It truly was a warning

Despite the heat I slept well enough; maybe the fan being on all night helped. Woke just before sunrise, so went out to the point of our piece of land where it suddenly drops away steeply down the cliff face. Enough pohutukawa to keep one safe. There I took a number of photos of the coloured sky. The sun was not ever seen; only its effects.

Back inside and I came to more amicable terms with the new version of Blip. I have found it so much easier to catch up with the journals to which I subscribe. I still miss the grey. It always seemed very photographic. There are, however, other bits that I do like, and I am hoping that some of the things we currently don't have will come back with a bit more time. If not, I for one will be nagging.

After going out to get the newspaper, and starting on breakfast, I realised that Kawau Bay was becoming completely fog bound. And that's the way it stayed for most of the morning. Until the rains came. Rain dispersed the fog, but I'm not convinced that was better. So no outside work today.

Mid-afternoon I took the slowly recovering S to the plant shop (it's actually a large hardware store, with a pretty good garden supplies and plants section). Got some bags of compost to surround the potatoes which are growing well, and a whole lot of new plants. Some of these we need want for the new platform we've had built part way down the steps into the gully towards the cliff edge.

Got rained on. So we stopped on the way back to visit S' cousin L and his wife, who are nearing the end of having the builders in for major (and I really do mean major) renovations. It's looking great, and will be just what they want for L's retirement years. Still raining as we headed onwards.

Hadn't been back inside long (with the rain bucketing down) when I realised that water was coming in above the doors to the deck. I thought that we had solved that problem (which we had early on after our renovations) with excellent quality leaf protection over the gutters. Unfortunately when I got up on a ladder and looked I found a couple of places where the thick mat of pohutukawa stamens had blocked some of the water outflow and led to it tracking under the roof and therefore down inside. A bit of clearing performed, and I think I've dealt to it.

Perhaps as a result of my efforts, the rain stopped, although the clouds remain low. The wind is minimal and the air is hot and humid. I'm now sitting here at the MacBook next to a wide open door through which is coming a gentle cooling breeze as the light slowly fades. Apart from the clouds, it is a nice evening.

Tomorrow morning I'm hoping for a photo of the rising sun, as Blip central have notified us it is the northern solstice tomorrow (Sunday). My information is that the solstice here is still a couple of days away yet. Nevertheless, I'd like to respond to their call for a southern hemisphere sunrise.

So, it was a warning. Like many warnings, there is a hint of a promise contained within it. I saw some of that today, and maybe there will be more tomorrow.