Warning long & personal - how you can help & a piccy at the bottom :o)

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I have been thinking for days that I must pop in and update you on my absence, however, I just honestly haven't felt like writing this post.

You see Christchurch NZ is my home town. It's where I grew up, where I went to school, where I became the person I am today. It's where the majority of my family live and many many friends.

I am so saddened by all of this. Absolutely gutted that the icon of Chch itself, The Cathedral in Chch Square is now in half and a pile of rubble. The streets and buildings as I know them are destroyed and I know that the historic buildings will never be the same again. The younger generations will never know the Chch that so many of us know and love.

After quite a few anxious hours, a few mixed messages and dramas and, with the help of DFAT and other family members I found my nearest and dearest all alive and well. Most have lost their homes, or a good portion of them. BUT all are in one piece and for that I am so grateful. Children have been sent off to Auckland to stay with grandparents, where they have relative normality and running water.

I have been glued to the tv coverage and, brought to tears numerous times at the generosity of those helping. There is one woman who is just driving her car, full of supplies, back and forth between Dunedin and Chch - that's a 5 hour trip each way. But I guess it's better than sitting doing nothing. The students that are walking the streets offering assistance to residents and digging away the silt and liquefaction from their yards ... there are so so many heart warming stories of help and it makes my heart swell.

I've thought of going over to help my sister and other family members, but then hesitate wondering if I'll be more a hindrance than a help. Resources are stretched and services well and truly limited with no sewage or water to a great many homes still. I feel so helpless here in my warm, stable home with my lovely garden and all the comforts ... speaking with my sister, hearing her exhausted and defeated voice breaks my heart. Her text messages are even sadder.

My dear grandmother had been in Chch visiting for the week prior to the earthquake and had fortunately just returned home to Timaru, 2 hours south of Chch. She felt the quake when it hit and it managed to crack top to bottom through a wall of glass bricks in her lounge room. Two hours away!!!

I could sit and ramble and tell you the ins and outs of all going on but my family story is not nearly as tragic as others and it just doesn't feel right for me to go into further detail. Thanks to all my friends and colleagues for your kind wishes and words of support, you are all dear to me.

If you need or want more information on what's going on in Christchurch, click here for the latest news.

If you'd like to help out just a little and send a few blank cards to the NZ Victim Support Group, pop on over to Just Add Ink for all the details.

On a much lighter note here is a little Top Note bag I made a couple of weeks ago.


How sweet is it. Perfect for choccies, little gifts of jewellery and so much more. I first saw one of these over at Inking Idaho, click here for instructions.

Now I haven't been sitting idle whilst glued to the tv for the past five days - I'm working on a crochet project and will show you in the next week or so when it's finished. It's been kind of nice to do something a little different.

On that note I'll say goodbye for now and have a wonderful day.