Quick Post - Echinacea Haven is Bumblebee-tastic!

Its freezing cold out there, and the wind is nasty, and still these little bumbles work over time.
I love seeing bumblebees at work, they are so busy, and seem so happy at what they do :)
Snapped this photo, the echinacea flowers always seems to get mobbed, and the bumblebees cling to their spiny cones, sometimes gathering pollen, sometimes just resting on top and riding the flowers in the breeze.
I never realised just how gently scented the ech flowers are, heavenly!

Love,
E Butterfly
XXXXXX

No Duck Talk! ... Drifting Riverside, The Whiff of Memories - Remembering

Thinking of You!
To All those lost 9/11

Black Swans, Avon River 2011

Canada Geese, Avon River 2011

We walked for a while without talking, when we were accosted by a couple of ducks.
We are always followed when we walk along the Avon river, the bird life is still constant, and this time of year sees them out and about, looking for morsels of food, small nests in the willow trees or in the rushes at the side of the river.
No matter about cracks or liquefaction, these birds are constant.
Every year weve watched them. Weve oohed and ahhed over their babies, fed them and shared our bread... It was a bit hairy seeing them this time last year, but we still made sure we took some bread down to feed them. They were just as hungry as we were!
Two ducks came up to us this morning, and  as usual, being the wonderful bird whisperer that I am, I clucked my tongue and called to them, as you do (dont you?) and they called back, that slow chuck chuck kind of ducky noise.
Muuuum. (Rolls eyes) The little girl sighs.
They cant hear you, Miss 5 says, hands on hips.
Oh. Why not Arlais? I ask.
Thinking quickly, how do I explain simply that ducks DO have ears, you just cant see them etc. 
Well, they cant hear you Mum,
because you
DONT SPEAK DUCK...

I am enlightened.
I swear that girl thinks on her feet for one so young, and will one day turn peoples heads with her thinking.
So I need to learn DUCK.

It is THE most gorgeous day out there.
Bless. I love the sunshine, and this morning it hurt my eyes when I opened the curtains, in fact Mister 11 remarked on it. It was if the sun was shining with his best shirt on, expansive and full. I love today.

We walked down the river, the way we used to for years until our Avon Loop bridge was *munted*.
We stumbled over holes, loose metal on the road, liquefaction, debris from diggers. Theres so many empty houses, some things are broken, some is overgrown, messy and yet... It still has a beauty about it.
The River still glistens, it still moves gracefully if you choose NOT to notice the debris and the mud, the missing trees and the fresh gashes or the sandbags.
I chose today not to see them.
Let me walk in ignorance of the negative things.
The Willows and the Oak trees are pushing upward, the new leaves are about a breath away from expanding outward from bud. The sky is a perfect blue, and the meagre clouds small and puffy.
Today I noticed something that made me smile and remember other times.
The River has a smell to it. Like the smell of algae and water mud, of willows and brackish waters. It reminds me of a time when I was young (ooh Im so old!) and we lived beside the Waitaki River.  After flooding, the river always had landlocked pools of green algae that hid under big  willow trees, their leaves falling into the pools making them brackish and strong smelling. Today that smell leapt at me, from the river... Memories.

Well, memories I guess, make us who we are to some extent. For good or bad, happy and sad. And as you get older, you recall things so much easier, perhaps until you get so old you cant remember anything *grins*
Life is funny. Not ha-ha funny.

Wow, a very deep post today... Just hoping I can fling off all this and start to be the crazy cat lady with the big garden and too many kids who knows weird stuff soon. It is all part of the Life Process I guess.
Now. Where was I?
Thats right... We are off to paint River stones with bright coloured paint for the garden, and talk about our walk around our River.

Love and Blessings,
Remembering 9/11 and the way the world changed...
From My Heart to Yours,

E BUTTERFLY
XXXXXXXXX




Holy Tree Batman!



Prince William Arrives... Memorial Service Tomorrow... Not alot of Shaking!

Just a little post tonight.
I had it all written, photos included, all ready to push publish.
I did... and then something malfunctioned.
Sigh. I lost it all, nothing was saved. That was the Malfunction.

