Winter

 Although Christchurch is still not anything like even partially rebuilt after the massive earthquake of 22nd February, the city has taken a large dumping of snow this past week.

Folks who live there and who have been battling liquefaction and gaping holes in their streets and backyards report that this white blanket has covered up all the ugliness and has shown them that with a pristine white cover, their surroundings could be beautiful again!

These photographs have featured in the news and were published under the title of:

"The icing on the quake"

 Queenstown in the South Island - playground of the affluent (well maybe not so much, but certainly 'affluenter than we') has a cableway which takes folks to the spectacular views enjoyed from the mountain top. This picture was taken just a week before Queenstown was all over the six o'clock news with chainless cars having slid off the beaten track - in the middle of town no less - and unceremoniously and precariously perched amidst snow drifts alongside the roads!

We had heard that there had been a bit of snow around our nearest ski resort and having begun to suffer mild cabin fever, took a drive up there to see it first hand.

 As you can see, there was a point at which we had to turn around, being sans chains for our wheels and sans four wheel drive capability.

 When cabin fever hits on a winters day in the school holidays, sometimes it's fun to 'adopt' some granddaughters (belonging to nannas who reside really far away!) and show them the basics of needlecrafts like knitting and crochet.
 Jackie and Helena are focussed on their knitting while Julia has just started a crochet journey - at the time of this writing, Julia's crochet blanket is starting to really take shape and it looks as though she will be creating some real art in the future!
Crafts that involve combinations of art and music are hugely entertaining and if all else fails, nothing beats a good jigsaw puzzle!

Dis al!