Hard Life

New Zealand has been in a major drought this summer. Wellington is not normally know for being too dry. But this summer lack of rain actually forced the council to declare an outdoor watering ban. Even use of watering can was banned, unless you collected kitchen rinsing or otherwise wasted water such as the cold water from hot water tap you would normally let run down the drain.

Luckily the substantial rain in mid March helped the gardeners and farmers, although the water ban continued until last week.

Somehow, about the same time as the actual drought, I have been having a drought of my own. I have not been around my opera lately or done much of blogging or photo-sharing. I was very busy until end of March and that certainly reduced my free time. I am less busy right now. But somehow (two somehows in one paragraph! ) I am not quite sure if I can resume the level of blogging and photo-sharing I used to do.

I think I will just keep things low key for a bit longer, perhaps a couple of months, maybe longer. I'll log on & check subscriptions maybe once a week, rather than twice a day. I'll try publishing a blog post once a month, rather than three or four a month. I'll try photo-sharing perhaps once or twice a month, rather than taking photo every day. Just keeping things easy, and see how I go.

We are having a magnificent run of great weather. Clear blue sky every day for a week. Good but not too hot climate with temperature in mid to late 20s (Celsius) And this is set to continue. And my eggplants and peppers are finally bearing fruits!

Meanwhile my main laptop has been sulking for quite some time. It suffers a lockup without any warning. The cursor or pointer just freezes. No hard drive activity. No changes in noise level. Nothing whatsoever. I have to force shut down and restart again. I have tried a few work-arounds and it has been better for a couple of weeks. But the beast is still misbehaving.

Naturally this issue has impacted my online action level. It has also discouraged me from reviewing and editing photos for upload. Not sure when I can catch up on that front.

Still, the sky is blue and air is clear & fresh. So I'll finish off this quick update post and sit on the porch with Arwen to watch the setting sun and enjoy YANBWOGD (yet another nobody beats Wellington on a good day) kind of glorious evening.

TTFN for today

I dreamed a dream in time gone by ...'

I turned my head towards the TV I had on but wasn't really watching. Several scenes flashed, colourful historic costumes, grand sets, familiar faces of famous actors and actresses, dramatic scene segments. I asked myself, what's this? Can it really be ... ?

Then more voices in a quiet unison with a resolve

'Do you hear the people sing ...'

It really is!! That was something I could not resisit. Before I knew it, I was singing along.

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I do have work to do. But I'm having a serious translator's block right now, and, decided some therapeutic gardening and blogging is in order. Unfortunately the weather today is not great, and, is expected to stay that way for a while. Still there are some things I can do out in the garden, such as admiring this view.

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I had a shocking morning today

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