Tulips

Saturday, September 22nd was a beautiful day and spring is here and the tulips  were blooming in the Botanical Gardens.

They bloomed a few weeks earlier than expected.

It was such a nice day that we spent about 3 hours just walking around, sitting down and enjoying the sun.

September 22, 2012

Sara McInally

Sara McInally was over the maintenance and safety of all of the Internal Affairs Offices in Wellington.  Her office was located in the Archives Building where we work.  She was 28 and seemed to have her life in complete order.  She had a PhD, had a great job and had just purchased her first home. Don always loved to see her in the morning with her matching coat and hat and she always was very friendly and full of life.  We saw her on Thursday, September 13th when she came to check to see if we had a fire extinguisher and when we didn't she joked and said, "Well don't start any fires until we can get this fixed."  Life changed drastically on Sunday, September 16th at a little before 10:00 in the morning.  Sara went to the Internal Affairs Office located on Lambton Quay and went to the roof and jumped to her death from the 12th floor.  We are still trying to figure out why she would have taken her life.  She will always be remembered.

September 16, 2012

Rugby Game

Torrential rains and gale force winds in the afternoon didn't stop us from attending the Rugby Game between New Zealand and Argentina  in the evening.  Luckily, the rain and wind had died down by the time the game started.  We only had one power outage at the end of half time.

Rugby is played in two 40 minute sections with a 15 minute break.  There are no stops during  play so the game moves very fast.

Before the game starts the national anthems are sung.  New Zealand sings  theirs first in Maori and then in English.

The Haka is performed before each game.  It is an ancient war chant that is directed against their opponents.

It was a great game with New Zealand winning 21-5.

September 8, 2012