Gale, oh gale

This week Timaru experienced the strongest storm its had in 25 years, we're told.  It didn't rain particularly much but we had winds howling through every corner and straight, peaking at 109km/h during Wednesday afternoon.  Police were advising that people stay home, but Aaron had an oboe lesson so off we went.  It was kind of scary sitting in the car (which is a solidly built stationwagon) and feeling it rock as winds buffeted it.  On Tuesday night we had a power outage for a few hours; not so handy when you have a dinner guest but thankfully I was at the point of serving.  There was also a fairly spectacular lightning display but after reading by candle-light for an hour I was falling asleep, so pretty much missed all but one flash.  Surprisingly there hasn't been a lot of damage reported (although Liz and Graham sadly lost their brand-new greenhouse).  Nick had to remove a sheet or two of the perspex sheeting covering our deck; it was only today that we discovered a fallen tree in the back yard.  It has long-since been dead, so probably wouldn't have taken much to fall over anyway.  Nick and the boys worked together to cut it up for firewood.

 The boys spotted a nest in a now-visible spot in a neighbouring tree.

 Getting the first branch into position...