A busy week

I've had a busy but enjoyable week. Last Saturday I was invited out to an afternoon tea for the local cooks for Friday Light. I didn't think I'd know anyone except Christine who cooks the alternate month to me but was pleasantly surprised to find there was only one person I hadn't met. And I was seated next to a friend of my son who I haven't seen for quite a while so we had a bit of a catch up.

Church in a school hall. We've doubled in size since this was taken.

On Sunday I was early to church as I was a door welcomer. I quite enjoy doing that, I usually take the outside door (but stand inside it at this time of year) and say a hello to people as they arrive. Some like to stand and chat as well. Our little congregation is growing but it would be nice to see some families. Still, I'm sure God knows what His plan is for us. :)

And on Monday there was a daytime Aglow meeting which I helped to organise with my friend Kay. A lot of our members are getting older and don't like to go out at night in winter so we organised a soup and bun lunchtime meeting. It was a great day and about 50 people turned up. I estimate we had 20 litres of soup and only enough left over for Bob and I to have a cupful each for tea that night. It was a long day though, Kay and I were there setting up, running the meeting and dismantling from 10:30am until 4pm. Too much for just two people I've decided :) I was meant to go out on Tuesday as well but spent the day recovering - and napping. We're not as young as we used to be.

Aglow communion table.

I was at the shop on Wednesday and Thursday, I was quite pleased it wasn't busy, the days were bitter and not many people about.

Our second hand book section

And yesterday, Friday, Carol and I went for afternoon tea with Kelly. She lives on a lifestyle block on the outskirts of town and she met us with one of her 'friends'. I think she said they have twenty ducks and some of them are sitting on eggs. They're going to re home the drakes, I wonder why :) She's busy doing up the old shed in the background and is thinking of using it for flower arranging.

Kelly also has a lovely little gift shop in the old barn. Ducks Crossing Barn Shop. It's full of all sorts of goodies including handmade articles made by local artisans. It's good to see her supporting the local art/craft community.

Kelly and Carol in a corner of the shop. It's a bit chilly inside but there is a fire that gets cranked up when customers come in.

And a warm drink station with dainty bone china cups and mugs to drink from. I love that stained glass window. She did tell me once upon a time where it came from but for the life of me I can't remember. The property is one of the original ones on the Taieri Plain and has quite an extensive garden attached.

After a wee wander we went inside for a lovely cup of tea and warm apple cake. We were greeted there by a couple of little powder puff dogs, not at all what you expect on a lifestyle block :) And then I looked up and half a dozen chickens had arrived on the deck and were waiting for treats. We'd already treated two of the ducks, they ate out of our hands but I wasn't interested in chooks doing the same.

We had a lovely afternoon and I nearly forgot to leave, Kelly is so warm and welcoming.

But somewhere amongst all that someone has very unselfishly shared their cold with me and I'm a bit under the weather at the moment. I won't be going to church in the morning but will watch our mother church on live stream, that's what Bob does on a Sunday morning so I'll join him.

That's it from me for now.

Keep well, 

blessings, 

Diana

A drive through history

Kay messaged me while I was on holiday and I never picked her message up. I guess I was preoccupied with reunion stuff. So she repeated it when I got home, sure I'd get it this time. She was inviting me on a bus tour of the Taieri Plain. When she never got a reply a second time she invited another friend instead. About five minutes later, she said, I replied that yes I'd love to come. Oh, was there going to be enough seats? She checked and yes, happily we were all able to go.

And so on Saturday afternoon we embarked on 'A Historical Tour of the Taieri Plain'. The bus was full and we had Chris commentating. No time for small talk, her commentary was comprehensive.

Basically the tour was a history of the Presbyterian presence in the area, and really quite interesting, even for those of a different persuasion like me. Otago was settled in the main by Scottish Presbyterians. We saw quite a few of the old homes and churches, or sites, that had been built way back in the 1800's. One of the homes was Woodside Manor, first known as The Poplars. Built in 1848 originally it had large gardens in front of the house but now it is just a grassed area. I was sitting on the aisle so couldn't get decent photo's but the Poplars is below.

