Thoughts from today........

This is one of the most beautiful poems I know..... written by Mary Elizabeth Frye.

Do not stand at my grave and weep;

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die.

Tim, Nori, and Tane come to visit!

Our friends Tim and Nori came to visit us today, and brought their son Tane (10 months) along, to say hi. Here they are on our porch. They are really awesome people, and Tane is so cute! he loved playing on our swiss ball, and he could have spent all day in the garden :D They live in the Hutt Valley as well, so it's not such a hike for them to get to our place.

A child of the soil

One of the times I feel happiest is when I immerse myself in nature.

I've always enjoyed being outdoors, among nature - be it the beach, the forest, in a park, in a garden..... anywhere there are plants and trees and wild things. I've found that it's in places such as these that I feel the most at peace with myself.... I can feel free.

Our new house has an amazing amount of Gardens, secret paths and walkways, and native bush, so its been fun exploring all of it and planning what we're going to do with it all! at the moment its just a matter of maintaining what is there and the eternal weeding.

Sunday 13th May

Well, there are two days till we move and so far it's been a slow slow process. Maybe it feels so slow because I'm so eager to move into what will be our first house, I don't know? anyway, it'll all happen tomorrow afternoon when we finally take possession! yeah! and then we'll spend all of Tuesday moving in (with the help of movers, and Tim's parents - who have kindly volunteered their services for the day!). This whole moving thing is so all-encompassing - I don't feel as though I've got any room left in my brain to think about anything else. We went to the house today to give it a final 'inspection' before we take possession tomorrow, so here are some photos that Tim took, using his new camera: I really like the picture he took of the grape vine (I told him it would make a great photo, hehe), and as you can see, there is one of me sitting outside our new house, forlornely looking inside with anticipation of it being ours. Well, I can't remember if that was exactly what I was thinking, although knowing me, it probably was!

Our weekend wasn't entirely taken up with house stuff though. On Friday night, we went out to dinner at 'The Jewel of Nepal' - one of our favourite resturants at the moment. This crazy Nepalese guy called Romie works there, and his motto is that his food will 'take you higher'! god knows what he puts in the food, but I always find I'm in a more positive frame of mind when I've eaten there! he once showed us the herbs that he uses - which he has to import from Nepal, and they were unlike anything I've every seen before. So if you live in Wellington, and are looking for a good place to eat than I recommend going to see Romie. Later that night I got to see Tim's band 'The Moon Whispers', play at the Adelaide, to a very receptive audience. They got their first encore, too, which was awesome (and well deserved).