Context

I found this on the Geonet website. All the little orange dots are earthquakes over the last 10 years and the star is the latest one in Christchurch. You can see why it was a bit of a surprise, not being on any of the 'usual' faults. I guess it does make us all a very special kind of nuts to love living here. Mind you I'm a bit hoha about bush fires and sharks having grown up with them so I guess it's kind of the same thing.

Being prepared

Christchurch is very slowly starting get itself back together after their 7.1 quake on Saturday morning which did actually wake me up although I didn't realise that's what it was. Today there is serious flooding in the lower Nth Island and we had horizontal rain for most of the afternoon.

So have I heeded all the warnings and got my emergency kit together?

Kind of - I have emergency chocolate, muesli bars, baked beans, cat food, candles and first aid stuff. Yet to come - water, a decent torch and probably a whole bunch of other things but at least it's a start.

It's not a UFO...

it's a princess cut diamond fashioned out of an orange shipping container, made by a Chinese artist currently in residence at the gallery. It is internally lit at night so I'm going to try and get a shot of that too.

It's with us for a month and the engineering firm that built it were asked to make it so it could be taken apart and flat packed. At the end of the month it will be deconstructed and shipped to China with the artist when she returns.

I bet you don't know...

the real reason why my satellite dish is mounted on the back verandah.

Jess does.

What a difference a week makes

The week before last we were in the final throes of War. Last week our exhibition crew swung into top gear and the main exhibition space has been stripped, a stage and 60 guitars installed so that this week the we can host the midnight sessions for G-Taranaki. We are also hosting lunchtime concerts and free guitar clinics - essentially 3 full on days of anything and everything guitar.

I got invited to the opening (choice!) and also went to the early blues session. My CD collection has had a boost and I have discovered 2 Kiwi, + English and US groups to add to my watch list.

It's been a long week

It took 3 days to get to Wednesday which took two days to get through. Luckily Thursday and Friday took only a day. Yesterday it rained all day, literally. And today? Much better

Art with a difference

I was in Wellington on Friday for a meeting and a group of us took the opportunity offered by lateish flights and niceish weather to walk along the waterfront before heading out to the airport. Outside Te Papa we spotted these
Yes, they are port-a-loos (the sign says Art-a-loo) but aren't they fabulous. The best bit is that you could own one! They are up for sale on Trademe with all proceeds going to support research into Colitis and similar diseases.


Then on Saturday I finally got to the Gallery to see their latest exhibitions, one of which features a huuuuge knitted scarf coiled up on the floor. As part of the 'events' programme they are giving you the opportunity to knit some rows on a communal scarf. I added two. At the end of the exhibition the scarf will be auctioned, again for charity.



As fab as they are I'm not sure about bidding for an Art-a-loo but I might for the scarf, artistic, practical and a little part of it is mine.