A sunny day in late summer.

we are still standing

Quince jelly if only I knew how to make it

my favourites

the neighbour's rose over the fence

the silk tree

lovely rose in the garden

clearing the liquifacton, silt and the dust

My darling car, with the gunk which is on everything

Went into work yesterday, took me 1hr and 20 mins, one way, normally takes me 15 mins, the traffic is horrendous as there are no direct way across town with the CBD closed. We cleaned up, while we were there 2 aftershocks  occurred, the 2 staff from out of town freaked but we kept cool, or coolish. We will be up and running soon,  not in the big room as it is a mess with the  floor cracked, but we hope to have some of our clients who we know have been badly affected by the quake. We can give them a sense of normality as many of them are living in different homes in fact some have gone to the North Island. so I'm worried but I'll go in and pray it's ok, I wish I could describe the roads, I haven't taken many photos because I just don't need them, we don't watch the news much, we are living here we don't need reminding. Everyone knows someone dead or missing, we are all exhausted, I was doing the washing on the deck in two buckets when the S&R team came to check on us, we said we were ok, they laughed and said that's what everyone says. Everyone we know is ok. the phone is going all the time as we check on our friends and family and they check on us. Post for the first time today, we are still getting bills though, live goes on, and that's as it should be. Love Barbara