Flowers to mark dad's death

Every month Margie Oosthuizen and her children try to make a solemn pilgrimage to Hastings' Pakowhai Road.
The family lay flowers to mark the spot where their husband and father Leon Oosthuizen lost his life in a tragic van accident last year.
Leon, 44, died on September 13 when his van collided with a truck and trailer unit as he attempted to make a passing manoeuvre.
Hastings coroner Peter Dennehy yesterday ruled his death to be caused by multiple injuries sustained in the crash.
The family arrived in Hawke's Bay in 2003, after emigrating from Zimbabwe, one of many families forced off their farm by president Robert Mugabe's "war veterans".
The past nine months have been just as tough for Margie and her children.
She looks at happy pictures of the couple and remembers the life they shared together, while trying to forget the negatives.
"Every time I've had to deal with something to do with Leon's death, it puts you down enormously, because you're reliving it" Margie says.
But it's even harder when she looks at their children, Lendl, 18, Jessica, 15, Hannah, 12, and Byron, nine. "The heart squeezes when I look at the kids.
"I think my greatest sadness is knowing that they won't grow up with their dad."
Margie says her and the children all dealt with Leon's death in different ways.
About a week ago, the entire family sat down around the dinner table to discuss Leon's death, and what they were feeling.
"It's sort of like a bomb being dropped on a pretty tight group of army people - some die, some go away and lick their wounds, but you have to come back together and look at the next move."
Margie describes the first six months after Leon's death as an "emotional, physical, and psychological onslaught."
Of all the letters, baking, and telephone calls that flooded in after Leon's death, Margie is most grateful for the little things - the people that dropped by to hang out the washing, or help with the dishes.
In turn, Margie is glad for the "little acts of kindness" she did for her husband, and is keen to stress the importance of love.
"The one main thing is to love and be loved."
She tries to do her crying in the early hours of the morning when the children can't see her, and when she's feeling down, she reads the letters of support she received when Leon died.
The couple's nursery near Clive was on sale for a month, but Margie eventually withdrew it, finding the selling process too stressful.
The nursery is not running as a business now, and Margie has spent a couple of months working in Napier.
She's looking forward to trying to get some office work and in her spare time finish writing a book based on the life skills programme she ran in Zimbabwe.
The four children are all doing well in school and in Margie's words "seem to really be enjoying life."
But there's always a few moments that aren't so enjoyable - Margie can't watch the family's farm videos, and has travelled down Pakowhai Road on five occasions since Leon's death, crying every time.
Despite this, she's remaining positive.
"You've got to have the rain otherwise you don't appreciate the sun, although I would've liked to have had him (Leon) for another couple of decades.
"I feel like there's everything to live for."