The past week.

The past week has involved food to quite an extent. It's been quite a busy week and it doesn't seem like it was only a week ago we were lunching with our daughters at Kades Restaurant. It was Bob's birthday and we had a lovely meal and chat with the girls.

Then later in the week I was cooking for Friday Light, the local Anglican church's outreach. 

But before that I managed to get the cake baked for the GF dessert I was making for Saturday night's dinner. Once the F.L meal was cooked and down at the church I started assembling the dessert. I thought it would be nicer if it could sit in the fridge overnight but I left the cream until just before we left home. I hadn't made one, a banoffee trifle, for quite a while and wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was good. And none leftover on the night.

The hall looked really nice with decorated tables and fairy lights strung up. And a little Christmas tree by the door. The food was plentiful and delicious. It was a lovely dinner and a great crowd, over 70 people arrived, but there was enough food to feed an army :) The place was buzzing.

We'd had a red weather alert not long before we left and the rain started as we were leaving home for the dinner and it stopped about 2 hours ago. So it poured for about 42 hours. We weren't affected apart from a little surface flooding but others weren't so lucky. There were evacuations overnight as properties flooded and to make matters worse a valve failed at the waste treatment station and sewage leaked out into the floodwaters. And needless to say the Silverstream is in flood but hasn't breached the flood banks. Once upon a time I would have walked down to take a photo but you'll have to take my word for it this time :) Florida, you could have some of our rain if you wish.

Our storage box is floating and I'm not sure the lid is fully closed but I'll check that when the weather improves. Too late now anyway :)

*****

And just because I can, daughter Jacqui's cat, Sooty, letting the world know what he thinks:)

 

That's all from me today.

Stay safe and well.

blessings,

Diana

Love Those Sports! ~ Tuesday 4

If you'd like to join in or see what others have to share in this weeks topic just click on the link: Tuesday 4: Love Those Sports!

Love Those Sports! ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome to Tuesday 4 friends!  I am always so happy to have people come and take part.  The Olympics are taking place and  we just had the Super Bowl for American football so perhaps we can talk about sports a bit.  Thank you to Diana of  Doodles and Daydreams for suggesting sports as a subject for this week! So, let's think about sports this week...........

 1. Do you enjoy any of the sports from the Olympics either Summer or Winter? Would you tell us about it?  

I love watching the summer and winter Olympics but probably more so the summer ones. I always wanted to take part in the Olympics, swimming, but never made the grade. When my sister was picked to go in the regional coaching team as a teenager and only stuck at it for about a month I was so disappointed. I couldn't understand why she didn't make the most of the opportunity. I gave up going to Swimming Club not long after. I guess my siblings and I were quite sporty when we were young. I'm thoroughly enjoying the winter Olympics just now, especially the ski and snow boarding events.

2. What sports have you taken part in and what good did you get out of participating? If not, was there one you wish you had taken part in? Did sports help you in life?

My summer sport was swimming, I was passionate about it, Our public pool wasn't covered and so we had to wait for the warm weather before it opened and that waiting was a terrible time for me :) I played cricket one year during High School and softball one year at Primary. Marching was another summer sport I really enjoyed. I loved the discipline of the marching and taking part in competitions, and I loved our gold and royal blue uniform. Athletics was once a week but I wasn't very good at them.

During winter there were two sports for girls to choose from, as far as I knew, basketball (not to be confused with today's basketball game) or hockey. I opted for basketball. Teams were nine a side and I was a wing defence, couldn't shoot a goal if my life depended on it :) I loved that as well and it is the only winter sport I played until I left school. 

in my netball (basketball) uniform aged about 16

Once I left school I didn't play sports until I came south to live when I played basketball (today's game) for a season but I didn't enjoy it and wasn't very good. Then when I met my hubby I played darts, because he did. I was picked for our local rep team once but played so badly it wasn't funny. We were in a large warehouse in the middle of winter with no heating and I was frozen. That's my excuse anyway :)

 I loved the team sports as they gave me a sense of belonging, when you're shy you need that. But I also loved the competitiveness of the swimming, me against the rest :)

3.  Is there a sport you still engage in or one you enjoy watching a lot?

No, I don't play any sports now, although my girls keep wanting me to join a leisure marching group. I consider it :) Hubby watches sport all the time and I think you can have too much of a good thing. I've tended to stop watching a lot any more, after you've watched the darts every day for almost a year you go off it a bit :) 

4. Have you any favorite teams you cheer on? Or perhaps a favorite sports figure? How about both??

I don't really follow the local teams unless they are playing a rep game, then I'll watch if I'm home. And any of the national teams, after all we're only a small country so we've got to cheer them on. We're a very sporty little nation with some of the top teams in the world for some sports.

What's the most memorable comeback or turnaround you've ever seen in a sports game, and what made it so special?

None that I can think of off the top of my head.

************

Well It's a rotten summer's day today. I have soup simmering on the stove for tea, the rain has been bucketing down and the Silverstream at the bottom of the street is in flood. Some schools have been closed and there is some surface flooding. But I won't complain - the North Island has taken a hammering in the past fortnight, first the top half and now the bottom half and top of the South Island. We're only getting the tail end of the weather bomb.

photo courtesy Taieri Community Board

So keep well until next time,

 blessings,

Diana

Not so silver Silverstream

 It has been raining non stop for the past 27 hours.

