Sunday 20 November 2016

What keeps you awake at night?

For me nothing, I hit the pillow and I am in the land of Nod!  Usually nothing much wakes me either but last weekend I was woken to the bed shaking. First I thought Sheba was on the end having a good old scratch as you do when you are a dog. But when I got out of bed I soon realised we were having an EARTHQUAKE!!!  It was down in our South Island, Kaikora to be exact and yet we felt it way  up here in Hamilton in the North Island.  For you non Kiwi folk refer to my map below.

We are a tiny Island Nation so we all got to share in the shake rattle and roll in the early hours of Monday!!  No damage up here but down south it wasn't the best.  Must have been horrendous.  The next photos are borrowed from a news source but showing the coastal road damage which cut the Kaikoura off from the rest of the country.  But Kiwis just pull together and do the best they can and slowly, and I mean slowly, things will get better.

Railway line got moved onto the road.


Cows got stranded but rescued.




A lot of money and time will be needed to repair this damage.



I want to thank all you lovelies that asked after my families safety, we are fine up here in safe little Hamilton I am pretty sure the fault line that runs through our country isn't under us.  Well fingers crossed it isn't.

SO,
what else happened last week?


The garden continued to flower and greet me every day
with an abundance of colour.

Raspberries, Blackberries, Plums, Black Currants and Strawberries all in abundance.  At this stage we have the promise of a bumper crop.

Then there are Walnuts, Lemons, Peaches, Limes and Apples!!

All thanks to Mother Nature.

Of course when I am outside I have my followers!
They do tend to get under my feet.

Cassie's up do is very much like an opening flower most days.

Coral and Autumn are the most prolific egg producers in the gang at the moment, salad eggs galore.

 Yep he is still drinking from the bird bath.

Florence prefers to escape the coup via climbing whilst all the others just use the open gate.

Maybelle has finally discovered the new nesting house and made quite the announcement about it on her exit.
 
As the days get warmer we will be spending
more quality time out here.

The Heir has gone and got himself a puppy, meet dear wee Stella, 4 months old and a side walk special.  Some call them designer dogs, but at the end of the day they are just mixed breed.  Of course she has Labrador, most mixed breeds do, Labs must be the most active if you know what I mean.

Lets not forget the foster babies.
These two are providing us all hours of entertainment.

Bloody cute aren't they.

Last night TOF and I went to a 21st birthday for one of the Spares good mates. Such a good night with stories and party hard young-uns!!  I took photos for the birthday boy above.  We have another one to go to in a couple of weeks.  So much fun with such great young people full of life and ambitions.

This morning I kept hearing a bird singing outside our lounge window, turned out to be this little fella, a Wax Eye.
 
 Of course once the camera comes out I end up out the back in the garden.

We have a Black Bird that has built itself a nest in the Plum Tree,
hopefully that nest gets filled with babies.
 
My garden is my peace place.
What is yours?

 Poppy time!!
Every stage is beautiful.

This afternoon we took all the dogs
'Walkies'.

We have a park across the road from our home where the black dogs got to run free.  Fluffy white dog grows painted on ears in open spaces and can not be trusted to come when called so he stays 'on the line' so to speak!!

 
Meanwhile back at home the little balls of fluffiness and cuteness overload caught up on some sleep.


No op shopping took place last week,
I was incredibly busy at work.




Hope you are all happy and healthy in your part of the world.

Time for a LAUGH!!
So of course I gave it a crack!!

You have been
MOONED!!!
 
 

11 comments:

Serenata said...

The earthquake was terrible wasn't it. Those poor people...I was surprised to hear how far North it had been felt.

Love the catch up with all you have been up to. Fabulous photos as usual and of course the laughs as well which is always good on a Sunday morning.

Have a good week!

Fiona said...

Pleased to hear the earthquake was not severe in your neck of the woods Sue but still, it's bloody scary. Was caught up in one myself once, in the Caribbean, where I also was woken up by it. Lovely pics of your menagerie, especially the chooks who are particularly handsome.
x

Vix said...

That earthquake was still too close to comfort though. We had one here in 2002 and it was pretty scary.
Gorgeous animal photos, cats and dogs and chickens.
Lovely photo of you and the 21st Birthday Boy! xxx

Nancy J said...

We shook, stayed up for sometime, no damage as far as we can see, but for those down south, I cannot imagine the terror and now the clean-up. Love your garden goodies, we have some of the same fruits, strawberries each night for desert, and raspberries not quite ready yet.Your wee kittens, another lot of fluff to pamper and love.

SAM said...

Thanks for the catchup. Those kittens are sure sweet and Stella makes me smile. Earth quakes are such ominous things-no real preparing I suppose but glad you and a few others I know of are safe and prayers for those impacted.

Goody said...

I was glad to hear you made it through the earthquake unscathed-must have been horrible down south.

Danny wanted me to mention inaturalist.org as a place to share your photographs. The community will i.d. your birds, insects, plant photos etc. and it all goes into a database to be used by researchers around the world. As citizen science projects go, it is a remarkably well-run thing. Anyway, I told him I'm mention it to you as you have such great photos (as Danny put it, "Research grade").

You had me laughing until it hurt at the loo roll!

Polyester Princess said...

Glad to hear there were no damages at your end, but it must have been pretty scary. But those poor people! And oh dear, those stranded cows! Glad to read they were rescued. As always, I loved scrolling through your wonderful garden, nature and animal photos, and I love Cassie's updo ;-) xxx

Julie said...

Hiya sue ... I did not feel the earthquake. In our bed, with The Mr's snoring ... every night is like an earthquake !!! Your garden is looking pretty colourful & gorgeous. Do you have new glasses?? Thats a fab pic of you wearing them. Glad all the 4 legged creatures (& 2) are behaving & happy. Those kittens sleeping ... would surely melt even the hardest heart. Have a great week Sue x x

Jazzy Jack said...

A post showing how Nature can give as well as take away. I have an image of an animal shaking its back to get off these pesky irritating humans. My tenant in Rotorua slept right through!
Adoring those fluffy kitties, and all your flower photos!
Xo Jazzy Jack

mobag2 said...

Just wanted to let you know I love, love, love your blog!! I love seeing what op shop goodies you buy (your taste in clothes is very similar to mine!) and your garden and animals are awesome! Glad the earthquake didn't shake you up too much. My auntie and uncle are in Christchurch and they were well and truely shaken again but no damage thankfully.

Melissa in Oz

Mim said...

Hehehe, the 'moon' photos made me laugh.

It's good to know you and your family are safe - he's hoping all the damage further south is repaired quickly.