thanks

Happy holidays and thanks for visiting never odd this year.

Reading: Lists of note compiled by Shaun Usher

while she sleeps

Some random photos taken during my granddaughter's nap time.

Watching: Finding Vivian Maier

before / now

This is how cactus plants grow in just over a year of living in a kitchen and getting watered occasionally. How they flourish when you're not looking.

waiorea

Another outing to Western Springs with my little friend last week. The park is almost overrun with birds - seagulls, pukeko, swans, geese, ducks, coots, pigeons, hens. There few still a few fluffy ducklings and cygnets around. And, best of all, if you linger on one of the bridges and peer into the dark water you're bound to see a slippery fat eel or two.

Reading: The non-conformists by Martin Parr and Susie Parr
This is a really interesting book of photos taken by Martin in 1975 while he and Susie were living in a small mill town in Yorkshire, England. It's a sort of documentary about a traditional way of life in a rural community that was already in decline. Susie wrote the text that describes the people and their day-to-day lives. I especially liked her description of the Lydgate mineral water works that made cordials and "fizzy drinks".