Life along the Avon River... Ducks, Seagulls & Blaise

Busy Day --- Crazy Shoppers out there, Christchurch seems to have come alive this week.
I cant decide why but given the empty shop shelves today, Im wondering if people are taking things seriously about the threats and prophecies about more Earthquake Action.
Seriously - Bishopdale New World this morning before noon was crazy. I know it was benefit day, which usually makes things busy, but holy moley! It was rushing and shelves were empty - super busy. Of course, tomorrow is a Public Holiday, but the shops will reopen on Saturday... honest.
There will be people coming into town I imagine, for the Memorial Service in Hagley Park tomorrow.
I will not be going. My respect and love goes to all those who were lost and their friends and families, my children dont need to be part of a huge crowd of very sad people at the moment.
Heavens above, what would happen if there were a noticeable aftershock during the Service? And given the lack of portaloos/sewerage I dont think my 4 yr old would survive 3 hours without a potty stop!
Theres a huge crowd expected, I hope the weather is good for them... not too hot, not too cold... A bit like Goldilocks porridge.

Prince William flew into town today. A busy whirlwind tour of course, as they always seem to be. He has been everywhere already, a tour of the business district in town, then off to the West Coast to visit the families of the Pike River Miners, which is good for them, after all this time, it is good to know they are not forgotten. Then hes back into town and out to Sumner tomorrow  before he attends the Memorial Service, from what Ive heard on the radio. What a busy life. Bless him for coming. It helps.

Not alot of shaking going on today. Awesome news is at Canterbury Quake Live - just eight quakes in twenty four hours which is awesome. So far, only one today - a 3.1.
Long may it last, however, the air temp out there is fresh, the sky is inky black and there is a high sky. The moon is a shave off being a full moon and theyve been talking about King Tides. Weve been here before, so fingers xed we get through it again...

The lad is still not back at school, they are on the priority list for sewerage, and we have been to see his teacher this week. She isnt bothered by the lack of academia. We have been working on some things ourselves. Mr 10.5 has been working on how many essentials for survival you can fit into a standard sized bucket. How we can waterproof matches. How tectonic plates work, where they are and what happens to us when they knock together or rub over one another... Fascinating stuff.

So thats almost  it for now -
Just one small gripe... 
If youre out there, and youre driving around town - please, please, take care and DRIVE SLOWLY. Today was hellish. People speeding where the roads are good, to save for the time they must slow down over the broken roads... and there are LOTS of them - see my photos below.

There are some- in the east, most, suburbs who have seriously damaged pipes and roading. I have such a new respect for the Roading Contractors and their workers. They are out there from very early and our roads have been repaired so quickly.
Awesome!!
So many roads have subsided with the continual aftershocks too, which must be so frustrating for the workers that have been filling holes and ripping up tarseal to get new surfaces underway...

Have a read and a bit of a smile here - GRUMPY CHRISTCHURCH

Thinking of you,
Love to all,

E Butterfly
xxxxxxxxx 

Theres a New World Comin' - Christchurch Rocks - Earthquake 7.1

Spring is here - note the blossom... and the silt and sewerage in our River :(

 

Another chimney lost!

Major damage to possessions - esp pictures and china/glass

Early on Saturday morning, just after four some time, I was woken by the rock, roll and rumble of a rather growly Earthquake. It lasted only 30 seconds or so, but those seconds felt like an eternity. Over the cat, onto the floor, tried to get up to feel the lightswitch - no power by this stage - exit bedroom through puddle of water from Eenis's tank (Goldfish) then through the hall on my knees to the children... Into the lounge, gathering my wits about me, and it stopped... Five minutes or so, then another, not as big, but oh so scary!
We are fine now, we had no power for 4 days, our house is, so far ok, we may lose our two old brick chimneys, but there is devastation much worse everywhere. My heart goes out to those who have had houses condemned because of structural damage. It is a mind blowing experience, as we have had almost 300 after shocks since, some at around the 6 level on the richter, and that is S*C*A*R*Y to say the least!

It has taught and enforced just one thing - Things arent important, people are! 
I have looked around the house and seen so many things that are just in the way, but beforehand might have been relevant to make me feel good about myself. Stuff just isnt where it is at!! My kids are in good shape, Ive heard from most of my family and they appear to be ok. One of our friends lost his life due to injury, and his house is written off, which has hit home and caused a lot of heart ache. We have friends who have lost homes & stock, but also have fissures across farming land, cracks in walls, broken fences, chimneys, wreck and ruin... and all in all, we are a community who are helping each other which is awesome!

 Is this The Earth Talking?

Entire fences fell over, if not in the big shake, the aftershocks did the damage

Subsidence on the roads, some of these were filled in and the new material has subsided again!

