The Traveling Kiwi

The days are getting shorter, it’s only 4.44pm as I take this photo of Mt Ngongotaha and it’s much crisper out. The last of the maples and the last of the sun spill a golden glow over everything. It’s nice to be wrapped up warm watching the day disappear and the twinkling lights start to appear.

There is one apple left on the tree, and I have been leaving it there hoping to entice a Tui to come. So far just some refugee Aussie rosellas but they are noisy and colourful so I will let them have the apple if they can figure out how to get into it. The poor vege garden is a whole other story. I have a huge crop of chickweed and fennel with a wee bit of spinach and somewhere under all that mass there are some spring onions but they may be lost to the weed tsunami. My excuse is that it’s raining most days or cold, or windy, but my reluctance to tackle it is creating a monster job. Sigh…. I guess if it doesn’t rain in the next couple of days I will dive in…… maybe…… oh the forecast is for rain tomorrow…. well I will think about it again when it’s fine.

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Been anxious watching the wild weather hit Canterbury and hoping all my friends and family are safe and warm. I haven’t seen a red warning before and I hope it’s the last rather than the beginning of global warning weather events.

Very pretty red sky here tonight after a cool wet misty morning. Feeling very lucky to be looking out at the weather not wading through it.

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Just when it’s feeling like autumn has slipped into winter we have a day where the frost melts and the sun shines and you can almost believe spring is not far away.

Then the incredible blood moon, running outside every few minutes to try and badly take a photo with my phone and scamper back in to thaw out. What a spectacular event and the stars…….so many and so bright, I think I am going to have to learn time lapse photography now. I saw the solar eclipse in the US but I think I liked this moon much better. Once every 40 years, not sure how I missed the last one but now I will be all set for the next one 😎Earlier in the evening it was so big and bright, even with the clouds as I left Kinloch it seemed to follow me all the way back to Rotorua.

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Days are getting shorter and it’s cooling off, so early morning sunrise is finally at a respectable hour to enjoy. The thermal steam steals across the lake like smoke on the water and the black and orange glow rapidly changes to soft pinks and blues. It’s a time, still sleepy and wrapped up warm, that brings memories of past sunrises, remembering seeing in them hope and love, new beginnings and dreams of what could have been.

Now it’s a new day and just in this moment it’s possible to believe that it won’t be more of the same, that maybe it’s possible, it could be… the start of something more. So long as there are mornings there will always be dreams of possibilities.

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It’s when you suddenly get a whack on the head to remind you that life is precious and just a moment away from being gone. It’s been an emotional week with a friend passing away from injuries in an accident, and you try and justify it by saying well he had a long life and would not have wanted to linger, but he also was working full time and didn’t even get a chance to slow down. Then Stu went in for full on heart surgery, the wait was hard with someone in the ward going to the bathroom and not making it. Then another close friend I have known over 45 years in for cancer surgery with the chance of permanently losing mobility. .. and finally one of the most wonderful, full of life, charismatic leaders I have ever known has just days to live and still not even 50. I just keep wishing it was different, that there was a way to make it ok, but it’s not! It’s hell, for the families and for friends who love them. Watching the rain and storm come in, reflecting my mood and state of mind, then like a ray of sunshine piercing the clouds a new life begins. Somehow a new life starting helps me to see the cycle and not just focus on the end. Children give me a whole new perspective and make everything feel possible again. I love babies, they are just amazing bundles of possibilities and smiles and what life is all about.

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I had never been before and it looks like I really was missing something. The classic public toilets of Kawakawa, the Hundertwasser ablution block. The toilets and the new library and park behind are so colourful and quirky, so unexpected in what would have a been an ordinary small kiwi town and I loved it. Once I had seen this I noticed Hundertwasser-ish works of art seem to pop up between here and Whangarei at surprising places and now Whangarei is building its own controversial multimillion tribute, partly built it looks interesting but not quite (yet) the colourful confusion that springs from the man himself.

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On Sunday it will be Barneys 99th birthday, so it seemed the time was right to take him and Stella on their final journey. Barney always said that Whangarei was his spiritual home and that is where he wanted to be finally laid to rest. But in the spirit of his ancestors who travelled to New Zealand from Scotland and then Nova Scotia leaving a little of themselves at each place they lived, we followed his wishes and scattered their ashes on the journey back to Kaurihohore where his parents and grandparents are also at rest.

First was Barney and Stellas home garden which they both loved and worked at constantly for the last 60 years. Then the 18th hole of the golf course that was on their doorstep and a huge part of their lives.

Next the native bush at Mangawhai, the biggest Kauri tree we could find.

Next Bream Bay, Langs beach. A place of special memories both at Langs and on Bream Bay fishing and playing.

The finally to the graveyard at Kaurihohore. A final sprinkle of ashes at the family graves and tomorrow the unveiling and burial in the Returned Serviceman’s section close to brother Errol and his wife. It’s been an emotional journey but one of gratitude and farewell.

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Visiting Christchurch is always fun, but I am sure that herding cats is frustrating for both you and the cats and after tremendous effort there is little result. Something I should always keep in mind when spending time there.

So turning my focus to much more interesting exploration of BOP.

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I was thinking about getting a puppy, I miss the fun and laughs of playing with puppies, but then the practical side makes me stop and realise just how unrealistic it is. Slinky the neighbours black cat would be quite offended if I bought in some competition and of course they do need so much attention it’s probably not the time. Ahhh I do have such great memories of having puppies that sometimes I wish… Then the other neighbour turned up with a Pukeko chick that her dogs found and other dogs were trying to eat. She scooped it up and took it to a rescue. We called it “hope” because that’s all we could do wondering if it would survive. At last check in hope was doing well and… I guess no puppies for me, for now.

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Charging the battery in the car,what a great excuse to get out and enjoy the sunshine and slow down on the packing cleaning, sorting, unpacking, painting, markets, deliveries, cancer hui, presentations 😅

But now another break for a quick trip to chch for a week, catch up with the family and see what’s changed in the constant evolution of the city.

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