Ruby Red/Rednesday: New Zealand

The New Zealand Flag.



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Today is a week since our Christchurch city was struck by the earthquake.

Today, at 12.51pm, the nation will observe a 2 minutes silence. The Mayor has asked even traveling vehicles to stop where they are . "The two-minute silence at 12.51pm is really about whatever you are doing, stop ... and we all stand together as one," he said.

It is going to be a very somber feeling as we pause and reflect and think how we are going to move forward.

Addition:

Our principal assembled all 660 students and teachers under our big tree. It was in the mid of our lunch hour. The weather was hot, most of the kids were in the sun. The kids all came early. We were waiting, when a neighbor went hammering. Our principal went to the fence and told him about the 2 minutes silence. He soon stopped.

We started our silence, and a church bell tolled from far away. The kids were very good. We had a few handicap kids on walkers and clutches. Only an aspergers boy remained in the play ground.

The principal thanked the students for giving up part of their lunch hour.

weekend bridge: Time to catch the boat

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Photographed in Hong kong

Scenic Sunday: Photos from the TV news in Christchurch

The student army helping with spades and wheel barrows to remove the liquefaction.



Bob Parker, the mayor




Water is liquid gold. people queue for water from tanks.
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I did not go out to take photos as it is a black week in New Zealand . Over at the Sunday Stills meme, the challenge is taking photos from the TV. I am posting some of the photos I have taken for that meme.

Macro flower Saturday:Clivia

These flowers grow in my school garden. I dedicated this post to Christchurch city which is devastated by a massive earthquake on Tuesday.

My school canceled our annual picnic and next Friday, we will wear Red and black and the students are encouraged to give a donation. Red and Black is the colour of Canterbury which is the region where Christchurch is.

The colour red is usually accepted as the colour of human endeavour, of effort and sacrifice. The colour black is the symbol of the soil. Together the people and the soil make the future of the province. The tight bonding of the red and the black demonstrating the closeness of partnership. Every person who understands the symbolism of the Canterbury Flag adds his or her own contribution to that partnership.



Macro Flower Saturday




http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html


Clivia (pronounced /ˈklaɪviə/)[1] is a genus of monocot flowering plants native to southern Africa. They are from the family Amaryllidaceae. Common names include Kaffir lily and bush lily.

They are herbaceous evergreen plants, with green, strap-like leaves. Flowers are bell-shaped flowers on a stalk above the foliage, and they are can be any color except blue, black, and brown.[

skywatch Friday: Land of the long white cloud

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I was teaching my students, another name for New Zealand is the Land of the long white cloud. Hawaiki, the legendary homeland of the Maori peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, from whence we migrated to this land about 1000 years ago. Where is Hawaiki? Many have speculated that it lies somewhere in the Pacific, somewhere in Polynesia

Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori,
The word can be broken up as: ao = cloud, tea = white and roa = long, and it is therefore usually glossed as "the land of the long white cloud"

watery Wednesday" Ripple

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Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other rapid loading (force), causing it to behave like a liquid.

This photo is a water ripple, but it looks like the liquefaction in Christchurch that has become a popular word. This is day four, and the tragedy continues. Today, the death toll is 103.

Ruby Red/rednesday: Breaking news

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Christchurch had a big earthquake at 12.51pm. My TV is now as I follow the news.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/video-early-pictures-canterbury-quake-2pm-1-59-4038353


I took these photos off the television.

scenic sunday: Taro/yam

On the 15th of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese like to eat yam. I asked my older and wiser siblings if they knew the history to it.

y sister Elizabeth: The Chinese people likes anything fa fa fa. U plant 1 stem of yam it will multiply very fast. Fa sounds like prosperous.

My brother Charles: Becos Yam can be kept for more then 6 months it is important staple food especially if the usual growing season pattern is severely disrupted by unusual seasonal factors

I just like to eat it once in a while, but I don't like preparing it as the sap can make you itch. I don't serve it because the rest of the family don't like it and don't adhere to Chinese values.