Woodham Road/Gloucester St area

Consoling the Cat!

Roof damage, after this happened, it started to rain!

So there are some of my personal photos...
There are lots of websites with other photos in greater detail to show the devastation, lots of our historical buildings are going, or gone - many in the CBD especially, town has had a real bad time.
My personal favourite place to check online about the quakes and after shocks is here at Geonet. They update after every shock and we feel them anyway... The rocking and rolling hasnt stopped... And the rumble gets me every time.

IF YOURE A CANTABRIAN  and need assistance, there are places to go as advertised, but also this might help someone - http://earthquakebuddyhelp.blogspot.com/
As of tonight we dont have to boil our drinking water, we didnt lose water here, but there is sewerage being leached into the Avon river, which saddens me. There are still major roads with massive fissures, but the council is working round the clock to fix as much as they can.

After a few days without power, we lost our fridge (twisted door) and started cooking with the bbq.
Without our neighbours help that first morning, Id have been lost, this has built good strong relationships between neighbours, strangers and families all over Canterbury and beyond...
There are a big lack of candles, bottled water, matches, lighters, LPG, water storage containers and childcare in the immediate city region... But we here have adopted the saying *It is All a Part Of the Experience* and the children say, theyve got through one, theyll get through the others...

Chimney bricks damage roof below

The Hairdressing Salon around the road, stock has fallen off shelves and spilt!
As I write, the computer desk is swinging, we have more A/shocks!!

My Chief BBQ Cook and 2IC

 

Now for more photos...

Police cordon off Gloucester St bridge, it ruptured on the North side

 

A local dairy loses its facade and the side of the top storey.

 

 

 

 

 

Often seen these past few days, removing brick chimney

Being a Survivalist is Tiresome :-)

Breakfast at Tiffanys?? Not quite... Cooking with Gas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND that is all from me for Now!
Take Care :-)
E Butterfly & The Lil 'Pillars 

Everything on The Lazy A is A-Oa-K ....

With the gorgeous weather we have had so far this week here in Christchurch, New Zealand,
Ive been outside tidying up the yard. This is what I found below the elderberry tree. It was as if it were sheltering them from me...

 Mr 13 owned up to having planted a rather large handful of acorns in the Autumn, and today I separated out some of the new little oak seedlings. Theyre rather precious,  thinking about their future potential size and not looking too bad at all. Varying sizes and shapes, some will not possibly be suitable as big trees, but Im learning as I go...

Firstly, transplanting oak seedlings isnt as easy as I first thought. Oak trees have rather large straight tap roots. These would be about four or five months old, and are between 20-30 cm long, half of that is tap root which extends from out of the base of the acorn which is, in most cases, still attached to the seedling, possibly as a food supply? for the new growth. Planting them in long containers (in my case cut down coke bottles or milk containers) was fine as long as the hole was deep and the tap root was as undisturbed as possible.
They are all looking peachy at the moment, so maybe I was lucky! A little trip down the road to have a look at the parent tree meant I could identify the trees as Quercus Alba.L which is White Oak. Beautiful!! I just might end up with my grove of oaks... OK, maybe not me, my grandchildren might :)

Did you know you can eat acorns? Have a look here if you're interested - COOKING WITH ACORNS
The Sioux Indians use acorn in their cooking because they were plentiful and easy to store (away from squirrels!)
I didn't know much about this, but these kinds of things fascinate me, being interested in self-sufficiency and survival skills...
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT OAK TREES - Oak trees live for up to 200 years. I guess that means careful consideration before planting is essential!

And in case you want to try planting your own acorns... heres a page that explains it all ... Gosh I love the internet!! :) HERE - COLLECT AND PLANT YOUR ACORNS

And on top of all that replanting, transplanting, repotting etc... The Aloes got some division to do - I got time yesterday to split up three of my bigger plants, and netted another 12 from them, they are splitting nicely, and growing strongly. Light, not heat is what they prefer. They go rather reddish brown around the edges if they are too hot. To use the aloes medicinally, they need to be rather larger than what I have yet. Im looking forward to making some burn cream when the plants mature considerably...

We have some seeds in pots, waiting for them to rear their tiny heads... Some motherwort, tansy, cabbage, lettuce, sunflower, pumpkin... Ive never had much luck with seeds, but hopefully that is about to change :)
Well thats all my garden news for now.

Thanks for listening :)
Take care

E Butterfly
Christchurch by The River