A sunny last day

Mem went home yesterday.

Before she went we took off up into the mountains

to Castlehill to climb on the rocks.



What a day in the sunny sun sun.

Those limestone rocks are much bigger than they appear.

Mem is a normal sized person

shrinking as she climbs the rocks.

She reminded me of a puppy that needed to get out

and use her energy.

Mem raced up the hill,

across the rocks

in her jandels.

She was the champion hill climber.

I was trailing behind,

actually I trailed away

sticking to the flatter pathways.

And hid out in the shade of a huge rock.

We climbed high up on the big boulders

and sat in the sun

peering over the edge

very cautiously.

See! See the jandels???

She was climbing all over these rocks

in flippin jandels.

I would make a terrible parent.

I'd let my kids run wild in jandels on cliff like rocks.

The most amazing thing about the

Castelhill rocks

was that everything was so out of proportion.

Mem is within a normal speaking voice distance here

but it looks so far away.

Excellerated house fire

My word, Leeston is very exciting lately.

Late last night as we were just about to go to bed.

Punk came out to say to call the fire brigade.

The naughty neighbour's house had caught fire

and it's very suspicious.

The kids, I say that cause they are young,

were having a very small,

very quiet 18th birthday party for one of the boys who lived there.

They all got out safely.

It's good thing shoes are optional in NZ cause none of them have any now.
The house is totally munted.

This is from our front door which is at the back.

(House relocated, turned around to take advantage of the sun)

This was just after I called 111.

I was unfailingly polite to the operator

cause I was a little bit surprised to find myself calling them.

About a minute after this photo was taken

the front of the house went whoosh and

flames were metres into the sky.

This is also happening metres from my house.

Mem called out to the birthday boy

who then joined us on the deck

(there's a poem here).

He was naturally upset but even more so

because one of the girls who was visiting

tried three times to get into the tinder dry, well and truly on fire house.....

to get her phone.

The local cop finally handcuffed her and shut her in his car.

I tell ya it's all on in Leeston.

The Leeston Volunteer Fire Brigade was very prompt.

Apparently they were a bit concerned when they pulled up

cause the fire was so hot from the street.

 

You can hardly see but

here are the guys going into the house.

Let's talk about the house.

The house is incredibly old.

Murray, one of the firemen was brought home

from the hospital as a baby.

He must be 60 if he is a day.

It has been an iconic house because it was the home

of three brothers who were midgets.

They used to sit where my gate is now

and jump out at school kids as they walked home from school.

We called it the pig house because a mate of Oti's reckons

it looks like a pig's face.

The naughty kids moved next door

probably because no sane, self respecting person would live in it.

Between the midget sized kitchen,

the earthquake uneven floors,

the lack of insulation

and the just plain ugliness

the only reason to live there was

that the rent would have been next to nothing.

So hours later we went to bed.

Our house a little worse for sooty wear.

This morning the house is surrounded by fire investigators

and CIB police people.

We've been interviewed and will be interviewed again

for a small amount of info we have.

Looks like it was silly kids playing with fire

or maybe it was something else.

Regardless of what happened,

you can't help but feel sorry for the naughty kids.

Besides, now we get a peaceful summer without noisy neighbours.

It's been a Mormon weekend

Yup, it's been busy.

First there was a baby shower.

Beautiful mother with a month to go.

I don't really know her but she is a sweet young woman.

I don't really see the point of baby showers

other than a gathering to celebrate the mother.

And this one was like that but not quite,

it was just a bit random.
A clash of cultures maybe?
The mother is Samoan as were the organisers.
Maybe they don't realise the purpose of the shower??

Then on Sunday I took Mem over to visit with her cousins

who I happen to visit teach.

I really like this sister out of the Gospel.

Cass is a good, smart woman who

has a huge heart and cares very much about many things.

Her husband is really interesting.

He works for the prison service and oversees

a new rehabilitation programme designed to ID the prisoners

needs from the day they arrive in the prison.

Then try to remedy the issues such as

literacy and numeracy skills.

Simple things really but they make all the difference.

We visited in the morning

catching up with Mem's granduncle Turei

before going to Church for the afternoon

(morning session next year!).

Before going back to have dinner

with Cass, Mark, son Ethan and Uncle Turei

plus cousin Ricky and his three kids plus two others.

Always makes me laugh with a pondering of quzzledess

when forward people like Cass ask if I'm look for husband.

I'm fine with the question.

And fine to answer

that I am.

