11 posts tagged “weather”

I have three half-written posts waiting to be finished and made public, but I've run out of words.  My life is busy, but domestic, full of things that don't seem like they'd be that interesting for anyone else, even though they're absorbing for me.  Things like my troubles getting plumbers and plasterers to turn up when they say they will.  The buggers come, look at what needs done, make soothing upbeat noises, promise to return in a few days, then don't show up.  Funny way to run a business it seems to me.

Or like the weather and my last power bill, which was so huge that I thought there'd been a misprint.  I love my heat pump/air conditioning unit but it would seem that it's a power hog. 

Or like my new pilates venture.  I'm having one on one sessions with a dauntingly perky and wonderfully encouraging pilates instructor/physiotherapy lecturer/physical coach.  So far it consists of small movements that make me surprisingly stiff and tired.  I feel taller and straighter already.  Last time I was there, I sat down beside the client Cindy was seeing after me.  He was an overwieght guy who looked very nervous because it was his first time.  He told me that he'd been at the pool and Cindy had come over to him and said that he looked like he could use some help.  "So here I am."  I found that an oddly touching story.  Because Cindy had been bold and kind enough to reach out to him even though that has the potential to go horribly wrong (what if he'd been offended?).  And because he'd trusted her enough to put himself in a new and scary situation on the basis of a chance encounter.  

Winter has arrived with a flourish, bringing snow and ice to the higher areas of the country.

We're too close to the sea for such dramatic weather, but we woke up on Wednesday to flurries of hail which settled briefly in our yard.

I wrote this on Friday afternoon but didn't publish it then because I was too worried about my aunt and uncle.

The good news:

• Travis's work permit came through today.  We only submitted the forms 7 days ago, so the New Zealand immigration people were very prompt indeed.  Travis got an email to tell him he could pick it up.  It came from a .gov.nz address, and was complete with a smiley face emoticon - an unexpectedly friendly touch to go with the efficiency. 
• After a few days of cold and storm, the weather was bright, calm, and warmish.  We walked up and down the street with Petra to celebrate. 
• Petra made her first spontaneous multi-word sentence, "No please" in reply to Carla's offer of a cup of milk.  She's been using phrases that we use for a while now - things like "here you are", "there you go", "thank you", "one arm, two arms" (said as we dress her) - but "no please" is the first phrase she's invented for herself (that I've heard anyway - she might be saying all kinds of things that we don't quite understand).

The bad news:

• I attended a funeral yesterday.  Mum's partner's brother died suddenly last weekend.  It was a big, warm, communal affair that the family found very comforting.  But it was upsetting even so, and even though I'd only met Murray a couple of times.  Funerals throw you back into all your own losses and I felt terribly sad for mum's partner Kelvin as well.
• My aunt and uncle were in a serious car accident yesterday afternoon.  They're in hospital with multiple broken bones.  We may be able to visit at the weekend, but we don't know yet just how serious their injuries are.   It's horrible waiting, not knowing, and not being able to do anything.

Saturday evening update:
My sister and I visited Uncle Bruce in hospital this afternoon.  He's sore and sorry and still very shocked; he's also desperately worried about his wife who's in much worse shape than him, but he's up and about and will probably be released on Monday.  My aunt, who was in a medically-induced coma for a couple of days to give her body more chance to rest and heal, was briefly awake and talking this afternoon.  She has a long recovery period in front of her but the fact that she can respond to the people around her is a huge first step.

The sunsets here aren't as spectacular as the tropical sunsets of San Jose, but they're beautiful even so.  Here are a couple of photos from this evening.  We had a beautifully hot day, unexpectedly hot after the wind, chill, and rain of the past few days.  And it finished with some good clouds.

 

For the past couple of days the air here has smelled smoky and it's been very overcast.  Saturday was suffocatingly hot with a hot north-westerly wind and thick, hazy cloud through which an angry red sun glowed.  I saw the sun's reflection in my car window and thought I was seeing a light bulb reflected because it was such a small sharp light.  "It looks like fire," I thought.  And I was right.  The heat and smoke are outriders from the horrendous fires in Victoria, Australia.  The death toll just keeps on rising and vast areas of the state have been laid waste.  I don't even want to imagine the devastation.

Is in our neighbour's chimney.

When I lived in Vancouver and San Jose anyone calling me from Dunedin would always launch into an animated discussion of the weather at some point in the conversation.  It wasn't always easy to make a contribution, especially in Costa Rica where it was always the same temperature.  It's 25 degrees and showery for about 8 months of the year and 25 degrees and dry for the rest of the time. 

Now that I'm back in Dunedin though, I'm rediscovering the delights of weather.  Since we arrived here not quite two months ago, the temperature's ranged between 31 degrees celsuis and about 0 degrees.  We've had bright bright sunshine, drizzle, mist, gale force winds, snow, sleet, hail, and sideways rain.  The only thing we haven't had is frost.  This is what passes for late spring/early summer in Dunedin.

I like the unpredictability even though I'm out of practice at managing it.  Layers of clothing are key, along with diligent stoking of the wood burner that most houses here are equipped with.

Sitting in my armchair feeding Petra with a warm, tropical, tree-scented breeze blowing across me.  It was a beautiful day today - hot, not too humid, and even a little sunny - the kind of day you hope for in Dunedin and very rarely get.

I never wear a long-sleeved top here.  It's shorts and t-shirt weather every day.  Anywhere else will seem chilly and unpredictable in comparison.

It's pouring hard at the tennis club across the street.  On my side of the road, it's not raining at all.  Very weird!