Sky Watch Friday

Check out the link to see other great shots: http://skyley.blogspot.com

The sky over my little part of the world this week: Maori name for New Zealand is  Aotearoa - (Land of the long white cloud)...

Spring has Sprung..

Saw a few signs of early Spring last weekend, and I have noticed that it is getting darker a wee bit later when I leave work at 5pm.

A Vampire Moment Perhaps...

On Sunday night, while in the kitchen cooking dinner with one hand and talking on the phone to Evette in Utah with the other hand, I just happened to look out of the kitchen window and the moon was rising above the trees at the back of our section.

What do I do? Do I end the phone call,  do I stop cooking dinner? After all this is a photo opportunity not to be missed...

Nothing for it but to hand the camera to Phil and let him take a few shots..
I kept looking for a were wolf..

Shadow Shot Sunday

Thanks to Tracy over at Hey Harriet for hosting us, you can visit her over at Shadow Shot Sunday: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

At the bottom of our street there is a sports field that has as part of it a small skate-board bowl. On a fine day the local boys of all ages, and mostly unsupervised, come down and spend most of the day here. It is amazing how well they get on, different ages, some on skateboards and some on bikes. There seems to be this unwritten law between them on how they should behave. These are a few of the shots I took..

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Magpie Tales #24

This is a prompt from a weekly writing theme hosted by Willow over at: http://magpietales.blogspot.com

 

Sophie yawned and stretched as she lay in the bed, she looked at her left hand and wriggled her fingers watching the diamonds on her engagement ring sparkle. "This is it," she thought to herself, "today is my wedding day, it's finally here." She felt a ripple of excitement go through her as she looked over at her wedding dress hanging on the outside of the wardrobe door. Although not her first choice of outfit, it was her dream dress, white organza, with a small train and a very small amount of beading on the hemline. Nothing too elaborate, very simple and very Sophie. She had wanted to wear trousers but her Father was horrified when he found out, and was adamant that it was not going to happen. She started to protest about it being her day, and she should be able to wear what she wanted to, but he had stuck to his guns, and looked her in the eye and said, "Sophie, I know that a dress is not your first choice, but your Mother always wanted to see you married in a traditional wedding dress. Out of respect for her and in her memory, I think that the least you can do is to wear a dress."  She knew, in her heart,  that her Father was right, and eventually she relented.

 There was a light tap on the bedroom door and Stella, Sophie's sister, walked in carrying a breakfast tray. "Morning Soph, thought I would bring you breakfast in bed, seeing how it's your last day as a single woman. How are you feeling? Or is that a stupid question to ask a bride on the morning of probably the biggest day of her life?"

"No, of course it's not a stupid question," she replied. "I'm fine, I've been thinking about the conversation I had a few months ago with Dad about my wedding outfit, and how right he was to insist that I wear a dress. Mum would be so proud of me if she was here, and I know that she would love my choice of dress."

Stella set the tray down on the bedside table and sat on the bed. She took Sophie's hand and said to her,
"Soph, Mum is proud of you, don't you worry she is watching over everything that you do. She will be with you today, and every day."
Sophie leaned over and gave her sister a hug.
"Come on lazy bones" Stella said, "you better get yourself up and organised, it will be time to go before we know where we are" Stella left, leaving Sophie to her breakfast and to her thoughts.

A few hours later, Sophie was well and truly ready. Hair and makeup completed. Dress and veil on. All she had to do now was to go down stairs and join her Dad and Stella and together the three of them would make their way to the church.

But there was something that Sophie needed to do before they left. She made her way to her mothers bedroom and walked over to the wardrobe. She reached inside and found the shoe box that had the black shoes in them. The black shoes that she knew her mother loved, she tried them on, the fit was perfect.

She stood up and looked down at her feet. Stella appeared at the doorway and said "Come on Sophie, it's time to go, everyone is downstairs waiting."

As she reached the top of the stairs Sophie lifted up her wedding dress and looked down at the black shoes thinking to herself:
 
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something....black?

Oh well it doesn't matter that it doesn't rhyme, at least I found them"


This tale draws on  a prior tale I wrote for Magpie Tale #16...

Sky Watch Friday

Rain, rain and more rain, some of the sky shots captured this week..


