Creating a disturbance?

Although I miss the over-the-fence chats, it's probably for the best that my neighbours are mere visitors in their damaged house at the moment. This is because I spent time this afternoon being exceptionally rowdy (making almond butter and associated yummies). They would have had cause to issue a cease and desist notice on formal paper.

Speaking of the two S's (neighbours to the right, or left depending on if you are facing the house or the road), they are a very typical example of what many post-quake Christchurchians are currently putting up with. They have had a horrendous time getting their house livable after the quakes. The firewall along one side has been progressively crumbling since Quake#1 and they had been living in a 'yellow stickered' house since then. What that means is, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) came along, had a look and told them to move out of half their house until they could get a proper evaluation. This is Quake#1, I'm talking about - September last year.

After Quake#2 the situation deteriorated dramatically and finally, last week they got a temporary fix - the wall was torn down and replaced with another one that involves steel girders and has no windows in it.  It's not very well sealed. So now they have a dark, draughty house which them and their one-year-old are supposed to be happy with because it now has a green sticker..  By 'temporary' the EQC means 'up to two years' and then there may be a decision to demolish the house anyway, rather than do a full repair. 

I'm not playing the blame game here. The EQC, Civil Defense and everyone else are doing what they can in the face of what is still overwhelming need. I'm just trying to give a little bit of insight into what it's really like for the normal people. It's not normal. I'm thinking about this more than usual today because this is the focus of my 'Health of Communities' mega-epic assignment. I'm tracking the 'return to normality', which is clearly going to take a long, long, looooong time.

Anyway, the nut butter.  I needed an afternoon snack and the nut butter was all gone (a typical state for almond butter in my house). So, I cranked up the Kenwood and made a batch. Then I experimented with balls. These ones have nut butter, my WPC, dried plums and Maca. The mix of flavours is very agreeable. I'd rate it a 10/10 on the subjective yum scale.

BTW, why oh why won't my pics centre? I updated the template and now they like to hang left. Does anyone know how to fix it?