Owhiro Bay. Has the sun returned?

At this time of year my friends, and family members in other parts of New Zealand, ask me, “Has the sun returned yet?” Or they might say, “The sun must be returning round about now.” My neighbours at this western end of Owhiro Bay Parade are asked the same question, I am sure. We face due south, and at our backs is a steep hill that blocks out the sun during the months of May, June and July. Years ago, Keith Levy installed a large, brightly painted sun on top of his house; and Graham Hanify and Debbie Rawson used to organise return-of-the-sun parades with their musician friends.

On July 26 this year, I went upstairs to fetch something from my son Charles’s old bedroom and I looked out the window. The photo below shows what I saw: a sign that the sun would return one day soon; it was already lighting up my husband Bill’s memorial seat. This seat sits in the shelter of a gentle slope just beyond the grass above the beach. 

View from a bedroom window at 156 Owhiro Bay Parade   Photo: Ann Barrie

 I was unconventional in organising Bill’s memorial* to be erected during the last months of his life. This meant he knew about the seat, and he chose the words in the inscription. It gives me pleasure to see people walk down to Bill’s seat – there is a little path not captured in my photograph – and pause to read the inscription, then sit down to enjoy the view of the Kaikoura Mountains.

My new neighbour, Yvonne Guillot – she is Danish and her husband, Cyrille, is French – has returned from Denmark to be faced with winter here. She asked me when the sun would return, and I replied, “Soon, Yvonne. Very soon. It’s already lighting up my husband’s seat.”

On July 30, after a bad night – I had slept fitfully and then dozed off late – I went upstairs to open the blinds. This is what I saw when I entered Charles’s bedroom. Perhaps the Universe is trying to tell me something?

Child's bedroom before the blinds are raised      Photo: Ann Barrie

 (My grandson, Nathan, slept here recently, and the artwork is his.)

Morning sun striking the wall   Photo: Ann Barrie

And when I looked to the east-facing window, this is what I saw:

An east-facing window in the morning   Photo: Ann Barrie

I photographed this window a second time, because I realised the sun was also lighting up a long-ago photo of Lita Barrie, who is the sister by another mother of Charles and my daughter, Sarah. (Lita has lived in Los Angeles for many years).

An east-facing window in the morning/2   Photo: Ann Barrie

Yesterday, August 2, I went in and out of women’s clothes shops in the suburb of Kilbirnie looking for something to wear to a special lunch on Sunday. And for some reason I found myself saying to the sales assistants, “I need something bright.” At last I entered a shop that sells clothes on consignment. “I need something bright,” I said to the woman dressed in black. “My husband died two and a half years ago, and people are starting to suggest it’s time to cheer up.” She was rather severe and said to me, “Life goes on.”  Then she helped me find something bright. 

Blog by Ann Barrie

** https://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/memorials/organise-a-memorial

It is, in fact, two years and nine months since Bill Barrie died.