I\u2019d bought this CD, You Raise Me Up, at St Mary\u2019s Cathedral when I took two grandchildren, cousins Lauren and Jackson, on a pre-teen jaunt to Sydney. I remembered our Youth Hostels\u2019 fun adventures together. And Australian wildlife! No regrets.<\/p>\n
From Tikipunga to Hamilton there was not one single pothole; traffic was an orderly progression, no hold-ups; and then, the beautiful trees!<\/p>\n
I love the bare winter trees. You can see their integrity \u2013 their structure, what holds them upright, roots into the good earth, strong trunks, branches, their varied shapes, tracery against the sky, limbs, bifurcations, twigs, all reaching upwards to the sun.<\/p>\n
Much later on \u2013 leaves, buds, blossoms, fruits, seeds, all appear only because of roots, trunks and branches \u2013 foundations to build fruitful lives on. We humans need the same structures.<\/p>\n
Judith Durham and The Seekers entertained my drive home \u2013 remember Open up Them Pearly Gates? … Just a Closer Walk With Thee? …California Dreamin\u2019? … rich listening. Yes, sticking out for that CD player was so worth it.<\/p>\n
July 4 was the 250th anniversary of the United States of America\u2019s Declaration of Independence. A milestone. I\u2019ve just read an interesting article titled \u201cAMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL \u2013 Forget Donald Trump. The USA is Way More Civilised Than Britain!\u201d<\/p>\n
Gwendolyn Needham<\/p>\n
Our public library\u2019s magazine shelves keep me up to date journalistically with three countries I love dearly via those magazines.<\/p>\n
1. New Zealand (the Listener); 2. USA (The New Yorker); 3. Britain (The Oldie).<\/p>\n
All are somewhat erudite, stimulating, comprehensive, and entertaining.<\/p>\n
America the beautiful (The Oldie, July 2025) by A.N. Wilson, says America led the way in enlightened social change.<\/p>\n
What was revolutionary in 1970 is now normal throughout the world; Americans are unfailingly polite, addressing strangers as \u201cSir\u201d and \u201cMa\u2019am\u201d; and \u201cthe madness of Trump will soon pass away\u201d.<\/p>\n
And Jonathan Ayling, noted NZ ministerial staffer in both Government and Opposition, writes in this paper on July 3 \u201cAmerica\u2019s present problem is that it struggles to live the moral foundations of its freedoms. To renew itself, it must repent of this hypocrisy and return to the radical truths stated 250 years back at its founding.\u201d<\/p>\n
America\u2019s 2IC, Vice-President JD Vance, concurs in his new book Communion, where he tells that as a parent, he knew how to get his son into a good college, but was woefully unequipped to make him into a good man. He advocates an urgent return to faith, to moral limits, to goodness, freedom and human honour.<\/p>\n
Mayor Ken Couper and councillors have plenty of important long-term work on their plates.<\/p>\n
That means we, too, non-councillors, have plenty on our plates. <\/p>\n
Together.<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s Comment Column (June 29) \u2013 Building stronger communities starts with everyday citizenship \u2013 stresses that you and I are those everyday citizens. We need to have conversations \u2013 sharing what we care about, asking, listening, turning up to events to engage, connect, participate, belong.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to be confident with human skills and want to give back to a healthy, happy, caring city culture, wait, there\u2019s more … All-age motivational workshops are held monthly, titled Grow Whang\u0101rei (Not AI, But HI \u2013 Human Intelligence!) <\/p>\n
Details from be.free@xtra.co.nz. For progress and success, the humanity within us holds the keys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019d bought this CD, You Raise Me Up, at St Mary\u2019s Cathedral when I took two grandchildren, cousins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4731,6101,255631,255630,6036,108631,111,43,139,69,90,36649,1314,1954,544,8207,1961,1315,23331,23644],"class_list":["post-514399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-days","tag-good","tag-gwendolyn","tag-joys","tag-know","tag-needham","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-reflection","tag-road","tag-simple","tag-some","tag-sparks","tag-this","tag-trip","tag-weve","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}