For Xanthi…

It’s been a long week, made even longer by the fact that I had to stay late for one of those work social functions that aren’t compulsory, but somehow are almost impossible to get out of. But that’s ok, I’ve got the art down to a tee of staying the minimum amount of time to…

Life continues to be strange. The horrifying pictures from Japan make our earthquake seem so minor, which in a way is reassuring – it could have been so much worse – but also kind of scary – it could have been so much worse! Just as after September, now that the initial drama has died…

Rarsberry asked me what backstitching is. Cross-stitch differs from other forms of embroidery in that there’s only a few basic stitches. Most forms of embroidery use lots of different stitches, with the different textures of them forming the design. Cross-stitch, on the other hand, really only has three different stitches (there are others that are…

Ok, I don’t normally talk politics here, but this is kind of important, so I’m cross-posting it, in the hope that some of my NZ friends see it: This weekend there will be rallies in the four main centres protesting the changes the government wants to make to employment law. There are a whole raft…

We decided to hold this month’s meetup a week early, so that it could also be a hen night for awhina. Or more technically, a “hen and rooster and chicks” night, because we wanted her fiancé and the kids to come along too. For months lytteltonwitch, MrPloppy and I have been teasing awhina about being…

Happy Boxing Day! (And Happy Christmas to those of you in the Western hemisphere still stuck in the past ;-)) We had a very quiet Christmas, as is our wont. After a hectic few weeks of work (a couple of big last minute projects, plus trying to catch up on all the work I hadn’t…