Alzheimer's poem

Do not ask me to remember,
Don't try to make me understand.
Let me rest and know you're with me,
Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I'm confused beyond your concept,
I am sad and sick and lost.
All I know is that I need you,
To be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me,
Do not scold or curse or cry.
I can't help the way I'm acting,
Can't be different though I try.

Just remember that I need you,
That the best of me is gone.
Please don't fail to stand beside me,
Love me 'til my life is gone.

A new season?

Today dawned bright and clear the forecast is only for 17 degrees C. but it is great to see the sun and not have the cold wind and grey skies of yesterday.  Our plum tree is covered in blossom - the photo is just of a couple of branches low down but the whole tree is like this.

When we arrived here two years ago the tree was in need of a prune which we gave it.  In spite of this it has fruited well - just after Christmas - and the fruit has very kindly ripened in succession.

Let's just hope for another good crop this year.

Where has spring gone?

I gather that in the Northern Hemisphere summer has returned.  We, however, started to get some lovely weather and it was even too hot to be weeding in the garden.  All this has changed in the last week or so and it turned very cold.

Not so cold today but heavy showers and strong winds with the forecast that a severe storm front could bring damaging tornadoes.  It seems as though winter has returned.

The other evening the sky went almost black and I took this photo from our lounge.  The sky doesn't look as dark in the photo and, in fact, the storm went somewhere else in that instance.

On the home front I have taken M. into a Rest Home today to give me two weeks respite.  I do hope that he likes it (or at least doesn't dislike it).  Even though I know it is necessary it is hard to get rid of the feeling of guilt.

Still he has accepted that I will be going back in two weeks to collect him.  Now all I need is some nice weather in order to do all the things I have planned.

Rugby World Cup

Well, the day has come for the start of the  Rugby World Cup.  Last night on Close Up, our current affairs programme, we saw a contingent of French Supporters who were hiring a fleet of camper vans to follow the French team around.

We also saw and heard the choir that will sing all the anthems and they were singing what was described as one of the more difficult ones - the WELSH anthem.

We will watch the opening ceremony and I will follow some of the games (or results anyway).  One of my cousins has said that he expects me to be supporting Wales!  I tend to sway between  New Zealand and Wales.

There are two games here in Whangarei but I am not sure which teams are playing which shows how much I follow Rugby.

Sand Mandala - 2

Another wonderful day - it must be spring.  We went down to the Town Basin to see the Sand Mandala sprinkled in the river.  This photo was taken just after the sand had been sprinkled in the water followed by everyone throwing in their flowers.

These two shots are looking both up and down river from just above where the ceremony took place.  The white "sails" are a canopy that is being put in place over the old bridge which will be used as an artisan's market.

When we got home this New Zealand Pigeon was in the tree at the bottom of the garden.  Not the best shot as it was taken from a distance from inside the house.

Sand Mandala

A wonderful clear sunny day today and we went to see Tibetan Monks creating a Sand Mandala.  It takes ten days to create and was nearing completion.  Tomorrow is the closing ceremony when it is blessed and then taken to the river and scattered.  The Buddhist Centre is on the outskirts of Kamo but the Mandala is being created at the new Yvonne Rust Gallery.  Also in the gallery is the Great Plate Auction Exhibition and I took some photos of some of the plates.  Each artist is given a bisque fired ceramic plate and they create a plate in sellable form which is donated to the Gallery.

Well, the pictures didn't all come in the order I expected but they are of some of the plates and the Sand Mandala.  The colours in the Mandala are amazing and it is fascinating to see the fine work being done.  We may go down to the Town Basin tomorrow to see the scattering of the sand in the River.

As you can see there is great variety in the plates many of which have been sold and removed.

Surely Spring Can't be too Far Away

Surely Spring can't be too far away with these flowers appearing in the garden.