(I should really add that I hate looking for things

and if I were Catholic,my patron saint would be Anthony

both for losing things and being a lost cause)

But then she said that her brother

the afore mentioned Ricky needed a good woman.

Hmmmmm......

Farmy Army part bajillion

It's cold, it's wet and it's time for service.

I'm a firm believer that when
feeling blah go help others.

Mem arrived safe and sound,

just in time spend all Friday

packing food hampers with the Farmy Army.

I did a week or so helping to organise the Farmy Army 

back in Febuary after the Feb 22 earthquake.

That was a marathon of desperation.

Personally I was in the keep moving forward mode of mental survival

and I think I still might be.

But yesterday was Farmy Army feed the Eastern Suburbs day.

We met in the PGG Wrightson Woolstore

I love the smell of raw wool and

even better the bales make very comfy seats

and make even better safety walls.

The row on the left were to be our tables

already piled with grapefruit.

Then the truck arrived filled with fruit and veges

donated by farmers.

Donated by the pallet load.
That's a lot of fruit and veges
about $20,000 worth.

Both TV newses were there filming our goings on

and having a wee battle between over who got what shot.

Only to be cut because the Nelson floods are worse

oh and by Richie McCaw turning down a knighthood.

Mem was on kumara handing out.

We thought this was all there was

but there was a whole other pallet about to arrive.

Yes she is playing with a knife.

The volunteers were chaffing at the bit.

Hurricane Helen Heddell,

the rural woman whose heart is huge,

whose energy is endless,

whose will is steel

got us all organised and the filling began.

See what I mean about the pallets of veges!

Each bag got...

1.5 kgs onions

1.5 kgs carrots

2x kumara

1x cabbage

1x broccolini
1x lettuce
and 5kg of potatoes.

We worked it.

I was so busy clearing baskets as they emptied

and making sure veges were where they needed to be for easy access.

We filled 700 bags of veges

They were big bags all captured and enclosed by wool bales.

Then we had a little break and got into the fruit...

bananas

kiwifruit

mandarins

pears

avocados

tomatoes

red peppers

yellow peppers

cucumbers

and

1.5 kgs apples

This was just the beginning of the fruit bags.

 This was the end.

Just tomatoes and red and yellow peppers left.

Hey! Where did Santa come from????

Sneaky Santa.

Then because there is always work to be done

and it's usually done by people like these lovely Rural Women

who are tying up the emergency fruit bags.

We ran out of the lovely green bags.

 Mem and I stayed to help some more.

To be honest I didn't even notice that people had left.

By this stage our kind of shy Mem

was in the swing of things

and nek minnute

she is up on the ute loading the heavy veges bags

ready to be delivered off to one of the Eastern Suburbs foodbanks.

Sarah in the hi-vis vest

totally got the importance of giving teenage girls jobs.

The food hampers were given to the families groups

like the Maori Wardens have collected along the way.

Keeping in mind the three Maori Wardens

who came for the pick up

all are living in over crowded, Red Stickered houses themselves,

so they got a bag too.

Oh! I forgot each bag came with a roast lamb.

All of this food was donated or

bought with donated money

via Federated Farmers.

We were given two boxes of lamb roasts that were left over.

So I called my Bishop and got as list of 24 families in need

who live in our ward boundaries

who could do with a treat

(and lamb is so expensive it is a treat).

When Mem and I got to Bishop and Mel's house

I looked at the list and must have looked

extremely dismayed

because Mel volunteered to deliver half of them.

This would normally have cheered me but

I'm supa tired and can't quite shake the feeling.

I was very relieved she did this for me

cause I don't know Christchurch that well.

Mem and I set out with google maps

and had only one double back.

I hope the gift of lamb roasts helps my ward members

feel some Christmas love.

And I very much hope that the families who got

Farmy Army food bags and bags and bags

feel better for the season.

feel not forgotten.

feel life is a little bit easier for a little while.

And just so you know cabbages are really heavy.

I am still digging out pear and lettuce from under my nails.

it's a grey day

but I don't care cause I'm on holiday

or three weeks

and this afternoon

the beautiful, the smart, the wonderful 16 year old

Mem

arrives for a week.

I have a few things planned.

Baking, lots of baking.

A Christmas BBQ party.

A day of delivering food for the Farmy Army.

A movie.

Visiting teaching.

Maybe, if the weather holds a tramp in the mountains.

It's going to be fun!

I have a

niece named Hannie who I love very much.

She still a little girl, a wonderful little girl and I really want her to stay little.

