Thursday 17 January 2013

Thankful Thursday

It's just before midnight on Thursday here in New Zealand and I am back home in The Cottage and back on wifi and no longer reliant on my iPhone for internet access - not ideal for blogging!

I have various things to say from my time away - assuming that I can remember them all - but for now I shall simply say how thankful I am for the hospitality of croquet friends who housed, fed and watered us whilst I and a few others from our croquet club were away at the tournament.

The days have been long out on the lawns in weather ranging from very hot and sunny to (relatively) cold with pouring rain and gale force winds. We have walked for miles (according to my iPhone app I walked over 5 miles in two games today and we usually play three) and spent a great deal of time tiring the brain by concentrating.  The evenings (when we eventually managed to get home from the lawns) have been filled with friendship, good food (and the occasional red libation) and good humour.  The - all too few - sleeping hours have been sound and deep notwithstanding strange beds and surroundings (well actually my friends have very comfortable beds and surroundings but they are strange in the sense of being unusual to me).

Within the hour (by which time it will be tomorrow) I shall be gratefully fast asleep in my own bed with no need to be awake at 6am in the morning (which probably means that I'll be wide awake by then).

On the way home I saw the most unusual rainbow that I have ever seen.  It was taken through rainy car windows across the front of the driver at speed but is, I think, quite impressive.


So for all these things I am very thankful indeed.

16 comments:

  1. Lovely rainbow! It is very bright, isn't it?

    I'm glad you had a good tourney. Sleep well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, the rainbow does seem more horizontal than ususal, doesn't it, but beautiful all the same.
    So glad you had such a good time and are home safe and sound. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you had a good time. Love that rainbow over the lonely tree. The bands of colour seem somehow broader than in a "normal" rainbow to me? (But it also strikes me I have no idea whether perhaps there's a difference how a rainbow appears in New Zealand vs up here in the north.) Hope you got a good night's sleep at home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were much broader Monica. I shall have to find out about the type of rainbow. It may have something to do with the angle of the sun.

      Delete
  4. I have seen them as a circle around the moon or a diffused sun but never one that is almost flat. Stunning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adrian that's what struck me and my companion. She was born and bred in NZ and in her 70+ years had never seen one like that.

      Delete
  5. Any sky picture is a great picture, no matter the weather, but rainbows are the pièce de résistance of sky pictures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Meike, although I have rather a love of sunrises as well.

      Delete
  6. The first photo is fabulous! Love it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. The first two photos look like an artist's painting....intriguing.
    A rainbow with a difference, and very pretty.
    Glad you're back safe and sound.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Virginia. They do look very much like paintings don't they?

      Delete
  8. Certainly a rainbow with a difference, as Virginia says. The second photo could almost be an aurora.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes it was certainly very different CJ. The only aurora I have seen has been the aurora borealis. It was a lot of shimmering light.

    ReplyDelete