I am ridiculously pleased to have my washing machine
washing (or more precisely, spinning) well.
It has always been temperamental.
Finally got fed up with it
after I spun the clothes 4 times,
left them outside for 2 days
and finally brought them in,
dry enough to throw in the drier
(ie not dripping any more).
Kind man from Appliance Works
visited
pulled apart machine
Found lump-of-lint
(plus parts of the element-
I remember a big bang last year)
reassembled machine
and now it spins merrily.
Curiously, I examined lump-of-lint
Poked, prodded, pulled...
...looks like...
...can't be...
...IT IS!
You know the reusable breast pad things
you use when breastfeeding...
yep... one of those
Quick sums
Kayli is 4.3
stopped feeding at 9 months
prob stopped needing those things at 2-3 months.
FOUR YEARS
For four years (and several repairs!)
that thing has been clogging the system.
Happily now I wash the clothes,
wash the clothes,
wash the clothes,
Happily now I wash the clothes,
wash the clothes
All day long
(please sing the above to the tune of
Mary had a little lamb)
Just read Marion's blog.
She's back to "normal" life
post wedding and honeymoon
- welcome back, marion! -
She says, "I feel like often I am thinking "What would an adult do in this situation?" and then I do that because I don't feel very adult at all. "
At Mum's 70th party, I had an "I am an adult" moment.
I was cutting up the cake for Mum
after she'd done the official cutting bit.
And I suddenly thought,
"Roll reversal...
I am cutting the cake for my mother...
I have co-organised a fantastic
dream-come-true party
for my mother ...
I am a grown up ..."
Practised netball last night...
touching a netball for the first time in eight years.
Gallumphed around the court in red-faced manner.
Good news-
I can still walk this morning.
Bad news-
It's too late for basic fitness training.
Grading day on Saturday.
Wish me luck
(No, not to win,
just to make it through the game
without embarassing myself!)
Am about to collapse on the sofa
with a book (Jodi Picoult).
We celebrated Mum's 70th birthday last night
with a surprise party, a dance.
It was a huge amount of work
and a huge amount of fun.
Mum was delighted.
Dad brought her in as Grant sang,
"When I saw her standing there"
(Well she was just seventy... etc)
Mum's been hooked on rock'n'roll
since my brother, Grant, played in a band
(Cornerstone) probably 15+ years ago.
Didn't manage to pull the same band together,
but Grant played, as did another (John) from Cornerstone
with a group that John plays with regularly
and David, the spectacular saxophonist.
it was great.
Stacks of people danced.
Had an absolute ball.
yay.
Now I'm absolutely shattered.
Crawling off to relax!
More reflections later
(once the rest of me recovers!)
Went to Don Binneys exhibition
at the Auckland Art Gallery on Monday.
It was amazing.
I have a book of his work
but hadn't before seen one "live".
He uses textures amazingly
with different parts of the topography using
not only different colours, but different globbiness
(there's probably a technical word for that!).
And his use of brush strokes in the feathers
is very cool.
His work reflects an environmental concern
(from way before it was trendy)
as well as a deep spirituality.
Steve talks about it here.
Get yourself there if you have the opportunity.
It's well worth it.
Just back from a trip to The Warehouse.
Remembered that the girls have never actually spent
the $20 each they got for Christmas.
(One of those, "Here's $20
now let me look after it for you in my wallet
as we're on holiday and it's likely to get lost"
sorts of gifts)
So perfect opportunity to 'fess up
to inadvertant non-payment of birthday gift
So here I am
absolved of any guilt.
And the girls have new
Polly Pccket and Barbie beach bug.
(argghh commercialism)
Home again after a long weekend in Auckland.
Steve preached at, we all attended,
Nick and Marion's wedding.
It was great.
They arrived in VW combi vans
marion and bridesmaids looked gorgeous
nick looked nervous (and pleased as punch)
Great to witness their commitment to each other
their love, their tenderness.
Nice to catch up with Graceway friends.
Nice now to be home!
Those of you who shop frequently at The Warehouse
are probably familiar with the feeling of glee
when you arrive at the counter to pay
and discover that the item you deliberated over buying
has somehow been reduced from $15.95
to $2.00.
It's a nice feeling!
I thought it had happened to me
when I was shopping for Shannon's birthday present.
All the items were beeped through merrily.
I was bracing myself for the fact
that I may have spent over $100.
(Videos were all 25% off
so I'd bought a couple that Steve
will use in lectures/preaching,
plus Finding Nemo
- which he'll no doubt also use -
plus birthday pressies for Shannon
and party stuff for the party)
Total: $55
Hmm
Yippee
Huh
Yay
Thought I,
until I got home to discover
that I hadn't been charged for Shannon's main present:
Polly Pocket Swimming Pool set.
So now I get to go back to The Warehouse
and let them know
and pay.
What a blooming nuisance
I've decided I won't make a special trip...
Perhaps I'll waít til they're on special??
Best moments over Easter:
: Reading the Easter story (John 18 and 19)
with Steve at our Good Friday service
: Watching people come forward
to lay rose petals on the cross,
oldies leaning heavily on their sticks
children placing petals carefully
people coming to honour
and say "goodbye" to the Jesus they love.
: Being there as people travelled the Easter journey
and came out blessed
: Waking this Easter Sunday to a crisp frost
and clear, bright day
to celebrate the Risen Jesus
: Holding a tray of flowers as people came to
flower the cross in celebration.
He is risen!
When Shannon (6) came out of the Easter Journey
I asked her if she had any questions
or if anything had particualrly struck her.
"Mum", she said
"I just learnt lots of things about Easter.
