A Glass Full of Water

 … who lived next to school. She loved to hand knit woollen slippers for every student. Not just a few. Hundreds.  She knitted all day, most days, just in time for winter. Each slipper was a uniquely functional creation, multi coloured and textured. They weren’t perfect and they didn’t need to be. One size fitted all! No fancy labels.  They were delivered to the school office in boxes and handed out to each class. Students loved them. Each staff member got a pair too. They were free and they were ‘toasty warm’.  As a way of saying thank you to a couple of high school guest speakers at school, they were given a pair each. The looks of genuine delight on their faces said it all.  And it wasn’t just for the Hamilton school I was teaching at either. She also made them year after year for a larger primary school on the west side of the Waikato river.  On reflection, I need to revise my original number of hundreds. It was thousands.  I invited the TV 1 prese...

Back when dinosaurs walked the earth (ie when I was in my second year of teaching at Maungaturoto Primary School) the Year 5 and 6 classes (total of 100 students) were excitedly setting up their bunk rooms at a Mangawhai Heads camp. As the leader of this camp my next job was to outline to everyone our camp rules. eg Tidy bunk rooms, washing hands after using the toilets and keeping safe within the camp boundaries.  We had some free time before dinner so the students were allowed to play on the outdoor education equipment. All was well and then it wasn’t. A scream. An awful thud. Dust rising. Silence.  The sounds came from the direction of the rope swing. A girl lay crumpled and motionless on the bank.  Realising the serious of the situation an ambulance was called. On the way to Whangarei Hospital the girls life hung in the balance (as we found out later she had ruptured her spleen). There was nothing more that we could do for her back at camp, so the camp continued....

Val was in Hamilton last Thursday working through her list of ‘To do’s. Top of her list was the purchase of garden pavers for a landscaping job at our home. A hardware store staff member helped her load the heavy (25kg each - 8 in total) pavers on to a trolley. Whew.  At the checkout Val asked for a ‘heavy lift’ to put the pavers into our car but no staff members were available at the time. A young tradie (Tradesperson), a customer himself overheard her ask for help. “I’ll do it for you.”  He spent the next 15 minutes carefully ensuring that our car wasn’t scratched or dented during the moving of pavers from trolley to car. Thanks! A vigorous, grateful handshake followed.  But the story doesn’t finish there. The pavers still needed to be moved from our carport to the deck.  Cue a morning cafe conversation I had the next day with a friend. He asked me what I was going to do for the next few hours. Among a few other things, I mentioned the lifting job ahead of me. “I c...

Tired of streaky bench tops? Frustrated with dishcloths that unravel before your very eyes? Looking for a better option? Then look no further folks, my wife Val has the answer!  Val is an active relaxer and enjoys projects both inside and outside our Raglan home. Her current inside project is crocheting 100% cotton dishcloths. But there’s more. Each cloth takes about 2 hours to make. Each one is unique and measures approximately 24cm by 24cm. Colours I hear you ask? Dark mustard and different shades of green and dark blue. (Pink is available on request). They come in packages of 3 and are tied up with jute string. She gives them away (over 100 and counting) to family and friends. Recipients love them. “So good to use” “Better than bought ones” “Do you have any more please?” A couple of people have chosen to use them as facecloths. ‘Your skin will love you for it’ They are dishcloths made with and given in love. Guaranteed to bless.