Post-Labour day blues

Well, as I said, Labour Day did prove to be physically draining. I did a little concreting job that I've been "getting round to" for eight years, ever since I moved in to my house. Boy, concrete is hard, heavy stuff, especially when wet. So now I've gone and torn something inside, my stomach aches and I feel totally knackered. Something in my pelvic floor has gone blah. I love that phrase "pelvic floor". It conjures up visions of heart kauri planking, or rimu tongue-in- groove, but my pelvic floor seems to be made of rotting particle board. Wish I was home in bed, snoozing, snoozing.

Labour Weekend

New Zealand celebrates Labour Weekend this Monday. The day marks the introduction of the 40-hour working week, which was agitated for by a man named Samuel Parnell. For gardeners, its major importance is that Labour Weekend is the time to get your tomato plants in the garden, plus whatever other warm-climate plants you have, peppers, eggplants, lettuce. Its a big gardening and do-it-yourself weekend, with good deals at the hardware outlets and D.I.Y stuff, so by the time we get back to work on Tuesday, the workers of NZ are totally stuffed (as we say in the quaint vernacular). We'll have sprained backs, blistered hands and chronic hay-fever from the compost bin moulds we've breathed in. We take our leisure seriously here, and the day that Mr Parnell wanted to have for us to rest and relax is anything but.
I have heard a rumour that some people stay in bed and read all day, but I couldn't possibly comment on this.

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IMG_2750
Originally uploaded by amy a-broad

It was a full moon yesterday, so here's Noel in his guise as "de Moon". Not sure why he's squashed, though.

Magnolia liliflora Susan

Magnolia liliflora Susan
Originally uploaded by Lynners59

This is from my garden, quite nice,eh?

Big concert

We're having a big concert today in the Park, just over from where I work. Its a free concert for the people of Christchurch, to cheer us up after the 'quake. Mostly rock, roots, hip-hop and rap, not really my kind of music, but quite a few "old" performers too, whom I remember from my non-misspent youth.
One of my regrets is that I was a model teenager/young adult and didn't cause any trouble (although my mother would probably dispute this). Teenagers today have so much more money - they can buy large amounts of booze, drugs and fast cars. When I was young we only had beer and motorbikes, none of this new-fangled crystal meth and top-shelf spirits. We did have sex though, but it was heavily laced with guilt from schools and parents, so it wasn't really much fun at all. Now the youngsters go to it like rabbits, with as much emotional affect as one puts into having a bowel motion. (Mind you, I have had some emotionally involving bowel motions) (OMG, too much information) (Whatever)
But then on second thoughts, maybe the guilt made it more fun because it was wickeder. The sweetness of a quick warm fumble in the sanddunes, fully clothed, because Someone Might Come Along, although this could be taken too far... a male of my intimate acquaintance became addicted to outdoor sex and couldn't perform well in a private setting.
I hope you've all enjoyed this post, I've covered a lot really. The concert hasn't started yet, but we expect a crash and a bang any time now. Apparently its being streamed world-wide, so if you want to see the cream of NZ music, tune in somewhere.

Here we go again

Another big shake. Had the pleasure of being outside in the garden for this one, and seeing my dear little house shake like a decrepit old hut. No one told us about the aftershocks - now there have been about 2000 of them! Bloody hell, enough is enough. The Mayor of the city has instructed all of us loyal Christchurchians to inform the rest of the world that we're still here, and still open for business. It's true, there is still life as normal to be had here, most parts of the city don't look any different. You can still hear the bellbirds sing, and get the best coffee in the world outside Italy, to say nothing of the friendly people here. So you're all to visit, y'hear?
Went to the church fair, bought more books, more plants, as if I need any, and a really great 70's bead curtain for keeping the blowflies out of the kitchen. So many vibes in my house - retro 30's, 40's 50's 60's 70's, also an Indian theme, an English country theme, an Italian theme, Bali, Pasifika, Maori, its very eclectic and not at all boring.
Interesting to see from my stats that the most viewed pic on this blog is Noel's shoes!

Eddie

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Originally uploaded by Lynners59

Here's my big boy. Isn't he lovely?

Emma

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Originally uploaded by Lynners59

Nice and warm in the conservatory

Noel Fielding's shoes

Noel Fielding's shoes
Originally uploaded by bonniegrrl

Celebrate the return of visuals with Noel's shoes!

Visuals! Yay!

As you can see, I've managed to access Flickr again, managed to remember my password. Today the weather is very spring, alternating showers of hail with bright sunshine, but very cold. Now I'm at the library, where I can play on the computers for free and get some great reading.
Emphasis on things botanical at the moment. "The Victorian gardener" by Anne Wilkinson, "Plants from the edge of the world" by Mark Flanagan and Tony Kirkham, "Plant names" by Roger Spencer, Rob Cross and Peter Lumley, and "A botanist's notebook" by Eric Godley. All partly for work, but also to extend my knowledge as well. It's great to know stuff.
R., my friendly colleague at the library, has just helped me to get my pictures on Flickr, so hopefully I can post some of the garden soon. Warning: you may get sick of my garden, I photograph it the way some people photograph their children. I also seem to have a lot of photos of cats sleeping...

golden daffodil afternoon

golden daffodil afternoon
Originally uploaded by angeloNZ

This is a great shot of the daffodil lawn at Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Spring in the "City that rocks" has been beautiful, some compenstion for the angst and trauma of the earthquake.

Spring fairs

This is one of the best times of the year for me. We have a plethora of spring fairs - churches, schools, scouts, bowls clubs, etc - all make a large portion of their fund raising with fairs and giant garage sales. My favourite is the local church fair. The church is only a little way away from me, so I usually go back and forth several times carrying my treasures. Lots of useful stuff that other people think is junk, often thrown out just because thay can't be bothered cleaning things. I bought some lovely cut-glass port glasses, overlooked by everyone else because they were dusty. (Unfortunately, the earthquake got two of these). Most of the ornaments and pictures in my house come from fairs. My best score was a seventies macrame lightshade in beige, it was just the thing for my pale green bedroom. I also bought another lightshade, a sort of tiffany style made of shells, from Redcliffs School fair. It was hiding under a trestle. When I hung it up in my hallway it looked as if it had always been there. I could go on and on about my second-hand treasures, I should make a list sometime. I've just been to the Friends of the Botanic Gardens plant sale and bought a Chatham Island forget-me-not, a florence fennel, and a corydalis. Next week is St Marks Church fair, looking forward to it.