A little bit of blue sky, before the next squall hits us..

Check out the link to see other great shots: http://skyley.blogspot.com

Surreal Saturday..

My baby is getting married.... Yes, my no 2 daughter and her man have decided that the time has come to get hitched..and not wanting to delay it any longer have decided that January 2011 would be perfect..
After all , it is in the Summer, the Christmas rush will be well and truly over and we will all still be in holiday mode...

Once I managed to get my head around the idea, which I might add is not a bad thing, after all we have been waiting for this wedding for a few years now, I realised that this does not leave us much time to put this all together.. after lots of discussion,  and lengthy lists Sam decided that the No. 1 priority was to get her wedding dress ..

So last Saturday I drove the 60 minutes over the other side of Auckland to meet up with Sam at her wedding boutique of choice...what a place, everything a bride could wish for, dresses, jewellery, veils, bridesmaid dresses and even mother-of-the-bride outfits. I have to say that I was not expecting Sam to find anything, as this was the first shopping trip for dresses, and surely she wasn't going to find THE DRESS right away...

But Sam being the person that she is, pretty much had set in her mind what she wanted, and lo and behold, there on the rack it was...a stunner of a dress, a perfect fit...everything that she wants and more..
The sales lady put the veil on her, and there she was...my little girl...all grown up... looking absolutely stunning.... .and then it hit me!!!!!

I had this weird feeling that was quite surreal, everything around me seemed to be going in slow motion, and when I looked at that beautiful young woman standing in front of me it wasn't that Sam that I saw in her wedding dress, but this Sam that kept coming to mind....

The two year old Sam, as flower girl at my Brother's wedding, the little girl who has always known her own mind, even on that day when she would not wear the belt to her dress around her waist, but insisted on wearing it up around her chest...

In six months time, Sam is going to become Roland's wife, she will take his name...
My baby girl is all grown up......

Shadow Shot Sunday

Thanks to Tracy over at Hey Harriet for hosting us, you can visit her over at Shadow Shot Sunday: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

I want to share with you a bit of my world close to where I live, 25 minute drive from our home is the entrance to the Manukau Harbour. The Harbour has a reputation for being treacherous and unforgiving for boaties.
These shots were taken at the lighthouse at the Manukau Heads, the lighthouse is no longer in use, and has recently been rebuilt for historical purposes, there is however a signal station just below the lighthouse, where the harbourmaster resides..

The climb these steps and when you get to the top this is what you see..

The view of the harbour, and looking towards Auckland City is magnificent, even during Winter..

And the view on the other side, the entrance to the harbour is breathtaking, the Tasman Sea, next stop Australia...aprox 1700 kms away..
And on the way home I couldn't resist these little guys, with their Mums..

Sky Watch Friday

I have been capturing the sky here at my part of the world for a few months now, and thought that this would be a great way to share the skies here in New Zealand..

These were taken yesterday, Thursday, on my way home from work. Wonderful, winter clouds.

Check out the link to see other great shots: http://skyley.blogspot.com

Left in the dark..

 Not sure if there was an accident and a power pole was knocked over, or if someone pulled the wrong switch, but a few nights ago I was taken by surprise and the house was plunged into darkness..

Just as" Brothers and Sisters" was starting, there was nothing... I found the big torch, grabbed the matches and lit the candles that I have dotted around the lounge, it was of course a great time to grab the camera...

My aromatic Christmas candle had the house smelling gorgeous..

My pottery candle holder called the "circle of friends", the face almost looks real.

Thank goodness we have a wood burner fire, so at least the house kept nice and warm.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Thanks to Tracy over at Hey Harriet for hosting us, you can visit her over at Shadow Shot Sunday: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Perfect weather for chasing shadows.. frosty, sunny, clear skies. We have some very old church buildings about 25minutes drive from our house that I have been wanting to get photos of..

Kohekohe ( prounced: co -he-co-he) Church services held from 1886-1976), unfortunately the building is very run down, but it made for some interesting shadows.

Awhitu ( pronounced: u -the sound of the letter "u" in the word up -fee -to) Central Church built in 1877 and still in use today..
At the side of the church is a row of windows, that when I looked through one of them I found that I could see through to the window on the other side, it wasn't until I got home that I realised that I was reflected shadow like in the photo together with the view behind me..

