SkyWatch Friday: Last of the sun before the rains

This was the sky on Sunday, as we ran in the last hours of the setting sun.

It’s now Thursday and we’ve been corked in with an oppressive grey sky, incessant rain and now the wind has started to throw its weight around. Few parts of the country have escaped and there is flooding in Otago and talk of snow. Of course we’re not the only part of the world to be suffering under a deluge of rain; what with floods causing tragedy in China and Poland.

Wednesday morning brought a teaser of blue and I raced to hang my washing out-doors. Spirits lifted and the garden glowed in vibrant shades of green. But it wasn’t to last. By mid-morning I was dragging the washing back inside as the familiar sound of rain started its percussion on the tin roof.

Sophie woke with a whisper of a voice (what a novelty!) and Alice coughing and sneezing through her coos. I knew Sophie was really not herself when she actually sat still (on her bottom, rather than her head) for longer than five minutes.

This is how she spent most of Wednesday, asking, ‘Wrap me up like a sausage and tuck my mermaid tail under please.’

I am so relieved that I haven’t had to venture outdoors much. Dan has dropped Charlotte at school and Frances has picked her up. Sophie, Alice and I are staying firmly rugged up.

Alice’s favourite game, ‘Peek a boo’: