This is Christchurch

Today happens to be the 4th anniversary of the first of the earthquakes. You would think that the city would be well on it's way to being rebuilt, you might even think that the broken buildings had all been cleared up, even if the new stuff wasn't yet built.  Buuuuut, you'd be wrong. 

Some recent photos:

So... what's been happening?

1. Well, firstly, a well overdue update on Hermann - he died. I couldn't actually bring myself to eat the cake that he turned into, as I was so put off by him sitting on my bench rotting away for days on end. So I was the end of that particular Hermann chain. 

2. Study - remember this? Yeah, so it ended up taking up a fair bit of my time and although there was a LOT of procrastination, the blog has kind of been not so much of a priority.  ps yes, I passed and can now officially call myself a cat vet! Whoop!

3. Not much else. Seriously, things have been very boring indeed.  The kid is now four. Four! Mental!  We are on the countdown to school which is totally crazy, but there you have it. He can swim and ride a bike,  and has a few jokes up his sleeve,  and is generally a pretty funny guy to have around. 

And that's it. Holidays? Well, funny you should ask as we have just come back from a trip to Arrowtown for a week. It was the best. We ate enormous amounts of food, sat by a fire, went for a few decent walks and didn't do much else. The photo opportunities were incredible. See:

Nice huh?

I'm coming back.

Promise. Just working up to it. Not that anyone's listening anymore...

In the meantime, I give you Boo, in all her middle-aged glory:

Herman

Sitting on our kitchen bench right now, hidden in a bowl, under a teatowel, is Herman the German...

He was a gift from a friend of mine, and actually looks like this:

In a week or two, with some tender loving care, some regular attention and lots of stirring, he will be ready to turn into Herman the German Friendship Cake. ..and also ready for me to pass on to someone else.

My Friend Lid

Some children play with their toys, give them names and pretend they are real. Others have imaginary friends - wolves, monkeys, elephants.

My son has Lid. Lid is a plastic milk bottle top. 

Seriously, is that normal?

He says things like...

"I have two friends - Matthew, and my friend Lid".

"I am watching the dvd with my friend Lid"

"Have you met my friend Lid?"

"Mama! Say hello to my friend Lid!!"

Potatoes are the most exciting thing that has happened lately...

Things are a bit dull around here.

But today while weeding the bank around the back of the house, I discovered a treasure trove of spuds.

Honestly, that is the most exciting thing that has happened for a while!

Horse riding in the city

Friday was a good day. I did surgery on a hermaphrodite dog (so exciting), then on my way home I stopped the car to chat to a guy with a horse. He's a bit famous here in Christchurch - he showed up in the last 12 months, leading his horse around town, letting it graze in Latimer square, and generally just hanging.


So I stopped to say hi, and to meet his horse - a lovely bay mare. After a bit of a chat, he asked if I wanted a ride, gave me a leg up and off I went. The weird part was we were in the forecourt of the Shell petrol station on Moorhouse Ave. Made my week.