Author: Rachel M

Earthquakes are an unusual traumatic event from which to recover because they go on and on and on. This makes it really difficult for life to feel normal again. But I know that whenever I go for a significant period of time without feeling earthquakes I do start to feel normal. The past few days…

We are all in Dunedin today. This was not supposed to happen; we are supposed to be in Auckland. I woke up on Sunday morning very excited about our impending trip to Auckland early Monday morning. We spent the day packing and took the dogs to the kennel late in the afternoon. As the day…

Just found this very funny clip on YouTube.  Definitely worth watching.

I should have added to my post yesterday when quoting Seneca’s thoughts on dealing with earthquakes, that the Pompeii earthquake he referred to preceded the famous volcanic eruption of 79AD by about 17 years. Little did they know. I have read that prior to the eruption, they would have had several warning signs and so…

It is necessary to find solace for distressed people and to remove their great fear. Yet can anything seem adequately safe to anyone if the world itself is shaken, and its most solid parts collapse? Where will our fears finally be at rest if the one thing which is immovable in the universe and fixed,…

It’s official. Ben got a promotion and we’re moving to Auckland! We’ll be swapping earthquakes for volcanoes, but unlike earthquakes, you usually get some warning before a volcanic eruption. The warning signs are: 1) smoke2) steam3) swelling of the ground surface4) earthquakes5) lava flows (can out-run these)6) pyroclastic flows (can’t out-run these) Why on earth…

I’m feeling a little less anxious this evening because we had our 5M+ earthquake for the month this morning. A 5.5 struck this morning just after 9am. After the initial excitement I went to Twitter and someone wrote “Quaky von shaky in the house” which I liked so much I thought I’d name this post…

Daniel’s kindy is having a dance party day this week and he is encouraged to come in his dancing clothes. What on earth can I dress a 4-year-old boy in for a kindy dance day? Things like this are much easier for girls. Yesterday I had a brain wave and took Daniel off to a…

I just found these amazing photos taken from within the red zone: https://picasaweb.google.com/RossBeckerNZ/2011April27IntoTheChristchurchRedZoneSo sad to see. So hard to believe.

There’s an amazing photo in The Press this morning of grass growing inside a Christchurch woman’s house. And she has been paying full rates to the city council since February! I took some photos of a couple of houses in Christchurch this week. We were fortunate enough to get rid of the plastic on our…

The front page of our newspaper yesterday read: “Big quake risk put at 23%”. It created a bit of reserved panic around Christchurch with the Mayor and geologists from around the world coming out to reassure us.  I heard one Aussie geologist state that it simply means there’s a 75% chance there won’t be a…

Conversation with Daniel: Daniel: I want some ham.Me: There’s no ham left, I’m afraid.Daniel: You ate it all.Me: No I didn’t. I didn’t eat any of it because ham comes from pigs and I don’t eat pigs.10 seconds of silenceDaniel: Want to go to a farm and get some ham from a pig.

Climbing trees Better on the face than the furniture I suppose In the playhouse

People here are becoming increasingly frustrated about the city centre remaining out of bounds. The heart of the city has been completely cordoned off from the public for more than three months now with high wire fencing around the perimeter of the red zone. I can understand the frustration. The people of Christchurch have no…

A goatee? Dance classes this week went fabulously well. Both kids were in good spirits; Elizabeth had had her sleep already and all the stars were aligned (not that I believe that rubbish of course). Some photos from dance class: Daniel giving Elizabeth a kiss Elizabeth showing her moves Daniel took his Gruffalo forest to…

I was just thinking as I went to bed last night, that we haven’t had our 4+M earthquake this week. Although it’s fair to say that earthquakes are generally always on my mind and especially at night when I’m trying to go to sleep. Well this morning we got our 4.1 for the week as…

We have had lots of different trucks on our street for the past month or two sucking out the sewer drains and taking the stuff away. One of the trucks was amusingly named Charlie’s Takeaways. This morning a new lot of trucks and diggers appeared and they’ve started digging up the street to replace the…

I took Elizabeth out on the bike today for the first time. She’s never been on my bike as the last time I rode it was when I was pregnant with her and Daniel rode in the seat on the back. After her birth I had the problem of two children and only one child…

We have had Di visiting this week which has been wonderful. She and Daniel made a Gruffalo forest which I just had to photograph for the blog: Elizabeth said f**k this morning. Ben was changing her nappy and just as he removed it, a little poo made a dash for freedom across the bedroom carpet…