A Glass Full of Water

Have you noticed how flower colours never clash? What about the intricate repeated patterns? Not to mention the divine smells! Talk about sensory overload…  Over the past two years and on a personal note, Ange (Leef Floral design Raglan) created beautiful wedding anniversary bouquets for Val and I. They were made with loads of love and considerable skill. She personally delivered them to our restaurant table and we couldn’t help but note a ripple of smiles and admiring glances coming towards us. I remember asking Ange a few years ago, how she consistently achieves such beauty in her work. Her delightful reply was, “I just play with flowers.” Wow. What a metaphor for life with all its ups and downs. She just keeps things simple and she knows what is important to her… ‘Community, joy, love, empathy and my amazing family and friends’. In a Raglan Chronicle article, (Talking About Mental Health with Ruby Gibbs, August 24, 2023) Ange commented ‘she believes that as you get older, life g...

Smith & Caughey’s is a large department store in Queen Street, Auckland. The store was founded in 1880.  In the 1960’s Mum would occasionally take her six children for a morning tea treat upstairs in the cavernous building. Not so sure it was a treat for her! In the 1970’s, Dad’s chemist shop (Peter Horne Limited) was situated next door. It’s sad to note that Smith & Caughey’s will be downsizing in the near future due to declining revenues.  Last month TVNZ ran a story about Kevin Broadfoot, Smith & Caughey’s special projects manager, who started work with the store in 1980. He designs the Christmas animated windows and his work is all year round. Each year he looks for a new story theme and this year the theme is based around a New Zealand book titled The adventures of Huta and Kawa, by Avis Acres. This was a bestselling classic children’s book from the 1950’s and was re-issued in 2023.  Kevin says, “This year is tinged with sadness as this could be the last ...

A few days ago, my sister in law Anne sent me a thought provoking and beautifully written article . It is titled, The cancer patient who changed my approach to medicine (2023) and is by a first year University of Auckland medical student Thomas Swinburn. My edited version for space and brevity follows. ‘On the first day of my first clinical year I met a patient who would challenge my perception of clinical medicine, a Māori man named Ereuti. He wanted to leave hospital, but his oncologist told him that without the constant intravenous infusion, he would be making the choice to go home to die. I asked him what mattered most to him now. He replied, “What matters is regaining health, eating without this tube in my throat and moving my bowels naturally. Relationships. Relationships where I can be myself. Relationships like the one we’re building.”  I had no words for Ereuti’s answer. It drilled down to the very essence of what it meant to be human. I was uplifted and moved by what he s...