Well at least it's past the shortest day!

It's cold, it's winter! But never mind, in about 10 days I should begin to see a difference with the sunset time and there will be a little more light for me to go walking. I have managed to get out on 20-30 minute walks for the last 4 days at least.
Yesterday being Sunday meant I was out earlier in the afternoon when there was enough light- and look what I discovered- a mailbox on the back of a bike! That's a planter by the handlebars.




This photo of a rainbow is taken from my desk at work. The rainbow was a perfect arc with a faint double- and it stayed brilliant and glowing for about 20 minutes- absolutely beautiful! You can see the hills that are the "trademark" of our town too.

Comings and Goings

Last Sunday was Yana's dedication at the Tim and Sarah's church- it's similar to infant baptism without the baptism! The parents promise to teach the child about Jesus. After the service we went to lunch at a nice restaurant with Sarah and Tim and Sarah's family. Here's Anahera holding Yana. Then Andrew and I went back to Tim and Sarah's house.






The weather has still been COLD! This time the centre of the North Island got hit by the snow. On one day this past week all major roads going through the North Island to Auckland were closed because of snow and ice. There was snow on the hills behind Waikanae but only down to about 700m. It was really cold though, and we had a lot of wind and rain, which meant we were quite busy this week at work. The cold weather has shown up major shortfalls in NZs electricity supplies - the system is only just keeping up with demand- if they cut water heating at night to many houses. I thought that was the case when Andrew had a shower the other night and there wasn't enough hot water left to wash the dishes!

I did manage to get out for a walk this afternoon- I haven't been able to walk very much lately because of the weather and the fact that it's dark soon after 5pm. Went to visit my mum and also saw Kathryn briefly at the mall. I went to the Aero Club too, the first time I've been there in several weeks, it was good to just catch up with people. The weather has meant no one has been able to fly much. I don't miss it as much now, but still hope to go for a flight sometime.

Cold start to winter

Well this winter so far is colder than I remember over the last few years. It's started early too. The South Island is bearing the brunt of it. This is a photo of the snow that blanketed the South Island taken from a satellite. 11 days later there are still 1500 homes in rural parts that are without power and phones.

It's snowing again there this afternoon and evening. It even snowed in Christchurch Monday last week (that's where my son Phil lives).

Typo...

I mean the tyres only cost me $200, the 0 is sticking on the keyboard lol. $20 would have been unbelievable aye! Must dash it's Saturday but I have to work today

Where did my savings go??

Last weekend was Queens Birthday weekend here in New Zealand, so a long weekend. Saturday I had to be at the Toyota dealer bright and early so my car could have a service and it's warrant done- it cost $245!! That's very dear. They charged over $40NZ for 3.5L of oil- it would have been WAY cheaper for me to have supplied it! And when I picked my car up it had a horrible rattle and I had to take it back to them- they'd knocked the exhaust and it was banging against something. After that I went to the tyre place and had 4 new tyres put on. The ones that came with the car were too narrow and it made the car very unstable cornering in the wet. A friend of Kathryn's who works at the tyre place pu them on, it only cost $20, $50 per tyre, so that was a good price.

Saturday night I had the girls to stay, then I took them to Sunday school on Sunday morning which they enjoyed.

Monday Andrew and I went around the shops. I finally bought a couch, you can see Andrew trying it out in the shop- it will fit us both slouching on it lol. It's going to be in a blue fabric and will be delivered in about another week. I also had to buy an electric frypan, as mine blew up. Andrew bought an office chair, he was really pleased as it only cost $20, down from $90.

So that's where my savings went!

Kaya's picture

Kaya has done a picture just for you all in blog land