Cold but Pretty

In many parts of the country, we've had severe cold weather, including snow in the subtropical Auckland, this week. The 'event' has been referred to as "Polar Blast" ("of 2011" in future, no doubt) Surprisingly, there have also been pockets which escaped the event, for example, Wanaka, with no notable precipitation in spite of its relative proximity to Queenstown, where they had the biggest dump of snow in 60 years.

Though it's been cold, (and DWS reported "snow" in Richmond for about 7 minutes on Monday,) we have escaped any eventful weather events. (Read the slight disappointment?) It has been cold, but nothing out of the ordinary, sunny, relatively still and the air crystal clear. The hills have had fresh snow, but not as nearly as low as three weeks ago.

It's been so nice, this reluctant gardener even spent a couple of hours spraying weeds yesterday.  And signs of spring are everywhere.