A bit further around the plain we stopped at the North Taieri Presbyterian church for a comfort stop and to have a walk around. Built in 1867 it is the oldest surviving church on the Taieri Plain. It is a small plain church and to be honest I find it quite boring. I suppose that is good, nothing to detract from worship :) But it does have a lovely (fairly modern) stained glass window. We were given a short talk by the caretaker and then were able to have a walk around the grounds and manse garden. Services are still held every Sunday and because it is rural it is often used for day retreats.

Just as the talk ended my hearing aid batteries decided to die! And just to make matters worse I'd changed handbags over that morning so I could put my gloves and woolly hat in but forgot to change over the spare batteries. Luckily for me this was about 20 minutes from the end of the tour so not too bad. The tour was finished off with a soup and scone tea. I was just going to go home but Kay decided she would drive me over to get new batteries so that I could join everyone in further fellowship over tea. So that's what we did.

At tea Chris gave us all a little booklet of the tour, with photo's of most of the historic buildings we'd seen, that she'd taken the trouble to make up. The tour was in aid of the East Taieri Presbyterian church building renovation fundraiser. 

An interesting fun fact about the ET church is that when it was built the weight of the roof started pushing the walls out. The walls were strengthened with buttresses on the outside and tie rods on the inside. So today, 120 years later, it is still above current earthquake requirements.

It was a pleasant way to spend what was not a very nice day, overcast and a bit cool. We were all in our winter woollies.

With that I'll finish.

Keep well,

blessings,

Diana

Church and cake.

 It's been quite a special day. 

This morning was the first service of our new church plant here on the Taieri. Our new pastor has been here for several months and there has been a lot of background work and prayers going on to get us up and running. But today we did it with a small group of just 25 plus four children. We're meeting in a school hall and it was freezing with snow on the local mountain. Some mentioned bringing cushions and a blanket next week :) But the morning tea and conversation afterwards in the staffroom was lovely and warm and I met new people which is always good.

And then of course it is Father's Day and so both the girls arrived over to see their Dad and bearing cake. 

It was great to see them and catch up with the news over tea, coffee and cake. Vanessa and her hubby have just arrived home from their holiday in Perth, Australia and so we had a fun time comparing notes on our respective holidays and travel experiences. Only the second time travelling to Aussie for Vanessa and her hubby's first time. He's a real homebody and I don't see him going again any time soon :)

We're anticipating a phone call from Aaron and Sofi this evening, it would be unusual for them to miss calling on a special occasion.

And with that I will finish.

Keep well until next time,

Diana

A day out in Devonport

We're home again and adjusting to the cooler southern weather.

We stopped over again in Auckland for a few days with Sofi and Aaron and attended church with them on Sunday. I wanted to show you the altar table, dressed by one of the Pacific Island congregations. I thought it was so pretty I had to photograph it.

On Monday we spent the day over in Devonport - drove 40 minutes to get there and didn't leave the city. We small town people aren't used to those sort of distances in the urban area :)

Devonport is a nice little village with a lot of well kept colonial style houses and I suspect, a lot of money. I tried to take some pics of the houses with their delicate iron latticework and white picket fences but the car was travelling just a little too fast.

 

After some op shopping, where some of us found stuff to buy and others decided they couldn't fit anything else in their bags we found a nice wee cafe for lunch... 

...and then decided to go and explore the Naval Museum.

Below is a model of HMNZS Otago which my brother served on and went to Mururoa Atoll with when the New Zealand and Australian governments sent ships to protest the testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific in the mid 1970s. The man in the photo is our then Prime Minister Norman Kirk who died in office a few years later.

And this is the medal awarded to all personnel taking part. The New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing). My brother didn't apply for his medal but his twin sister decided it belonged in the family and applied on his behalf - and received it!

Then it was time for coffee, or tea in my case, and a chat then we went outside to play :)

Captain and crew, Bob and Aaron.

Admiring the Auckland CBD across the harbour and rainbow spotting. We guessed it had been raining where we'd come from so a good day to get away for a while.