She is an old soul to be fair, an old soul masquerading as a little girl.

With a great smile and a willingness to please.

She's sly and smart.

She is incredibly self contained and thoughtful and boy does she remember stuff.

I love having conversations with her about serious things. When I stay with her family, she sneaks into bed with me early, early in the morning to have a chat filled with questions.

I love that she is regal and graceful.

My Hannie is a joy to be with and beautiful to boot

She came to stay with me last winter so she could visit the snow. The whole week we had brilliant sunshine but Hannie was little sick so we would spend a day doing crafts then a day out and about.

On the Saturday we took Mags to get a haircut and while we were at the mall (I really hate malls) Hannie announced she needed to throw up, which she did in my hand as we hurried to the stinky bathroom.

We got through that and went up to Porters Pass to play in the snow. It had melted and refrozen so the snow was kind of hard but we played in the sub-zero wind and made snow angels and Hannie realised after 15 minutes snow is cold and wet.

But we got the job done.

I have a

niece named Mem who I love very much.

Mem is 14 and I have known her for all of her life.

I have watched her grow from a pudgy, adored baby girl to an inquisitive, bright young girl and into the beautiful, intelligent young woman she is now.

I marvel at her talents and her grace.

Mem is funny and smart. She cares for her younger sister and brothers.

She grumps and grumbles like any teen but she also works hard and helps as much as she is willing to.

I know she is a good friend and tries her best to be there for others. Like all of us she doesn't always get it right but she learns from her experiences.

Best of all I like to spend time with her and we have insane conversations about all kinds of smart girl things.

I'm seeing her this weekend and looking forward to it!

how weird are names

yeah so how weird are names. Think about it that two people (supposedly) confer at length and come up with your name and then somehow it is meant to fit you. I was meant to be a Stephanie or Virginia - both names that I can't imagine being (Emma Sarah Rose can't either) and I know that when my parents decided in Sara they couldn't come up with a middle name so they just used Jane. As a result nobody can give me a nickname because either I am totally non-distinct or nothing can come from Sara.

Mags was meant to be Margarita but Clarry (my Pop) was a little bit drunk, spelling was an issue and so she was just plain Margaret.

Emma Sarah Rose and Margaret Hermia are talking to each other just now and are calling each other by their full names - actually Emma Sarah Rose is calling Mags, Margeline Hernic and this could be why..

Emma Sarah Rose just hit my leg bruise that was incurred from walking into the Paea's bed while getting baby Kade .... but really I want to blog about horses cause they have really strange names and rhinos cause Orana Park has an auction to name their new white rhino and they are calling him Bruce at the moment but I bet they go an name him something African, which makes sense but seems a bit twee.

This is Willow and she gets called Wills which isn't too bad

but Emma Sarah Rose, who is reading over my shoulder has just rambled on about all her horses and they have epic names and then are called Danny or whatever.... or Frisbee. I got totally lost with that conversation. My brain can only contain so much information.

Anyhoo I have been summoned to go cook dinner which is good cause I am blogged out just at the moment and am having trouble writing much.

Meanwhile Emma Sarah Rose, who is feeling very much a part of this post, has her forehead all stretched due to lighting the offal pit and it blew up and gave her a heat burn on her forehead which is now scabbed up and I really want to pick it!

Don't think she's going to let me (she says no!).

and then it rained

When in Hamilton my home away from home is the Paea house. Aside from Rachael being a besty, I adore her children and love her husband like brother. Nepia is a wonderful man and an excellent person who fulfills many roles with grace and only a small amount of flaking out on the couch.

However, this past weekend the Paeas in all their generosity hosted the Deanwell Ward's youth garage sale at 7.30 in the morning. This was a delightful surprise.

There is a silver lining though... I got to catch up with people from my old Ward without having to leave the property plus there was a sausage sizzle so bread, mato sauce, onions and a sausage for breakfast - the breakfast of champions I'm sure.Some of my favourite people were there.....Kade and Mem

And Hanny, who was witness to the ever decreasing wares for sale.

By the end of the of three hours the Youth had made more than $600 towards EFY camp next January.

It only looks like I stood in the same place all morning. In reality I had Kade with me, who at 18 months old quite likes running onto the road at regular intervals - a fun, fun game at 7.30 in the morning.

Then it was time to make Hanny's day by going to watch her play netball for her school.

Hanny is a super prepared girl and played Wing Defense for the first half and was subbed off for the second half.

As I watched her it all came back.

Saturday mornings in the freezing rain in short skirts, running around having no idea what I was doing...

