Travelling South

When we heard that the Dunkley's Great NZ Craft Show was cancelled we were all packed and ready to leave - in fact we delayed our leaving because we were so sure that it could not go ahead.
So we decided to come ahead anyway, if only to take time to visit with elderly family living in Christchurch. It was an amazing experience, and one I'm not keen to repeat anytime soon.
I checked on this amazing website (you may have to install Google Earth to see it), and found that they have had in excess of 500 (yes, that's right) aftershocks since Saturday's huge quake. The ground is moving all the time, and even in the short time that we were there I began to wonder if my head was spinning or if the world really was moving constantly. A lot of the shakes were quite frightening, even then.
We had a brief drive around the city checking on old haunts and it seems that one of our old homes in the suburb of Dallington has probably gone - a victim of liquifaction. We could not get close enough to be sure, and it felt rather ghoulish to be viewing other people's misfortune quite so closely.
Liquifaction is where the earth is shaken so vigorously that the silt and fine sand comes to the surface with any groundwater - rather like shaking a container of wet cement.

The quaint old shop where I had my first after school job has totally gone - it is the gap in the photo at the top - there are so many of these lovely old heritage buildings disappearing and being demolished before they can do any harm.
We had a little essential shopping to do while we were in the city and found that when we asked shop assistants how they were coping they almost broke down - the whole city is in a state of shock and grief.
It's hard to convey just how hard this vibrant place has been hit - the damage goes much further than the eye can see - literally!
It has been a relief to move further South and sit in this gorgeous little fishing village on the coast. How fortunate we are to be able to do this! I will tell you more about this over the coming days.

CHRISTCHURCH DUNKLEYS GREAT NZ CRAFT SHOW CANCELLED

Due to the horrifying series of earthquakes in Christchurch, the Great NZ Craft Show in that city ONLY has been cancelled.
We will be in Dunedin and Invercargill, but will only visit Christchurch briefly to check on family and friends. I wish I could bring you all home with me!
Our love and prayers go to everyone in Christchurch.

Christchurch Earthquake

Even from this distance we are having trouble coming to terms with the devastating earthquake in our old home town. It seems that huge swathes of the old city have collapsed under an earthquake that is comparable with the Haiti quake.
It's hard to imagine, and a part of me wants to go there to see with my own eyes, and the other part of me never wants to see what's happened. Buildings that I walked past most days of my life at times and are so familiar that they are like old friends are not only gone, their remains are scattered and dismembered.
We are still making contact with friends and family and they are all OK apart from superficial damage, apart from one old and dear friend who has lost his home. It has been condemned.
So many people tell us that they ran for their lives - it's so hard to believe that there were no lives lost.
We are due to leave for the Dunkley's Great New Zealand Craft Show tomorrow, and can't quite believe that the show will go on...but we have had an email from the organisers to say that it's still happening. From what we hear in the news I'm expecting another email reversing that decision any time.
We live six and a half hours drive from Christchurch in Golden Bay, and were staying in Nelson on the night of the quake and still felt it quite strongly.
Our lovely old clock stopped at the time of the quake, as did the lovely old clock on the clock tower in Victoria Street in Christchurch. (Sorry - I've tried and tried to get a photo of this but you can find some amazing pictures here)

It reminded me of that poem by W H Auden "Stop the clocks...". Perhaps I'm being melodramatic?
Arohanui me kia kaha o te whanau o Te Waipounamu (Love and strength to family and friends in the South Island).
Apologies for the photo hiccups in this post - Blogger and I were having a disagreement!

Home Comforts

I've been feeling poorly with winter ills and chills, and there's nothing like a little home baking and a cuppa to make me feel better.

These are blueberry and lemon curd muffins - I love cooking (and eating :P) food almost as much as I love cooking glass!

I just made ordinary blueberry muffins and put a dollop of lemon curd in their middles...divine!

I made the lemon curd the other day in a double boiler as suggested in a recipe, but what a fuss! It took ages and even then I wasn't sure that it had set. Then my sister gave me a microwave recipe which she says is easy-peasy, so I'm going to try that next time. Fresh lemon curd is one of life's luxuries for me!

It's officially the first day of spring tomorrow...bring it on!

I've Been Making Brooches

This week I've been making brooches.













They're terrible things to photograph as they want to lie sideways when they're just hung from a ribbon, but they actually sit really nicely when worn.
I'm really quite pleased with this lot - the Red Raku Hearts are so easy to wear - I pinned one on a favourite jacket some time ago, and there it has remained - I can wear it with any scarf or outfit - it just seems to fit in with all the clothes I wear. These ones are
Medium True Red Raku Heart Brooch and Small True Red Raku Heart Brooch



The Flow Beads are a nice mix of transparent and opaque glass - the little pink one has a lovely big swirl of transparent amethyst across it and the blue one is a nice mix of Sapphire and Periwinkle Blues.



And these ones are Small Pink Amethyst Round Flow Brooch and Large Sapphire Blue Flow Heart Brooch