Aaron and I 'played' chess. Well Aaron did and I pretended to. I've only ever played on the computer and that was years ago so he finished me off in about three moves, mainly because the only moves I could remember were the pawns and then I went blank 😂

Then it was time to head home and pack our bags for the trip home the next day.

And guess who was waiting to board with us? Mary Poppins! was my initial thought but then - no, it's one of the Marx brothers!

I'll do my best to catch up with some blog reading over the next few days. Have a good week. 

Diana

A trip to Owaka

A couple of Sundays ago son, Aaron, was invited to preach at the little church down in Owaka. I decided to go down with him and his wife as I have a friend who lives down there and attends this church. It's just over an hour to drive down. We stopped for coffee on the way as the power was off all over town all day and we didn't want to arrive early and discover we had nowhere to go for a drink while we waited.

It's a protestant church which serves a mixed congregation, mainly Anglican and Presbyterian. They don't have a full time minister so once a month they invite a guest preacher. Son goes down two or three times a year. The service is very relaxed and the people are friendly. There's also a Baptist church in town and probably a Catholic one nearby as well I'd say.

Daughter in law, Sofi, had been asked to dance, she does 

Hawaiian dance in worship. The dance was beautiful and

 everyone appreciated it. She is so graceful :) 

(And thank goodness the power was back on as it was a cold 

winter's afternoon). 

After the service we were treated to a wonderful meal and great company before being sent off into the cool winter evening to head home again. Normally the service is in the morning but because of the power cut it was shifted to late afternoon. (Why does routine maintenance have to be done in the middle of winter I wonder? Especially down here?)

Teapotland, across the road from the church. 

It used to be a delightful wee place to spend a few minutes but sadly, due to the owners failing health, it's now getting a bit rundown.

And that's me for another few days,

Keep well until next time.

Diana

New beginnings

 It has been quite a busy weekend after a slow week. And it could have been busier but I chose to forgo the working bee. Instead I baked a fruit loaf to take out with me on Saturday evening.

Saturday evening two of the young people from my study group celebrated their engagement with a shared meal followed by a ceilidh. An open invitation was issued at church and instead of taking a gift we were asked to take a favourite family dish, savoury or dessert, to share and to include the recipe. There was a great variety of dishes as we have a great mix of ethnicities among us. Son suggested I take the fruit loaf I used to send him while he was at bible college so I did as I was told.

For those who are not familiar with ceilidh it involves music, singing and dancing. Scottish or Irish dancing. Quite enthusiastic dancing at times. It was a lot of fun, even though it was the first time for most of us. We had a very good instructor in the wee girl who had just become engaged and her fiance played the fiddle. I joined the circular dancing which didn't require a partner but once we were told to pair up I decided to sit them out. I thought some of the younger people might be a bit too enthusiastic for me and I didn't want to end up on the floor! There's a bit of whirling and twirling that goes into it :) And so for that young couple we celebrated their new beginning.

The second new beginning was for our church.

the rugby clubrooms

We finally moved into our own building after five years of worshipping in borrowed buildings, two years in another church building and the last 3 in one of the city's football (rugby) rooms. Today was a really joyful occasion in that we were not only in our own premises but we celebrated the birthday of our eldest parishioner - 95 tomorrow.

The rugby club were gracious enough to let us borrow some of their chairs until we get our own as there is not enough seating with just the pews. There was a working bee on Saturday morning to get everything ready, the one I decided not to go to :)

I think it will take a little bit of getting used to being back in a formal church setting but it is lovely to know we have a permanent home.

That's it today.

Have a wonderful week

Diana

A baptism

Sunday was a cool day but fine when the families gathered at the church for Alice Dawn's baptism. Alice looked beautiful in her new white gown and cape with a bow on a band on her head. The photos don't do justice to the wee dress, it was beautiful.

with her Mummy and Daddy waiting for people to arrive

 And yes, we all managed to find the church and arrive on time. It was a private family baptism but we managed to almost fill the little church. The service started with a hymn, in Tongan, so only half the congregation joined in but it was beautiful to listen to. No accompaniment, one of the men lead and they all joined in.

