The outstanding news of the month most of you know already. It is that on 6th March Graeme Hingston died. By all accounts he suffered greatly. As one of his grandsons remarked when it became known that Graeme was terminally ill, "He's our hero. We know where he is going." On behalf of all the OPL contributors and readership, we offer our condolences to Elsie, and wish her peace and courage and strength as she continues her life on earth.
We went to a funeral that week. It was not Graeme's, but I kept thinking of him and his family, as it might well have been the same day. It was the funeral of our Bishop's mother. She had been in hospital briefly, but nobody expected her to die. She was in her sixtieth year.
Nathan, we met Norm Barker near the Blue Springs. He had been checking up on something with another man, who drove away. Norm got talking to us. We did not realize who he was until he introduced himself. Then I exclaimed, "Oh, we know who you are!" He gets in our local paper a lot. He actually remembered you, Nathan, that you worked for him briefly before your mission. He asked me to send you his good wishes. He could not believe that you have a daughter of 21.
While no doubt it is, as Ray says, boring for you to read of the same old walks we do, I'll mention one and bore you. After all, I have to write something, and most of what we do makes boring reading for you active people. We walked from Jones Landing to the lookout. On the way we saw that they were creating alternative tracks. Of course I had to try them out, rough-hewn as they were, because I love exploring new paths. Beyond the lookout we saw the beginnings of another new track, and plunged into that. It wound around through the bush, very steep in places, and barely discernable in others. We thought if they had stopped work on it before taking it through to the known track, we would not have a clue where we were. It came through all right. Ray had to be very careful, as he had slippery-soled shoes. It was a good little adventure.
One Sunday School lesson we were discussing Joseph who was sold into Egypt. Susan Treanor (Susan Wright) was especially interested in some of my thoughts about Joseph, and she said he probably had Aspergers. Absolutely no clues as to how his behaviour affected his brothers. I think she was probably right. He was not exactly tactful when he told Pharaoh's baker that in three days he was going to be executed. He was amazingly bold when he told Pharaoh exactly what he should do to avert the disaster of the famine years. Interesting.
We had our first frost in mid-March, and have not had one since. Fortunately I had covered my tomato plants adequately, and we are still reaping a bounteous supply of cherry tomatoes. I have made what I call a 'frost-free nook' at the end of the patio. I constructed it on a rather wobbly frame with pink batts in pillowcases. I hope to save all the geranium cuttings I have potted. We shall see how it works.
Has anybody heard from David? Or anything about David? We have heard nothing since the beginning of February. He was to go on a trip to the Middle East, following the frankincense trail. For all we know he may be still wandering in the Arabian deserts.
We went to Tirau two days in succession. We went the first day because Ray wanted to go somewhere. There he bought a T-shirt for $5 at one the boutiques. It had been hanging outside and the sun had faded the top of the shoulders. We went to library next. Ray likes talking to the librarian, and was skiting about his bargain T-shirt. Then he delved into the box of books for sale, putting down his T-shirt to do so. You can guess the rest. Having got the bargain five books for $2 we left. Soon after we got home I answered the phone. "This is Mary, the librarian at Tirau. Ray left his $5 shirt here."! Ray had not even missed it. Good thing he had talked about it. So we had to find an additional reason to go to Tirau the next day, otherwise the cost of the petrol would have detracted from the T-shirt bargain! We went into the "Dog" information centre to ask if there were any local walks we had not discovered. A man named Warren suggested we climb the little hill that overlooks the town. We had not been up there. We set off. When Ray found there was no public access, he did not want to climb the fence to cross the farmland. But Warren had said it was okay, so I was determined to do so. We got to the top and had panoramic views of Tirau and the country all around. Later in the day, having retrieved the T-shirt and visited the Subway, we returned to tell Warren we had made it to the top. He knew. He had seen us. He would have had to go outside to do so. So a good thing we persisted, trespassing or no. He assured us the farmer did not mind.
To end the month I went to Temple View to spend 5 nights in the apartments during our Stake temple week. Also I got my hair cut real short, the first time for years. The Rambler.
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