A Nice Little Drive In The Country

It is the school holidays and with the encouragement of those who watch over me I have taken a break. My Sunday schedule being what it is, I could only take a few days, so rather than take a real holiday we have gone for a bit of a drive in the country. On Sunday, after a service at St. John's Milton we drove north to Rangiora and stayed with Clemency's sister Bridget. The inland route is longer but going that way, the roads are deserted, there is snow on the mountains and they are very close. Then early on Monday we drove up through the Lewis Pass to Nelson. There was enough fog to make the early sunlight picturesque and once it had cleared, an absolutely cloudless sky all the way. Patches of black ice. A wonderful little cafe in Maruia selling vegan meals and little items for our imminently new grand daughter. Outside temperatures wavering between -1 and 7. Mountains and winding blacktop. Chatting. Then my brother Alistair's house and a quick tour of the new Jag and the latest additions to the motorcycle collection and a long evening drinking good red wine and laughing and more chatting.

We have just a couple of days here. There is time with my mother in her new apartment in a (pause for irony, let the one who has ears listen) Ryman's rest home, time to visit the new Gompa being built on Stuart and Roz's property, time with my Sister Val and then back home to see if I can artfully catch the dozen or so balls I currently have in the air.
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Comments

Anonymous said…

and a Gompa is ??? Can I use it in Scrabble? Hope you enjoy a good break and take care on the ice! Bev XX

20 July 2011 at 07:27

Kelvin Wright said…

A Gompa is a Tibetan Buddhist worship centre. It is a legitimate Scrabble word but make sure your dictionary is a good one when your opponent sqeals about it

20 July 2011 at 08:09

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