A Busy Week
Sue and Margery with Arnett beore leaving for Aussie
Arnett's Kitchen before the make over
Me in Arnett's kitchen after the make over.
Arnett said I am the spitting image of my granddad
Hello everyone, I’m a bit late this week on account of the work load I have had this week. I can hear you all saying tell us another one. It has been fairly hot this week and the summer has arrived here in Christchurch three months late. One day it reached 32 degrees very nice. But I hear you are having a very mild winter on the whole.
On Sunday we said goodbye to Sue and Margery who were heading home to Sydney after a lovely week touring the south Island. But before they went trying to get a snack after two on a Sunday in Christchurch is very difficult. Some times I wonder if they want tourist to come. They seem to have the attitude that they are doing a big favour by letting tourists into the country. The towns do not seem to cater for the everyday needs of tourist. I wont go on.
It has been a busy week in the hospital as I have been showing Sister Mary around the hospital and introducing her to the ward staff. When I first went there I was just shown the hospital, where the chapel and office were, the lifts to the floor and then was left to get on with it. So I thought it would be a good idea to take sister around so that she wouldn’t have to go in to the job cold. It worked out very well, even though it took us three mornings to get round all the wards as well as see the patients.
Sister Mary was the principle of a big Catholic girl’s school in Christchurch called Villa Maria. It was amazing just ho many people knew her and this was a great asset in breaking down barriers. On our first trip round the wards we were stopped by three people who recognised her, and wanted our prayers and the sacrament of the Eucharist and Anointing. They would have slipped through the net only for sister as they were not down on our list as RCs. I personally feel sister Mary will be an excellent chaplain as she knows so many people and has a lovely sympathetic and homely way about her and is also a woman of the world.
I had a very sad but enriching experience this week. I was called up to one of the wards to see a young person who was suffering from an eating disorder. Before I went into the ward I was warned to be prepared for a shock as the poor person had been suffering from the disease for many years. I was glad as the poor sight before me if I had not been warned would have drew a gasp of pity from me. The person before me was just a skeleton with skin on, hardly breathing at all. I anointed the person and the minute I had finished celebrating the sacrament with her and her family than she stopped breathing and died. It was all very peaceful but sad. I felt so sad for the parents who had lived with this illness of their child for so many years. But as the father said their child now wasn’t suffering any more at was at peace with the Lord.
On a lighter note, when I first came to New Zealand I said to my uncle that I would decorate his kitchen. The reason for this was when uncle Arnett decorated it over twenty years ago his eye sight was not at is best to say the least. He could not see the patchwork quilt he had made with the colours. To him one coat of paint was enough but the fact was it wasn’t as you could see the dark pink patches shinning through the turquoise blue that was on top. He still swears that the paint he put on was green! By all accounts the whole kitchen was that colour until he wanted to lighten it up with a couple of the walls painted white. But by the time he was doing this his eye sight was even worse so he could distinguish what he had painted first so the thing was a bit of a mess. When I asked him what Evelyn thought about it all he said she just said “That’s lovely love.” Which was just what aunty Evelyn was like. Everything was lovely and nice. Therefore this last Tuesday and Wednesday I painted the kitchen a lovely pale daffodil colour. I let him pick the colour as he has to live with it. It wouldn’t have been my choice but as he said with only one eye truly working and that only at half speed, it needs a sharp colour for him to notice it. It was hard work but I did manage it and uncle watched me all the time. At first I thought it was too much but after a few days it has toned down. Now for the toilet and the bathroom and then thats it.
Well that’s all for this week I am still trying to get through Genesis but more about that next week.
Sister Mary was the principle of a big Catholic girl’s school in Christchurch called Villa Maria. It was amazing just ho many people knew her and this was a great asset in breaking down barriers. On our first trip round the wards we were stopped by three people who recognised her, and wanted our prayers and the sacrament of the Eucharist and Anointing. They would have slipped through the net only for sister as they were not down on our list as RCs. I personally feel sister Mary will be an excellent chaplain as she knows so many people and has a lovely sympathetic and homely way about her and is also a woman of the world.
I had a very sad but enriching experience this week. I was called up to one of the wards to see a young person who was suffering from an eating disorder. Before I went into the ward I was warned to be prepared for a shock as the poor person had been suffering from the disease for many years. I was glad as the poor sight before me if I had not been warned would have drew a gasp of pity from me. The person before me was just a skeleton with skin on, hardly breathing at all. I anointed the person and the minute I had finished celebrating the sacrament with her and her family than she stopped breathing and died. It was all very peaceful but sad. I felt so sad for the parents who had lived with this illness of their child for so many years. But as the father said their child now wasn’t suffering any more at was at peace with the Lord.
On a lighter note, when I first came to New Zealand I said to my uncle that I would decorate his kitchen. The reason for this was when uncle Arnett decorated it over twenty years ago his eye sight was not at is best to say the least. He could not see the patchwork quilt he had made with the colours. To him one coat of paint was enough but the fact was it wasn’t as you could see the dark pink patches shinning through the turquoise blue that was on top. He still swears that the paint he put on was green! By all accounts the whole kitchen was that colour until he wanted to lighten it up with a couple of the walls painted white. But by the time he was doing this his eye sight was even worse so he could distinguish what he had painted first so the thing was a bit of a mess. When I asked him what Evelyn thought about it all he said she just said “That’s lovely love.” Which was just what aunty Evelyn was like. Everything was lovely and nice. Therefore this last Tuesday and Wednesday I painted the kitchen a lovely pale daffodil colour. I let him pick the colour as he has to live with it. It wouldn’t have been my choice but as he said with only one eye truly working and that only at half speed, it needs a sharp colour for him to notice it. It was hard work but I did manage it and uncle watched me all the time. At first I thought it was too much but after a few days it has toned down. Now for the toilet and the bathroom and then thats it.
Well that’s all for this week I am still trying to get through Genesis but more about that next week.
posted by Fr Kevin @ 10:25 am
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