Grandad :-(

RIP my beautiful Grandad

The black dog ....

... sinking ..

 

The laws that govern the black dog

a) it is lazy, it hates exercise.

b) it feeds on negative emotion.

c) it lies, steals, distorts and drains.

d) it relies on the labels from other people to quantify what you have.

e) it loves it when you give it your full attention and energy.

f) it will always show you your past, and hide your future

g) it hides your true self from you

The Hole

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless...
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I still fall in... it's a habit...
But my eyes are open.
I see it is there.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down a different street.

******
Author Unknown.

The Guest House

by Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

1207-1273, written in 1230

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Comments on the poem:

- this poem is about mindfulness (as in buddhist practice), accepting the different human emotions that you experience without judgement, not getting entangled in the feelings they produce, but seeing them for what they really are with a non-judgemental mind. Each emotion is like a visiting guest that will stay a while and then leave, but you must see them for what they are, not reject or run away from them, the idea is to accept all emotions as part of the human condition, we must learn from them because each is sent to teach us.

- In this poem, Rumi suggests that we shouldn't shy away from the ugliness in our lives....pain, death, suffering......instead we should embrace them and explore what learning is there for us. People don't like to talk about death, Rumi suggetses you should so that, while uncomfortable, it becomes more human-scaled and easier to deal with....through its familiarity.....sometimes the hardest of times teach us the most...

- This poem is a deep reflection on being in touch with our feelings and emotions (described as guests in this poem.) We can learn much from recognixing these feelings. They are guides to our state of mind and we can prepare for our reactions to them.

This month .. in pics

Man I've been so slack with posting .. so here's a super lazy post .. ;-p



There's a bull in the garden what am I gonna do ..

there's a bull in the garden what am I gonna do ..

I'm gonna watch that bull that's what I'm gonna do ..

I'm gonna watch that bull ;-p









Three lambs - Rainbow Dash - Abbie's, Rocket - Mike's and Dan C - Cam's

.. 2 ewes and one ram .. been so sickly .. driving me bonkers .. we've always had rams .. ewe's are not as hardy it seems ..



Mike being his usual nutty self ;-p



Magnolia buds in the garden ..



Mike going off to "work"

-----------------------------------------

Nana's Internment

On Sunday 26th September 1.30pm, we had the internment of Nana's ashes at Awanui Cemetery ..

It was a really lovely day - very healing ..

I did a reading .. Jeff - Elsie's partner (for mum) read the "roses" poem that was in Nana's funeral service sheet .. and Sonje read a beautiful poem from a card she gave to Nana

.. then as Uncle Alan and Uncle Les lowered the ashes in Stefhan (Sonje's son) played the start of Stairway to Heaven on his guitar

.. then we placed flowers in and around the ashes .. and then they both then filled it in .. then we had a moments silence while Stefhan played his guitar

.. was really lovely .. then we all went back to Mum's for afternoon tea

.. was a really nice day :-) .. lots of tears .. but good for the soul :-)





















the beautiful flowers outside Mum and Dad's house





the spread for afternoon tea



My cool Pop



-----------------------------------

..photos from during the week ..



Coco Pops milkshakes for breakfast ..



Miss with Candi (a doll Nana found and gave her)



Miss found some new glasses ..



Colouring fun on a wet day ..



Cheeky Miss ..



Surely they aren't related

.. this is what I saw when I got up this morning .. Dad's worker ;-p

Earthquake in Christchurch

From Wikipaedia:

The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake and the Christchurch earthquake) was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am on 4 September 2010 local time. It caused widespread damage and several power outages, particularly in the city of Christchurch. Two residents were seriously injured, one by a falling chimney and a second by flying glass.One person died of a heart attack suffered during the quake.

The earthquake's epicentre was 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Christchurch, near the town of Darfield. The hypocentre was at a shallow depth of 10 km. A foreshock of roughly magnitude 5.8 hit five seconds before the main quake, and strong aftershocks have been reported, up to magnitude 5.4.The initial quake lasted about 40 seconds, and was felt widely across the South Island, and in the North Island as far north as New Plymouth.

The Civil Defence declared a state of emergency for Christchurch and Selwyn District, while Selwyn District, Waimakariri and Timaru activated their emergency operation centres. A curfew was established in Christchurch Central City from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am in response to the earthquake.

