Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Mothers Day - Part 1

Around Home
Welcome to my new look blog, hope you like it.  Am trying to go "simple" in real life and in blogland and it's taken me a wee while to find this particular heading that I 've always liked. 

We were woken abruptly yesterday morning at 3am by a large nasty earthquake, a 5.3 magnitude centred in Rolleston .  This takes our total of aftershocks and new earthquakes to nearly 6000 in the last eight months!  That seems an incredible statistic when written down.  Even more unbelievable that we Christchurch residents have suffered through it all, day in day out.

Carpe diem  -  translated as "seize the day". Carpe literally means "to pick, pluck, pluck off, cull, crop, gather", but Ovid said the word in the sense of, "To enjoy, seize, use, make use of".

The above phrase is something a lot of people in our city have embraced, and for us despite all the hardship and suffering going on around us, the events have meant an unexpected employment opportunity in our home.  Alf has finally taken a life long dream of self-employment and has made it a reality.  Three weeks ago he resigned from the drilling company he had just started work at, and has become a contractor to the City Council.  My my, I can tell you we thrashed this move out, over and over, pros and cons, do we - don't we, we prayed with our church members for the right answer.  There really isn't a right or wrong answer to a situation like this.  We are optimistic that based on Alf's qualifications and the abundant employment opportunities in the infrastructure of the city, he can earn a "decent wage".  So for the last few weeks, my time has been taken up with office jobs, phone calls and accounting.  But that's quite OK with me.  I come from an accounting/office background in my previous life before children.  So I am quite happy to play office lady to my darling husband.  We pray each day that this new direction will be successful and lasting.

Mothers Day
I was given the most special attention for Mother Day this year.  I really didn't want too much fuss, but the family had other ideas.  They concluded I was the MOST important person in the house and that life would simply grind to a halt without me. BLUSH.

A lovely treat coffee - and a magazine

Spending time with my family

A healthy lunch for the weight and health conscious mother

Outside the cafe, the deck extends out over the Avon River allowing us wonderful views of the river.  Not too crowded which is great for 12.30, not many venturing into the city I think.  Notice the cafe cat, Max, alseep by the gas heater.  He curls up and stays there all day!

Punting and rowing on the Avon has been in this location 125 years and is quite a Christchurch institution, I have vivid memories of being little and rowing here in the school holidays.  Much of the land around it seems damaged, so it was good to enjoy something unchanged from before the earthquake.


They think of everything, especially when lunching on a cold day

Alex and Georgia on the statue of
James Edward Fitzgerald on Rolleston Avenue
Fitzgerald was the first Superintendent of Canterbury between 1853 to 1857

2 comments:

  1. How exciting starting a new venture. Soo many tax perks being self employed. I hope it all goes great for you.

    it is lovely to see a photo of you!

    Watch your mail box finally packed up hs geography stuff I said I would send.

    Love Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, the simple look is great! It loads fast, too. :-) 600 is a huge number. The location of your Mother's Day outing looks quite lovely and peaceful. I pray that your new venture is a great success!
    Jenn

    ReplyDelete

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