ANZAC

Just returned from the dawn ANZAC service at the Auckland War Memorial - brrrrr. Autumn has definately arrived. We followed the full moon all the way to the domain, and were gobsmacked at how many others were following the same path. The 10-year-old God-daughter and I had a bit of a walk, to get to the Cenotaph, and we missed the arrival parade of veterans. However, it was pretty special just to be there, in the cold dawn, with so many others. The Herald estimates 2000, but I think that's extremely conservative. I'd say more like 4 or 5000. (there were FAR more there than the population of my school, which is 2200-ish). Still nothing like the 20,000 estimated to arrive at Anzac Cove in Turkey this year.
It was pretty amazing to stand while the last post was played, and the flags on top of the Museum were lowered to half mast, and have that many people silent for a whole, precisely measured, minute, and then to turn round and see the dawn breaking over Rangitoto. Click here for Dick Hubbard's dedication, and here for the address by the Governor General, Dame Silvia Cartwright.

We left our poppies planted in the ground in this cross, only to discover most others were placing them at the foot of the cenotaph where the wreaths had been laid.

On the way home I spotted a cat on the road, which I could see was obviously still alive, but looked unable to move. It was dreadful - we did a U-ey round the roundabout and went back to see if there was anything to be done. I lifted him off the road (a GREAT big grey fluffy tabby), and he squirmed away with only his front end working. Poor baby. Went door knocking (at 7am, you understand!) till I found his owner, who was understandably distraught. By then she had a couple of neighbours to support her, so off we went, and off they went to the vet. Spare a thought for some random woman called Allison, who will be feeling very sad this morning - I don't know if "Fester" (what a dreadful name!) will make it. My Honey got hit by a car about 5 years ago, and she's as bouncy as anything now - well, apart from that she's now 10, and sleeps most of the day on my bed in the sun. I would have hated if she had been left on the road like that for someone else to run over later.

Ballooning

Have returned tonight from the "Balloons over Waikato" festival. I was particularly keen to see the "night glow", where they inflate a bunch of the balloons, and then light them up in time with various music clips. There was a scarecrow, a barn complete with animals and grain silo, an enormous bunch of tulips in a vase & a bunch of others, including the one we are going up in today fortnight - all being well this time with the wind!



This morning, we got up at some ridiculous hour and chased the balloons across the city to where they were all landing on a park across town. All, that is, except for the one that landed in someone's front drive, and the balloon itself seemed to swallow up the cars on the road as they hurried to deflate it and pack it up. Highly amusing.

Not as amusing, apparently, as the sight of me in nighty and dressing gown skipping across the bridge to get a better photo from the other side. I made sure at least one of my photos included a woman in her pj's, just so I could demonstrate I wasn't the only one to leave the house in a hurry!!! The view of the balloons along the river was brilliant, and we found a series of bridges to view them from. It whetted my appetite for our expedition coming up!

Tops!

Wow! one of the most amazing students I have ever had the pleasure to know, has just been announced as top scholar for the country (secondary school). (and of course it looks good for my school, too!!!) It's worth $15,000/year for the next 3 years. Again WOW!!! I am so thrilled for her, and a more personable, thoughtful and conscientious person you'd be hard pushed to meet.

WOW!

Just connected my broadband modem. Cor - who'd have thought the internet could be SO fast!!

Sigh...

Not impressed at waking not long after 3am this morning, and now here I am, up & at 'em. Grrrrr. I gave up about 4 and started reading. And now, since I'm still not apparently getting back to sleep, I thought I may as well get up and do some work. Grrrrr!

Oh well....

Tis all very well to have had a front row seat, at the best match the local team have played all season......


BUT...


I hadn't picked them to win, in the aforementioned competition. What a strange feeling, to be so excited about the (nearly) try-scoring happening right in front of us, yet well aware that this amazing and excellent slaughter of the team leading the competition was being matched by my own toppling, as I'm sure that most of the rest of our staff will have loyally picked the local team to win. Won't they??

Rugby

I'm amusing myself, at present, as much as anyone else, by being in the (co-)lead for the 4th week running (out of about 40 people) in the ongoing Super12 picks competition we're having at school. It helped that one week I got all my picks right, and hence 2 bonus points. I think the greatest joy is beating the pants off the coach of the 1st XV. He & I are on duty before school Friday mornings, over in the underground carpark at the shopping centre across the road, so discussing our picks for the week has become a hot topic of conversation. It's pretty entertaining. Much more entertaining than interrupting whatever deals and blegh behaviour we are there to prevent!

Annoyed...