 Not heavily but steadily. 

It's not forecast to stop until sometime tonight and the council have had a sandbagging station operating since yesterday morning. 

We're lucky in that our house is quite high off the ground and the flood banks keep the water of the Silverstream contained. Unlike in earlier years when the properties at the bottom of our street would flood.

I took a walk down to have look this afternoon and these are the photos. It was very muddy on the bank and slippery so I stayed well back. I didn't fancy slipping and getting a dunking.

We haven't seen the local news today but know there was bad  flooding further north yesterday, in Marlborough, and I suspect there will be flooding in South Dunedin today. 

Take care.

Diana

Record rainfall

As I sit here typing the sun is shining after a very wet few days. We've had a bit of a weather bomb dumped on us. I'm fortunate in that it hasn't affected me or my family but not everyone has been so fortunate and at the moment nine homes have been red stickered with possibly more to come.

Early in the week we were forecast for one months rain in a period of two days. As it turned out we had two months rain in a couple of days. The rain started on Wednesday morning and we woke on Thursday to be told 80 families had been evacuated from their homes overnight.

 The worst of the flooding, but not all, was out in South Dunedin which is mainly built on reclaimed land. Thankfully the Silverstream at the bottom of our street didn't breach the flood bank, but it came close. But not all the damage was done by flood waters, some was through land slips. 

Eventually the rain stopped late on Friday night, the city having recorded it's highest rainfall for over one hundred years. Roads were closed or cut off to the north, south and west with the sea on the east.

I am very grateful to have escaped this weather bomb unscathed. We didn't even get much water lying around in the yard which is unusual in heavy rain.

The rain has stopped but now the cleanup begins.

That's it for today. 

Keep well, keep safe and I'll be back in a few days.

Diana

What a week...

It's not a lot of fun for a lot of people at the moment. While a lot of us are enjoying the build up to the Christmas celebrations others are dealing with very real disasters. In my part of the world Australia is dealing with extremely large bush fires in NSW and Queensland and have been for several weeks. And it is only the start of their fire season. Fire fighters from New Zealand and Canada have been called in to assist with the fighting the fires. Smoke from the fires is actually evident on this side of the Tasman, particularly in the North Island. I have family in both states so keep an eye on what is happening.

 Then just 3 hours flight over the Tasman Sea here in New Zealand we are having a totally different sort of disaster with big storms and flooding. The lower half of the South Island has been cut off for several days with road and rail links taken out by flood water and major slips. Communities have been flooded and people evacuated from their homes, not to mention the tourists trapped between slips on the West Coast of the South Island. The only way out for them at the moment is by helicopter, if they are prepared to pay. They are in a remote part of the country and many are having to sleep in their cars due to a lack of accommodation.

Photo with permission of Tanya Salter Photography

And just now breaking news that there has been a volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island just off the East Coast of the Bay of Plenty in the North Island. Just under fifty people were on the island at the time and several have been critically injured with some unaccounted for. This is ongoing as I write and snippets keep coming in on the news. Personally I'm having a problem with why they were there if the island was threatening to erupt. It's a monitored site, for goodness sake, that's been blowing it's stack on and off for years. I'm feeling a bit angry about it so should finish with that subject I think.

 I hope all is well with you all. Please give an occasional 

thought to those less well off over the holiday period. 

I'm sorry if this has been a depressing post, 

I didn't intend that when I started.

Until next time

Diana

Pukekos after the rain

Well let me tell you, I am not going to mention how quiet life is again.

Since last week, when I mentioned the earthquake, we have had floods.

Not too bad at our property but bad enough to close schools, 

businesses and to set up  civil defense headquarters. 

The city was cut off north and south with some of the highways under water.

A lot of homes were flooded and one rest home had 

to be evacuated in one of the low lying suburbs.

Most of last week was spent in clean up mode

 for a large portion of the population.

 Really heartbreaking for some.

We stayed hunkered down at home with only a couple of leaks in the roof.

Everything in our little town is back to normal now but it will take longer in the city.

At the weekend we took a trip over to the local tip

Which is where I spotted some of our feathered friends in the distance. 

Pukekos! 

I had never seen them here before and was quite excited. 

My GKB said they are there quite a lot so he didn't know why I was so impressed.

Since I came down south to live I have only ever seen them beside the highway, 

in places you can't stop to watch or take pictures.

On the West Coast where I grew up they were a lot more common 

and wandered in the paddocks and were quite prolific.

Of course the ground was more swampy in a lot of places

and probably more to their liking over there.

It is rain forest country and can be quite a damp place, to put it mildly. 

As we were leaving we had to avoid hitting some of them wandering on the road.

And then...

around a corner and we came across this fellow bathing.

He was submerging himself up to his shoulders, 

getting up, shaking himself off and doing it all over again. 

We watched through the car window for a couple of minutes then my GKB 

decided to get a bit nearer and try to get a better pic. 

Well Mr Pukeko wasn't having that and climbed out of his bath

 and stalked away at a good old pace, for him, with my GKB in hot pursuit.

And that is why the final pic is a bit blurred.

No co-operation at all, can you see the frown on his face, haha.

If you would like to read a little more about the pukeko you can do so here

joining in with:

roses of inspiration
good fences

Have a good week,

Diana