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In my Kwong Liang dialect, we call yam HU TOU. We eat them different ways, and there are different types and sizes. We eat the leaves and stems as well.
The Polynesians have some very big ones, and by the time they ship to Auckland, they are very expensive. They also eat their leaves. Often at parties and pot luck dinners, they will bring a big pot of boiled taro with corn beef, or leaves.
During the reunion dinner, I met S & R for the first time. S is a Foochow, E. is a Teo Chew. We started talking about Teo Chew food and the Teochew restaurants I have been. I was describing their famous teo Chew dessert ORH NEE. It's literally a glob or lump of white paste. Everyone just spoons froom the communal dish. S. explains that it is yam made with lard and ginko nuts. It is very sweet and you don't have to chew the paste. It is a dish that you have to get used to. But the Teo Chews like it, because when ever they have a function, they always serve it.
Yesterday, J brought some Yam fritters and some fried NIEN GAO. J sliced the NIEN GAO very thinly and sandwiched it between two thin slices of yam, then put in a batter of glutinious rice flour. This is a New Year goodie. For nostalgic reasons, and knowing how much work has been put into making it, I tried some. I don't normally like NIEN GAO, but I like yam. My friend K. back in Singapore knows this, and gives me raddish/daikon cakes instead.
When I was in primary school, the school tuck shop operator was a Foochow Family. They sold yam cakes or ORH KUEH. They were big slabs and we ate them with chilli sauce. years later, I was in Kuching, where there were mainly Hakkas like the water engineer. The yam cakes were dainty and I voted with my legs.
In my junior secondary school, my teacher Mrs. T taught us beef puffs with a yam pastry. I took some home and everyone liked it. Mum was very smart, and in no time, she learnt to make it. You can eat this at restaurants serving HU KOK during the Dim Sum.
In some restaurant, they have a yam basket. Thin strips of yam are sandwiched between two Chinese sieves, and deep fried. The result is like a basket or bird's nest. Fried veg and morsels of meat are served inside the basket.
Then for a sweet watery dessert, there is the Bobo Chacha. It's a concoction of tiny cubes of yam, sweet potatoes, sago pearls in coconut milk. I don't like this because it is very sweet and the coconut milk makes it very rich.
There is a smallish red yam which comes from China, and they eat it during the Moon cake festival. I first saw them in Singapore.
I actually prefer the yam boiled, and eaten with some salt and a little butter. My Grandpa used to grow them, he also had a smallish ones, but are brown and bigger than the China red ones.
***The yam here is what people in the West call Taro. In South Est Asia, they call it yam***
Another thing mother made was abacus, it was the 1st time I ate it and super nice, it was not like the abacus I see in Singapore. Maybe mother wasn't successful, hers was very spherical, but it was better than the sticky and chewy ones here. It is not easy to find it here, so every time I see it, I buy and I remember mother's. Grace

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Sunday bridges: Tunnel under Spaghetti junction

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Last Sunday, I showed you part of the Spaghetti junction in Auckland. This is another part of it which looks like a tunnel.

When I drive through this, I always think of the tunnel that links Detroit in USA and Windsor in Canada which I used when I was a student at the University of Windsor.

Macroflowers: delphinium

I have joined this meme for a while now, and I am loving it. First I love flowers. Second, the badge for this meme is the North Borneo Orchid.


Join Macro Flowers Saturday, a photo meme for macro photos and close-ups of flowers, garden flowers, wildflowers, blossoms, flowers with insects and butterflies (no insects without flowers), flowers with raindrops and whatever beautiful plants, plant seeds or berries you have, in close-up.

First time visitors, please read the rules. They are simple but I do ask that you, please, use a MFS badge or link back to MFS in some way. Thank you.

Macro Flower Saturday


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The name delphinium comes from the Greek word delphis, a reference to the flower's resemblance to the bottle-like nose of the dolphin.

I am not very sure if this is Delphinium. A florist said it is. Will some one please confirm?

At Bastion Point, they grew lots of this.

skywatch Friday: Sunset in Auckland

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watery wednesday: Car wash

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This guy loves his car very much. Everyday including Sunday. I drive pass this car wash, and pretend I don't see it because I don't wash my car. I tell everyone when I was 6, my dad had a fiat, and every Saturday afternoon, all of six of us children were very enthusiastic in washing the car.

Today, my Italian student came back after returning to Italy for 2 years. I was teaching my adult ESOL students on registering their new ownership, and I talked about my Dad's fiat.

In Singapore, they term a man's car his other wife.

ruby red/rednesday: MACK

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I have been looking out for a MACK, since one of my students chose his name MACK. He said it was very manly.

I posted this commentary when I found my first MACK last year. I asked Mack why he chose this name.

I asked," Is it Mike?"
He said," No!"
I probed," Is it Micke?"
He replied," No!"
I asked," Is it Mick?"
He started feeling irritable," No!"
I asked," Is it Mitch?" thinking of David Hasselhoff
He said," NO!!!! It is MACK, I saw it in an American Magazine."

The next class, he brought the magazine. He gave it to me. It was a trucking magazine/catalogue.
There was his MACK. Proud and strong.
I said," Very Macho!" I should never have doubted him.

scenic sunday: Ice-cream van

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The summer is really hot. During the Waitangi festival, this ice cream van was parked next to me. It was doing a roaring business.

Sunday bridge: Spaghetti Junction

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/
When the various motorways of Auckland converge into the city, it looks like spaghetti. Hence known affectionately as the Spaghetti Junction.

Macro flowers: Wild flowers

I have joined this meme for a while now, and I am loving it. First I love flowers. Second, the badge for this meme is the North Borneo Orchid.


Join Macro Flowers Saturday, a photo meme for macro photos and close-ups of flowers, garden flowers, wildflowers, blossoms, flowers with insects and butterflies (no insects without flowers), flowers with raindrops and whatever beautiful plants, plant seeds or berries you have, in close-up.

First time visitors, please read the rules. They are simple but I do ask that you, please, use a MFS badge or link back to MFS in some way. Thank you.

Macro Flower Saturday


http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html

These wild flowers grow like a field in my neighborer's garden in Summer. They are taller than a person. This year, I left my garden and the planters for my computer. Their seeds have germinated and become miniature plants about two feet tall in my garden and planters.

Do you know what their names are?

I suppose I could make a fortune if I leave my computer and cut them and have a little stall selling wild organic flowers. But alas, the computer has a grip on me, and my blogging friends are worthed more to me than getting a few bobs trying to pick the flowers. Besides, the stems and leaves will make me very itchy.