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

Magpie Tale #20

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


 On the 5 November, 1605 a plot was planned to blow up the English Parliament in the hope that the then King would be killed.  Guy Fawkes was in the cellar of parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours and he was caught, tortured and executed. On this same night bonfires were lit to celebrate that the King was saved. Since then 5th November has become known as Bonfire Night.The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire. 

 Here is my Magpie:                                 Bonfire Night

Twelve year old Simon stood on the steps of the front verandah and watched as his Dad put more firewood on to the bonfire. It was November 5th , Guy Fawkes night. Simon had been waiting all week for this night. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He was very proud of the Guy that he had made during the week. This year he had been allowed to make it himself, his parents had told him that he could use whatever he wanted to, that he was now old enough to do this one thing on his own.  He had used some of Dad's old clothes, stuffing the body with old straw, adding a few touches of his own  and giving it a real "human-like" look.

But it wasn't only the bonfire and the Guy that Simon was excited about, Guy Fawkes night was also a time when all the family got together, it was a great time to catch up with his cousins, and even better there would be loads of fireworks to let off as each family brought their own.

Simon walked over to the area where his box of firecrackers sat, he bent down and touched them, there they were the Sky Rockets, Spinning Wheels, Roman Candles, Sparklers, and the noisy Big Bomb. "Can't be too much longer 'til they are all here", he thought to himself as he walked back to watch his Dad, who by this time had finished getting the bonfire ready, and had put his Guy on top of the wood pile.

It was only a matter of half an hour before the rest of the family arrived. All the cousins were excited, and there were three huge boxes of fireworks added to Simons. 

By this time it was dark, and everyone knew that once the sun set it would be time to light the bonfire and watch the Guy go up in flames. Once the Guy had been burnt then all the fireworks would be let off, making for a huge fireworks display, that usually lasted a good hour.

Everyone gathered a safe distance from the bonfire, and watched as Simon's Dad set the bonfire alight. The flames rose and started to lick the bottom of the Guy, setting the trousers alight and then quickly moving up the body. Suddenly there was a huge bang coming from the bonfire, and before anybody knew what was happening sky rockets, and spinning wheels started flying all over the place. 

The whole family rushed to the safety of the front verandah and watched, totally stunned as one of the fireworks shot out of the mouth of the Guy and made it's way over to the boxes where the rest of the family's fireworks were. There was no rescuing them, there was nothing anybody could do.

Simon watched motionless, as the firework landed into one of the boxes. He started shaking uncontrollably as the air was thick with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. He felt physically sick as the "huge fireworks display" was reduced to a three-minute wonder. He was speechless, when after three minutes it was all over, and his family stood silently. All were looking at him.

The words came out very slowly as he stood on the verandah in front of his parents, his aunts, uncles and cousins and very quietly said, "I think that perhaps I got a bit carried away with the number of firecrackers I put into the Guy. I will have to adjust that for next year."

The silence was deafening.

Annual Leave - My Day off today thursday..

A few weeks ago Sam and I decided that we would take an annual leave day from our respective workplaces and meet up for a "Mother/daughter" day. We chose to go to the Wintergardens in Auckland City, a good half way meeting point for us both, Sam lives north of Auckland and we live South of the city...

 Cameras were a must, and we intended to spend the day taking photos and just chilling out together.
However the"fickle finger of fate"  pointed it's ugly finger at us, and at the beginning of the week we realised that it just was not going to happen. Sam has been really sick, I mean really sick. She has not been able to shake off this awful sinus combined chest infection, and after another trip to the doctors yesterday she was told she had some form of Asthma, and has been given an inhaler and put onto Prendisone tablets. Two things sprung to my mind when she told me this..

       Firstly....   She has never had any form of Asthma in her life, so what the heck is going on?
                                          
       Secondly..     Prendisone is some form of steroid isn't it ?
I tried really hard not to panic, but after she explained what was going on and that it would help her I calmed down a bit. See, even though she is thirty, it's still a concern when one of your kids is sick.
So, this meant that the "Mother/daughter" day was off....now what do I do on my day off..

A morning walk was a must, and together with my trusty camera at 7.30am I set off,  

 I noticed the sun striking this tree as I walked past, the chimney had very light smoke coming out from it, but it was hard to capture on my point and shoot...
Down at the local Soccer field the fog was hanging about, and the sun was rising..

Reflections in the rain puddle of the tree by the skate board bowl..

So, like me you are thinking to yourself, what a great start to the day, and it was, the morning progressed and I made a Skype call to Evette in the States and we both settled in for a good catch-up, only to find that after about 20mins we had a power cut..now what..well the cat then decided to play her latest game..it goes like this..
She waits by the door, looking all sweet and delicate, and we (the humans with the thumbs and the superior brains) let her out..after half an hour she makes her way to the kitchen window where we let her in ( you with the thumbs and the superior brains)

This went on for a little while, and as the power was out I decided to go do the grocery shopping. On the way back, I saw these ladies in a house paddock. A house paddock being the field where the pregnant sheep and cows are kept when they are near to giving birth..

I will be keeping my eyes on these girls, there maybe little bouncy lambs in a few weeks..
Once home, still no power so settled down to finish my novel..

Hopefully Sam and I will get to do our "Mother/daughter" day on the weekend.