waitangi day

My friend Arti is staying with us at the moment, and the sun is shining bright and hot, and all the children of New Zealand went back to school today. We spent our Waitangi Day yesterday sitting in the garden, and talking, and in the evening we had dinner on the beach and swam in the sea. It was glorious.

After reading Kate's beautiful post yesterday, I thought about what Waitangi Day means to me. And imagined I was celebrating at Waitangi itself, rather than in Nelson, where I must say, it's easy to forget we live in a multi-cultural country. I visited Waitangi for the first time over a year ago, and fell in love with the feel of the place, and the expansive grass field in front of the meeting house which stretches right out to the sea and could be the end of the world.

I think to me, the day is about remembering the past of our land, feeling connected to and part of the land we're living on, and looking towards a hopeful future here in this country. One where all people are welcome, and can take refuge in our communities. And one where we can learn to walk more lightly on the earth itself. I think we have a long way to go, but there's so much hope there.

I changed my links around today, with some new blogs that I have fallen in love with lately, so I hope you like them too. And I wanted to give a special mention to a site I found a while ago: all is full of love. Daily drawings to make you want to dig out your coloured pencils. I especially love this one: a pink dress with visitors at the washing line.