Things my wife and I could be doing if we were not looking after a newborn ... Well, we could be attending the Midlands Charity Wine Auction at Elephant Hill tonight.
That would be fun, possibly more fun than changing nappies and jiggling baby on your knee. But there is onlyso much fun we can stand in a night so we'll stick with baby Ben because he needs us most and he's a bit young for a babysitter just yet.
If we were at Elephant Hill, however, one thing we would not be seriously bidding for would be the painting Study of Rough Red 2010 by Dick Frizzell and Martin Poppelwell.
Not that I would not like a Frizzell-Poppelwell (a FrizzellPop?) on our wall, but if it goes for anywhere near the $55,000 it has been valued at prior to the auction ... well, you get the picture.
Someone, however, will snap up that piece of art, possibly at a sharp price, and the money will go to Cranford Hospice.
There are some fine artists based in Hawke's Bay and their generosity in donating works to charity events such as this never fails to astound me.
The 20th annual Midlands Charity Wine Auction, run by Hawke's Bay Winegrowers Inc, promises to be a spectacular night. Already the event has raised more than $2 million for Cranford and tomorrow's Elephant Hill night, complete with a candlelit dinner, looks set to move that figure substantially further north.
The great thing about Hawke's Bay is there are plenty of activities happening to which we can take a baby. Considering I've mentioned local artists, perhaps the place to head for is the Hastings City Art Gallery which is now showing the Creative Hawke's Bay Invitational 2011.
There is some superb work on display including an amazing design by David Trubridge ... which I also cannot afford.
