The Blog title ? I have seen stuffed mushrooms on a menu ! Didn't order that dish as there were more interesting options, however I did wonder exactly how one could stuff such a fragile fungus and, also improve on its already special flavour. Love mushrooms and remember the exquisite taste of those we picked in the paddock of a sheep farm in the Wairarapa, New Zealand, more than 30 years ago. Anyway, I think that I am past the stuffing around part of my life - feeling happy and excited about where I am now, and hopeful of a happy and exciting future.
When I first went to Sri Lanka to marry the best son that country has ever produced, [ or any country for that matter] I remember hearing a comment that " The day of your birth is the beginning of the end of your life. " That got me thinking that I'd used up a couple of decades so I'd better start living for real. Lots of philosophical stimulation in that Buddhist culture made me aware of that path [ highway, really] in life from the day of birth to the natural end. Life's highways have by-ways, off ramps to take detours, roadblocks to challenge, mountain passes to negotiate - lots of opportunities to make and accept responsibility for one's own choice what ever the conditions one comes across. Life, Be in it. Philosophy and mushrooms done, for now.
My life's highway started in New Zealand and last week I went back there for my high school's 50th Jubilee. It was the first Spring I have experienced in 20 years and despite the destruction of many old buildings the Garden City - now renamed by it's citizens as the 'Rock and Roll, Rattle and Shake Capital" showed how spectacular Spring in Christchurch is.
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| Sam in the Christchurch Botannical Gardens |
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| Revisiting our early places |
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| Botannical gardens |
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| I sat under this tree in the Old Canterbury University waiting for an exam to start 1964 |
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Christchurch suffered a major earthquake 7.9 on 6th September without any loss of life but with a lot of damage to buildings, roads etc. We experienced one of the bigger of the more than 2300 aftershocks as a big jolt - like the house was momentarily picked up and dropped.
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| The former Teachers' College - nostalgia rules ! Hope it can be repaired and used again | |
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| Ernest Rutherford's lab, Old University, South Quadrangle | | |
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I think that those who enjoyed the School Reunion most must have been the "First Day" pupils, including myself. It was great to see everyone again after so many decades - no one younger than 60 ++ . I am impressed with what my "batchmates" - to use a Sri Lankan description, have done, are doing and what lovely people they have become. I'd like to take up the challenge to attend the next reunion in 2035 !
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| First Day pupils meet - Friday night |
Time to return home after a great time meeting friends, making new ones, revisiting "our " places and having lots of fun came too soon. We hope to return soon - vow to squish a visit in an already travel plan packed 2011.
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| Crossing the Southern Alps |
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| The Canterbury Plains - still shaking |
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| Could the river perhaps be the Waimakariri ? |
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