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The Best Mentor of All

The whole idea of going outside to paint really appeals to me. I love being outside. I love painting. I love all the beauty we have around us. So going outside to paint the beauty I see and wallow in the gratefulness of it all, just like a pig in mud, is a win/win for […]

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White Noise

It was the line in his poem ‘To The Mountains’ that I have had going round and round in my head. To The Mountains Peace whipped around by the wind warmed by the winter sun sung to by the battered flax frowned upon by the commanding mountains But peace, easy in its age old form […]

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A Grateful People

The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat ha’tov, which literally means ‘to recognise the good’. The neat thing about recognising the good is that when we start with even the smallest of things it multiplies and we find ourselves with more and more things to be grateful for. We are told in scripture to give […]

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I haven’t stopped

It may have been ages since I have been posting on this platform, but, rest assured my need for being grateful has not diminished at all. In fact, with all the busy happenings in our world, I have actually been more reliant than ever on taking the time to fill out my ‘grateful list’ each […]

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Joyful in Sorrow

While chatting she asked the question, ‘Can you be both sad and grateful at the same time?’.It’s been percolating on the back burner ever since. Can I be sad and grateful together? Can I be joyful in sorrow? They seem diametrically opposed, but are they? Once upon a time I would have said a definite […]

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Just in Time

Yep, we were definitely just in time! Just in time for our trip to Auckland to spend time with our kids before the country goes back into lockdown. Being grateful for things working out well… that hubby and I didn’t end up separated in different parts of the country, that we had this time together […]

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The Gardener

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922) French novelist I hear him say he’d like to have a vege garden one day, but I don’t think he considers himself a gardener at the moment. I smile […]

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Ho-say Who?

Ho-say Who?    Ideas are interesting things, they can strike at any moment and sometimes in the most inconvenient times.  If you capture the idea, sometimes that wild thought can lead you on a colourful and unexpected journey.  Writing children’s books has been that for me.  My first book, ‘Joyspring’s Song” came from an idea […]

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Lost Joy

They were all neatly stacked and in order, words piled up on words. There was LOVE and PEACE; HOPE was in its place. CAKE and DRINK side by side, but where was JOY? Sneaky word, it had jumped away when I wasn’t looking. It was there a minute ago, but now?  Where did JOY go? […]

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Pakira Marae Opening in Waitahanui

A special day was dawning so in the dark  we all gathered outside waiting to be welcomed in. The call went out and slowly the crowd moved through. We filed along with them expectant. Ipads and camera flashes illuminating the dark along with fire drums emitting both light and heat. The drone overhead capturing the […]

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