You don’t choose a life, you live a life.

The quotation is from The Way, a film about a small group of people searching for meaning in their lives who ‘connect’ while on a pilgrimage in northern Spain.  Martin Sheen plays a man who has lost his son in an accident while he was on a pilgrimage.  He decides to do the same pilgrimage himself, the Camino de Santiago, to cope with the loss and to try and make sense of his son’s death.  In the process he encounters challenges faced by several others making the journey and together they find a sense of community.  The film is written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen’s son (in real life), who incidentally got inspiration to write the script, especially the dialogue, while working in his vineyard.  His fiancée and his parents thought he had gone slightly crazy when he started digging up the front garden to plant grapes. Those of us who live in Marlborough would understand his behaviour.

Pacific migration research

   Recent findings by University of Otago researchers in Marlborough have given insight into Pacific migration patterns. They studied the DNA of four Rangitane iwi buried at the Wairau Bar over 700 years ago. Their study of the mitochondrial DNA showed they came from ‘a variety of backgrounds rather than from a tight knit family group’.  Future research on DNA from other Pacific countries may provide more information about Polynesian migration to New Zealand.

Inaugural Reeves lecture

   Did you hear the first Reeves lecture? This lecture was initiated to honour Sir Paul Reeves who has Marlborough connections. The talk was first given in August and broadcast on Radio NZ National at 6.05pm on Monday night (22 October). Historian, Dame Anne Salmond, gave the inaugural lecture.  It wasn’t mentioned but the story I like is about the swarm of bees that flew into St John in the Wilderness Church at Koromiko while he was being christened. This church also has associations with Katherine Mansfield.  When she was visiting Picton in her youth she would sometimes accompany John Greensill, a lay preacher, and travel with him in a horse and gig from Picton to the little wooden church at Koromiko. The church is on State Highway 1 on the RHS of the road as you are driving towards Blenheim. You can stop and have a look at an Historic Places Trust plaque set on a stone in the grounds.  It is possible to see inside the historic church. There is an iron grille on the interior door but you can look through and see the pews and a giant clam shell used for christenings.

 Against the Current documentary

   The documentary I mentioned last time, Against the Current, will be screening in Marlborough next year. A November screening is scheduled for Dunedin.