Napier - Day 2

We have a very dear, elderly friend (although she wouldn’t thank me for the “elderly” word) in Napier.  Unfortunately, about three weeks ago she had a series of strokes and ended up in hospital, where she’s been ever since.  We were determined to visit her while we’re in Napier, and as this morning was free we decided to go to see her.  She was delighted to see us and we spent almost two hours with her.  The sight in her left eye has been affected, but she is mobile with the help of a walking frame.  She never carried much weight but she is skin and bone now. Despite everything, she still has her cheeky smile and sharp wit. She is hoping to go home tomorrow, but won’t hold her breath until she is actually in her friend’s car on the way home.  We have our fingers crossed for her and are so pleased that we managed to visit her.

We stopped for a light lunch and a coffee on the way back to Napier, then took our car in for a wheel alignment - we have a lot of kilometres to do yet before we reach Oamaru.  Back home we relaxed with our iPads for a while before preparing to take our host, T, out for dinner at a lovely restaurant called Three Doors Up.  We had a  delicious meal and an enjoyable evening.

Today would have been my late mother’s 86th birthday.  Thinking of her today, the first birthday without her.

This clock tower is the Taradale First World War Memorial  https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/taradale-war-memorial