My sister Linda asked about a picture I posted earlier, of a lavender sky in New Zealand. I assured her it was the actual color of the sky. The sunset in our back yard last night was lovely different shades of lavender.
Our back yard last night. Photo is unretouched
We hadn't been to Hamilton and the temple since we first came to New Zealand, so naturally, we came three weeks in a row. This time we came with two sisters, Bev and Mere, to do sealings.
While visiting the Hamilton Mission offices, we came across one of our Rotorua missionaries, Sister Nonu. We wish the missionaries wouldn't transfer away, but then we would never meet wonderful new missionaries.
Across from the temple is the church farm. Here you can see a silage pit covered with white plastic and tires. This picture is for my children, who know all about putting plastic and tires over a silage pit.
Clouds on the way home. New Zealand has spectacular clouds.
We stopped in Tirau and had ice cream cones at LaMore. Quite the best ice cream I've had since coming to New Zealand.
A sign for the roundabout putting you onto Highway 5 and Rotorua
One last photo of our District missionaries, all together. We lost four of them this week to transfers. So, we will learn to love four more wonderful young missionaries.
This week Elder Rooks and I attended a presentation of Handel's "Messiah" at St. Mary's chapel. A member of the Fairy Springs Ward, who has the voice of an angel, gave us the invitation. With balmy weather in December, and no great commercial push in the stores, this helped remind us of Christmas and bring it home to us. The choir, organist, conductor, and soloists did a fabulous job.
We drove to Hamurana to visit the Connellys again, and I casually asked if there was any New Zealand flax that needed to be cut. So they walked with us toward the lake, where giant clumps of flax were growing. We passed the neighbors' wire sculptures.
Liz brought her knife and, after a prayer of thanksgiving, she cut many long leaves of Harakeke, New Zealand flax. Hopefully I'll be able to prepare these properly and they will last me awhile. A member of the Fairy Springs Ward, who is a weaving professional, has asked me to teach her how to play the piano in exchange for instructions in weaving.
We went to the temple a week later to do sealings with Alleen, who has been faithfully researching her Scottish ancestors.
Since I'm not in Fruitland posting pictures of my Sunday flower arrangements (they are all frozen now anyway), here's my current flower arrangement in a Barker's of Geraldine Lemon, Honey and Ginger syrup bottle
Our tomato plants may have to stand in for a Christmas tree, since we have no decorations in our house. We have been eating cherry tomatoes for several weeks now, and sharing them with people we like.
Another lovely shade of lavender
Also this week, two of my sons are on opposite sides of the world. Conrad is in Prague, the Czech Republic, hiring people for Vacasa, where he is Senior Director of Machine Learning. A lot of snow has been falling there.
When the work was done, he of course took a cooking class so he can outdo his brothers.
Conrad's younger brother Dr. Casey is in Singapore accompanied by a Ph.D. candidate from Boise State University. Both of them are giving presentations at a conference on Artificial Intelligence. You can see he is closer to us than Conrad is. The D on the map in New Zealand is Dewane.
Dr. Casey says it is not snowing in Singapore. He tells us, "It's so humid here that my glasses fog up when I go outside instead of inside."
We hadn't seen or heard from Mr. Pukeko for weeks, but he showed up for one day only. I know this because I was woken up during the night alternately by Mr. Pukeko screeching, a catfight, and someone snoring. I won't say who.
I am occasionally awakened by fireworks, which you can buy in New Zealand for one day only, on November 5th, Guy Fawkes' Day, but you can set them off any time you want. So you plan on hearing fireworks for all of November until the enthusiasts finally run out.
I'm sure the Kiwis don't have as much appreciation for Guy Fawkes as the English do, since he was part of the Gunpowder Plot meant to blow up the English Parliament Building. But it is a good excuse for the Kiwis to set off fireworks anyway.
