Christchurch Earthquake

Christchuch city in the South Island of New Zealand has been rocked/devastated by another earthquake after being hit by a 7.1 magnitude quake in September last year.  No fatalities last time, not so lucky now.

The whole country was/is in shock.  Living here in Wellington, we have grown up with quakes and are always expecting "The Big One".  No one imagined it would happen to Christchurch, not even the scientists until Christchurch was rocked by an unknown of fault.  Christchurch and it's people were getting their lives together and then this happened.

I have just found out after many phone calls that all my family are alive and safe.  My uncle's house has been destroyed.  I am still trying to find a family friend, I can't contact her but will keep trying.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Christchurch.

Thank you to Heraldsun.com.au  and news.yahoo.co.nz for the photos.

LATEST: * The earthquake was 6.3 magnitude, centred at Lyttelton 10km south of the Christchurch city centre, at a depth of 5km. It struck at 12.51pm on Tuesday.
* 92 people are dead
* 238 people are thought to be missing
* 120 people are thought to be inside the CTV building on Madras Street.

CTV Building

* Ann Bodkin was the last person rescued, from the Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) building, at 2.25pm Wednesday
* 220 people treated with major trauma injuries at Christchurch Hospital on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning
* 20 people are in intensive care as of Wednesday night
* 431 patients have been treated at triage centres
* 164 people were admitted to Christchurch Hospital in the first 24 hours after the quake, many with head and neck, spinal and crushing injuries
* 16 patients at triage centres had suffered serious injuries

* 20 people are feared trapped inside ChristChurch Cathedral
* 29 people have been rescued from the Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) building, with 14 PGC staff unaccounted for
* More than 400 international rescue workers from Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, the US and the UK are to search for survivors
* New Zealand Defence Force has 1118 personnel working in Christchurch and Lyttelton; 738 Army, 200 Navy, and 150 airforce
* 80 per cent of the city is without water supply
* 40 per cent of the city has no power supply
* Orion expects 75 per cent of homes will have power supply by tonight
* 1500-2000 people have been treated for minor injuries at medical centres around the city.

All washed up

Knitting dish cloths

I've needed to have a break form doing my cross stitch so I have come across alot of patterns for old fashioned knitted dish cloths.  I'm half way through my third one.  When I 've finished that I will finish off my Winter House cross stitch.

Valentines Lollies

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day and got lots of choccies, wine and love!!!!
I got lollies!

Hill Street Market

Hill Street Market

On Saturday Salem and I went into Wellington as he has a ballet class every Saturday there.
We leave early so we can do a few things before his class in the afternoon.
So we decided to go to the Hill Street Farmers Market in the car park of St. Paul's Cathedral which is across the road from the Parliment buildings.

I hadn't had breakfast so was hoping there would be something nice to eat, boy, I wasn't disappointed!!!!
There was free tastings of home-made fudge, peanut butter, loads of fruit, about sixteen different cheeses, relishes, chutneys etc...........YUM!!!!!  We were very full when we left.

We bought a few things too.  What was really good was the cheeses.  My sons can't have dairy products, basically anything to do with cows, so it was great that they had about eight different ewe's milk cheeses which they can eat quite happily.  So we bought two different types.
Must go there again this coming weekend.

Tea Shops and Winter Houses

The Winter House so far.

Last night I finished The Winter House and am now working on the border and then can add the poem.  It has been a fun project to work on, can't wait to see the finished result.

Some of our yummy treats

On Saturday it was pouring down with rain (so much for summer) so we decided to go to the local tea shop for a change.  We hadn't been there before.
It is the Cafe and Tea Shop on Rossetta Road in Raumati Beach.

Rossetta Rd Cafe and Tea Shop

It had lovely food, good tea and the staff were really nice.  I don't think it has been open long as different cafe had been there previously.  Salem and I decided it needed more clutter for decoration as it didn't have the homely feel like Martha's Pantry has.  Martha's of course is our all-time favourite.
We had a very nice lunch there.

Craft Camp Summer Softies and Wild, Wild Wind

Salem's Ghosts

Salem went to Craft Camp again on Monday and he made two lovely ghosts modelled after Pac Man.

It was the last Craft Camp for him for the holidays.

Schools went back today, it was my eldest son's first day at college (high school).  He had to wear a school uniform so he looked alot tidier than usual.  My baby has grown up!!!!!!!!



The remains of my fence

We had REALLY strong winds again on Monday and it totally destroyed our fence.  It was blown completely the other way and is not attached anywhere now.  This weather is awful.  This summer has been hot, humid, rainy, dry and very windy.  Roll on Autumn!!!!!!!!!!!