All is well....

I have had the 'all clear' now from the health professionals - its a wonderful feeling! In celebration mode I am. So its off to Australia to visit our youngest son and take in some sunshine. I am all over winter, and rain.

However there are some heartening signs of spring - the bluebells are flowering madly, our vege garden is under way, and the potatoes are up.Life is good. Some photos to follow....

The Shaky Isles

New Zealand is living up to its name of the Shaky Isles with 48 hours of earthquakes jolting the Marlborough/ Wellington area, the largest was 6.6. People near the epicentre at the small town of Seddon have had damage to houses, roads etc. Wellington has also sustained some damage which seems to be mostly in the CBD area, broken glass etc.

The 'kiwi' spirit came to the fore with many people offering rides home to stranded commuters after all trains were halted.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/9054859/Quake-rattled-residents-flee-after-tremors

“Seddon tackles clean-up and "amazing Wellington spirit' comes to the fore after 6.6-magnitude tremor and aftershocks strike upper South Island and lower North.

Thousands of quake-rattled Wellingtonians fled the city, choking roads, as the tremor and a swarm of aftershocks rocked the capital.

The 6.6 shake at 2.31pm was centred near the Marlborough town of Seddon, not far from last month's 6.5 shake. Yesterday's shake caused more damage to homes, but no lives were lost and injuries were few.

Roads around the CBD and state highways quickly became clogged with people trying to make their way home, with some even deciding to walk along the highway to avoid the traffic.

Passing motorists were stopped by police and told to pack in a few of the thousands of commuters stranded at Wellington railway station after all trains were cancelled.

Senior Sergeant Bruce Johnston had been helping people find rides home from the station since before 3pm. "People are naturally pretty great and willing to help. We're still waiting on buses to places like Waikanae," he said.

"Kapiti Coast and people who get the Capital Connection are the hardest to find rides for."

However, many opted to wait out the clogged roads or bus queues with a drink at the pub.

City workers sitting in the outdoor area of the GP pub nursed beers as they checked their phones, many waiting for rides that were a long time coming".

Its a Boy (x2)

Congratulations to William and Kate on the birth of their little future king!

But we too welcomed a new little boy into our family, Grandchild number 6 arrived at 7am on Saturday morning. Not destined to be king, but will be loved and cherished by his own family of subjects!

Like the royal baby he is just over 8 lb. He is now home with his Mum and Dad and 2 year old sister and is doing well. He bears the names of two of his grandfathers. One, his Great Great grandfather, a pioneer of New Zealand, and the other is the name of my Father.

The best laid Plans........

We never got to take our holiday in Australia last month as planned. That has now been deferred until early September.

I started having chest pains. Not what I would actually call pain (like childbirth pains!) but a cramping heavy kind of sensation that crept up into my jaw.

So consequently I am now involved in a whole new world with a new set of vocabulary. I am now becoming familiar with words like CT Scan, angina, coronary angiogram, circumflex artery etc. as I wait for the appropriate tests to be completed and then move on to the next procedure.

Of course this is probably pre- ordained. I have an abysmal family history of sudden deaths at a relatively young age due to heart attacks. I have lived to a greater age than my parents did and my two younger siblings. (and I don't consider myself old yet at only mid sixties)

I do have an advantage in that heart research has come a long way in recent years with the diagnosis of heart problems and the use of stents, surgery etc. as well as general awareness and education regarding some of the contributing factors of heart disease eg diet, and smoking. I have never smoked, weight - well that needs some attention, but I have been told that is lower down in the list of 'causes'. Family history is the highest on the list. Those genes have a lot to answer for.

I will keep you posted.

The Yearly Event - Kiwifruit Harvest

For those who have been reading my blog for years I apologise - the photos are much the same every year. It is an important event for us, the harvesting of our crop of Kiwifruit.  This year has been a very good growing year. In spite of a drought for about two months over the heat of the summer, the fruit is a good size and hopefully we dont have too many rejects. It is going to be processed at the packhouse this afternoon.

I'm Still Around

I am sorry about the long absence. This doesnt mean that I am in hibernation, far from it. There is plenty to write about, but not the spare time to sit down long enough to contemplate a blog post.

These are the things that get in the way:

Family - coming to stay, visiting them, baby sitting, reading to little ones, and hosting my delightful 'Auntie 94' who came to stay for a week.

Home improvements - we have just completed the addition of a much needed en suite bathroom. This has necessitated a lot of outside work landscaping and tidying up. I have been busy in the garden doing a pre winter tidy up. I even bought myself a rose yesterday - 'mutabilis' which I have wanted for a long time.

Quilting and patchwork - always a project happening. At the moment I am making Christmas stockings for the two newest grandchildren (one born last January and one due in July) and a Grand neice (due June).

Kiwifruit - picking starts tomorrow.

