Recycling the past

I popped into Elm Park school on my way home from work today. I hope they will like my donation. We transferred a large carton of unit boxes full of lesson plans and resources, an encyclopedia of NZ history and a big carton of children's books for the library plus a big crate of craft materials.Courtesy of my time as a teacher in NZ.

It's great to help out others and all it took was for me to let go of my stuff. The same for many of my belongings over the past couple of days - lots of people are enjoying my things, not just me. I think that's rather cool. My shell collection is with a bright little boy who is also excited to have bought a kite and some model kitsets from me. My Halloween costumes for girls are with someone's Grandma. Garden plantfood and other bits and bobs are with a Chinese man who seemed to want a lot for almost nothing, a friend is enjoying my container plants and an oldish man is enjoying a very eclectic mix of furniture and other belongings. My books and DVDS are all over the suburb. Some of my smaller musical instruments will be entertaining young and old.

The garage has never been tidier or more empty. Shelves and cupboards in the house are emptying. It shouldn't be too difficult to clean things before I go. It seems my property manager has found a family as my first tenants so the boxes are being ticked.

I think I'll invite the Salvation Army in to collect the left-over linen, furniture, toys and books. I'm enjoying being able to give and share, but I'm running out of stuff. There's still my time I can give and plan to do a bit of that before I leave.

Thankfully the weather was kind on Sunday so I was able to enjoy time tidying up in my garden. The temperatures just need to increase a little and growth will explode everywhere. I can see that if I can keep the snails at bay I might even enjoy a handful of clivia before I leave my home. They are such cheerful orange blooms.

Tomorrow I have my last french lesson at le petit village on Great North Road. It's been great to be able to develop my confidence in conversational french with Frederic there. In two weeks I'll be on my way to being surrounded by french language - quite a challenge.