Dying flames

 Sunday Scribblings    Prompt a standing ovation

painting by Leonid Afremov

Dying flames
  

She shivers, waking up silence
staring into dancing flames,
hypnotising her, taking her

to a place where she twirls
with grace for
two piercing eyes
clouding a crowd

her arms
unfolding petals
A port de Bras
in a pas de deux

her muscles stretched
like strings of a guitar
vibrated by admiration
  a standing ovation

a note
"for my queen of night"
in elegant strokes
a thousand tulips
deep red, evokes
a dream

untill
his insistent absence
cools her passion
She shivers, waking up silence
staring into dying flames

marja blom

From Grave to Christchurch

A photo from Grave in Holland where my husband stayed with his sister.  Grave is a fortified city with a bit more than 12000 people. Grave is close to the town I lived. My hubby arrived back in Christchurch yesterday.


Today we had 15 C again. Same temperature my husband had in Holland, so he doesn't have to climatise. It was sunny and great to go walking, so up to the Halswell quarry park today. My husband was born and lived in a house on top of the quarry. He used to slide down the stones. That would be very dangerous today.

There is still some snow left but the green starts to dominate again.

A park with a view You can see the Southern Alps from here.

The cliff of the stone quarry. Lots of old buildings in Christchurch were build with stones from the quarry. Still some stones left.........so architects.........

Korean totem poles which were given by Christchurch's sister city Songpa Gu

Winter in Christchurch

Oh my oh my. Snow in Christchurch. Got up this morning and all was white. The most snow I've seen since we live in Christchurch. It might look nice but the trouble is the city is down again. I think they didn't invent the snow plough  here because I haven't seen any yet. I tried to go to work this morning and had a little spin and got stuck twice. The second time I got stuck was on an intersection and luckily I was just starting to cross. The motor was roaring but I didn't move a centimeter. I had to dig the wheels out of the snow with my foot before I could move on again. I realised that this was not good and I started my trip home. Afraid that I wouldn't get there at all as it started snowing heavily.

Our garden in the morning

The roads are nearly empty. The only cars on the road are four wheel drives and a few other crazy ones (like me)

A farm with a white paddock which we can see from our kitchen window

"Hi Rufus what do you think? pretty white huh, fancy a stroll?"
"Nah better get inside before we turn into snowballs"

Sculpture of a snow man/bear. He won't live long as the temperature is rising :)

Quote of the week

Aranui cave and tunnel track

Waitomo caves in the North Island

On our trip around the North of the North island we visited the Aranui cave. It is the smallest cave of the Waitomo caves. Ruruku Aranui, a Maori man discovered this cave in 1910. it is a cave with beautiful lime stone formations.

One path from the carpark leads to the Raukuri natural tunnel track. A track through native bush, along limestone outcrops, caves, natural tunnels, above and along rushing water.  It was one of the high lights of our trip The place is also of strong cultural and spiritual improtance to the maories.

For me the experience was like walking through a gorgeous magical enchanted forest.

          

High upon a wall there is a secret place where the fairies play.

"The wall is silence, the grass is sleep,
Tall trees of peace their vigil keep,
And the Fairy of Dreams with moth-wings furled
Plays soft on her flute to the drowsy world."
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

The water elves carve their way through the castles of stone

Swirling roots, frozen in time, locking the entrance to the green palace

Peek through the tunnel and catch a glimpse of the enchanted forest

The cave warps a shadow on its mysteries

The trees whispers their stories to the ones who want to hear

Listen to the timeless chatter of the river

Spirits of fantasy dwell in this untamed place

The rushing waters, swishing and splashing music, in harmony with the magic song of the birds

An inspirational story

Traffic control tower Christchurch airport

I saw the airport twice this week. Once to go to Auckland up and down for work and yesterday to drop of my husband. The airport has been renewed completely and is very spacey and modern. When I went in the plane to Auckland the Stewart said "There is a lot of turbulence in Christchurch at the moment. It will get better though when we are in the air." :)

I've got an inspirational story for you:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson

about a battle that goes on inside all people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two

 wolves that dwell inside each and everyone of us.

 “One is Evil.

 It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,

 arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,

 lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

 The other is Good.

 It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,

 kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,

 truth, compassion and faith.”

 The grandson thought about it for

 a minute, and then asked his grandfather:

 “Which wolf will win ?” 

 The old Cherokee simply replied:

 “The one you feed.”

Author unknown

A few photo's from Christchurch

Bad times continue as the process of recovery is slow in Christchurch and more people think about leaving Christchurch behind. One of them is my best friend, who lives now halve of the time in America and half of the time here. I hope she finds a reason to stay as I will miss her a lot.
My hubby is busy to find a way to get to Holland as his mum is terminally ill, so times are not good.
We are kind of in survival mood. During such times we learn what live is all about and even the youngest do. Read this beautiful piece on a school blog from a ten year old and give him a comment.

I walked with my friend through part of the city bordering the red zone as she hadn't seen the damage yet over there.  We had a look at Christ College, Christchurch oldest school. It is a private, boarding school, modelled on the Public English Schools like Westminster School and Eton College. As you see on the picture it has undergone some damage but is still in use.

Relocated students in less romantic places. The building and place is was gorgeous and I love the Gothic dining Hall which is based on the Great Hall at Christ Church in Oxford. It has quite a Harry Potter feel to it.

A church next to the Radio new Zealand building. Only the door is standing up.

Rumours  this week in the local paper say that since the June earthquake the damage in the Art Centre is so significant that it might not be restored. Let's hope for the best.

A glimpse of the provincial chambers

Finally we found something nice in one piece. The recently restored fountain in Hagley park.

These are determined to stay beautiful

A birdy contemplating life in Christchurch

and a bit of good news I finally found this stone on the Internet which can predict earthquakes ;)