Little Luxuries

We've just finished a 5 week stint house-sitting; it's something we could have got quite accustomed to as the property featured in the May edition of NZ House & Garden! Peter and Juliet had gone to South America, primarily to visit their daughter and son-in-law, who are YWAM missionaries in Brazil, and their new granddaughter. We felt at home almost immediately, probably because we'd stayed there before (in February) so we knew where everything was but this time the biggest blessing was not the swimming pool but the wood-burning stoves! The garden was still producing delicious vegetables (leeks, spinach, cauliflowers & broccoli and still new potatoes!) and having a bath was just heaven - I don't think I've ever been so clean (or wrinkled!).
The weather had been pretty good until the third week in May when it rained for seven days non-stop. Once again everybody was telling us they couldn't remember ever having this much rain in Canterbury. We didn't really mind because we were cosy & dry and had a tumble dryer but when water started dripping through the ceiling on the seventh morning of rain we did get slightly concerned. Fortunately the downpour ceased soon after and the roof could cope again. We bonded more with the cats this time too as we fed them (we didn't let them starve before but just filled an automatic feeder!) and they seemed to be in more sheltering from the dreadful weather. Having called them Mitsy & Motsy for the duration of our last stay, we discovered their names were Jack & Frieda. I had forgotten how nice it was to have pets around though vomitting up their last meal including traces of the mouse they just caught is slightly off-putting.
It was nice to have more space to entertain friends and on the Queen's Birthday weekend (how bizarre for Kiwis to have the Queen's birthday as a public holiday...) our small group came for lunch and stayed & played tennis & games until the evening.
This term has been good for us to really get into the swing of the youth & children's stuff we've started (if you ring & get our answer phone message you will have the opportunity to share the week's investigation codeword with us as well as any information you've discovered about Jesus through the week...!). I'm still focussed with the church in Rangiora but Neil is working more with the smaller churches in the parish, helping them work with children and families.
The weather is now cold. And not just a one off day! Our oil column heater seems to heat our little flat well enough; that is one advantage of having a small home - you can heat the whole flat as opposed to just the main living area where the temperature then plummets when you go to the bathroom or to bed.
The Lions rugby team have also arrived and played their first four matches which has made us rather nervous as they haven't been incredibally convincing. A couple of people have asked us if we'll have difficulty deciding who to support; uh, no. Really not been here long enough for that to be an issue! Though you can buy a half Lions & half All Black shirt for those whose loyalties are torn. There are so many English immigrants here in Rangiora that one sweet shop has tapped into the market by ordering boxes of Walkers crisps, Jaffa cakes, Double Deckers, Galaxy chocolate, Wine Gums etc. from the UK. The shop keeper told us people can't get enough of them and one English child in my Bible in Schools class reminds me weekly of items I can now purcahse in 'Just Lollies' (lolly is the Kiwi word for sweet). I hadn't even missed Jaffa cakes until they were mentioned...