December Fun in Wellington

On Saturday evening we had an earthquake - a 5.7! - which went on for 20 seconds. I hastily moved away from the full bowl of hot soup I'd just put on the table and moved to a doorway. Afterwards I checked on Zebby. He lifted his head from his snoozling to see what I wanted, then demanded some kittycat treats. So much for animals sensing that an earthquake is coming!!!

No damage here and only very little everywhere else the quake was felt.

Zebby would like you all to know that His human stupidly drownded another keyboard on Sunday. It was her latest after previous spills and this keyboard was supposedly spill resistant but proved other wise (what a waste of homemade ginger beer). The human bought another keyboard today and is keeping the plastic bag it came in over it for protection from herself.

So that was our Weekend.

That human had to go out today, right across town, for a medical check up with her wonderful surgeon. Just the 1 bus from here to there but I used 3 on the way back as I bought that keyboard, other boring human stuff and then groceries including Whiskas Tempatations cat treats. It rained the whole time and was especially heavy every time I had to walk somewhere. Thank goodness I was home, all safe and sound, at 5.30 pm when it became like a tropical monsoon - a deluge just in time for folks leaving work for the day!

Mickle would like you all to know that Zebby adores his catnip plant. Zeb lays down on his red bathmat (like in the photo above) and buries his nose in the plant, pulling it over and towards him. This is interspersed with His human brushing his furrs over and over in both directions(!) which Zeb so so enjoys now it is moulting season (maybe better called summer's extra-moulting season as Zeb moults all year around). There is much Zebby Cat puRRRRRRRumbling, at high volume, for a long, long time - and this is happening every evening.

And so that was our* soggy yet happy Tuesday, December the 6th 2011; how was yours?



*okay, Mickle's soggy day as Zeb spent nearly all day and evening on His bed that he permits me to share each night, bless him

New Toys

A few months ago I bought myself a breadmaker. I've made all my own bread ever since. I mostly use the machine to mix up and knead the dough, and to do the first rise. Then I shape the dough however I want it, let it rise again and bake it.

I've had a wonderful time working through some of the bread recipes on my dear blogworld friend Marjie's site. I can thoroughly recommend her Italian Potato Bread recipe.

So you'd like to make bread but don't know how? Check out Marjie's Bread Tutorial. It has instructions that cover working both with and without a breadmaker. Marjie makes bread most days so she knows what she is writing about. You'll also find links to a wonderful array of other recipes on Marjie's sidebar (check out the cakes!!!).



This is my other new toy - a new sewing machine, a Christmas present from my parents. This was a complete surprise.

I haven't tried using it yet (too busy knitting plus I need to clear the table) but I have read the manual from cover to cover. I know how to sew, I just haven't really for years. I must declutter so I have space for sewing once more.

My Folks bought it from the Bernina Sewing Centre Tauranga where I'm can get free lessons on the new machine when I'm up there over Christmas and help over the phone any time I need it. Mum (and Dad) have been regular customers since retiring up to Tauranga 21 1/2 years ago. The two sisters who own this sewing centre and their family have become special friends of our family.

And what about Zebby Cat? Well he now has his own cat grass plant inside together with his own cat mint (catnip) plant . The catnip gets brought down to his level once or twice a day for him to indulge in, while the cat grass is always down at Zebby level and it is already well munched upon!

Five months on .......

Five months!

I had not planned or intended to be "non-blogging" for so long. That was all of Winter and most of Spring here in Wellington, New Zealand.

While I was away from blogland .......

Wellington got Snow in August, three days in a row!!!



Now this was an absolute novelty and joy here because the last time Wellington got snow anything like it was an over night snow shower back in 1976. YES - 1976.! Back then the Mickle was a mere 11 years old!

And we discovered together that Zebby Cat doesn't like snow - Mickle doesn't blame him in the least and I really appreciated getting to snuggle up to Zebby in our bed each night over the three nights when "the snow came".

I stick by my view of snow from the late 1960s when my dear Parents took a young me up to "The Snow" to experience it:

Toddler Mickle promptly announced "Its all COLD and WET"


- and you know I was right!!!



Zebby has slowed down quite a lot over this year - after all his guesstimated age is 13/14. He spends most of the day on His bed. From here he can supervise His human a lot and demand affection and food when ever He requires it.

