It varies........

Sometimes I have six or seven - this year I have just one. I'm not sure why - maybe that's just the way it is.

Still - even just one beautiful bloom on my amaryllis plant is fine by me. They're stunning.

So one tall, slender stem it is this year - maybe more will come later, although I don't think so.

Today marked one week since the Christchurch earthquake struck. A silence befell the country today at 12.51. 2 minutes silence to remember those who lost their lives, those whose lives have been changed forever and the city whose face is changed but whose character surely will strengthen.

At school we stopped classes, stopped work and stood still as a mark of respect. An institution with well over 1600 people and you could have heard a pin drop, the eeriness echoed in the dour tolling of the neighbouring school's bell.

Our school roll is rising - 17 Christchurch refugees in 2 days. There may be more. They may stay a few weeks, a few months or they may not stay. Lives up and down these Shaky Isles are being affected in more and more ways with each day.