Transcribing letters - this is an ongoing project - I manage a small team who are working on some very old letters. They are written in the mid 1800's with the old dip pens, and the script is often very difficult to read. One letter can take days of hard work. We work from the scan of the letter and decipher as best we can to type up a copy. These are then filed and will one day be available to the public. They are a fascinating glimpse into missionary life in early New Zealand.

Travel - we are away again soon to Australia for 10 days to visit family and do some exploring.

etc etc!

Supermarket visit

When visiting other countries I love to go to the local supermarket, or farmers markets to eye the local produce. In Bahrain I did just that.

These are some photos of some of the fruit in the fruit and vege section. I am not sure of the names of the fruit in the top photo but they are very colourful!

The second photo is a selection of cucumbers, the third photo are mostly varieties of chillies, and in the bottom photo are 'snake fruit'. The skin looks very like snake skin.

Wikipedia says "The fruit grow in clusters at the base of the palm, and are also known as snake fruit due to the reddish-brown scaly skin. They are about the size and shape of a ripe fig, with a distinct tip. The pulp is edible. The fruit can be peeled by pinching the tip, which should cause the skin to slough off so it can be pulled away. The fruit inside consists of three lobes with the largest of the three containing a large inedible seed. The lobes resemble, and have the consistency of, large peeled garlic cloves. The taste is usually sweet and acidic, but its apple-like texture can vary from very dry and crumbly (salak pondoh from Yogyakarta) to moist and crunchy (salak Bali)."

They are native to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Probably one of the most noticable things upon arriving in Bahrain, and in fact most middle eastern countries, is the style of dress worn by the local people.

There are two distinct types of women’s clothing in the region: one for locals, the other for expatriates. Outside the home, most Arab women dress according to religious custom, which means that they must cover most of the body, from head to foot. The traditional black overgarment (abaya) is ankle length with long sleeves and a high neckline, and the hair is covered with a scarf or Hijab. Some Arab women are totally covered, including their face and hands. There are many different styles of abayas, and they usually are paired with matching hijabs or headscarf. In addition to a hijab some women wear niqab which is a piece that covers the face, but not eyes. Some of the abayas are stunning to look at - beautifully embroidered around the sleeves and neckline.

The men wear a long white robe that in Oman is called a dishdasha. Headgear seems to vary with men in Bahrain mostly wearing a cloth head cover and the men in Oman wore a small fitting hat, often beautifully embroidered.

I was fascinated by the beautiful henna painted hands of the women.  One of the checkout operaters at the local supermarket had had her hands painted and it made the visit and the handing over of money that much more intetresting when I could watch the lovely patterns as she counted out the change!

Expats wear western clothes, there is no expectation for women to wear headscarves, but it is expected that women dress modestly.  And if entering a mosque traditional dress must be worn.

The mosques were beautiful inside and out. I think that my background as a patchworker and quilter has heightened my awareness of patterns we see around us and Oman and Bahrain had an abundance of islamic art in everyday life, especially in their buildings.

I went into two mosques, one in Bahrain where we were given appropriate clothing to wear, and one in Oman where we provided our own headscarf but were refused entry if we were not considered to be dressed appropriately. In both situations we were welcomed warmly and given a very informative tour of the building.

Bahrain

Many years ago, in 1969, my friend and I travelled from London to Khatmandu - by bus.  A ten thousand mile journey that took a couple of months. We travelled across Europe, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal.  From Khatmandu we flew to Singapore via Calcutta. We then went by train up to Bangkok, and train to Chieng Mai., flew to Cambodia - Phnom Pen, and Siem Reap, then to Hong Kong. I ran out of money there and came on back to NZ. 

Since that trip overseas where I was away for a total of just over two years, we have made brief forays to the UK, Europe, Australia, and apart from a 12 week stay in America with a very ill daughter, our trips have been of the travelling kind rather than staying put for any length of time.

And so I returned to the Middle East, this time to stay put for a month, which was then extended another two weeks, we arrived back home last weekend.

Our daughter and son in law live in Bahrain and their first child was due to be born there. We rented a small one bedroomed villa just a few hundred yards up the road from them which was just ideal. Staying with them, with a new born baby to manage as first time parents, was not an option! So we became residents of the floating city, at Amwaj.

Bahrain is a large cigar shaped island adjacent to Saudi Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, and joined to Saudi by a causeway. Amwaj is right at the tip of the island and is a group of small islands, joined by causeways and bridges and much of it is land reclaimed from the sea. Part of Amwaj consists of an area called the floating city, there are several canals with villas built alongside them. Most people have their boat moored at the bottom of their front garden.

The first two photos are taken from the balcony of our apartment, the third is the walk down to our daughters place with the skyline of Manama silhouetted, and the last photo is the back of our apartment - we were upstairs.                                            ......to be contd.

I'm Back Again

We have been away overseas in Bahrain and Oman for the last seven weeks. What an adventure! Our fifth Grandchild - our third Granddaughter, was born in Bahrain on 20 January.

It has been a privilege to be able to spend time in these countries and to learn about and observe a culture so different from our own.

Some interesting photos yet to come.