The Sound of a Mighty Wind

This morning four mates went up Sugar Loaf Hill to pray to God to bless our city. We took a position above the tree-line (in the photo), a couple hundred feet below the summit.

At about 7:45am I saw dust rising in small clouds about 20 Km away in the countryside, where our main prison is located. So we prayed for the prisoners and their guards.

About ten minutes later, we heard a "the sound of a mighty wind blowing", though we saw nothing. It was the wind from twenty kilometeres away, reaching the base of the hill and ascending through the trees. We heard it; but we didn't see it. It passed over our heads and surrounded us. And there was a final roar as it went through the communications tower at the top of the hill and was gone.

Such an awe-inspiring event reminded me of the wind at Pentecost, which was "the sound of a mighty wind which filled the whole house." (Acts 2:2) I guess that the effect would not have been the same if we had been hit by the full force of the wind.

Electric Commuting

On the weekend, I arranged to have lunch with a friend this Tuesday. Then I saw a picture of him alongside an article with the heading “Electric Ute for Commuting” on Monday in our local newspaper. It turned out that my friend, John, is a bit of a trailblazer. He is probably the first person to go to work in an electric vehicle in the South Island of New Zealand.

Of course, his economic and environmentally friendly form of transport was a talking point of our lunchtime conversation. And I was quick to get out the camera for a photograph.

It costs about a dollar a day for the electricity. John’s wife, Jennifer, did the sums and said that the savings in petrol costs would pay for the three-wheeled utility vehicle in a couple of years. John makes a 44-kilometer return trip each day.

He gets a laugh from some people and encouragement from his environmentally conscious work mates. And he says that most importantly, it has passed the embarrassment test with their four children; as one of them said, “I think it’s cute.”

For the newspaper article click

The first of our community to die

Fred got progressively more frail after he moved to the hospital wing of Nazareth House. I was with him when he breathed his last at 8:50pm on Saturday 7th June. He was lucid and in good spirits two hours earlier when we said the Prayers for the Dying.

One mourner summed up the feelings of many of us when he said, "In my dealings with Fred over the years, he was always a man of courtesy and grace and interested in you when he met you."

Having cared for Fred for three years, I was surprized how sad I was; it was like loosing a member of my own family. Another member of our community reminded me, "Well, actually, we are a family."

May he rest in peace

For more about Fred click here

Decommissioning a Garden

You may remember a previous blog about Lawrence "Giving up gardening". (Click here) Loving gardening so much, people wondered if he would give it up. A week or so back he cleared and raked a garden and handed it over to me. It was a sort of "decommissioning". Knowing my total disinterest in gardening, he suggested that I look at buying lawn turf, rather than trying to grow from seed.

So we drove south of the city and met Tim Prebble, who grows grass. That is him in the photo resetting the irrigation sprinklers.

I learnt that watering this type of grass, a mix of Fescue & Browntop, is critical in summer weather.

Lawrence, in the car, casts a knowledgeable eye over the scene, as we leave with our rolls of lawn.

And here is my first effort at laying lawn. There will be more to follow.

"Continue Flourishing"

Major birthdays call for major celebrations. So last Thursday one of our community, Kevin, aka "Judge", got the full treatment complete with the iced cake.

Seventeen of Kevin's mates got together for a presentation, at our place. Our 90 year old, Fred, summed up the sentiments of the gathering in two words, "CONTINUE FLOURISHING." Then we were off to the local club for a dinner.

Celebrating comes easily to us, especially when it honours a man known for his happy disposition!

For more about Kevin, who continues to flourish see: "More of My Mates"

"Sweet and Sour"

A group of youth on bicycles regularly treat our retirement village as their play ground. Often they are very sweet. Two of them (obscured by the bush) are in this photo, speaking with one of the other residents in the village. But they can also be quite sour when they are caught trying to get into the apartments, using profanities and even doing a "down trou".

Some of the elderly residents of the village are not as robust as others. So we have asked the police to take an interest.

Cancer in the family.

Frank, aged 84 and one of the community that I look after, had a good chat with me Yesterday. We were driving along with just the two of us in the car. He asked me about the two of my family members who had died of cancer. He has a younger brother Pat who had a successful operation for cancer on his neck a couple of weeks ago. He starts radiation therapy this week.

We did not speak about anything profound. I shared a little of my experience and he shared some of his concern. It was just an occasion when a couple of blokes connected. More was said in what was not said.

Click here for more about Frank

Sunday Morning Ritual

I went out to post a letter this morning and saw this young man walking down the street barefooted. On my way back, he was ahead of me carrying the Sunday newspaper. I thought, "A Sunday morning ritual".
Well, I had better get ready for Church, one of my Sunday morning rituals!

