Coming home again

The weekend in Christchurch passed quickly with friends and family to see. One highlight was seeing two of my friend's sons dragon-boating on the Avon, part of their training for the World Champs in Prague.

Before I knew it, I was back on the ferry leaving the South Island. Here we are leaving the last rocks of the Marlborough Sounds behind,
and we even got a final last glorious view of the snow covered Kaikoura Ranges. They said the seas on the crossing would be 'moderate', but it wasn't too bad at all- I have been in much worse!!!- and before the end of the afternoon, I was 'home again'.

Road trip to Tekapo

One of the reasons I took my car south was that I was hoping the weather might be suitable for a road trip closer to the winter mountains. I was not to be disappointed on this occasion!
Friday morning I escaped Christchurch city, heading for the inland tourist route south, quickly discovering that the frost was much heavier inland. There were glimpses of the mountains at this stage, but they were largely draped in mist, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be lucky or not. However, somewhere around the region of Mt Hutt, the mist all cleared. I headed southwards with the sight of glorious snow-covered mountains to my right.

At Geraldine I turned inland again in the direction of the Alps. I loved this drive, seeing the white of the mountains ahead of me, and already I was in heaven.

Then heaven got even better. I know I have driven over Burke's Pass before in the summertime, but didn't find it at all remarkable. It lies at about 700m. As I came to the Pass this day, I entered a winter wonderland, where the snow had obviously covered the road a few days before. Snow was still covering the fields right down to the roadside.

It was all so bewitching that I decided I might even drive on as far as Mt Cook, even though that would make a very long driving day. However, somewhere not too far west of Tekapo, I could see cloud draping the bottom of the mountains, and soon I entered thick fog.

After 15 minutes in the fog, I decided that it was time to be sensible and retreat, and I later heard that this fog extended all the way down to Queenstown.

I drove back into the sunshine. Here you can see just a wisp of the fog, a hint of what lay ahead on the route south.
Instead of driving south I enjoyed a relaxed lunch by the lakeside at Tekapo, walking over frozen snow to get to the lake edge.

The views were just magnificent. What bliss!!

And the historic church at Tekapo had quite a backdrop. What a beautiful road trip it was, a truly magical day.

Christchurch and the seaside

I had been told that Christchurch had seen hardly any sunshine at all during June, so I had packed all my thermals. But luckily the sunshine arrived about the same time as I did, and stuck around for the whole week! My friend had somewhat of a family laundry backlog to catch up on though as a result of the recent inclement weather.......

One of the things I love when in Christchurch is the chance to walk along some long beaches. Tuesday saw three of us embark on the walk from Spencer Park to the Waimakariri River mouth, sometimes walking along the sand beside the beach, and sometimes slightly inland amongst the dunes closer to the lagoon. The sunshine lulled me into leaving my good windjacket behind, just taking my raincoat in case of need, but the risk paid off, and I enjoyed walking in the gentle winter sunlight in calm conditions. Once we reached the lagoon at the estuary end, we spotted some spoonbills and shags hanging out. It was quite muddy in places walking back on the inland track, which had unfortunately been rather torn up by some recent 4WD activity. It was sad to see the damage inflicted on areas where crabs etc clearly abounded.
Two days later I had another beach walk with some other friends. We started by the Waimakariri rivermouth this time, but on the opposite bank. Another lovely day for another great beach walk. Winter heaven.

United Breaks Guitars

Not a good idea really for an airline to break a musician's guitar when he has great songwriting skills. As he says: "I should have flown with someone else or gone by car".

Heading to the South Island

School holidays! And I decided this time that I would head south and hopefully catch sight of both friends, family, and some snowy mountains.

First though there was a performance of Starlight Express to see in Wellington. I knew little about the musical, but Georgia, who was one of our young Sound of Music stars, was having her debut into professional theatre so I was hoping to catch sight of her. And catch sight of her we did: turns out there was some illness in the cast, and she was performing the role of Ashlea. And didn't she do well!! I loved the show- it was such a vibrant spectacle. The cast were incredibly well drilled and energetic, tearing around on skates for the whole show. The costumes were stunning, and the lighting was really effective. The songs, that were of various 'pop' styles, gave me plenty to laugh about, and there was all the melodrama of cheering for the underdog! We all loved it.

Next morning it was time to rise earlyish for the ferry across Cook Strait. I have to say, I quite liked watching all the commuter car lights stream by, knowing that I was heading off on a wee adventure rather than to work.
Given some of the weather recently, I was hoping it wouldn't be too rough.... and as it turned out, the Strait was almost like a millpond.

Before I knew it, we were sailing in past the treacherous looking bits of land at the edge of the Sounds
and we were soon sailing through Tory Channel where we saw the other Interislander ferry heading northwards.
Hardly any time later we had docked at Picton, and the ferry doors opened ready for us to drive off.....

