Putting others before ours really makes a difference!

I woke up early to go for a walk with Mom and Graham this morning. However, the weather did not cooperate well. Later on, though, the Mother Nature decided to change its mind and turned out to be great, so we decided to go out for a quick walk and looked at all the new homes. There are many modern houses now in the area. I remembered seeing a few houses along the beach. My family, friends and I used to go for a hike to the peninsula and claimed up the hill to get the other side of the mountain where the town is located. It was even more fun, I still remember vividly, when I went out fishing with Graham and the neighbour. They warned me not to go as I might get emotion sickness. Stubbornly enough, I did not listen, so they had to bring me back after 2 minutes of fishing (well more like feeding fish with the "leftover" from dinner) Graham caught a lot of fish then!

When we came back to the house after our walk in about 10+ degrees (it was a cold morning alright), we spotted two whale watching boats, so Mom told me to look at them with the telescope to see there might be some whales. Sure enough, I saw some spurts of water from a whale and finally this spectacular moment appeared before my eyes. I saw a whale’s tale flipping above the surface! It was a great experience seeing it without having to spend $100+ at all.

Then, I baked Chocolate Chip and Walnuts Muffins to bring to a meeting of Kaikoura Garden Club. There were about twenty ladies at the ages from 60 to 80. They were there to make flowers arrangements to bring to the local hospital for patients. I helped them make one arrangement as well,and I thought I did a great job doing it for the first time. I made more “friends” there. I thought how great it was to be able to bring a smile on the faces of the patients. Giving tender care, love and happiness to other people is blessing...merely little things we give out to others without thinking of getting anything in return can make a big difference on both the sender and the receiver.

On the way back, Shane and Dawn’s children, Hamish (15 yrs of age), Tessa (13 yrs of age), and Jake (11 yrs of age), came along with us home. They could not recognize who I was at first, which was sad, but we clicked so well not long after the muffins I made. I guessed the muffins did the trick! When I was here 11 years ago, Hamish was about 4 years ago, Tessa was about 2 years old and Jake was about 1 month old. I kind of understood and was then thinking of Kelli in America. I was with Kelli when she was 6 months old and 2 years old, so I was afraid that Kelli would not be able to recognize me when I go back to see her in the States again. The kids and I made some flower arrangements together and the kids brought them to their mom. They are great kids I have to say. Tonight, we had lamb chops with mashed potatoes and some steamed peas and corn with red and white wines. Another day has gone by again and I just could not believe it that I am actually here in New Zealand again!