Epic...

Well, I think Mother Nature was feeling a bit sorry for us here in Christchurch, so to compensate for the 1000 earthquakes we've had in the past three weeks (I am totally not kidding - we have had over one thousand now!!!), she decided to give us a double wammy of goodness this weekend - not only did we switch to daylight savings (I guess that's not really Mother Nature's doing, but hey..) but she also threw us a glorious Nor'wester. The combination of wind, warmth and sunshine made for two days of perfect drying weather (which laundry addicts such as myself go all giddy about).


Not only did I wash all the sheets and clothes etc, but I washed special things that don't get washed that often because they are near impossible to get dry without a dryer, like the mattress protector (is that gross? Am I the only one who doesn't wash mattress protectors every couple of weeks?), and jeans...so exciting.

And after a hard day in the garden yesterday, we treated ourselves to a Sunday drive in Matt's car today. Strapped the baby in the back seat and went to Lyttelton for coffee...


...then a stop at Rapaki - a small bay on the way to Governor's Bay...possibly my favourite place on that side of the Port Hills...


..such a stellar day, there were even some real live geese just hanging out by the water...



And because it felt like the day went on and on (oh how I love daylight savings) and I was feeling all summery (I think the temperature even went above 20 degrees!) I got on my bike - the first time since about February - and went down to our local fish and chip shop to grab some dinner for Matt and I.


I like what they've done with the sign on the window.

The perfect Sunday? Quite possibly.

A few of my favourite things.

Just a few of my favourite things this week....


...drinking this coffee which Matt brought home...


...eating loads of this delish peanut butter (it's lots more expensive than the normal stuff but it's worth it)...


...discovering Casablanca for the first time...


...my new shoes from Etsy seller Goldenponies. Handmade in Mexico!

And my other favourite thing is going back to work - I started today, just one day a week, but the wonder of being surrounded by adults and talking about silly things that are in no way related to babies left me so elated I am giddy. Who ever thought work could be so enjoyable?

Things are looking up.

Things are looking okay around here.... today was not only sunny, but warm too. We sat in the sun and enjoyed a few G & Gs (ginger ale and ginger wine)...


Yes, those are my bare legs, and I am posting a photo here... I must be feeling good! I figure it's okay as my shoes are slightly paler than my skin (the bruise on my knee is leftover from my surgery).

And some other good news... according to Geonet, there hasn't been one single earthquake today... that is a first since the big one! In case you're wondering, there have been 766 aftershocks so far...766!!! It's enough to drive you batty.

A new (old) book...

Paul Rand was an American mid-century graphic designer. Matt thinks he's choice. We found a children's book on TradeMe written by his wife Ann and illustrated by Paul.


It is old, but very cool. The pictures are awesome.


"Words are the names of people you like. Sally and Mary, Thomas and Harry. Words tell you how you feel, fine and dandy and I like candy"

Dogs have teeth too....

I'm supposed to do it daily, or at least twice a week, but at the moment Boo's lucky if I get round to it every fortnight...


That's right - brushing teeth! Hers, not mine (I brush mine a bit more frequently you'll be please to hear). Unlike having a bath, she actually enjoys this - the toothpaste is special malt flavoured just for dogs, and she enjoys the one on one time we have. You can buy proper dog toothbrushes, or rubber things which you slip on your finger, but I just use an extra soft baby's toothbrush.


She spends the whole time trying to lick the toothbrush which makes it a bit tricky, but we get there in the end. For those who are interested, the idea is to concentrate on the bit where the gum meets the teeth - this is arguably more important than the teeth themselves as this is where nasty icky doggie oral bacteria hang out and cause problems.

I dare you to give it a go (just don't try people paste - they don't like the taste and it's not great for them to swallow it).

A day in the kitchen

I was feeling inspired to cook something a bit more time consuming for dinner tonight (that's not actually true - I haven't had a chance to go to the butcher, and the cupboards are generally a bit bare so I thought I'd use up some tinned tomatoes...). Anyway, I made a recipe for spicy tomato and lentil soup, which I think was originally from Saffron restaurant. I have made it a couple of times before, one of the best bits is that you have to dry roast a heap of spices and the smell fills the whole house - yum.


Then you crush them up in a mortar and pestle. I had to crush them in the fry-pan using our pestle, as the mortar smashed in the earthquake.

Anyhoo, I made a loaf of bread to accompany it...


And if that wasn't enough I made a loaf for an after dinner treat. I used a recipe for a date and walnut loaf from Edmonds cookbook, but it ended up being date and random-assortment-of-nuts-from-the-cupboard loaf, as we didn't have enough walnuts. I added almonds and pecans and they seemed to work quite nicely.

Needless to say, Matt is one happy camper tonight.

My new best friend

Stone's Green Ginger Wine - first produced in England way back in 1740, enjoyed by those with aftershock jitters in New Zealand 2010.


(I've been drinking mine with ginger ale, but I think it would be nice with soda and lime too).