Luckily there were refs like Rachael there to keep an eye on things.

The best thing about that morning at netball - aside from watching Hanny's team win and Hanny get into the game - was that as the game started the rain pretty much stopped and didn't start again until the final whistle. Very nice timing.

Then Hanny and I went shopping for a birthday present for Princess Meg's birthday party that afternoon.


Ngaire, another besty and Princess Meg's mum does the best kids birthday parties.
Meggy turned six and you can imagine how perfect a princess party would be.
There were a few princes too.

Ngaire put together a great party - there was pass the parcel and statues and princess says and decorate your own cupcake and then eat it. And then run around until the sugar was flushed out of small systems. Simple works best I think. A perfect princess party with gorgeous dresses.

There was also basketball practice, soccer games, lunch, then a bit of in depth girlfriend catching up and talking late into the night.

A massive day was had by many.

A good weekend thanks to the Paeas (enjoyed meeting the Painters again) and the Reedys and most of all to Dae who drove me around to all my meetings, helped me with my goal to see more movies ("The Losers" - a nice bit of goofy violence and "Boy" - funny sad) and talk and talk.

no-sun-day

I've just returned from the tropical North. Waking this morning to sunny, sunny Hamilton but feeling terrible.

Was infinitely cheered up by Memmy hopping into bed with me to discuss slavery in America. Which, of course is a perfectly normal Sunday morning.

Had a great four days - achieving my work desired outcomes (actually, fingers crossed I may have exceeded one) plus had a great time with Dae, Ngaire and the Paeas et al.

The Southern Alps looked amazing covered in a massive amount of fresh snow. Finally winter is here and I suspect I will be complaining about it shortly.

Will report with photos tomorrow.

land sharks ahoy

I was reminded a few weeks ago about how awesome my nephew Thomas Te Hira is and was just sitting by the fire now and thinking about how blessed I am to have wonderful nieces and nephews.

Tommy T is a great road trip companion. You might remember he came up to the Northern Regionals a few posts ago. While we were in Dargaville Thomas hit it off big time with Jim Hopkins.Jim is great at talking fantastical talk ideal for a smart seven year old. Thomas totally was up with the play although not entirely sure if Jim was entirely truthful in the stories he was telling my boy. The best story was about how Northland has land sharks. You have to understand Dargaville sits on the edge of a lazy, muddy river (it's a cursed river too) and very coastal so land sharks are entirely possible.

However these land sharks are not all sweetness and light, well kind of light as they sleep a top street lights and have been known to launch themselves onto unsuspecting passersby. I do have admit that as we left Dargaville in the early hours of the morning that all of us, Thomas, Jim and myself were concerned that one of these land sharks might just drop upon us and we would find ourselves stuck in the car at McDonalds, unable to get out for fear of our lives. Thank goodness for drive through.

Luckily at the Regional Contest Committee BBQ, Thomas was taught the correct method to repel any attacks and that is to Morris Dance. For some unknown reason Morris Dancing creates confusion in the small but cunning brains of land sharks and they end up twisting themselves into pretzels type shapes and render themselves useless - which is the perfect kind of land shark.

Our only worry was that Thomas was rather tired at the BBQ and didn't take in the entire dance but I'm sure that since then Thomas has brushed up on his Morris Dancing skills and I will feel confident of his ability to chase and confuse any land sharks.

For more fantastical beliefs take a look at I used to believe and add your own, like this one...

"Not knowing the word "tailgater" I assumed that it must be a variety of alligator. Family trips to Colorado were terrifying for me, given that my father spent hours cursing all the tailgaters that were RIGHT... BEHIND... OUR CAR."

When the camera goes wild

When a small boy has exhausted the games on your phone, has played with all the dogs and other small boys, has discovered you only have one dollar and has spent that already, has riden the go carts and eaten enough sausages to fuel the entire cast of Band of Brothers you give him your camera and send him out to do what he will....

and here are the fruits of his work

there's me saying be off with you small boy if you are not going to help, but said nicely

then he discovered the local volunteer fire brigade's display

as they cut out Jim from the crashed car.

up close
then devolves into a photo eassy on what is close to Thomas's heart

Diggers

engine things

diggers

digger tread things

another small boy favourite bugs on trucks

signs on fire trucks

big boys challenging themselves, actually that's Reuben doing his intellectual challenge which was putting puzzle pieces in one of those baby puzzles that can go in the bath

and finally Thomas's new best mate Jim.

They really hit it off in a big way.