South Winds

Awake, O north wind,
And come, wind of the south;
Make my garden breathe out frangrance,
Let its spices be wafted abroad.
May my beloved come into his garden
And eat its choice fruits!” Song of Solomon 4:16

It turned cold the other day, and Andrew said the South Winds bring the cold temps. I was struck by how that would make understanding this passage different, for the winds would be reversed. In the northern Hemisphere, a north wind would bring the cold, and the south in turn would bring the balmy warm weather. I had a laugh to myself at how many times I’ve prayed this passage, saying, “Lord let your North wind do its work. Through trials and sufferings, through the difficult times, the bitter cold hard times, prepare your garden in me. Come South wind, soothe me with the balm of God’s loving kindness, and grace, so that my garden will be a resting place for the Son of Man to rest His head, for the King to partake of its choice fruits. Lord in due season, bring tribulations so that through the fellowship of His sufferings, I might be conformed to His death, that I might know him, and comfort us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Lord let the winds blow, so that the fragrance of Jesus might be made manifest through my life.”

So the South winds are bringing winter, and I woke up yesterday and realized it was deja vu all over again. I was in New Zealand with an inadequate wardrobe once again. But this time, I could do something about it. Heather took me shopping for warm things. I got fleecy wooly heavy things. And miracle of miracles, they aren’t in black, grey or brown! I know. I’m shocked too. She talked me into jewel tones…a deep red, saphire blue, raspberry and forest green (my mama will be so pleased). Well, ok, one grey shirt. I haven’t totally slipped into brightness. But warm! One is even Merino wool and possum. Yeah, you read that right. Possum. How cool is that!

Oh, and Heather insisted I had to have gum boots to muck around on the farm and keep my feet dry. So I’m all kitted out for the brisk weather. Let the South winds come!

Bet you can’t guess which ones are mine!

Down on the Farm

So what is a mountain girl doing on a dairy farm in New Zealand? Hmmm…good question. God has a wicked sense of humor? I’m not causing TOO much trouble for once. Just one broken teacup and one melted tea kettle. It could have been worse. But I’ve survived my first Rugby game. Go Chiefs!! And handbrake slides in the paddock (I think they are meant to scare me, but I actually think they are fun, just don’t tell anyone that please, or they might stop). And HEAPS, I mean HEAPS! of teasing. Oh, and I’ve only gotten rained on while walking twice, which is pretty amazing actually. And I’ve met wonderful people and had some great conversations. Good stuff.

And I’m actually going to bed at decent hours and make it to breakfast some mornings, which I’m more or less eating, for the first time in my life. So I’m on a pretty normal schedule. Strange. Using the words I and schedule in the same sentence. The days here seem to revolve around Tea. Breakfast at 7 a.m., with tea not coffee. Then morning tea at 10 a.m., followed by lunch at 12:30 and afternoon tea at 3 p.m. (with biscuits, which are actually cookies…I just might put on some weight if I keep this up much longer). Then Tea, which is dinner, they just call it Tea, which is pretty funny to me cause it’s the only time of day that we don’t actually have tea! Why?! Then evening tea about 9 or so. Quite a change for a girl that usually just wanders into the kitchen when she feels like it, and eats or drinks whatever strikes her fancy.

The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, the country beautiful beyond description, and I see a rainbow most days. Yesterday I saw 12! Twelve rainbows in one day…incredible. But that isn’t actually my favorite view around here :-).

A day with the girls

So the guys went up a River to shoot goats. Uh. Sounds fun. I guess. Not being all into guns and goats and boats, I’m only speculating. But from the photographic evidence, seems to have been fun for guys.

*Photo by Sam I, used by permision. Ok, so technically I don’t have permission, but possession being 9/10ths of the law and all, I figure if it is on my lappy, I can use it.*

So, we had a girls day out. Linda, Olivia, Kate and I drove over to the beach at Raglan for some girl style fun. We started off with a bit of window shopping and cappuccinos at a cute cafe. Then down to the beach for a long walk, some photos and talking. Lots of talking. And playing. And talking. Then finished the day off with fish and chips at the beach. Which was the only thing the boys and girls had in common. Turns out they had fish and chips too. Ha.

Coromandel

It’s that dream we carry with us
That something wonderful will happen,
That it has to happen,
That time will open,
That the heart will open,
That doors will open,
That the mountains will open,
That wells will leap up,
That the dream will open,
That one morning we’ll slip in
To a harbor that we’ve never known.