I love this picture of the parents and Godparents all paying attention to the pastor and Alice looking as well, as if she knew what was going on :) 

I also love this one, if you look closely you can see her bottom lip dropping, she'd had enough by this stage but didn't cry until it was all over and everyone wanted photos. 

We had a lovely day, it was a very joyful baptism, with half a dozen other babies and toddlers of varying stages and ages in attendance.

Arlo was also there but by the time his mother realised all the babies were being photographed Alice was making her needs known in no uncertain manner. As far as she was concerned her bottle was more important than photo calls with all and sundry.

After all, she couldn't take part in the feast that had been prepared for the adults afterwards in the hall.

 A whole pig was just part of what was on offer. There was ham on the bone, fish including salmon, prawns, salads, chicken and soft drinks to wash it all down. Some of the fare was European but a lot of it was prepared the Tongan way so gave some of us some new food experiences.

 

 Three Christening cakes on Tapa cloth.

I'll leave you with a photo of the grandparents, 

one set looking much more comfortable than the other.

Until next time,

Diana

Notown Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church of St Lawrence O'Toole.

The church was built in 1866 in Notown on the West Coast of New Zealand. Later it was moved to Ngahere and after it was replaced

 it was moved to Shantytown (museum village) in the 1960's.

A beautiful little church, lovingly restored and 

still used as a wedding venue in the old pioneer town.

I haven't had a church to share 
for a long time so thought I would 
share this with inSPIREd Sunday

A busy week

When I was a child growing up summer began in August and lasted until March. We ran around in shorts and sun frocks and by Christmas when our southern cousins arrived for a holiday we had lovely suntans. They didn't. Now I live down south near those
 same cousins and summer is much later arriving :( 

Sometimes by Christmas, like this one, we are still wondering whether summer will arrive at all and whether we will get a suntan.

But family time is still as good as it ever was and that is what really counts.
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So what has my family been up to this week? 

rain beginning at grandson Jack's assembly

First of all Jack had his final assembly for his primary school and parents, grandparents and all the pupils gathered at the appointed hour. Rain had been threatening but we were all ever hopeful the assembly would be over before the rain arrived as it was being held outside. We decided to put our rug and cushions under a tree and took our umbrellas with us, just in case. Well you guessed it, just as proceedings were about to begin the heavens opened and the rain bucketed down. The upshot was that the kids were all herded inside, those who could fit went in with them (small hall) , and people like me went home. So I missed Jack's final assembly.

Caitlin (grand daughter)  and her proud Mum

The next night both my GKB and I had Christmas breakups to go to for different organisations. So we went our separate ways and met up at home again later in the evening.

 I didn't miss the next important event on the calendar though, this was Caitlin's graduation from her Tourism and Travel course, the end of two years hard work. My GKB and I both went and we are so proud of her as she was also nominated for the Integrity and Development Award. It was an interesting graduation with a couple of items from the cultural group - the Pacific Island community lent a lot of colour with several of them graduating as well. We thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Sunday brought a special seasonal church service, Lessons and Carols. Once more we sang several carols we had sung the week before at the Carols in the Park and we listened again to the Christmas story unfolding. A bonus was that people from the congregation who had not been able to attend the park were able to join in the songs with us.

Yesterday my little mother had her 87th birthday. Tonight her youngest grandson is taking her out for a meal, she has been resting all afternoon so she is able to stay out for a while this evening. She is much better than she was but still awaiting a date for her heart op. All of her overseas Christmas and birthday parcels arrived at my place so I took them around yesterday (two boxes full) and she enjoyed opening them and putting her Christmas ones on her decorated hearth to wait for Christmas Day.

And that has brought us up to today. I've taken my little Mother shopping and in the afternoon my GKB and I went and, hopefully, finished our own Christmas shopping. Phew, if I haven't done it now it probably won't happen :)

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And so to end I would like to share a couple of photos of some of the fun things around the neighbourhood. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas,

filled with, fun, laughter and love.

Diana