And the winner is..........................

We are tired, I am tired. Forall people in the east of Christchurch are tired. Some have stopped digging the liquifaction from their gardens, driveways and houses. They've reached their limits. I only have expierenced a fraction of what others go through. I am a "rich" person inside a troubled city. Also rich because I had an overwelming response of warmth and care from so many bloggers. That's one of the reasons I can't stop blogging, because the love and care. I move on and get back on track and  remember I promised a souvenir for one of my bloggers and Beach. I printed out the comments and I cut them up and my daughter pulled one out of the hat.

and the winner is roffle, roffle, roffle.................................................................Miss Footloose


Please Beach and Miss Footloose email your adresses to me . My email adress is marja.blom@gmail.com

For all of you thank you and the following wishes are for you and I will visit you soon :)

By Sandra Sturtz Hauss


"May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.


May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.


Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.”

Arohanui marja

Bad news from quake city

Liquifaction pooring into the streets as you see above. Serious rock falls in Sumner and other places, people evacuated, 50.000 people without power, many without water, Buildings fell down, most luckily in the central city etc

At 1 pm a 5.5 quake struck. I was at work and everything was shaking like hell. It was frightening. Luckily it didn't take too long and we could breath again. I had a client, no time for lunch, so I had to hop over to the shop for some food after 2 pm. I talked to a shop keeper who said that a building in Stanmore street had collapsed with 2 people in it. Later it was found that the building had been cleared. Anyway I got my lunch, stood at the zebra and the violent shaking started at 2.20 pm A 6.3 magnitude I learned later. I nearly fell down. It was if you stood on a ship in a wild storm. It was scary and I said loudly shit to a man next to me. Yes he said calmly, staring into nowhere.. The power was off at work, people came out from under the table. We all went home.

OK it is enough now, mother earth, you had several horrible goes at us, but now it is time to think about all these people here. Time for you to bugger of and leave us alone!!!!  You heard me don't dare to shake things up here again or...............you deal with me. I'll kick you.

5.5 aftershock

This morning we had an aftershock at 9.09 am with a magnitude of 5.5. The quake was at a depth of 15 km in the South West of Christchurch near Rollerston. It has been said that is the 6th biggest quake since the september 7.1 quake. Lots of stuff has fallen of shelfs, more damage to be expected in the inner city but power is still on this time. In our house everything rattled and shaked but only 2 little things fell on the floor. The lamps kept swinging for a long time.

I saw on a few Christchurch blogs tribute videos of Christchurch and I found a nice one myself. It is a kind of way for us to say goodbye to well loved places in the city and hang on to the memories. Not only to memories of the beautiful buildings but also of the carefree times that we were shopping on the markets in the city, had a snack at the art centre,visited my kids at their amazing school in the city or just had a strol through the centre. The art centre my favourite is going to be rebuild but I heard already that it is going to take up to 15 years. I will be retired by that time and will have all the time to visit. Anyway the pictures and the music on the video are beautiful. Thanks to the maker

It's not over yet

Christchurch has changed. Lots of residents and workplaces still don't have a place of their own. They are still in the process of demolishing buildings. The tallest building on this picture is the Hotel Grand Chancellor and a phased demolition of this Hotel is going to be started soon. It is going to take up to a year. The reason it takes so long is to reduce risk to neighbouring buildings.  The school of my children is not far from this building so it will take that time or longer for them to get back too. They share a school now and that works. Less resources but they are moving forwards. At my work we also sharing with another business as they have nowhere to go. In the area were we are were lots of empty offices last year. Everything is filled up there is nothing left in the city.

Furthermore it's not over yet. We are still experiencing aftershocks. The ground has become more fluid as well. When a truck drives past our house we all move a bit and in many places it is worse. There are signs in the streets to plead truck and bus drivers to slow down as houses are crumbling and sliding.

The people here are tough though and all work hard to move forwards , but just as our nerves started to settle again a little bit we got the following news last week. GNS science who update the Geonet website have made the folowing predictions. There is a23% change of a 6 to 7 magnitude quake in the next 12 months and a 90 % change of a 5 to 6 magnitude earthquake.You can find some further interesting information about the fault lines revealed at Fi's blog. No it's not over yet.

On a personal note. Life is still good. My new job is hard work but I love it. My family is well. Life is good too us We are saving up now for a trip to Holland. Probably in dutch spring next year when it is a bit warmer. I look forward to meeting my family and my roots. As a warming up exercise I already sang along loudly with this dutch song to get in the mood.

        Tot ziens Holland, marja

Hamilton gardens

On our North Island trip we didn't spend a lot of time in Hamilton but what we saw was gorgeous : The Hamilton gardens

The light and the dark creates the complete cycle

A roman pot tucked in a corner

 Italien renaissance garden. Yeh my favourite

Indian Char Bagh Garden is inspired by the Tai Mahal garden and the palace by the Lal Mahal.

American modernist garden - ah there is a gap in my chair

A look through the bamboo of the Chinese Scholars Garden

  A Maori food storage house in Te Parapara Garden

A bumble bee enjoys the sun sunny flower

Take a seat mate. Complete with cellphone, radio, cup and plate.

The Chinoiserie Pavilion in the Perfume Garden

Dreams

Dreams
By marja

Flakes of thoughts flutter
dwelling in a place of dreams
A place where rainbows stretch
towards the horizon,
twisting colours in a beam

 Dreams are wrapped in a bubble
softly craddling in the air
full of inspiration, imagination
creating feelings of elation
of a spirit roaming free
 
As life is young, nourish
don't let the bubble burst
let it flourish in a tapistry
on the road to destiny
as beauty will unfold
as it as meant to be