When time stands still....

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Hi there - I thought this week I'd start with some ideas for those of you intending to send food parcels now or some time in the next 20 years. Healthy fruit snacks and herbal tea go down well when assignments are due and every living person should have a packaged hamburger to go in their civil defence emergency rations kit.  You know for when the big earthquake strikes as it is due to do any year now. 

This last week just gone I accepted an invitation at short notice to go for a 4 day walk at Cape Campbell.  2 days walk across farmland to the lighthouse and 2 days back again - about 54 ks in all.    I'm so glad I said yes to this trip. At first I thought I was way too busy and then my breathing reminded me that there is only this moment to live so off I went.  The scenery was stunning, the wind was like nothing else and somehow it felt good to be so drawn into the elements.  So there we were - good friends, going for a good walk -  we ate good food and between us we were a secondary , primary and early childhood teacher. So there was plenty of heated and hearty debate -  Along the way there were these quirky huts to stop at and make a cup of tea and rest a while - That little hut on the right really was on that lean - the wind was so terribly strong along the coast it was a wonder we weren't completely blown away!! And somehow the four days seemed like 4 months.  It did feel like time had stopped for a bit.  I'm not sure why that  happens but I think it's got something to do with being totally in the moment and having no other priorities beyond walking and talking at that time.  Whatever the reason - it was a great trip to say yes to. 

Here's to a week of saying yes to good things. Cheers Marg

 

a westcoast wedding and wretched technology.

Can it be done I ask myself?
 What's that you say?
Well is it possible to make a blog entry with no photos?

Im going to try.
The wretched home computer has a fault. We can't use our internet and therefore I can't post any photos because they are all deleted from my camera and stored on our old cranky hunk of junk which doesnt even have a cd writer!!
So I had to come into work tonight to clear some urgent emails and also put in a couple of hours on a report due way to soon and now distracted want to write about the wedding of my good friend Pauline who got married to Dave this last weekend at the Brunner mine just a minute before her 50th birthday. 

If Pauline were a plant I'd call her a rare desert cactus which flowers once or twice in a lifetime. So it was a special occassion to be virtually the only guest at the wedding  who wasn't family.( I was the witness, reader and ring bearer) The wedding group numbered 12 in all including bride, groom and vicar and his wife. Pauline and Dave rode their mopeds to the wedding( old bikes with motors attached) and we trailed behind in a couple of cars. They both wore old jeans and tee shirts and we all got wet under the drizzly rain. Later we went back to their house - feasted on mock turkey ( Pauline is vegetarian) and real west coast smoked chickens ( dave's secret recipe)  and drank plenty of wine. More  wine than 12 people should, I suspect. It was such fun!! And so inspiring and amazing to see the two of them together - they found each other by chance and later with much patience and persistence by Dave he finally won Pualine over. I know they will be  happy together.

I also totally loved the trip over to Greymouth. I got a lift to Chirstchurch - stayed in a squalid backpackers overnight and caught the bus over Arthurs Pass.  I really enjoyed sitting back and taking in the scenery. At one point while I was listening to my ipod I looked up at the mountains and it was as if at that exact moment there was a perfect fusion of sound and scenery. In that split second  I felt I didn't need to die to go to heaven - it was like I was already there. Words cant do the experience justice - you had to be there and even if you were I guess you had to be me to feel that way. Still I'm holding that moment. It's going to be crazy here over the next  2 or 3 weeks. So I'll revisit the memory to preserve my wits in the coming days.

Well enough unaccompanied words already. Have a great technologically perfect week. Marg