(no subject)
It's been an exciting and weirdish week, the weirdest bit being introducing my sister to my sisters in Wanaka on Monday afternoon. My birth mother and two older sisters came over from Australia and arrived here in Dunedin on Friday afternoon, after spending time in Timaru with my nephew Shane (whom I haven't yet met) and his family.
On Saturday Sandra and I took them to the museum. Cree was taken with the paper-mâché bats that had been part of the museum's Halloween celebration, and Sandra was able to negotiate with Amadeo (who made them and is a College of Education student of hers) to get them for Cree to take back to White Cliffs, the opal mining settlement in New South Wales where she and our mother live.
On Sunday we went on the Taieri Gorge train up to Middlemarch and back. I always loved travelling on trains, and this was the first time in years I had been on one. Bring back the Southerner!! When we got to Middlemarch there was a lady with a harp, busking on the platform. She was at Whitestone, and remembered me. I felt intensely embarrassed not to remember her, as she would have been one of the few people there I didn't know. Her name is Sheila Ramsay. She is, by her own account, not a great harpist, but good enough for a blackboard concert or folk club spot. She told me about a folk festival that would be happening in Sutton from the 3rd to the 10th of January. I have not heard a breath of any such thing from anyone in the folk scene here. Run by a guy called Peter Mayes. I've never heard of him; I wonder if he's heard of us? Home again, and had the family round to tea; Polly and Amanda weren't able to make it.
Monday. I went with Althea and my sisters up to Central Otago via the Pigroot. It was a bright, hot day. First to Wanaka (only a week after I was last up there), where we found our way to the recycling centre where my (adopted) sister Wendy-Anne works. Introduced them. Via Cromwell to Arrowtown, with a stop at a winery. Cathrine and I did the wine-tasting thing. You go round the aroma room, then go and watch a film, where the owners of six different wineries talk about their particular Pinot Noir. You have samples of each one in front of you, and drink them as the owner tells you about them. One of the owners is Sam Neill, who does have the authentic New Zealand non-accent when he's not acting. We stayed a night in Arrowtown. In the afternoon I went with Cree for groceries, and showed her the Chinese gold-miners' village. In the evening I learned the game of Singapore Rummy. In the last hand, the first person to be able to form sets with the whole hand, with one card left over for the kitty, does so, and everybody else has the score for all their cards added to their score. This means that whoever wins the last hand wins the game, unless they've done hideously badly for the rest of the game. It's like catching the golden snitch.
Tuesday. Showed Cathrine the Chinese village before we headed into Queenstown for a couple of hours, took photographs, did some shopping, then home to Dunedin via Roxburgh and Milton. The weather was fine down to Beaumont, but turned cold and wet by the time we got to Lawrence. Paddy and Polly came to tea. Cathrine (mostly) and I cooked. Spent a large part of the evening, Althea, my sisters, Paddy and myself, sitting around the living room reading books, something we used to do a lot in this house, when the kids were all still here. Sandra has been flat out doing work for College over the last few days.
Wednesday. Went with Althea and my sisters to the art gallery. There is a painting there of the Duchess of Gloucester, done by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Standing inches away from something that had been touched by a man who had been one of Dr Johnson's inner circle, who had been in his presence many times, who had no doubt shaken his hand many times, I felt physically dizzy. Afterwards, out to the Warehouse in South Dunedin for something Althea wanted. Very cold today: it actually snowed a little. Even in Dunedin, snow in November (late spring) is very rare. Althea and Cree went out into the back yard for a minute or two so the snow could fall on them, something they'd never experienced before. We watched a couple of Black Books DVDs tonight. Daniel came down and stayed for a while, and Cree drove him home to Mornington. I went with them to guide her back.
Thursday (today). My family left this morning, heading for Christchurch, with a brief stop in Timaru. They fly back to Australia tomorrow. Sorry to be so chronicological, but it has been a nice time for me.