insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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How does Christchurch look today?
Christchurch counted its 11,000th earthquake since September 4th, 2010, today. It has been more than two years since the first Christchurch earthquake of September 4th, 2010. It is almost two years since the smaller, but more devastating aftershock, of February 22nd, 2011 that claimed 185 lives. To most of the rest of New Zealand and the…
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Textured Jumper Crochet Pattern
I have just created my first ever crochet pattern. It’s just for one size, small, but can easily be adjusted to fit larger bodies. It’s quick and easy to crochet and soft and comfy to wear. I reckon it looks pretty good too. Here, below, is my pattern, free to all. Hook size: 8mm Yarn:…
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How to save the world by bicycle
I have a solution for all of society’s ills. It involves getting fat arses out of cars and onto bicycles. If I were Prime Minister, I’d redirect our colossal spending on roads and motorways to spending on cycling infrastructure instead. When I say cycling infrastructure, I don’t mean painted lines on roads or share-and-care footpaths,…
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Saturday morning at Takapuna
It has been quite hot here. Not as bad as the heat folks in Australia are enduring, but hotter than we’re used to. So we’ve been swimming in the sea every other day and I’m quite enjoying it. This morning I thought it would be nice to go for an early swim at Takapuna beach…
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2013 – what's in store?
2013 has begun with the loss of two good friends. One has returned to Australia and the other has returned to England. I will miss both of them very much. It is not just a loss for me but also for our children who have formed friendships with the children of my friends. Elizabeth in…
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Happy birthday, Elizabeth
Happy birthday to gorgeous Elizabeth, who turned 3 today! We had a lovely party for her at home with lots of good friends to celebrate with. I made her a koala cake: Freud helped open the presents: The decorations went up along with pin-the-nose on the koala: Yummy food: Family shot with Daniel showing us…
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A very expensive cotton bud
I’ve been having some issues with my hair colour. Ever since I bleached it, I’ve had problems with tinges of green. Yesterday I decided to colour it red to hide the green. This worked well except that I didn’t really like the red. So today, I bleached it again and now the very top of…
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Santa
We visited Santa at snowplanet today and the kids sat on his lap and discussed presents. They loved it. Then we had fun snow tubing with Dad, Olivia and TJ. Even Elizabeth loved the experience and was in hysterics when slipping and sliding down the slope. A photo of us all: Daniel has…
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Donate to SAFE!
It’s the SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) annual appeal today and tomorrow and Freud and I volunteered to collect for two hours this morning. I put my hand up a couple of months ago for this and figured that since it was going to be on the 21st December, 2012, that the world would be over and…
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Zeeks
I have a new app! It’s called Zeeks (named after our dead dog, Zeki) and it’s aimed at people who want to keep track of their time. Anyone who charges by the hour or minute and those who need to record the time they spend on professional development can do this using Zeeks. Events are…
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Recipe for Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen is a delicious German Christmas treat. The English translation is gingerbread but it doesn’t actually contain any ginger. I got this excellent recipe for lebkuchen a few years ago from a German friend and have been making it every Christmas ever since. Ingredients: 500g honey 375g sugar 2-3 eggs 15g cinnamon 4g ground cloves…
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Scarier
I enrolled Daniel in one of Rob McLeay’s cartoon workshops for the school holidays and he had it today. He produced this very cool drawing of a shark called “Scarier”. According to Daniel, when you touch Scarier, he eats you. He also likes to eat fish which he finds by following their bubbles and then…
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Recipe for Playdough
Here’s a great playdough recipe I’ve been meaning to share: 3 cups flour 1.5 cups salt 1 tbs cream of tartar 3 tbs oil 3 cups boiling water Combine dry ingredients. Add water, oil and food colouring. Knead. Add more water if the mixture is too dry. A cool sensory addition is essence to match…
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Blondes have more fun
I’ve been really happy of late. Ben says, not to worry, I’ll get over it. The strange thing is, I don’t really know why I’m feeling so happy. My relationship with Auckland is still much the same. The only thing I can think of is that my outlook changed about the same time as bleaching…
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Congratulations to Ben!
A big congratulations to my husband today who won the New Zealand Mathematical Society research award for 2012. He won jointly with another mathematician from Auckland, Tom ter Elst. Here’s a photo of father and daughter:
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Our Christmas Tree
It’s Christmas tree time again. Last year we bought a living branch which was very full and beautiful and smelt delicious, but it inevitably turned into a very big dead branch. I’m not so keen on that again and I really hate the plastic trees. When I first moved to New Zealand, Ben and I…
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How are you?
This is an interesting question because it is often asked without a genuine desire to hear a truthful answer. Most people expect a “fine, thank you”, response. But if you’re feeling miserable and you answer ” fine, thanks”, then this is a lie. And why bother asking a question if you already know the answer?…
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Earthquake strengthening, Tourette's and Team Work
I snapped a photograph of this building in central Auckland last week because not only does it look beautiful, but I think it has the most effective earthquake strengthening I’ve seen yet. That facade is never falling off! The paediatrician who saw Daniel a couple of weeks ago phoned me this week. She wanted to…
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Raglan and the C-barn
We just spent the weekend in Raglan: a little coastal village on the west coast of the North Island, a couple of hours by car south from Auckland. It was great. The whole region was very picturesque with lush, green hills and winding roads. The hills were bigger than your average hill which made for…
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