I wrote a post on Tuesday, which seems to have got lost in cyberspace. Ah well.. here goes again!
Last weekend, we put on a service on Friday night, based around the seven last sayings of Jesus on the cross - the UK REJESUS website was a rich resource, with thanks to Mark Pierson for the loan of his copy of the CD.

I was responsible for the station for saying #6, the one where Jesus said "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". Interestingly, the interpretation on the Rejesus site was of Jesus being angry, but I chose to interpret it along the lines of there being no safer hands that he, or we, could be in. So my painting was titled "No Safer Hands":


Now, of course, I'm not quite sure what to do with it. I'm thinking I might try and sell it on TradeMe!!

Jumped..

...ship, that is, to Firefox.
I went to a conference the other week, and the speaker at one of the workshops I went to introduced us to it. Up till now I'd just heard of it, but now I'm converted! I love the tabs. I love that my taskbar is uncluttered. I like the look, and I was really impressed at it importing my bookmarks & history and passwords. wheeeee!!!!!

Yummy Washing

How sad is this?
Recently, I was being visited by a travelling Brit, who asked what I'd like him to bring me, that I couldn't get here.
So, the thinking cap went on, as it does, on these occasions.
Sure, McVities Gold bars are scrummy.
Horlicks Lite & Ribena Lite likewise, and both unavailable here, although their non-lite counterparts are.
But, I think I really had him when I asked if he thought he'd have room for Ariel Liquid.
I could almost hear the communal familial headshaking and shouldershrugging going on.
My ears were even a bit pink.
However, it has to be said, there is NOTHING available on the shelves here (in the liquid laundry detergent range) that doesn't smell totally foul and toxic.
So, I shall continue to enjoy the yummy washing smell, until the bottle is all gone, as I contemplate how on earth I'm going to access an ongoing supply!

FINISHED!

Well, finished "a" task, anyway!!!
At 5.15pm I completed the 44 page Annual Report to the Board for my department. I've been working since 5.15am today, so am I EVER glad it's a LOOOOOOONG weekend. Whatever trick of the calendar saw fit to give NZ schools Easter Tuesday off as well as Monday, I'm ever so thankful to it!!!
I couldn't really start on my report till I had worked with the new Head of Faculty on the faculty report, since that was my baby, effectively, till he took over in January. Boy, are we having some trials at the moment, but I'm soooo pleased with the way we are working as a team to deal with them! It's my very real hope that now this hurdle is out of the way, things really will, finally, settle!
boy, I sure do hope so.
My Mum gave me a cool book of "hopeful sayings" for my birthday - I liked this one:

"Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent"

credited to Mignon McLaughlin
(cor!!! what a cool name.. reminds me of a scotch-cut sirloin steak!)

Sunrise

It's me! I've surfaced for air, briefly!
just wanted to share this:



This was several photos blended together into a panorama, taken on Saturday morning about 7.30am, on the day I failed to go hot air ballooning:(
This was the treat to make up for the significantly round birthday this month. However, there was too much wind, and so we've had to rebook for May. Darn!
Never mind.. the sunrise across the city was lovely, and the brekkie was pretty nice too!

Meanwhile, it's all manic, as can be intepreted from the massive silence! Tonight I really should be working on my board report, since the final final final deadline is tomorrow, and it's now 2 weeks overdue. But, after getting 143 year 12 students through their practical chemistry exam today (starting at 0745), having been at school setting up till 8.00 last night, racing 25km each way to attend a moderation meeting, coming back to a couple of hours of parent interviews, and seeing off my old lounge suite just now after a 15 year acquaintance, I'm just a tad knackered!!!!

And that was a quiet day!!!
catch you soon, hopefully!!!!!!!!!!!

Blue light.....

It's my week for the Graceway lamp. I know this, 'cos Gareth said so when he handed it to me tonight. (thanks, G) This lamp was given to us just over a year ago, when Mark was inducted as our pastor. Can't believe how fast that year disappeared!
I look at it, and think of our community. This was a good week for it to come to me - I need reminding about belonging. Like the cane we are all woven together. It also reminds me of the reading we had from Mark tonight, where Jesus called the fishermen. I like the light shining through, and I like the shadows it casts on the wall behind. I like the way it comes to church, is part of our visual worship environment, and then it goes home with someone different. I like that Gareth thought to give it to me, and I like that I have a week to think about who to pass it on to next. I like that it's no big deal if I forget to take it next week, or if I want to keep it for an extra week.
I am glad that I have this visual reminder of who I am and where I belong, to shine in my home for this next week.
(ps, I'm not still grumpy, but I am very tired!)

