Author Archives

• Bye Bye Blackbird

  By Donna McTavish on March 29, 2016 • ( 11 )

  

      Dear Blackbird Bakery, For the last three months you’ve been a welcome refuge for this Kiwi who is far from home and in need of coffee and cakes and company on a daily basis.  You’ve become my home from… Read More ›

• Always something to celebrate

  By Donna McTavish on March 25, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  Americans really really love celebrating and I like that. We need to recognise and appreciate positive and good things so that we don’t get lost or overwhelmed with the bad things that are all too often greedier for our attention. The… Read More ›

• The Magic Kingdom in bite-sized pieces

  By Donna McTavish on March 19, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Disney World in Florida can be an overwhelming experience. So much to do, always too little time. I had one evening and one day and the advantage of being with my niece Ms J who knows her way around very well… Read More ›

• Believing in Bristol

  By Donna McTavish on March 19, 2016 • ( 1 )

  

    Yesterday, there was a movie being filmed in Bristol (Virginia not England) on the street outside the Blackbird Bakery where I was working. One of the production assistants told me that it’s a Christmas movie called Believe and he… Read More ›

• God Bless America part 2

  By Donna McTavish on March 17, 2016 • ( 4 )

  

  So it’s been two months since I arrived in the US and the novelty of many things – snow, supermarkets, shopping 24 hours a day – is wearing off. Other things have come to my attention however, perhaps less significant than the outcome of the… Read More ›

• “Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got”

  By Donna McTavish on March 16, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  When I met my neighbour for the first time we both had to slow down. She is from east Tennessee and I am from New Zealand and our ears needed time to tune into each other. Cheryl lengthens her vowels… Read More ›

• Wrong numbers

  By Donna McTavish on March 2, 2016 • ( 1 )

  When I came to the US, I swapped my NZ sim card for an American one. After taking advice from my well travelled niece, it seemed like the best option and it has been great. I have an American cell number that… Read More ›

• Asheville: The coolest little city you may not have heard of

  By Donna McTavish on March 1, 2016 • ( 0 )

  

    Welcome to Asheville. Population 87,236, small by American standards but blessed with more coolness than Leo winning his Oscar …  finally. Asheville makes it onto all the ‘best of America’ lists:  happiest cities, best mountain destinations, best southern  cities to live in, most… Read More ›

• So proud I could burst

  By Donna McTavish on February 18, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

    I shed a tear this morning . I was at my favourite table in my favourite coffee shop getting ready to work but I thought I’d check the NZ Herald page first,  just to ease myself in. Procrastination really… Read More ›

• Trouble is brewing

  By Donna McTavish on February 17, 2016 • ( 7 )

  

  “What size of cappuccino do you want?” This was not a question I was prepared for. The only thing I’m used to changing is the colour of my cappuccino cup. Definitely not its size. But like many things recently, my eyes… Read More ›