It might be Easter, but in the Southern Hemisphere Easter is in Autumn, not Spring. Yet there were ducklings in the Botanic Gardens this morning.

Rain threatened, so we walked in the city (via the Gardens) rather than the beach. At the Arts Centre we saw the Ghostcat exhibition of miniatures. The buildings modelled are ones which didn’t survive the earthquake that turned us upside down in 2011. A painting in the hallway gives an artist‘s impression of the Arts Centre as a place full of creative people.

We discovered a display space new to us. It shows the work of the stone masons who are repairing the Arts Centre. There are activities for children, and a family sat around a table gluing coloured squares onto paper. From the window you can see repair work in progress and neatly stacked piles of stone and brick ready for re-use.

It still hadn’t rained by the time I got home, so I risked doing some washing. Just as the spin cycle clicked off, down came the rain. So the washing went into the dryer or onto the airer. There was nothing for it but to light the first fire of the year and sit beside it with a good book – and chocolate. How did I manage to eat two thirds of that chocolate bunny?