See - Zeb is still the same:


Still sleeping in the bestest place each day (Zeb has taken over all the fluffy scarves I made for me, and that is fine because they wash easily!). This rescue cat is so very much loved.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US, and those everywhere else as thankfullness is a joy to experience and share.

The Shortest Day

Wellington's weather is mild compared to many parts of the World. It doesn't get freezing cold in winter or boiling hot in summer. Wellington is very windy.

Here, at 5.15pm on the shortest day of winter it is 9C. Sunrise was at 7.47 this morning and the sun recently set at 4.58pm. There has been some wind and light rain is expected overnight.

Last winter I tried growing cauliflower and broccoli without any success. This year I have spinach and rainbow chard happily supplying me with luscious leaves.

My biggest joy and suprise is the broad beans. You see, I was a month late sowing their seeds. After their sitting under the soil in a huff for several weeks I now have 17 little bean shoots, each a couple of inches tall. Every single seed has sprouted!


While the worst of our winter is yet to come - dampness, rain and winds from the Antarctic that endeavour to slice thorough you - I have glorious broad beans (fava beans) to look forward to come spring.

Zebby is snuggled under his quilty on the bed - his place of security and peace. He is loudly purrrrrumbling away to himself in happiness.

Christchurch shaken up again

Today poor Christchurch was rocked by two big after shocks - a 5.5 at 1.00pm and a 6.0 at 2.20pm.

So, once more the schools are closed, the sewerage system is out and everyone needs to boil their water before use. The lines staff have been busy however at least 20,000 homes are still without power.

All is fine here in Wellington - but poor Christchurch, when will it end?

Update: The second quake measured 6.3, the same as the 22 February one.

To reassure you all..

..I have not been spirited away by the pixies...

Work is keeping my mind very busy as I delve into the depths of the debt and general ledger stuff on the computer system. Ha, I'll work it out before this work computer system has a chance to confuse me further.

Other stuff has had my thoughts and caring stuff busy, and Zebby is an ever present love and danger -often both at once. It is lovely that he wants to help me during my bouts of insomnia - only purring very loudly in my right ear at 3.00am ain't a help (warming up his right hind paw in my ear is also an "awakener" for me).

Added issue - just now loading down, up, sideways or backwards of photos aint working. All will be sorted some time this year.

But please don't worry - Mickle is still in the blogosphere, reading your blog posts and still working on explaining and writing up in a helpful manner the Mickle Ginger-beer making method, experimenting with it and, of course, drinking the results.

And Zebby Cat is okay - just tolerating me heading off to work 2 or 3 days a week, waking me up when ever he feels like it, and still delivering many purrs and happy, affectionate huggles and demands for head scritches (and, of course, for FOOD)

Our month of May in NZ was on average 2.5 degrees centigrade above average, which is a lot. Many trees which should show bare branches by now are still clinging to green leaves.

This includes the giantly huge tree magnolia down in the Botanic Gardens which is always the first of these trees bearing the most primative of tree flowers, giving a glorious display of pink leaves/petals in early August. The other magnolias are already completely bare of leaves, ready to bloom after the giant usually does - best guess at which will be out flowering first in August?

Otherwise the start of Winter here means still lots of green trees and shrubs in my excuse for a garden, and a very squelchy "lawn" to walk over to empty out His Nibs' litter tray (am building a wee kitty litter mountain for later use as mulch) and to clean out and top up the bird bath.

My spinach and rainbow chard plants are providing wonderful, luscious leaves - and will continue right through winter. Snails aren't the challenge - is still the caterpillars from those pesky white "cabbage" butterflies.

Sending care and huggles, Mickle and ...... a sound asleep Zebby Cat

I've been Linuxed!

Laptop #2 is unwell on its Windows side, so it will be heading up to Tauranga to dear Dad for him to mutter over and also check its Linux operating system too. In the meantime I'm back on my original PC, fully rebuilt, souped up and running on Linux.

This had been a massive learning curve which is good for my brain*. Tonight I finally managed to upload and save photos from my camera (woohoo) so am back in full-on blogging mode.

Above is a shot of my darling Zebster from Summer. Right now he is snuggled under his quilty and dreaming of Summer and raw lamb for dinner, bless the lad.

So, next on offer will be Mickle style Ginger Beer - now I can post the photos.

(* the little grey brain cells are already ticking over with the system data issues I have to solve at work - Linux will keep them running at the same rate when I'm at home!)