Marching on

I see I ended with promising a new post 'sometime after Valentine's Day'. After six weeks very far away from home, with long-distance flights to throw off my circadian rhythms and mess with my head, it always takes me about three weeks to pull myself together. I'm about half way there. Hallo!

Rudolf Steiner indicates that during the first nights in a new country we can have significant dreams. That was certainly my experience when I first visited North America and encountered a few of the great spirits that belong to this continent. My first nights in New Zealand? Not so much, but kind of amusing. The second night we were there I dreamed three little bantam chicks hatched out and was puzzled to find there weren't any around. Hey ho, they arrived next morning. I'm still shaking my head over that one.

We soon got to know the two cocks, who seemed to delight in crowing right outside our window before five a.m. And kind of made friends with the two goats who do their best to keep some of the hillside tamed. Going backwards, the first morning brought the gift of two sweet kittens, dragged inside from their hiding place by their mother. What joy and delight they brought during the whole of our visit.

One of the most wonderful moments did, however, occur during our first night. Not having much accommodation in the converted shed our daughter, son-in-law and grandsons are living in while their house is being built, our son-in-law had the clever idea to hire a caravan for the dear husband and me. So we lay in a narrow bed under a wide window. I woke sometime during the night to take a sip of water and the d.h. said, "Look up at the sky. You'll see something special."
So I leaned across and looked out and there was the Southern Cross, hanging so bright and beautiful, like a special banner to welcome us.

Being in the Southern Hemisphere, going to the beach or the hot pools to swim, living a rural life that reminded me of our days on the farm, added up to the best, most restoring holiday I've had in years. I forgot all about the cold, and gradually managed to weave a relationship of sorts to this newly-discovered country.