Tuesday of the Second Week

Things have been getting off to a slowish start.  The weather is hard to figure out, and Friday the sixth, I began to get a cold.  After getting some things done in the church, I took an opportunity to take some pictures of the garden  beside the church.

  It is a lovely tangled mix of things that apparently will continue to bloom for quite some time.
The residents of the Papanui area are planting herbs, brussel sprouts and chard now.  I may get some cilantro going so we can have fresh throughthe winter.



On Saturday Phil and Sue came by around ten o'clock to go out to Sumner to find the market stalls that used to cluster around the Museum and art gallery just a block or two away from Cathedral Square.  We drove to the place where it had been advertised as being, only to discover that on this partiular weekend it was closed.  Just as well since the weather, which was supposed to be fine, was anything but.  It moved from fine drizzle to downpour to drizzle again.  All of us were thoroughly wet, especially as we had to keep jumping out of the car in order to take pictures. 

Most of us have seen the place where the huge rock fell on to a (fortunately) empty Veterans Hall. There was a lot of damage right along that road.
Below is a beautiful church that was in wonderful condition; it did not sustain much, if any, damage during the recent quake, however the rock face behind it is so damaged now, the building is comdemned.  As you can see on the left, it has a lovely lych gate, something not uncommon to this area of New Zealand. " What is a lych gate?" I hear my North American friends ask.  To become informed on all things lych, follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychgate

On the way to Sumner we saw a rather unique form of barrier lining the highway to help protect cars from the still-falling rock.

Sea shipping crates.  Phil, Sue and I all  supposed that they would have to be full in order to be useful.  However, the next question is "I wonder what's in them".

 Sight seeing in the drizzle is pretty hard work.  So we stopped off for a half pint and something to eat.

As you can see, we really were quite damp.  Thankfully there was a fire going just to the left of Sue.

 I got home in time a nap, followed by dinner, Kieran had made a stew with some of the beef that he had brought from home.  It was heavily spiced with rosemary, parsley and oregano. His dad does what is called home butchering.  I understand it is like a private business for his cusomers home consuption. 
The next day was Sunday, and I was at the church early to meet with my lay reader, Emma.  In New Zealand the terminology for the lay liturgical assistant is "precentor" coming from the word 'cantor' .  The precentor neither robes nor preaches, but assists in the service.
Everything seemed to go well, the people were very kind, and both eight and eleven o'clock services were well attended. 
Tomorrow is the clergy conference for the Diocese of Christchuch--it starts at noon Tuesday and ends after noon on Thursday.  I will be sharing a house there with Sue and Phil.
BTW, my cold is in full bloom now, and I feel rotten from the throat up--tomorrow it will be better.