Sampling wine in a tasting room in Martinborough three years ago, artist Lisa Matthys had a flash of inspiration: “I thought all this sipping and tasting could be a great metaphor for us trying something new in life.

Anna-Marie Kingsley recently scored a ‘perfect 10’ in a telephone survey:  “They asked me how happy I was on a scale of one to 10, and I had to say 10. There was this long silence on the end of the line!”

It’s partly to do with living in the beautiful Hinau Valley, north west of Carterton, in a, sustainable house she built with husband Malcom, and partly because she’s living her dream of painting and teaching art. All a long way from her previous incarnations as an ENZA technician and  phlebotomist.

What Greytown musician Barry Saunders sees in his horoscope is a new solo album. Out now, “Zodiac” features 10 new songs from The Warratahs frontman and is his fifth solo outing since New Zealand first heard of him in 1987 with the release of the hit Warratahs’ song, Hands Of My Heart. Some of the songs on “Zodiac” were written at his home in Greytown, many have been played live at the ‘Month of Sundays’ nights at The Lounge in Carterton.