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| entrance to christchurch cathedral, festival of flowers |
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| floral "carpet" down cathedral aisle |
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| detail of section of carpet |
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| scaffolding on cathedral wall to repair damage from earthquake |
what a day! slept in a little, caught the bus into christchurch to do my blog at the starbucks only to learn that they don’t do internet at that particular one… oh well, it was the opening day of the festival of flowers, and i made my way across the square to the cathedral and got a ticket to view the stunning floral creations there… pretty amazing! they had a fellow playing piano and it was very beautiful – you could see one wall where there was scaffolding set up to do some repair after the recent earthquake…
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| closeup of more detail |
my friend emma (pronounced ‘imma’ in kiwi) who lives here picked me up at noon and we went for a “wee lunch” as she would say, at her new house… i know emma from the summers at camp aloha as counselors there together, and last time i saw her was nearly two years ago on the grand oz voyage… she made us a beautiful lunch, all fresh greens and tomatoes from her garden and a lovely pasta dish and ginger beer… yum! we caught up on each other’s latest and looked at some camp albums… i really wish we could have spent a longer visit, but i had to make my way back to the ship after a pleasant afternoon… thanks, imma! i am including a couple of her “quakey pics.”
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| my kiwi pal emma (imma) in her kitchen |
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| many chimneys toppled off in quake |
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| home of emma' family friends, totalled... no one hurt, tho! |
my theme tonight was ‘ornithology’ and featured songs with birds in the title or lyrics (and, no, I didn’t do ‘free bird’… it was stuff like ‘blackbird,’ ‘3 little birds,’ ‘yellow bird.’ etc.). pretty good happy hour! Sad that the jolly kiwi company reps disembarked, but, lo, my two recent on-in-auckland piano man fans came in and gave me a chance last night and we all made friends! they even stayed til the very end! yay! feedback on the recent being touched (scared the crap out of) while playing issue, by the way, is that i have the right to call security if i feel it is necessary (drunk or disorderly guest), and i can certainly verbally be quite clear in the moment about setting my boundaries (other situations) at my comfort level. i have also politely let my audience know that if they want to greet me or request a song, the front or either side of the bandstand is absolutely open to them so that i can address their wishes… let us hope we have had the last of that!
i now have to work on gently yet firmly drawing my boundaries regarding discussing my personal life – i am happy to share some, what i choose to volunteer about bob for instance who is coming here, but it is difficult to be grilled with the “don’t you miss your son?” question from some less than sensitive types… i have to struggle to not ask them “what the hell do you think?” and refrain from weeping openly in moments… i would never work on the road if it weren’t that i need to be able to contribute to maintaining a home for my son in an area that is good for him with good schools and friends and family, and that i am passionately interested in being able to get him to/through college in the not too distant future so he can have a good life and be what he wants to be someday… i am grateful daily that he is such a kind, good-hearted, good humoured, smart, sensitive, centered and thoughtful young man who i am so proud of in every moment, because i could not take this gig if he weren’t… and i know he knows (you know, right, bean?) i would be there more if there was work there that would provide what we need, and i miss him like mad every day… it’s a sacrifice all of our family makes together for the greater good, and being mature as he has been through it makes me incredibly proud… i hope these times when i am on the road help him to know that he is, indeed, very capable and grown up for his age, and he can do a lot of things for himself now that he is older, and that when he goes off to college in the not too distant future, he will probably be a little more self-sufficient than some of his peers and able to handle the independence more responsibly than some people (hmm… like who?) did when they were younger… i love you, bean, and it won’t be long before i am back and we will have some cool times! my late spring and summer are yours for some adventures and fun… (road trip??? !!!) xoxo, mama
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| baby heffalump topiary (makes me think of gimli!) |
port song for christchurch new Zealand
(to the tune of gershwin’s “our love is here to stay”)
it’s very clear, christchurch
tho it was unclear one last september day
the earth it started to shake, they had an earth quake and the people here i know
woke up and didn’t know whether to stay or go
they said oh dear, not sure if it’s safe to stay
and since then last year, there’s been rumblings near every day
and though many chimneys did crumble and some buildings did tumble
and there was one heart attack they say, oh! `christchurch
i went into town, about 10 o’clock today
to get some coffee down to start out this lovely day
i wanted to do internet, and post my blog, but sadly had no luck
they offered no connection at good old starbucks
so i changed my plan, and went to see some flowers
was gonna meet a friend of mine from christchurch
went to the church café so humble, had a raspberry crumble
and free wifi from the hotel down the way, and posted my blog for yesterday
my friend met me by the cathedral square,
it’s been near two years since the last time i met her there!
her name is emma, but in new zealand
gotta love that kiwi accent, everything sounds so nice
went to her new house, and she made lunch for us there
fresh salad from her garden and pasta and ginger beer
it’s nice that she has a spare room, i’d like to come back here soon
and have a bit longer stay, oh! what a lovely christchurch
thank you to imma! what a lovely christchurch
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