Start of a beautiful day

Woke to a crisp clear morning, long enough before sunrise to be able to get down to the rocks at the southern end of Snells in time to record the rising of the sun. A beach run, with pauses to look at: the swallows high up the cliff where they were obviously catching miniscule flying food; places where it looks as if there has been collapse of part of the cliff face; karoro (blackbacked gull) perched on a rock; a takatu (Australasian gannet) cruising over the incoming tide in a hunt for fish; kotare (kingfishers) everywhere but never still.

A relaxed breakfast before heading further north to Mangawhai to have lunch with our recently bereaved friend. It was good to spend time with him. As he said, the first days and weeks are full of things that have to be organised and done. Now is when it really hits. Hopefully our visit helps a little.

Back to the beach house, and then to see S' mother. S donned her gown and trencher so that her mother could see her as she was on Thursday. Despite the struggle to speak loudly and clearly enough for her to hear, it was good to let her see how very very well S has done. She enjoyed a showing of photos from the graduation day.

And all the while the sun shone brightly, if not as warm as we might have liked.