tuhua

I'd like to post here more often so starting today I'm going to try a regular (weekly) post of one of my favourite photos. This one is of a little cloud floating above Tuhua (Mayor Island) taken from the beach at Whangamata.

adventuresome

- Whiritoa beach
- Ohope at dusk
- White Island/Whakaari from Ohope beach
- White Island - New Zealand's only active marine volcano
- Tarawera - dormant volcano, last erupted in 1886
- Rotorua lakes

I think I spent more time this holiday in a helmet or a hard hat than I did in a swim suit. It was thrilling.

Reading: (the excellent) What lies beneath : a memoir by Elspeth Sandys.

some place like this

I'm on holiday until next week. I'll see you then.

heroic

The Heroic Garden Festival was on this weekend. It's an annual charity event - a chance to support Hospice and to get to visit some interesting private gardens in the Auckland area.

It's nice to spend time in a garden but I'm not a gardener. A few succulents in a pot is my limit. Gardening is hard work. There's a great article here by Anne Wareham on that subject.

Watching (curiously) : Gardening with soul - a New Zealand documentary following a year in the garden with 90-year-old Sister Loyola at Island Bay, Wellington. Maybe she will inspire me.

Reading: The hundred-foot journey by Richard C. Morais.

long weekend

Last weekend was another long one with a public holiday on Friday. Each day was perfect - Friday on Waiheke Island visiting friends and walking the sculpture walk, Saturday at this small farm to celebrate a birthday, and Sunday with family. Three day weekends have to be one of the best things.
 
Reading: Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

rain

Finally the rain came - after nearly four weeks of glorious sunshine. But such a relief - it's been so hot and so humid.

hedges

Hedges make great photo subjects in my opinion. They are everywhere but hard to define. What turns a row of shrubs into a hedge? Can trees be hedges?

Reading - and enjoying completely - 100 essays I don't have time to write : on umbrellas and sword fights, parades and dogs, fire alarms, children, and theatre by Sarah Ruhl