Sunday Walk

After taking my community out to midday dinner and getting them safely home, Yesterday, I went for a Sunday walk which took me to Hagley Park. Hagley Park is near the middle of Christchurch and modelled on the parks near central London.

To my surprise, I saw soccer matches going comprised of different nationalities. Zimbabians were playing Japanese, Ethiopeans were playing a mixed team and Afghanies were waiting for a game. I didn't know we had so many people in Christchurch from such countries. It was great to see. Pictured are Ethiopeans, who explained to me the 'ethnic' football competition.
Then I moved along and met this tourist from Scotland who was watching the soccer matches. We talked about her travels on this side of the world and she said, "Christchurch is very English." And that statement comes from a Glasgow Lass.



I returned home to welcome Frank (84), the last member of our community to his Christmas holiday. He was concerned because his 80 year old brother was to go into hospital today for an operation for cancer on his neck. So we will be having a few trips this week to the public hospital which is a couple of kilometres away.

Settling In

Yesterday I visited Fred (90) in his new smaller room in the hospital wing of Nazareth House. Quite spontaneously he said to me, "I have had this latin expression on my mind: 'Cella continuata pulcesset'. I don't know why."

For my benefit he translated it as "The room you live in grows on you." That was nice. He must be settling in to his new surroundings. It was a lovely way of putting it.

I mentioned this to Lawrence, our 88 year old, who said "I am growing out of mine!" I wonder what new card I might be dealt.

Beware of Angry Women

First, some really good news, I took Fred out to dinner using his wheelchair, Yesterday. He complimented me on my handling of the chair with these words: "I would give you a driver's licence for that!"

Anyway, I came back to my community with several stories from my week away. This one, in particular, amused them. I have obtained "Fiona's" permission to use it:

Fiona had been a widow for several years and was being courted by a very fine widower. The widower’s business took him to London, from where he sent her presents and flowers. She sensed that this was leading up to a proposal of marriage.

Fiona had a daughter living in England also. So she thought it was opportune to travel overseas to see them both. When she arrived she got a cool reception from the widower. He took her out to lunch rather than to dinner. She wondered what was going on until she saw a drop-dead gorgeous younger woman walk into the restaurant in Covent Garden and make for their table. This younger woman was so well turned out that she not only had all the men looking at her, but she also had the women looking.

She joined them at their table and started making disparaging statements to Fiona, about how ‘provincial’ she was. It was obvious that she had her hooks into the widower. Fiona left them to it.

Later, the widower apologized and said that he and the younger woman had parted company. Upon returning to New Zealand, he invited Fiona out to dinner.

Fiona chose the most expensive restaurant and the most expensive dishes on the menu, but only the third most expensive wine. She listened intently to the widower as he was drawn to make the conversation. But she kept an eye on her watch.

At the end of the meal, he wanted to take her home. To this she replied: “I came by taxi; I will leave by taxi. Ah, there is my taxi, now. Good bye!”

As Fiona said to me after telling me the story, “Beware of angry women!” "Yeah!"

Bay of Plenty

It is our holiday season in New Zealand and I have just had a week away in the Bay of Plenty (North Island). During the week Fred was moved to the hospital wing of Nazareth House (next door). He is contented there and will get the extra care that he requires. It being Sunday, today, we will take him out to dinner using the wheelchair. Near the eastern end of the Bay of plenty is Opotiki where my brother-in-law, Bob, lives. He is the overweight white haired man in the center of the picture. Last Wednesday night he invited me to come to watch the "Twilight Bowls" at the local greens. He comes from Glasgow. I have known him since I was 10, when he became a "second father" to me and he is full of laughs.

From Opotiki, I moved inland to Rotorua, where my mother is buried. This was my first chance to take a photo of her headstone. We kept the design simple and summerized her life in a few words and symbols.

Then it was on to the western Bay of Plenty to see more family and friends. This is a picture of Waihi Beach. Sharks were swimming about a 100 metres to the left of this surfer where there is a sewerage outfall. I presume that the surfees knew all about that.

I returned to Christchurch, Yesterday, with stories for my community of 'A Vietnam Veteran and Agent Orange', of 'A Widow's Revenge' and of 'Sharks in the Surf'.

Wheelchair and Steps

Fred is getting more frail by the week. We regularly go out for a meal with friends on a Sunday. He has progressed from using a walking stick to a 'walker' and Yesterday we used the wheelchair.