I can't really tell you what or how"
Kayli (4) was terribly upset on Friday morning,
"I don't want Jesus to die" she said.
We're planning a trip to Kaikoura.
My Mum was brought up there
and we holidayed there annually
(usually at the Goose Bay camping area)
when I was growing up.
We're hoping to get all 6 of Mum's grandchildren there
in the school holidays
so she can show us around
and we can go rockpooling
and catch crabs
and collect paua shells
and breath deep!
Yay!
I am responsible for this Station at the
Contemporary Passion of Jesus.
The thing that struck me
reading the passage (John 19:25-27)
is that Jesus’ concern at that agonising time was for his Mum.
Her well-being. Her on-going love, support and companionship.
The man was dying on a cross
and he’s thinking of the other,
thinking of the mother.
In my Station
I wanted people to be praying
for mothers who have lost children,
that they will know the comfort the dying Jesus offered
– love, companionship, support, redemption.
Setting: a kitchen
Visuals: a tv looping a powerpoint presentation
that aims to express some of the above
Response: notebook on the table
(authentically purchased second-hand so as to have a rumpled look)
write in the notebook names of people or situations
people who have lost a child, the child’s name,
or situations that cause it –
and as you do, pray for those people.
Samonella Dub were great
With apologies to Paul (and Kathryn?)
who drove from Cambridge to Raglan
for their concert last month
to discover tickets were sold out,
and Leigh who was planning on coming on Friday
but was unwell.
Salmonella Dub was simply the best.
I kept thinking,
“How is it that these guys
have managed to bottle NZ
and are re-playing it back to me.”
I could hear and feel the sea at Kaikoura.
Which is a very special place for me.
I found it a hugely restorative concert.
Some of the music drew me into a
sense of worship for God, the creator of our world,
for God who sustains me
(and yes, that is The-God-and-Father-of-our-Lord-Jesus-Christ!)
Not that I’m recommending it to all and sundry,
(If you hate their music, it ain't gonna move you like that!)
but hey, it was great for me.
I’m tracking my way to Easter by the moon
I’ve been watching as the moon gets fuller and fuller,
knowing that at is fullest, this month,
is when we remember Jesus’ death on the cross.
(Added later
Duh... so OK, it must be the friday after full moon
cos it was full moon monday
but has been cloudy since then anyhow!!
so have missed it!)
Clear skies have made me very aware
Of the moon
Of its progress
(or rather our progress out of the way of the sun)
Of the coming death of Christ.
I like the reminders
the micro-chances to stop and think
about what it means for me
To be overwhelmed, to be thankful.
May you too catch glimpses of the moon
And remember.
... a little like
being onstage with spotlights blazing
and you can't be entirely sure
if there is really anyone in the audience or not!
Thanks for the feedback,
both those who comment bloggingly
and those who comment verbally or emailly.
(And hey, it's a lot of fun even if there's no-one there!
...besides being a slightly mad archive of life)
Note to self:
Must learn to use site-meter thingie
so can discover for self if there is anyone out there!
Note to readers:
I categorised this under "Silly"
- I'm not seriously concerned
- you don't need to make reassuring noises
(if indeed you exist...)
I remembered on Thursday
that I was supposed to get stressed
about my school reunion,
on this past weekend.
According to the stereotypes
(Hollywood-style, of course!),
I am supposed to diet desperately
and rack my memory for some sort of “life”
I can claim to have.
Oops
Forgot.
My class-mates seemed to too,
and I think we presented
as a pretty contented bunch of 30-somethings
(hey… 30-not-VERY-muches)
who are by and large contented with life.
Contentment is a good thing!
Satisfaction with what is.
No desperate striving to be
other than what we are
No crippling regrets.
Some of the things those people
have encountered along the way
have been the very worst of things.
And yet there’s a serenity and a grace there,
rather than bitterness and regret.
But hey
All from my impressions
from one evening and one morning!
So in a timid attempt at accountability,
I email those who were there
(thanks to organised-Alison
for getting the email addresses out so promptly),
let them know I’ve blogged about them,
and await the comments nervously.
Did I read it right?
Are we a pretty contented, well-adusted bunch?
We sang at our school end of year graduation thing,
“Friends are friends forever”,
by Michael W. Smith (that dates us!),
and while I haven’t seen many of these people
for over 10 years,
there is a sense that a friendship remains.
Last night after the Reunion
I met Steve at Salmonella Dub,
and danced (boy, did I dance).
More on the concert later (watch this space),
but the lines
“It’s good to see you again my friend,
It’s been a long long time”
applied well to the evening I had encountered.
It was great to see you all again my friends…
it’s been a long long time!
Alu, Di, Sara, Jo, Anne, Andrea,
Alison, Chris, Debbie, Fiona, Hamish
Hey let’s do it again
before too long!
My laundry smells like the foreshore
And I never want to eat a mussel ever again
Kayli , Shannon and I are playing
artist’s assistant
which today involved washing
500 (we may yet need to do another 500 … no, please no!)
mussel shells and drying them on the lawn outside
It feels like the cheats way to smelling fishy.
I didn’t pull them off the rocks,
they came fish-less, half-shell and boxed.
And smelly
Very smelly
The artist? Steve
The event? The Contemporary Passion of Christ
(Stations of the Cross)
When I was in Gisborne over the summer
I collected lots of sea glass off the beach.
I reflected on Colossians 1
where it says that God will take
all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe
and fit them together in vibrant harmonies.
Perhaps God will fit them together
in something new and mosaical
rather than simply using superglue
to stick all back together as it was.
(verse from The Message follows)
Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe--people and things, animals and atoms--get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.