Happy moments

• Barney’s OM (original mother) has just driven off with him in the van en route to her holiday home for dogs. With him gone I’ve been able to open every door in the house. The sunshine is pouring through, cats are running round. I’m about to pack for the drive to Hamilton, where I’ll stay overnight with friends. I’m flooded with happiness – the sun, my dogless state, looking forward to the trip, feeling free and on the verge of an adventure
• The frost crunches underfoot as I walk round the garden in the chilly morning sun, looking for dog poo. My eye is caught by a flash of red. The japonica tree is in bloom. Bronze branches spike and glisten in the sun, studded by pale red flowers with yellow centres. I stand a moment to look at them, feeling entranced and joyful about their beauty and the coming of spring
• I lie back in the sun, letting it warm me. Barney is running round the deserted park, having fun exploring. I sit up and enjoy the view of brilliantly green lawns and huge pine trees surround them, the feeling of sun on my face

Good things for the last week

• I really enjoyed watching the film ‘For the Bible Tells us So” about the (bogus) Biblical basis for homophobia and the effect it has had on five families
• It was nice to see my buddies from the Hamilton Pride committee there
• my interview on the Bisexuals Group that I’m setting up finally recorded for Flat Out Queer radio after one failed attempt, and it was fun doing it
• delicious savoury pinwheel scones from the Tokoroa New World bakery – so huge and full of cream cheese, ham, and other good things
• One of my best friends rang from Wellington and we had a great chat
• Barney went to play with the older Staffy cross next door and they both had a wonderful time romping in the back yard
• Lovely drive past green fields bathed in afternoon sun, trees casting long shadows, some still covered with orange and rust coloured leaves
• Road works meant I could drive slowly past a thin waterfall that starts as a stream running across a paddock then falls over a rock slip into a gully surrounded by leafless poplars – if I was going normal speed I would have missed it
• I finally finished my GST return!
• I made good inroads on my backlog of emails