came from. Yup the day was not the best, but it still is a stunning view!

So, “where to next?” I hear you ask. Yes, I’m off to another home oddly enough at the completely other end of the same road. This time it’s looking after Lily while “mum” is away in the U.K. A shorter stay, but still long enough to get used to the place.

More on Lily later. Right now – enjoy some of the images from the historic home named Taiparoro.

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I’m On Bluesky

I’m On Bluesky

About Me

fee o'shea

Thanks for dropping by. My name is Fee O’Shea. I’m a mother and grandma, an author, and a Comedy Improver.
This blog is for my thoughts, my rants, raves, reviews and things that have grabbed my attention. From politics to social media to beauty, health and the environment. Fee’s World is written to bring you a smile or get you thinking. Enjoy.

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