Maggie Le Page - Page 10 of 14

Let It Snow!

Snow, glorious snow! The weatherman got it right, for once! We woke to that unmistakable Snow Silence and raced each other to the window because, although Christchurch gets chilly in winter, we don’t often get snow settling.

There it was. The largest snowfall Christchurch has experienced in 15 years. Beautiful. But deadly cold for those poor folk who, post-quake, haven’t yet had their heating replaced. My heart goes out to them. I just hope everyone has been able to keep warm with friends and family.

We’re lucky. Our logburner’s in, so we’ve been able to enjoy the snow the way it should be enjoyed. A snowman, snowball fights, snowflake-catching, and witnessing Little Miss Two’s sense of wonder. Magic.

Want To Know Why I’ve Been AWOL?

You’d think God would be kinder to me. I mean, s/he’s thrown half a dozen significant earthquakes at me in the past nine months (hell, by comparison even pregnancy’s fun), and we’re being put through thousands of aftershocks, not to mention the loss of job security. Our city’s broken. Isn’t that enough?

I took on a part-time job. Just a little one. Hell, it barely even counts as a job! But it’s enough to let us have takeaways on a Friday night without a dose of the guilts – and that, folks, is a Big Deal for us just now.
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Tea Lovers Be Warned!

I felt so loved – better, understood – when Beloved gave me the ultimate tea-lover’s gift: a fancy glass teapot (you know, with the thingy in the middle for the tea leaves so you’ll never have to catch them between your teeth again) and a selection of very cool, very expensive teas to sample. Perfect! Now I could upgrade to gourmet tea guzzler while I slaved over my hot keyboard.

I quickly learned my caffeine lesson when I tried Vanilla Black Tea. I whipped up a pot, slurped down a first cup, loved it, and went back for seconds. Then thirds. (Well, it was Read More…

Silver Linings?

We’ve just had a swanky new logburner installed to replace the chimney/logburner we lost in the Quake/s. We’re now well and truly into the winter season, and after being without heating for so long it’s an amazing feeling to finally be warm in the evenings again. Hallelujah! And double-Hallelujah, because my hairdresser, who went AWOL to Auckland post-Quake and seemed unlikely to return – she’s back! My hair rejoices!

Yes, there’s much to be thankful for. For example, Master Seven is very happy with the new “hills” in our driveway (caused by liquefaction) because he now has somewhere cool to play with his cars!

Meanwhile, the rejections keep rolling in. “Womens fiction and chick lit are very hard sells at the moment.” Sigh . . .

Remember Me?

Hi! Yep, I’m still here. I’ve been off-line a while – a loooong while – three months, in fact – and yes, I do have the odd excuse (including, on 22nd February, another horrific earthquake, so destructive it pretty much flattened what remained of our already-shaken inner city). Still, I’m sorry I haven’t been more in touch.

So much has happened in such a short time! One summer holiday spent in sunny Auckland. Two competition results for my WIP – third and fifth. Three extra weeks up in Auckland when, post-quake, our house was deemed unsafe until the chimneys were demolished. The incredible generosity and empathy of people all over the country – hell, the world – has been humbling, reducing me to tears so many times I’ve lost count. It’s taken a long time to get my mojo back, but finally I can say I’m writing again.

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