Blogs from those on the road

On my sidebar at present are four blogs written by those currently on the road, three of them walking the Camino in northern Spain. The fourth blog is written by a Canadian who was on the Camino last year with me, but this year is doing a major camping trip across her part of North America.

I just had a major chortle reading what sagalouts had to say on his Camino blog:

"another 28k walk the next day into najera I like walking into new citys it always feels good (home at the end of a hard days work). Unfortunatly the refuge was bad beds close together one shower cold and no toilet seat??.plus Paco was above me,nice man but boy can he snore,
I booked out and into the hotel San Domingo and it was class, pricey but worth every penny
I had to return later to share the best salad ever, prepaired by Vicky and having paid a donation to be allowed back in.
the man had said on my leaving that if the refuge was bad I had to bear it because of my past sins and my future ones, trust me no one could have sinned that bad."

Cheers sagalouts, and you other travellers. Keep the blog posts coming!

The shortest day

A few 'shortest day' photos taken around the home of some friends:
There are sights that are a bright reminder of autumn gone by,


and others that seem to tell a tale of the waiting and barren-ness of winter


there are moments that hold the hidden gold of winter

and little treasures that speak already of the coming of spring

as well as quiet things just to enjoy with the kiss of the sunlight.

Ladies Rest Rooms

Palmerston North has some very attractive Art Deco buildings scattered around, and this is one of the gems. This is the Ladies Rest Rooms in the Square. It is a beautiful building to enter, with sunlight pouring in. The inside is always kept immaculately clean by the custodian, and believe me, these public toilets are a pleasure to use!!

Here is another view taken from the side, that shows the 'rounded' edges of the front lounge area. As you can see, the skies are very blue. We had a frost this morning that produced a thick white coating outside first thing, but by lunchtime the sunshine was irresistible, and I found I had to go out for a walk!!

This last shot is not quite so flattering. A few years back when there was a need to solve a problem with the men's loos in the Square, Council made a decision to build a tourist office and men's loos onto the back of this Art Deco jewel. The original architects from the 30s must be turning in their graves! Straight onto the back of this superbly rounded building, we now have a utilitarian modern box. Shame on the designers.

Anyhow, I think I will be bringing you some more in this series of interesting buildings in the city. I have begun a 'get fit again campaign' so that I am ready to walk the Tongariro Crossing in November without undue distress. And going out on a cycle ride to track down some of these buildings on sunny days after morning frosts, well that really appeals as a 'get fit' method!

Kinship and compassion

From the commencement address for Creighton University Graduation
by Fr Greg Boyle, SJ

"And you go from here to create a community of kinship, such that God might recognize it. You go from here to bend the world to grace. You imagine a circle of compassion. And, then you imagine nobody standing outside that circle. And, to that end, you walk to the edges of the circle and you walk with those on the margins. And, you stand with the poor and the powerless and the voice-less. You stand with the easily despised and the readily left out. You stand with those whose burdens are more than they can bear. You stand, in fact, with the demonized, so that the demonizing will stop. You stand with the disposable, so the day will come when we stop throwing people away. You seek, as you leave this place, a kind of compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry, rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it. And, a great many people will look at you, standing at the margins and will accuse you of wasting your time.

The Prophet Isaiah writes, “In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste,’ there will be heard, again, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voices of those who sing.” You go from Creighton University to make those voices heard – in a sense new belonging and kinship. "

Jack Frost

My, my I have been obsessed with the change of seasons lately I know! This morning was our first proper visit from Jack Frost. This is the school playground just before it was invaded this morning by slipping/sliding children having fun.

And here is one of the iced up autumn leaves on the ground.

And here are more autumn leaves still hanging on the tree, with the blue sky behind. The frost gave a chilly start to the day, but the skies stayed clear, there was no wind, and it was great to enjoy the winter sunshine outside all day.

Seasonal Contrasts

I arrived at work today to see two contrasting trees, metres away from each other,
one still resplendent with autumn gold
and the other completely bare now until spring.

International Connections

You get used to 'connections' New Zealand style- but here is one with an international flavour. Friends of my former neighbour are in touch with a South African man currently living in Israel. This South African man came across my blog - not sure if it was this one or my "Il faut aller" blog- and read about my 'long walk'. He realised I was from Palmerston North, same place as his friends. He told them about my blog and my long walk, and they looked up the blog. Now I don't live in a tiny village- there are some 70,000 or so people who live here.... But they looked at the photos on my blog and thought it looked like me, their PN friend's old neighbour. Then today, quite by chance, I met the South African man's friend at the supermarket. And yes, surprising as it might seem, it was me who made that long walk..... And yes, I am crazy enough to be already percolating ideas about another long walk in my head..... So, greetings to the South African man living in Israel if you happen to be reading this....

