This morning was absolutely brilliant, and the sunshine was streaming in the front windows as I sipped my first coffee. I looked outside, as I often do, and saw a hot air balloon hanging in the sky over the neighbourhood (photo above). When I shared in on Instagram/Facebook I said:
Not every day you see a hot air balloon over the neighbourhood in September. That’s usually in March.I was (obliquely) referring to the annual “Balloons over Waikato” festival (next year’s will be held 19-24 March, 2024). At that time of year, it’s not even remotely unusual to see hot air balloons flying around—though it’s usually earlier in the morning. This time of year, it really is a little unusual.
I’d just posted the photo when I saw a nicely dressed middle-aged man and woman walking along the footpath and then toward my house. Leo thoughtfully alerted me, even though I’d seen them. It turned out they were Jehovah’s Witnesses, who proselytise in the neighbourhood a time or two each year.
I’m always pleasant to them (no surprise, that…), but I also hold my own (pleasantly) in such discussions. I absolutely don’t care what other people believe—as long as they don’t use their religion to control other people. I also get that proselytising is a part of some religions, but I still think it’s kind of pointless. I mean, I’m still a heathen despite many, many attempts at proselytising by various religionists. Even so, I’m always nice to them (though I sometimes have to be brief if I’m in the middle of something).
As a long-time student of communication and political marketing, I thought their method was really interesting: They began asking about the upcoming election, which was actually a springboard to them to talk about their belief in what they called a “heavenly government”, and how it was the only thing that could actually solve problems like poverty and climate change. One of them asked me if the government we elect next month will solve such problems. I said, “Will it? No. Could it? Absolutely.” And that right there is the heart of our irreconcilable differences.
They were also really good at listening to pushback and gently turning it back around to what they were selling—sorry, sharing—without getting lost in the weeds. They clearly were well-trained and, I have no doubt, sincerely believed what they were saying. Unfortunately for them, there was no way I was buying what they were selling—sorry, sharing.
After they left—after maybe 15 minutes?—I carried on with my chores. I had three loads of washing to get through today in order to take advantage of the sunshine. I also had one more project to begin: The re-boot of my efforts to civilise the bank along the side of my property.
Yesterday, I picked up some some stuff for Leo, and the pet store is near a small, independently-owned garden centre I’ve been to a few times, though I’ve never bought anything there. I ended up buying some native plants to put along the fence-line, something I originally tried to start a couple years ago. The plan was to plant them today.
While I’ll talk about the project in more detail later on (with photos), the important part for today is that I didn’t realise how hard it would be to remove the clumps of grass that have grown on the bank near the patio, the first place I wanted to plant the new arrivals. I didn't even start to clear that area last year, so it's even worse now. I soon realised that I started too late in the day to finish the task, so my revised plan is to plant them all tomorrow—something I’m mentioning now in the hope it’ll motivate me to actually do it.
Still, we had beautiful blue skies today, with 19 degree (66F) temperatures, I got my laundry done, and I saw a big balloon flying about. Sure, god-botherers (as we call them) can be annoying, but today’s visit was a very friendly and civil encounter. All things considered, a very good day, indeed. At all levels.
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