Lockdown Day 32

I didn't write yesterday. We had a deep shock here as a family. I don't know quite what to write or say about it, except that it was hard, and it will be hard for a while yet, and I never, ever want that to happen again, and if you are having a bad time, please, please reach out to someone.

Today is my blogversary. I started to write this blog, purely unplanned, on April 26th 2009. Thats....11 years! Whoa.

So for your nostagic pleasure, I give you my second ever blog post:

My New Mansion

My Dear Husband and I were having an argument a little while ago. Basically, the theme was me complaining that nothing gets done around here (we live in a half-renovated house) and that he always wants to go and work out at "the land" (we also own a block of land on which we planned to build our "dream" house on). 

To cut a long story short, we decided to move out into the shed. We hope that this will achieve a few things: we can finish renovating the place we are in when we move out (MUCH easier!); we can then rent this place out (always welcome a few extra $$); we will be where we really want to be; and when we do finally have enough money to build our house, we'll be right there to oversee it.

But I don't know if I'm excited or just plain scared. "Scared?" you ask. Well, moving out to the shed means moving out to a long drop loo*. Hubby promises to build me a floor and walls in the shed at least, but the long drop will have to stay for a wee (pardon the pun!) while. What am I letting myself in for?

*(For those of you who don't know what a long drop is, think toilet with a view, fresh air and no flush button! That's a picture of my very own long drop up there.)

And then, just for fun, here is a post I wrote a year or so later:

The Day the Dunny Died.

It's windy here today.  Real windy.  Like blow your house down windy.  Or, in actuality, blow your dunny down.

Yup.  That there is what greeted me last time I went out to sit on the throne.  

This is what it looked like last summer - the kids got muddy and decided to paint it (with mud - I guess they were going for the adobe look).

So, what's a girl to do when she's gotta go?  Well, I pushed it back up straight, used it, then got the hell out of there before it blew over again!

I rang Hubby at work.  He laughed.  But then he's at work - with a flushing loo to hand.  Huh.

I think it's time to get me one of those fancy indoor flushing loos at home.

Lockdown Day 4

Today just seems like a normal Sunday. It really does.

I worked last night, it was super quiet, nobody in, no phone calls, so I managed to catch a few zzzz's in the lazy boy. It felt a little like the calm before the storm, but I decided to look on the bright side of it and relish the nap instead of worrying. I took the photo below on the way home where I stopped at the inlet for a breath of head-clearing air.

So today I didn't need to sleep for long, walked the dog, did some quilting, did some dyeing, did some gardening, let the kids muck around on their devices, sent them foraging for wild grapes. All just like a normal Sunday.

Except we had the sad news that New Zealand has had our first death due to Covid-19. Rest in peace, lady from the West Coast, may your spirit fly free. I feel for your family at this time. Unable to gather and grieve together.

Mummy, I want a horse.

If there are any plus sides to funerals, it is that family gather together.  On the weekend, we lunched at Uncle M's farmlet.  He's a bit of a horse whisperer - he is a barefoot trimmer and rides bridleless.  The kids love him, and not just because they get to ride the horses!

First order of the day is grooming.  My daughter has no fear and weaves her way through the patient horses legs without a care.

Second order of the day, help saddle the horse.  This one is Jellybean, a quarter horse and matriarch of the herd.

The other horse is Misty, tall and graceful. 

I love this shot of the other horses looking on.  None of them are really suitable for kids, so it's always Misty and Jellybean who do the honours.

Good fun was had by all, tinged with a little sadness because we all knew the reason we were together.

Hopefully we will all gather together again here at Christmas time for our annual camping trip.  No doubt Jellybean and Misty will get another workout.

Pike River Mine.

I'm not feeling very festive today.  Yesterday New Zealand had a terrible tragedy.  There had been 29 mine workers trapped for six days in a mine after an explosion.  Nobody had been able to get in to attempt a rescue or even to see if there was any sign of life.  Yesterday afternoon there was another huge explosion and they believe nobody could possibly have survived it.  They have switched from rescue mode to recovery mode. 

My heart goes out to the families who have had the most unimaginable week. 

Please take care everyone.

Edited to Add:  If you would like to do something to show your feelings, Shirley Goodwin is receiving Healing Heart Blocks to be made into quilts for the families involved in this tragedy.  You can see here for instructions and an address.