Grumpy

It must be a factor of being Friday night. I'm decidedly grumpy and out of sorts with the world. Too tired and feel pressured from all angles. Blegh.
This afternoon I was trying to write a job description for a "body" to take over some of the responsibilities I had last year before they increased exponentially. This is a delightfully good thing, but last thing on a Friday, with a shout down in the staffroom courtesy of the Athletics day organisers, not something I really wanted to be doing. The sooner I polish it to my satisfaction (my one big chance to dot all the I's and cross all the T's), the sooner we have someone else sharing the load. It's that wonderfully "Catch 22" situation, where you're soooooo frantically busy that there's no time to actually try and delegate effectively. It'll happen, I know it will, and soon. Meanwhile....
(did I say I was grumpy??)

HOT!!!!

Today was a blisterer! Just perfect for the whole school to gather across the road at the large sports domain for the athletics sports. One of the senior boys broke a javelin record that had stood since 1988, and he didn't even look like he was trying. He smashed it by 11m!!!! I got to be solitary crowd control on the highway at day's end, with several hundred bodies descending on my crossing at once like lemmings. "NO, stoopid, do you have a death wish?? Do NOT cross those 5 lanes of traffic until the lights change and the crossing buzzer goes!"

Concerts in the park

Finally got around to offloading from my camera the photos from Goldenhorse gig in the park a couple of weekends ago. Good to hear some stuff off the upcoming album, & to enjoy the time with friends. Mark got into the groove, and proved it's never too early to introduce the next generation to good sounds!

(not that you can see all that much of Soph!)

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

~*~ Mother Teresa's Prayer ~*~

I came across this prayer, this weekend. I will try and hold it in mind throughout Lent. I'm a pretty slow learner, though.

 

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
...Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
...Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
...Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
...Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
...Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
...Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
...Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
...Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

When I was looking for that one, I also came across this saying, by Mother Theresa. I rather liked it also:

    "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

I've been thinking about being kind, recently. To myself and others. About what it is in relationships with those we care about that make them different from those with people we know as acquaintances or colleagues. I think there's a lot of kindness involved when someone knows your heart. I am touched when the people I care about reciprocate in grace and kindness, and I must be more prepared to follow the words in the prayer, when they don't.

a bit of a plug...

... for those of you living within a bulls roar of Auckland, you really really ought to go and check out Maladict's Fix, a great new cafe my friends recently opened at Clark's Beach. Complete with permission from Terry Pratchett himself, it is named after the vampire character in one of his books who has given up his addiction to blood, and turned to coffee instead.

I went out last Sunday, taking a friend, and you couldn't get friendlier service anywhere else in Auckland. Not only that, but it's backed with a silver medal in the BP New Zealand Coffee Festival last year, in the espresso category. WOW!!! Can't say fairer than that! Get your butts out there and check it out. And there's no excuse, either, if you're not local - check out the link in my previous post, and you can order online!

no whinges today

Yeah, that's right. It's Saturday morning, I'm drinking a fine cup of Zeke's Howler Monkey blend, it's raining (which means that at last it's a bit cooler, yay), and although it turned quite sour in the middle, my week finished well.

The car turned out to have a broken alternator belt. Which, in it's turn, turned out to only be worth $18 ish to replace, + labour. I phoned a colleague to get her recommendations for a local service garage, one that I can easily access from work, and as a result have scored a real "find". Fantastic service, trust & reliability. I got held up at work the next night (that's a whole different story.....), so they just left the keys at the petrol station in front for me to pick up. All this without ever having sighted me - all done over the phone. They were fine about me coming in the next day to pay. WOW!!!!! Have booked it in again for next week for a service and some other bits and pieces I've been putting off.

So, got held up at work... We've been trying to sort some classes this week, it becoming more and more urgent as the day approached when we began full timetable. It became more and more obvious that things weren't working, and on Thursday afternoon, when I sat down with the new HOD to check stuff, it didn't take us long to realise that we had to start again from scratch. This being mainly cos of the duff data I'd been supplied by my last year's 2IC. I should have known that I ought to just start from the beginning again myself, but I have this naturally gullible streak that wants to believe that others are competent. Ah well. It made me look really useless, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'd done my best with what I'd been given. And, not only that, it was finally something for new-boss to get his teeth into, and it felt SO GOOD to walk out at 6.20 and know that for once I was leaving someone else to do the work! Yayayayayayayay! The upshot was that on Friday we started timetable, and basically had to tell that year level that we were just filling time for that period, and they'd be with their "real" teacher next week. Oh, and new-boss is sorting the workload issue for me, too, it seems. Well Hallelujah!

So, it all ended well. I walked out on Friday afternoon, knowing that I still have 1001 things to do, but that I'm not in the front of the firing line any more. SO pleased:)