Now, there is one big problem with that; the place we are going to has three very high steps. Pulling his chair up the stairs backwards was not difficult. When we came to leave I was going to lower the chair forwards; in effect I planned to reverse the action. However one of the locals said that he always lowered a pram backwards, which I presume has four equal size wheels. I tried the same with the wheelchair. It crashed down step-by-step. Fred was unharmed, but his trust in me was shaken and my pride was dented.

We drove home by the scenic route, that he enjoys. But when we got here, he looked at me in a strained way. I was no longer Superman

Exercise Machines

In 1964 Lawrie and I were in a road run. I can still remember him passing me, even though he was 15 years older.
Lawrie is not quite as agile these days, so he uses exercise machines to help keep fit. I admire him for it. Not only do I find such workouts boring but I dislike sweating in confined spaces. I think that it has something to do with the "call of the wild".

However my ability to get outside for a solid daily workout is becoming limited. So, Yesterday, I put on a 'Walkman' and found some lively music on an fm radio station and used that torture machine, that you see in the picture, for a whole ten minutes.

The knees have recovered, today. So, I suppose that I will have to increase the time and just get used to exercising indoors like the others do.

Giving Up Gardening

We got the right slippers for Fred, Yesterday. They are a size smaller than what he is flopping around in at present. If they work for him, I'll get another pair before winter.

Last evening, out in the garden, Lawrence and I had a great little chat. He is coming up for 88 and is a very productive gardener. For a couple of years, he has talked of giving it up in general terms. But this time, he said that he will do it in Autumn. We looked at what should be turned into grass and where we should plant ground cover.

I asked him if he would like to keep a little patch or grow pot plants. He said that he wouldn't. He would need to make a clean break or he would creep back to it. He said that he still had his painting. He would put more time into writing up his story. And he would give more time to prayer.

I learnt about the importance of the "tactical withdrawal" when I was in the army. This old mariner is applying it to life.

Positive Attitude

Guess what? The slippers that I got for Fred, Yesterday, were too small ! I should have learnt by now and taken one of his old ones with me to the shop in town. I will change them today.

Fred lives in the nursing home next door and I have seen how wonderfully the staff look after the residents. My mother died, aged 97, three years ago and I saw a little of the positive attitude caregivers brought to their relationship with her. Now, with almost daily contact, I am seeing a lot of it and the effort that staff take to be positive. It is something that I am learning to develop.

Kate (in the photo) helps Fred to get dressed and move around. I am studying her attitude as much as her methods in helping those who are restricted.

Fred is our least active community member and so is the most appreciative of help. So it is relatively simple being positive with him. The others, though retired or semi-retired, have the interests of very active independent men. Intelligent debate and helping out in practical ways are important aspects of their lives. But they can't always do the things that they want to do because of their age and that can be frustrating. So to help them be mentally agile and physically active, I have to integrate this positive attitude with some other life-skills. The last thing they want or need is a Pollyanna.

Summer Holiday Mode

I walked up town to Cathedral Square today to do some shopping for my community. Fred, our 90 year old, needs new slippers and Peter, our newest arrival, needs a special almanac.

It was one of those warm summer days and people were in summer holiday mode. This policeman stopped and smiled for the camera. He couldn't have been too busy or he would have been rushing off.

In Cathedral Square, I was attracted by these bright green hats. When I approached the group, I learnt a couple of things:
1) The green hats are part of a scout uniform
2) Boys Scouts and Girl Guides are integrated.

This group is from Christchurch and are representing us at a Jamboree in Christchurch with over 5000 attending.

Around the corner, I met another group of Scouts. These young men are from Whangarei, which is at the other end of the other main island in New Zealand. They told me that it is the 100th anniversary of scouting and that there are people attending from around the world.

The temperature was over 30 degrees as I was walking home. So this group of young adults took pity on me and invited me to have a welcome beer with them under the trees. Conversation ranged around fitness, beer, old people like me, beer, street violence, beer. They affectionately called me "Grand-dad".

Yep, we've got some good young people around. My community will be pleased to hear that.

Bye-the-way, I bought the slippers; I hope that they are not too big for Fred's 90 year old feet that are shrinking. I couldn't get the almanac, but I have put it on order. Peter says he will use last years one, with adjustments, till it comes.

Meanwhile, thoughts linger of the street violence that our young adults experience these days.

My Community

Here is my community. Standing are Lawrie, Lawrence, Kevin and myself.
Sitting are Frank, Peter, Fred (on his 90th birthday) and Jerome.

Here is where we live, looking south to the Port Hills. The place was purpose-built for retired people. It has no steps and each has his own bathroom next to his bedroom.

Our place is in the trees, slap-bang in the middle of this photo of Christchurch. As you can see, it is only a couple of kilometres from the centre of town.