Olav H. Hauge

Port Waikato to Te Akau

Andrew gave me a special treat…a long drive…with plenty of stops for photos. Doesn’t get any better than that. We went over to Port Waikato and had a picnic lunch with a walk on the beach, then drove up into the hills. It was a great curvy road, with spectacular views. And sheep. Gazillions of sheep. Way cool. Oh, and mountain goats, pheasants, tons of wild turkeys, and heaps of other things I can’t remember the names of, but that were pretty cool as well. Then after afternoon tea at the only coffee shop we saw all day, way out in the middle of nowhere, at exactly the time for tea…how cool is that, we turned back toward the coast and had more spectacular views and more photo ops. Andrew is patient with that as he loves photography too! So I didn’t feel a bit guilty for once when I asked him to stop the car! when a great vista came into view. Oh, and we saw one really funny thing…a refrigerator used as a mailbox! Only in New Zealand! What a great day.

Farewell to Texas

To quote one of my favorite people, Heidibelle, “It’s SPRINGTIME in Tyler and as all Tylerites know, that means simply MAGICAL and beautiful.” So true girl. So why am I trading this glorious spring in the South for fall in the Southern Hemisphere? Hmmm…it must be one humdinger of a reason…or I’m just crazy.

It’s All About Me

I came across this today while checking to see where my stuff had been used recently. I thought it was quite amusing.

Sylvia Cole 

Etymology

Forename: 
Origin: Latin (Root: Silvia)
Meaning: Belonging to the Forest

Surname:
Origin: A surname meaning “black” in Old English or an abbreviation of Nicholas, common among the Dutch.

Just the Facts:

1. Backwards, it is Aivlys Eloc… nice ring to it, huh?
2. In Pig Latin, it is Iasylvay Olecay.
3. In ASCII binary it is…
   01010011 01111001 01101100 01110110 01101001 01100001 00100000 01000011 01101111 01101100 01100101
4. People with this first name are probably: Female. So, you are constantly overcharged for beauty products.
5. 40% of the letters are vowels. Of one million first and last names we looked at, 29.7% have a higher vowel make-up. This means you are well envoweled.
6. Your ‘Numerology’ number is 6. If it wasn’t bulls**t, it would mean that you are responsible, careful, and compassionate. A giver, you are there to support and care for the most vulnerable.
7. According to the US Census Bureau°, 0.177% of US residents have the first name ‘Sylvia’ and 0.0776% have the surname ‘Cole’. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 412 ‘Sylvia Cole’s.

The Week of the Dog

I’m always surprised by the unexpected things that develop with change. I think that is one of the reasons I love change so much, the mystery of what will happen next. But I’m really surprised when it is just a small change in routine that can have strange consequences. I recently made some changes to my schedule, mainly to spend more time with my son before he embarks on a major change himself that could result in me not seeing him for quite some time.

We used to walk together most days in the early afternoon. And then I usually went for a long walk later, either in the evening or late night for myself. I love walking and praying. But he started upping his distances, so if I wanted to walk with him, I had to go twice as far as normal. But then I realized. Wait, it’s not really anymore than what I do anyway, it’s just all in one chunk of time, not two. And I was actually quite surprised at how easy it was. I think distance was just more of a mental barrier than reality.

But those longer distances took us into new territory geographically. And that’s where the surprise came. We were walking down the road talking away, when suddenly, a Rottweiler ran out of nowhere and bit me on the behind. Twice. Hurt like the dickens. Brando got between me and the dog in seconds, but it seemed like an eternity, and shook me up pretty badly. Brando joked that at least it wasn’t a pit bull.

So the next two days, he just went to the gym and I stayed closer to home. But by the third day, fear had lessoned and I ventured out again. Alone this time. And found the pit bull. It didn’t actually bite me at least. But it was 100 times more terrifying. It had me pinned up against a fence for close to 5 minutes, snarling and lunging and growling. It would get about half an inch from me and snap it’s jaws shut. Terrifying.

Man, did I pray! And not my soft, quiet Miss Sylvia prayers. I was prayin’ Miss Ruby style! I think there may have even been a Shondala or Shaba Shaba or two in there somewhere. I KNOW there were a lot of FATHER GOD!!s, along with a plentiful supply of In the NA-AMe of JUH-EEE-SUSSSes. Funny how all those mornings and nights praying together, I absorbed more from her than I would have thought!

So, the next day we decided that inner city might be a bit safer than the country. It seems like a strange contradiction for someone who grew up in the mountains and loves the outdoors, but I love inner cities. Although I see lots of things that are horrendously ugly, I find unexpected beauty everywhere. And that contrast is so delightful to me.

Thank you Ruby, for showing me a different way to pray! And thank you dogs, for reminding me that sometimes assertiveness, especially in prayer, is necessary. And for getting me back into the city! Wanna see some of the beautiful things I found walking downtown? Ok!