Surprise!

Hubby came home with this Christmas candy today.

I'm not sure what I think about it!

 

this life and the next

  I grew up watching TV. Even if there were only 3 stations to watch and they all went off the air at midnight, right after playing the national anthem.

Of course, there were conflicts among my older brother and sister and me. But they were both gone from the house when I was about 13 or so. After they left, I watched pretty much what I wanted--back when there was no cursing or intensely bloody scenes before 8:30pm.

 Now I watch favorites online. OK, I binge them on occasion.

Situations and writing have certainly changed in all these years (more than 60, I reckon) but I have noticed one thing that has stayed the same--people don't want to die.

As an onlooker in the various situations that are presented, people inevitably beg, 'Save me!'--even when they face an atrocious, extensive and/or painful recovery/life. They endure whatever forces of nature try to stand in their way to hang on. 

They rarely 'go' without a fight. Like the shopping won't get done or the cleaning or gardening if they don't do it.

And, I have to wonder if they just fear the unknown or they have an idea about the 'afterlife' and aren't in a hurry to get there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry to die.  But, I'm not afraid to die.

Maybe it's because I have faith that I will eventually be with Jesus when this life is over, but I often shake my head at the dialogue.

Awatuna Stores Ltd

This little closed-up store, just down the road from where I live now, caught my attention very early in my Taranaki adventures. It is, like so many abandoned buildings, just sitting alone at a crossroads--although, the old Awatuna Dairy Factory is just down the road that runs beside it.

Over the years, it was left neglected. The gas pump was taken out and the building was left to become overgrown with weeds and vines.

Then, a few months ago, we noticed the weeds were being cut and piled up in the back. After much work, I was excited to see that there might be some life in the little place once more!

This is the original store.

Awatuna is a small settlement in South Taranaki, New Zealand, on the Eltham-Opunake road, south of Mount Egmont/Taranaki on the Waimate plain. Awatuna developed from the late 1880s as a dairy factory settlement.

The Waimate plain was once one of New Zealand's most densely populated rural areas in New Zealand. There were small communities, often centered on the dairy factory or school, at nearly every intersection of the grid of roads in the area. Awatuna was one of these settlements.

Click here for some history of the Awatuna area.

Medical update

 Went to the doctor to get results of the tests I took in NP a while back. When the nurse did the usual  tests of pulse and bp, they were off the charts LOW, so he sent me to the hospital in the closest town with an ER. 

While there for 5 hours or so, they figured out one of my regular meds was causing it. Very long day,