First day of winter

It's a public holiday here today, and a tad on the cool side, with some snow visible on top of the nearby ranges. So I put on my thermals for a walk and found myself in the Square again. Here is the statue of Te Peeti Te Awe Awe, with autumn trees standing behind.

Despite the cold, this large tree still carries its autumn glory

and this pair of ducks taking a wander away from the duckpond look sleek and well-fed.

On the way home there was plenty of autumnal colour still around to distract me
beautiful colours that will soon enough disappear.....

Queen's Birthday Weekend

It's Queen's Birthday weekend here in NZ this weekend, always a time for varied groups to have gatherings that draw people from near and far. And Palmie seems to have benefited from this for a feast of music this weekend. Organ, Jazz, Sallies....

Yesterday evening was a Gala Concert held as part of the '46th National Organ Congress', with the theme "joining the ranks". The Manawatu Sinfonia seemed like they really enjoyed themselves as they joined Thomas Heywood from Melbourne for a Handel Concerto. There were a couple of pieces that showed great interplay between two organs. A personal favourite was "Easter Morning" composed and played by Jonathan Berkahn, with a guitarist joining him. Tonight they have a more 'traditional' organ concert using the All Saints organ- with Thomas Heywood again. And having seen his enthusiasm once, I am looking forward to more...

This morning I walked downtown, and quite by chance discovered that the Sallies were in town to celebrate 125 years since they arrived in Palmie. They had a band playing,
and a youth choir. And the weather even smiled on them - they got it done before everything really clouded over. We are waiting for a 'polar blast', something the weather forecasters seem to announce with glee, and never seem to be wrong about.....

Here are a couple more photos from the Square.
Now for some autumn touches. Firstly, two prominent Palmie buildings seen on the way home, the Regent and St Pats. Spy anything up high on the Regent? Lordie knows how they managed that.

Last couple of photos are closer to home. Last leaves of autumn on a nearby branch.
And you can see that the last leaves are pretty much gone from the magnolia in my front garden, and the buds are growing now, ready to display themselves in a few months time.....

A fortunate by-product of all the Queen's Birthday moving around seems to be that all the neighbourhood boy racers have left town. I found it hard to get to sleep last night, as the streets were so very quiet.... Quite blissful without their noisy exhausts. Maybe they will get stuck somewhere in the coming snow and be delayed in their return.....

Autumn some more

There is some cold weather around the country at present- snow in Stratford last night, not to even mention Dunedin..... But today it was quite pleasant here.... sunshine and calm..... though a bit on the cool side..... And here are some leaves still hanging in the trees where I was working today....

Giant Piano

FAO Schwartz big Piano
H/t to Concord Pastor

The end of autumn

We had an enchanted April here, quite the best 'indian summer' I can remember. But the arrival of May has brought conditions that have been quite wintry at times, and we are now seeing the tail end of autumn. Here are a quick selection of photos from yesterday.

First one is the small magnolia in my front garden. I posted a photo of this tree back at the beginning of April when only a few edges of some leaves were showing any browning. Now the green leaves have disappeared, and the fluffy flower buds are starting to grow larger. I love this tree as it shows the first signs of spring when its white flowers start erupting forth all over the branches.

This plane tree outside my house has now lost many of its leaves, and it will soon sit bare for the next few months.
When I arrived at school yesterday, these autumnal trees all greeted me at the entrance.

I especially loved this tree with leaves just left dangling from one branch.

I walked in the driveway, lined with trees that look like the last energy has sapped away from their leaves until the spring....

Updated version- Ave Maris Stella

From the Youtube channel of SWDfromSMU:

Le Chambon - weapons of the spirit

A trailer for a longer documentary - Weapons of the Spirit. A Jewish man visits the French village of Le Chambon, where the villagers rescued some 5000 Jews during the WW2 (as seen on YouTube via America Magazine.)

The Lilac Fairies

Recently I had the opportunity to become a Lilac Fairy. Surely not, you say? Weeeellllll, I guess not really. But we all found the chalkboard description on our dressing room door so delightful, nobody wanted to replace it....
This is actually how I looked in full regalia. Yes indeed, I entered the convent. Well, er um, briefly, just for a few weeks.
And here are some of my companions in crime in the alto seconds. Yes, of course, we were involved in a very famous musical. And I am certain you can probably guess which one. (No, not Sister Act.)

And here are some wee miniature versions made by a couple of my fellow nuns in 'recreation time' in the dressing room.
Regretfully we have now all left the convent, miniatures included. But I am sure if an opportunity for a reunion came along, eg Sister Act.... we'd all take up the habit again in a flash!!!