Musings - Sister Annette (Annie May) Smith

12.01.1904 - 09.09.1993

Stories from Puhoi

In the early twenties our sisters were appointed to a new parish, Puhoi. The convent at first was not fenced in. The parishioners had given the sisters a cow for their use. Now, Sister Kevin used to pass a carrot or an apple to it through the kitchen window. One day the cow decided to help herself and tried the back door. As the space through was not adequate, she stuck half way. I don’t know the end of that story but someone else very likely can supply that!!!!

One night the sisters were told that the bishop would be with them the following morning to say Mass. Consternation! They had nothing to give him for breakfast. Sister Cletus decided to climb one of the macrocarpa trees for a fowl which would be roosting in its branches. All went well until she reached for it, when the branch on which she stood gave way and down she came. Her long habit caught on another branch and there she dangled for a time. At last she reached the ground and when she got up she had the fowl alright and it was dead. It was no trouble for Sister to remove the fowl’s feathers and clean it, after which it was trussed and put in the pot to steam for the night - on a coal stove if course! This meant that the stove had to be stoked during the night. Little did the bishop know what his breakfast had cost!

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