For the maths geeks, I have been referring to a variety of earthquake related graphs in the past 10 days, and I think the one I have found most useful and representative is this one:


Maybe a little small to see well, but it's a plot of magnitude vs time, with blue circles representing aftershocks greater than 5.0 on the Richter scale. I reckon this is particularly reassuring, as you can see the magnitude and frequency decreasing. Anyway, that's just me.

Next post: not the earthquake - I've had enough of it, and I'm sure you have too.

Posting without broadband is actually a real pain...

Yeah, so we used up all our broadband watching bad television, youtube videos and earthquake updates...so we're on good old dial up.

We are still feeling fairly jaded from the past week but it does feel like things are getting back to normal.

Today I rescued this pretty little thing from our garden and put it in a pot for future use:

No doubt it's some noxious weed or something, but I like it nonetheless.

And we have some more lovely blossoms on the trees outside which is a nice reminder that spring is really here.


I have been sick on and off for the past three weeks now, and am definitely over it. To top it off I managed to contract conjunctivitis from bubs, so my eyes are burning and I have horrible gunk in them - pretty. That, combined with the fatigue of experiencing multiple daily (and nightly) earthquake aftershocks, recovering from my surgery, and having a grumpy teething baby who also has gunky eyes means the past week has been an almighty crap one by all standards.

Hrmph. Hopefully we will be back online proper tomorrow or the next day and I can watch some more bad television to perk myself up.

A short announcement...

If you want the full earthquake debrief, then I've written it up over here. Otherwise things will be back to normal here at The Good soon.

A bit shaky...

As you probably know a humungus earthquake hit Christchurch this morning. We were petrified, but are all okay, as are most people. I'll post about the full story a bit later...

The day spa...

I had my surgery today. I had to be at the hospital at 7.30am, I got to read today's newspaper while I waited, I spoke to a succession of friendly nurses, doctors and an anesthetist. The doctor drew a big blue arrow on my shin pointing to my knee so they didn't operate on the wrong one. I got into my hospital gown and then got to lie in bed while I spoke to several more nurses and a doctor. Then I got wheeled into theatre and was given my anesthetic. Falling asleep was so lovely and dreamy and wonderful.

Just before I woke up I was having an amazing dream but I can't remember any of it. and when I came to I was a bit disorientated, I was really intent on finding out if it was snowing outside (which isn't quite as crazy as it sounds because snow was forecast today) and I remember I kept saying something about how the sky was blue so it can't be snowing. Then I got to lie in bed with an oxygen mask for about an hour - I was a bit cold, so get this, they brought me some heated flannel sheets, all toasty and warm (they felt like they had come out of an oven). Then I got a cup of tea and some sandwiches.

My knee was pretty sore, so they loaded me up with tonnes of drugs (the good stuff like codeine and fentanyl). And then I sat in a big comfy chair while I waited for Matt.

All in all it was thoroughly enjoyable. And I had a nap in the afternoon when I got home too. But this is the best bit - when I looked in the mirror this evening, I looked amazing. Truly - my skin is super clear and the bags under my eyes have all but disappeared! It's totally like I spent the day at some sort of beauty spa. I'm not sure if it was the sleep, the oxygen, the leisurely pace, or just the lack of baby, but damn I feel good! I highly recommend a day in hospital for those who feel a bit run down and haggard.

Okay, now for the gross part. So, they were doing the surgery because there were a couple of "loose bodies" floating around in there, probably from the underside of my kneecap (they chipped/scraped off when it dislocated), and the nice doctor put them in a pottle so I could see them afterwards....so I present to you....my loose bodies:


...all five of them! Five little hard nuggety bodies. They are about the size of large peas. Not bad at all I reckon, but very yucky to think of them kicking around in there, and it's no wonder I was so sore.

Now if I could just work out some way to go back and have another general anesthetic, preferably weekly, I'll be set.

Congratulations boys...

Six websites designed by Sons & co have made it into the finals for this years Best Awards. I made the boys a chocolate cake to say "well done".



It is extra special because:

a) the walnut ampersand - pure genius on my part, and
b) I have snuck in a layer of black doris plum jam in the middle.

Unfortunately, I doubt Matt and I will be able to resist trying it tonight so it may not be all there when it reaches the office tomorrow. Sorry.

...finally winter is done.

All of the Northern hemisphere blogs I read are starting to refer to turning leaves, cooler weather and "fall fashions", while the Southern hemisphere blogs are posting obligatory photos of sunny skies, baby animals and spring flowers. Here's my cliched contribution to the change of seasons.




Sadly, our new garden is not nearly as lovely as where we were last year, and I very much miss being able to pop outside and pick a bunch of daffodils, but we do have small pockets of loveliness, they're just overwhelmed by weeds, elm suckers and the most hideous of them all...agapanthus.

Hopefully this time next year things will be tidier, and lovelier and I will be able to pick a bunch of something, even if it's not daffodils.

ps. my bread baking going well, we are on to our third loaf this week and it seems to be no major effort thus far.