House Quake

Usually, I'd be kind of chuffed that little old Christchurch had made it onto the front page of the New York Times. Not so much today.

I looked back at my post about the September earthquakes, and I'm ashamed at my glibness. Who gives a fig about buildings and nostalgia??

I just care that my mum's okay, and all our friends and whanau are okay. We're so lucky.

Read this.

When you get power back on, and you read this - stay safe, Mum!! Wish you were here!!

Hot 'n' Cold

Cold:

• Sweeney not having nearly enough sleep last night, refusing to eat his breakfast, not listening to what I say yada yada yada all day;
• me not being in the mood for patience with any of that stuff today;
• finding that Hataitai's fabulous fish and chip shop has burnt down;
• finding that Newtown's fabulous fish and chip shop doesn't open on Sundays;
• forgetting my gluten free-ness when Maria brought around her mum's apple slice at work the other day;
• my dad breaking up a catfight in the sunroom and getting bitten and ending up in hospital for a night; and
• finding that those packages of salad leaves don't actually last until the Best By date. Ick.

Hot:

• the weather. Just the right hotness for an Ange;
• Supergroove and Crowded House at Alana Estate yesterday, with Bela and Liisa;
• Liisa for spiriting up the tickets for Supergroove and Crowded House at Alana Estate yesterday;
• Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, from Kitchen, using the mountain of garlic donated by the neighbours. Although no-one else liked it. So I ate everyone's;
• harvesting three tomatoes from the garden this week;
• Monday night class at yoga;
• having dinner with the O'Neills for Grandad O'Neill's birthday;
• seeing our friend Jackson at his birthday party today - Happy birthday, Jackson!!;
• catching up with KimberleyJoeHarper after their holiday;
• remembering my gluten free-ness every morning and eating rice porridge for breakfast; and
• finally washing the kitchen floor today. The mice left me a note complaining that it was too filthy by half ...

Pizza Pie

Check out Sweeney and Blessing giving their lunch two thumbs up today. Albeit in a non-committal kind of way. Actually, more of a could've-done-without-it kind of way. What's with them??

It's a crustless pizza, from Kitchen. I think it's delicious, and it's easy, and it was ready within 45 minutes of me cracking the first egg. Three thumbs up, in my book.

I doubled the quantity, used some delicious ham I found in the fridge, instead of chorizo, and bunged it all into a flan dish. It lends itself to accommodating all manner of vege as well.

The leftovers are in the fridge, and they're calling me for a scoff right now, rather than waiting to schlep them to work for tomorrow's lunch .

In other news, I'm going gluten free for two weeks, as a little experiment. Firstly, to see if I can stick to it. Secondly, to see if it makes any kind of difference to my body. Thirdly, because I was dairy-free for ages, years ago, and the ice cream I ate at the end of that phase of my life was the best thing I've ever eaten. I'll never forget that ice cream. After two weeks, I expect a piece of Vogel's to blow my head off.

The Doctor Is In

I've been having myself seen to, and am feeling rather splendid that it's over.

The procedure itself was no big deal. They do a lot of them, the doctor told me, and they get through them pretty quickly. Normally you're out the same day. I would've been out the same day if I hadn't had to wait for seven months for the procedure - in that time the single polyp had grown enormous, and my body had decided it could do with a twin polyp, too. So, to be sure, to be sure, I stayed in hospital for a little, and it was really rather lovely. I felt like Superman - I was the only patient I saw who was actually walking, for a start, and, what ho!! Here's lunch!! Oh, and a cup of something hot!! And baked fish for dinner, with sponge and custard for afters!! And a rack of silly women's magazines!!

To say nothing of the fabulous nursing staff, and the beds that go up and down, and the pain medication that just kept on coming, and the people who appear out of the mist with mops and cloths and plastic aprons to clean up everything.

On the other hand, I could go on all day about how angry it's made me that I had to wait so long for this to happen. The amount of money put up by the taxpayer to subsidise the medication to manage my body for seven months could've been saved. I would've been home yesterday, and the girl who came in to ED with a crippling urinary infection would've been able to get into the ward at dinner time last night, rather than at 5am this morning.

I would've had actual dominion over my own actual body for the last seven months, rather than feeling like a time bomb most of the time. Yes, waiting lists are a feminist issue. Government policy that removes from me the control of my own body?? No, thank you.

The woman in the bed next to me has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Instantly, she and her family were sorting out private treatment options. That's a real shame, don't you think?

But anyway, thanks Wellington Hospital!! You look beautiful, too, by the way ... 

In Bloom

Look what I found this morning ...

This is my San Pedro. I dragged this cactus around with me in a pot when I was young and nomadic, and planted it for good when we bought this place aeons ago. It's really kind of huge now. A few weekends ago, to make space for more vege, I dug out the other two specimens I've been cultivating, as well as a related-but-not-nearly-so-awesome cactus, and took them to be rehoused at Grow From Here. One's gone to Kaye's house, one to an apartment on Webb St, and the not-so-awesome one is potted up and hanging out looking ornery at the shop. Happy.

And now, flowers. Aren't they beautiful?? And they even have a lovely, delicate fragrance. Not what you'd expect from this particular plant at all ... or at least, not what I was expecting. And they're extra, extra special because they bloom hardly ever.

But I'm all out of order with my news. Friday night saw KimberleyJoeHarper over for fish and chips, followed by cake. Delicious, delicious cake.

Here're Sweeney and Harper helping me to blow out the candles. Thanks, you jokers!!

Paris is Burning

Hey, I went to Laneway festival last night with Liisa. Great night. We had a few drinks, some halloumi salad, ran into people we knew about the place.

The music was just about all unfamiliar to me, but it was amazing. It was so unfamiliar to me that I thought that it was all New Zealand bands, but no, only Ladyhawke was from around here. I think I liked her the best of all. She might be wee, but she belts it out, for sure.

I was struck by how well-groomed and well-behaved the Youth were. There was a waft of soap smell when they walked past. Not like when I was Youth. Music venues were smoky and beer-sodden, people pushed and shoved, and I expect even I was a bit whiffy at times. The sound equipment was usually awful, and it all made going to bands an endurance event for me.

But not last night. Last night was all rather lovely.

I really don't know much about contemporary music these days, and I want to rectify that. I hear splendid music at my friends' houses and I must try harder this year.

That said, Gang of Four are coming to Auckland soon. I loved them when I was 18, they got me interested in economic theory and inspired me to sit down and read Karl Marx. Maybe time to hunt some down and listen to it all over again ...