Pushing Through

As I write this, Autumn with all its whims and vagaries, is bowing out and leaving the stage to winter.

Winter is impatient to take the spotlight and today we awoke to sleet and hail.

I'm hoping that the mild days (like the one when I took this photo) haven't completely fled the scene.

This little cornflower is a late arrival in our garden. I didn't get the seeds planted until the end of summer, so as a result the flowers are small. But hardy, I trust. I'm going to have to check on its condition after today's onslaught of hail. Cornflowers aren't designed to flourish in wintry conditions. They are happier growing among a field of wheat. I remember seeing clouds of them (along with red poppies) in the wheatfields of Germany when we were there two summers ago.

Speaking of red poppies ... this is a display of knitted and crocheted poppies in Toitu Otago Settlers Museum. Each poppy represents a life of a soldier lost in the First World War. Otago and Southland lost a heck of a lot of young men at Gallipoli , Turkey one hundred years ago. Among them, my great-uncle Joe Butler. They are not forgotten.

Part of the Toitu museum was once a draughty bus depot where often on Friday nights, I'd catch the bus to Gore. What a cold place it was to wait for a bus. I remember these heavy doors well. You'd push them open to enter a space with a beautiful mosaic floor. Ahead of you were the small ticket booths.

There has been a lot of change in my life lately. I have been pushing through some heavy doors and gateways in order to enter this new phase. It is still my life, but not as I knew it. Change is good. At least that is what I am telling myself.