Effects outside Christchurch

The quake's epicentre was around Darfield, around 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Christchurch. Four metres (13 ft) of sideways movement has been measured between the two sides of the previously unknown fault.

A 5 km (3.1 mi) section of rail track was damaged near Kaiapoi and there was lesser track damage at Rolleston and near Belfast. As a precaution, state rail operator KiwiRail shut down the entire South Island rail network after the earthquake, halting some 15 trains. After inspection, services south of Dunedin and north of Kaikoura recommenced at 10:30 am. The Main South Line, linking Christchurch with Dunedin, was given the all-clear and reopened just after 6:00 pm to allow emergency aid to be railed into Christchurch.

The quake caused damage to historic buildings in Lyttelton, Christchurch's port town, including cracks in a church and the destruction of parts of a hotel.

It's just surreal an unbelievable the extent of damage

Thank goodness that there (at this stage) seems to be only 2 people seriously hurt.

The horrible thing is they are still having after shocks which are keeping them on edge - recent Earthquakes

Here are some photos of some of the devastation:

         

There are some more unbelievable photos here: Dominion Post photos of earthquake

A lady on a parenting board I visit share her experience:

The worst part of it (one the shaking had stopped) was waiting it out in the pitch black for daybreak. We had the four of us in bed together and everytime there was another shake we all grabbed hold each other. DS2 was shaking constantly (obviously shocked) and no matter how tightly I held him he was still making the bed shake. We've got drawer handles that hang and everytime there was an aftershock they started clattering like some strange demonic musical instrument.

A friend of ours is a volunteer fireman and his wife dropped him at the station straight after and then she spent the next hour or so picking up people wandering the streets and dropping them off with family. It seems that a few of the elderly were wanting to be with family so decided to walk rather than spending then next few hours terrified and alone.

It was a huge relief when it finally lightened up, we only had minimal damage, a few broken glasses and a flood in the toilet where it overflowed, once DH worked sorted it out he went to his SILs to see how they fared. All of our friends sort of rallied together and the pregnant and BFing mums hung out at one house with the children while everyone else whet around the area checking on others and helping where needed. They spent a fair few hours at the pub and bottle store as there was broken glass everywhere. It was nice to see that people seemed to group together and were pooling together resources to ensure everyone was fed and watered. There were plenty of BBQed sausages and bacon butties eaten yesterday.

Even last night we all had dinner together before returning to our own homes although some people stayed over, especially those who live alone. It was the worst experience of my life but I could not imagine the terror of having to go through that without another soul in the house.

I am so very thankful of what we've got, a house that is standing, a fire for warmth, power and water and best of all my family are safe. I feel strangly contented, in no hurry for anything just happy to enjoy what today brings (minus the aftershocks of course). I also find myself on the verge of tears quite often, there is no apparent trigger for this, just a really somber feeling comes over me but still so happy to be here!

What causes the Earthquakes in New Zealand is fully explained here: GNS Science 

New Zealand is located on the boundary between two of the Earth's great tectonic plates - the Australian and the Pacific. Broadly speaking, the Australian plate is heading north while the Pacific plate is heading west. The combination of these motions means that the Pacific plate, which includes much of the South Island, is moving relative to the Australian plate at a rate of about 40 millimetres each year in a southwesterly direction. So Christchurch is moving away from Auckland about 4 metres every century.

It is the motion between these two plates, and the deformation that occurs in the boundary zone between the plates, that has given rise to much of New Zealand's geology as we see it today. It is also the fundamental cause of the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that are such important natural features of New Zealand. The deformation and squashing caused by the collision of the two great plates has caused mountain ranges to rise throughout the country. Some of these are still rising, and the interplay between the tectonic forces pushing the mountains up and gravity trying to pull them down means that landslides are a common occurrence over much of New Zealand.

The plate boundary zone in New Zealand

Click on thumbnail for bigger image

Tectonic plates behave like rigid shells that slide over the surface of a sphere. The biggest plate, the Pacific, is more than 10,000 km across. The plate boundary zones - the zones of interaction between adjacent plates where they collide, pull apart or slide past each other - may be anything from a few kilometres to a few hundred kilometres wide. Almost all of New Zealand is in the deforming plate boundary zone.

Only Northland is fully on the Australian plate, and only offshore islands like Chatham Island and Campbell Island are fully on the Pacific plate.

Large earthquakes are the most obvious sign of the deformation between the two plates.