Big Sky

Unpleasant the gales of spring may be, but they do make for some nice sunsets.
Like tonights (click to biggify):

Different layers of cloud at different altitudes, catching the last of the days sun. I like the sky, and its ever changing appearance. I shoot a lot of skies in my photography. They all look the same, but they are all also unique in some way. Its late and I am tired, otherwise I would cobble together a collage. I like the sky because it lets you see weather, not in a literal way, but in a way that tells you exactly what is going on, or going to happen if you know how to read it. I keep coming back to sunsets though, either in a clear sky, or an illuminated one. While maybe not inspirational, they can be very relaxing. You don't need a skill or understanding to enjoy it, you only need to sit back and watch, as the colours change from white to yellow to orange to pink to purple to grey to black. I like looking east at sunset and seeing that deep purple colour that tells me it is already night where I am looking, and at the same time being able to look high in the sky to somewhere where it is still daylight.

I have a lot of time for sunrises too, but they are not as convenient.

Unbuilding

Listening to: Everything is Possible-the very best of Living Colour

As part of the biggest engineering project in the Hutt for years (link), this utilitarian office building alongside State Highway 2 has been demolished. In its final years of use it served as part of the Lower Hutt Polytechnic. Prior to that I am told it was an admin block for the car factory located in what is now Valley Indoor Sports. Having such a close association to the block, and seeing it during my trips into Wellington, which became daily after Charlotte was born, I had the opportunity to document its demise.

21 August 2008
27 September 2008
As one structure falls, another begins to rise.....

7 October 2008
11 October 2008
17 October 2008
finis
Partly inspired by this great and fondly remembered book (link), which imagines what it would take to dismantle the Empire State Building.

Sprung

Charlotte was released on Monday afternoon, and has been settling in at home ever since.

In between eating and sleeping, she is learning the fine art of chillaxing (playstation controller shown for scale).
And the metal salute by the looks. Chur!

Unplugged

Listening to: Nobody Town - Heavy Jones Trio. A nice local Indie styles album that came out a few years ago.

It has been a good weekend. There has been fine and still weather, which makes the gales worth putting up with, and long evenings promising summer to come. For those of you reading who have only visited this place in the autumn and winter, I wish you could see it now.
In other news, Charlotte has now become a wireless application, finally shedding her monitors and longline IV tube on Saturday. Discarded parephenalia below:
Since going free range she has had more cuddles, a walk around the ward, her first bath, and is that much closer to coming home.

Serious but stable

Was Charlotte's official position description last week. She has improved a lot since then, although she is still quite dopey.

Especially after a feed yesterday:
However she is improving every day.

Which is good. This hospital thing is getting old. I have no idea how some parents can cope with this for months on end. I'm pragmatic about the whole thing; For me her outcome has never been in much doubt, we have known little different from her being where she is (aside from the 20 or so hours on day one, she has spent her whole life so far in the ICU), she is improving every day, and I know she will be coming home soon.

Still I am finding this very wearying, mentally and emotionally if not physically. I spent too much time in hospitals as a young child to relax in them.

It will be nice to have a cuddle without rearranging a bunch of wires first, and not have to go find a chair and bring it back, not to hear the incessant beeping of alarms and monitors (if not from your child, then from one of the other inmates), and nice not to see other babies come and go while yours is still there.

Still having seen some of the other patients I am grateful for what we have been spared.

***

I have other things to blog about, but for now will indulge in my penchant for crazy flying videos from youtube. Usual comment ignorance applies, and I wouldn't link them if they were fake. You can trust me to know how to tell the difference....

Firstly, courtesy of those wacky French:


And from somewhere high over England (caution, contains rude words):

Out of the box

In todays exciting installment, after nearly a week, we were finally able to get Charlotte out of the incubator, sans chest drain and cannula (removed yesterday), and ventilation tubes (removed today).

Looked forward to this all day.
Gee I look old all of a sudden.
She had a feed, and hung onto it, which is encouraging, and she has a voice again, more or less. One milestone down. She will still be inside for at least another week, but she is doing all the right things so far.

***

In other news, from the non-contact sport that is Indoor Netball. Tonight I caught my little finger in the net and had a good go at pulling the nail off (probably God saying it is time to trim the nails). That explains the blood under the nail. Where the blood on the ring finger came from I have no idea. After carefully checking, and finding no injury nearby, I can only conclude that it is someone else's.

I think there's something in that for all of us