Spring flowers

 The lawn has started to show lovely growth, not quite needing a cut every week, but looking good after winter. 

Spring flowers are adding some colour to the garden now.

Cream Bearded Iris, flowering early, a few pink Ixia, almost finished their display.The small lemon tree in the background is fruiting !!!

Moxie's daisy bush has started to give lots of pink flowers.

Purple Granny Bonnet showing through the Japanese Maple shrub.

Two Mauve and purple Cineraria plants.

The Rays of Hope wall hanging is coming along slowly, last week I found in a fabric shop two spools of black bias tape fusible, what a great way to do the stained glass strips. This is the  lower part, similar shorter sections  will be added to the top,  the strips are fused to the thin interfacing, then the black bias added and sewn down, even though it is fused, stitching makes a better finish, a gift for a friend who doesn't see my blog. I just have to figure out how to do the words, Faith,Hope, Love in applique and fuse them to the centre cross. Out of all my batik scraps, and they are in MASSIVE supply, the red was the only one I had trouble to find. The right hand block  has yellow topped pins still there. 

Here is the finished wall hanging, courtesy of the internet, a pattern from Carolyn Morris, if you Google her and the pattern, you will find the story behind this beautiful quilt.

Days continue to be warmer, the firewood is handy in case of a late cold night.

Thank you all SO much for comments after the quake, we are a long way from the epicentre, and no damage, here of further south. It was deep and out in the water off the top of the South Island.

Quotation of the day, from John F. Kennedy

" Change is the law of life.

And those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future"

Greetings from Jean

Early morning wake up jolt!!!

This morning just after 3 a.m . Boris leapt off our bed and raced to safety in the guest room. Next thing we had rumbles and a shake, the quake was centred over 160km  km in a straight line  from us, north west off French Pass, the channel between the mainland at the top of the South Island  and D'Urville Island. The deepest colour is where the quake was felt the strongest, then medium orange, palest was where it was felt lightly. The small circle in the blue is the centre of the quake. Courtesy of the Internet. 

According to Geonet New Zealand, the earthquake was  5.7 magnitude, a depth of 146 km, and 65 km northwest of French Pass. 

French Pass is the channel between D'Urville Island and the mainland, there is a whirlpool there, and the current races through.Treacherous waters, all boats need to be aware of the danger.

This is the road from Havelock, through Rai Valley, out past Elaine Bay, Waikawa Bay and finally there. Vehicles are warned of extreme gusts, and to be aware of this, many years ago  a van was blown off the road!!! There is a beach there, a jetty, and a small camping area.The small school, a one room building built in 1913, was  closed in 2006.

We stayed there in 1986, at the almost end of a year in the South Island with our caravan,  went for a few days, that turned into 3 wonderful weeks.A small community that welcomed us with such generosity. A meal with the then District nurse, Peggy Young and Alan, wild venison, so yummy,  the school pupils who came to my rescue to help pull down the caravan awning when a gale blew through,  while  Hugh was taken to D'Urville Island with a local man, on the mail run.

Memories to last my lifetime.

Southern Hospitality at its very best.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

" Earthquakes are an unpredictable hazard"

Greetings from Jean

Weather warnings for both Islands

 The following is courtesy of the Internet, with Niwa( National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)  giving dire predictions and warnings. 

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Niwa is warning there would be a real hypothermia risk for people and livestock from an icy cold snap forecast to move up the country.

Nearly all eastern and southern lowland areas of the South Island will have an “effective temperature” between -5C and -10C around 1am Thursday, the agency is forecasting.

The effective temperature includes factors that contribute to how the temperature feels to a warm bodied creature. So along with the normal air temperature, that can also include wind chill and humidity.

A pulse of freezing air is due to spread over the country in the next two days, starting from the south on Tuesday evening. It brings with it the chance of heavy snowfalls to sea level in some parts of the South Island, and the possibility of some snowfalls in the lower North Island, including a chance of snow in downtown Wellington.

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We live in the North Island, in the lower half, so snow might just travel around, or it might send some flurries our way. 
 We have stocked up the firewood, looked out some late season thermal gear, and will wrap up warmly, if we dare to venture outdoors.

This was in the far south, one May,  a very early heavy  snowfall.

Quotation of the day, author unknown,

Weather the storm and sunshine will brighten your day"

Greetings from Jean.