I have done no editing on this pics, the sky was so blue and clear.

Magpie Tale #22

This is a prompt from a weekly writing theme hosted by Willow over at: http://magpietales.blogspot.com

                                                                   

This weeks Magpie brought back some childhood memories that are the basis for my tale. I hope that you all enjoy...

Fifteen-year-old Anya stood with the rest of the pickers waiting for instructions on where they would start their working day. This was her third Summer picking tomatoes, and it was now nothing more than a bore and a chore. When she had started picking at the age of twelve she had seen it as an honour, as finally being recognised as being old enough to join the rest of the family, not having to stay behind and look after the younger cousins.

But not anymore. She stood listening to her Uncle Barry, at the same time twirling the end of her plait around her finger, head cocked to one side thinking to herself, "What on earth am I doing here? I should be spending the day at the pools with my friends. But no, I have to come here in this heat and spend the day working my butt off, God it's just so unfair",  she let out a huge sigh.

 A few minutes later Anya picked up her canvas bag, slung it across her shoulders and moved off with the rest of the pickers. Standing at the end of the row, she looked down at the vines, heavy with ripe tomatoes, hanging, just waiting to be picked. She didn't bother looking at her co-workers, she just moved along the row, picking the fruit she knew was perfect for the markets, leaving the under-ripe fruit, and at the same time dropping any of the over-ripened bird-pecked fruit onto the ground. She moved steadily and quickly knowing that there was only a few hours of good picking to do before the heat of the day made it unbearable to work. Suddenly she felt a sharp stinging pain on the side of her hand, and looking down she saw the hornet with it's stinger embedded in her flesh. She let out a loud squeal, and started jumping up and down holding her hand, trying hard not to cry as she felt the heat of the sting and saw the her hand starting to swell. Suddenly she felt someone take her hand and she watched as the insect and the sting were taken out.

She raised her eyes up to say thank you to her helper, and gasped as she saw the teenage boy who was standing in front of her. He was absolutely gorgeous. Never before in her life had she seen such warm, brown eyes and such smooth olive skin. Her legs felt weak, her stomach was doing flip-flops and her heart was pounding. He looked at her and said,  " Come on we need to get you to the house to put some ice on your hand to try and get the swelling down". She managed to give him a weak smile, as still holding onto her hand, they made their way to the house. Anya cast a sideways glance at him as they were walking and thought to herself, "maybe picking tomatoes is not such a bad way too spend a Summer..."


Footnote: Oh, the angst of a teenage girls first love. Unfortunately the teenage boy did not feel the same way as Anya did, and after two weeks of feeling as if her heart had been broken, she managed to spend the rest of the Summer with her friends.

It's a dog's life.....

On the weekend Phil and I took Nan (MIL) for a trip to the NZKC (New Zealand Kennel Club) show, where Aunty Eileen was showing two of her Dacshund dogs.

What a great experience it was, a great "doggie" fix for me, as we have not had a dog around since November last year when Beau our Boxer passed away.

There was all types, sizes, colours of dogs. They were all lovingly clipped, combed, sprayed and paraded in front of the judges.

The following are just a few of the dogs that were on show, and I have to say that all of the owners were only too happy to let me take photos of their much loved pets..

 I am definitely going back for the next one..

Shadow Shot Sunday

Thanks to Tracy over at Hey Harriet for hosting us, you can visit her over at Shadow Shot Sunday: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

This week I am going to continue with shots from my Auckland Museum visit last weekend. I have chosen two from the Sounds Section.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. And thanks again to Tracy for hosting.

Wintergardens - Auckland Domain

Today Sam and I finally go to spend our Mother/Daughter day at the Wintergardens in the Auckland Domain.

Here are a few of the photos that I took, Sam has very kindly lent me her spare camera to use , it was so much fun and very different to the little "point and shoot" I have been using for the last six months..
The first shots were taken in the Fernery, and the last three were taken in the Hot House..

                                                     Bromeliad..

                                                   Orchid...

                                            Anthirium..

You can see some of Sam's photos on her blog: http://sammysscripts.blogspot.com