Te Ahumairangi Hill with Baxter [and Mike]

View over Poneke (Wellington) towards the airport in the distance

That tongue! Baxter the Irish Setter was a little warm. 

Mr Beautiful posing

 A little windswept with his new 'friend' attempting to jump on.

New games to learn!

North east towards the Hutt valley 

and the Lilliputian version!

Model dog

What a lovely afternoon catching up with Mike and enjoying the great views.

A taste of what I have been listening to this morning ...

Don't ever let life pass you by ... 

Dig - Incubus

The Last Remaining Light - Audioslave

Warning - Incubus

This Life - Fly My Pretties

Sail - AWOLNATION

Dy-Na-Mi-Tee - Ms Dynamite

"The Wish You Wish You Had" - Julia Deans

Ikarus | Ladi 6

Blackbird - Fat Freddy's Drop Blackbird Album

Everybody Knows That You're Insane - Queens of the Stone Age

Star Wars Canteen - Eddie Izzard

Mother Mother - Fat Freddy's Drop Blackbird Album



and for future reference I came across this and think it may deserve some attention #hiddentreasures ? I do look forward to listening to more ... perhaps after a wee sleep! Nu Acid Jazz Essential Grooves - 2 Hours selection

Aw this made me feel good, I received mail from Flickr HQ saying my photo "Bella Lobelia" is being used on the front page of the flowers group.  YAY!!  Another small thing to be grateful for! 

Reminder to self ...

Finish watching this video!
zenhabits.net - unbusy

I like the idea of ensuring that everyday contains 
vitality, connection & contribution.

Painting the local plants

"Life is beautiful"

toocutethings on blogspot

I signed it ... doubt it will do any good ... but

help-calves-demand-independent-voice-animals

Mixed feelings ...

Loving being vegan for my soul feels free, no longer stepping on those lives I crushed with my imbibing.  Now I'd like to live in a place where others feel the same. It's tough to see animal flesh raw and encased on a bench, smoking on a barbecue and being chopped into pieces before being chewed on. It's sad for me because I trace that piece of meat back to a poor dear little soul who was killed prematurely.

Not that I am holier than though though I did still use the bees wax insect repellent rather than get bitten by sand flies. Next time I shall take a vegan one.

https://instagram.com/p/BL4rrbCDDl-/

Having a bit of fun with Canva

Fun with Canva using a photo of a bunch of pens I had removed from the collection that congregates on the bench ... I liked the mix that came out ... there was a black and a white one too!

A Rendering

I can't remember where I made this (oops!) but found it in the archives so thought I'd share.  As you do ... as I do!

Blockheads ignore externalities for our peril

I read about one and then the other ... makes me very sad for the longevity our world that so many humans appear infinitely capable of ignoring significant signs and going ahead with hideous crimes against nature and diversity for profit.  I guess the problem remains that capitalism itself is not sustainable so why should any of it's mechanisms be?

Greenpeace New Zealand - our government the blockheads again

Geneticist and climate activist David Suzuki explains how conventional economics a form of brain damage

The Front Lawn's movie

I remember watching this in the 90's and thinking it was really well done.  Great to see it again Linda's body

Angel vegan

Angel vegan on nothing humane happens at a slaughterhouse

It's time for the next step ... for too long I have tried to forget that for every piece of cheese, every spoon of sour cream and every sup of milk that a little calf gave it's life for me to have that milk that was meant for him or her.  I've tried to pretend that it was OK.  

Angel vegan's posts made me realise that I had to change.  Made myself watch her sometimes gruesome feed. BECAUSE it is what happens and it helped cement for me that I don't want to be any part of it.  I don't want to be a part of any animal suffering.  Geez I resist digging the garden in case I will kill worms et al.  

I don't have much time for humans who argue with me as to why their meat eating is justified somehow.  When I first went vegetarian I wished I could have said I had been vegetarian for many years. I can now but it's it's not enough, I still contribute.

So vegan she goes ... 

Antipodes Oriental Parade

A walk along Wellington's Oriental Parade is always a pleasure on a nice day. The lovely golden sand and beautifully turquoise-blue water always bring a smile to my face. 

Update: I've just had this one printed and it's on our wall.  Sweet!

a (very) brief history of aotearoa

By Kereama Taepa

a very brief history of aotearoa comprises four aluminium pieces in pixelated 'space invaders' icons in the form of 

• a Maori meeting house representing the original Maori habitation of New Zealand
• a mitre, representing Christian missionaries and early European settlement
• a crown representing the Queen of Britain and New Zealand and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between the Crown and Maori
• "The Beehive" representing our current government 

This is the fifth installation of in the biannual 4 Plinth Sculpture Project. The temporary nature of the works is a great opportunity for established and emerging artists to realise a major public sculpture, with all the challenges of scale and robustness needed for this tough environment and highly visible public space.


Below is an older exhibit - Rita Angus Used to Grow Her Own Vegetables
by Glen Hayward

Quite enlightening

How do animals see in the dark? Anna Stöckl

The important instruction manual

The Importance of Communicating One’s Emotional Needs to Another Before Issues Arise

Adding this here so future me can find it easily :)

Nikola Tesla really was amazing!

Tesla's 1926 prediction WOW! and 
Why Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.

Our watchful guardian

While feeding the birds this morning a new visitor flew right by me then banked swiftly into a 360° turn to land in the ponga tree between me and the house.  I couldn't believe it!  Our neighbour had told me a couple of days ago that there was a ruru sitting in the tree below their house so I'll have to assume she's continued to hang out in the area (the ruru that is!).

The other birds were rather vocal about her presence with two making a squawky warning sounds. Not surprisingly as the ruru was likely hunting them. Ruru are usually nocturnal so very unusual to see her out at this time of day (around 7.45am (dawn was 6.52am)).

She sat on the ponga branch for a while and watched the blackbirds eat kiwifruit not even too bothered by my presence and when she looked directly at me I was stoked as, what a look!!  She kindly waited for me to go and get my camera and again looked straight at me for the shot.

Rather special as the ruru (also known as more-pork) is New Zealand's only surviving native owl and although we hear them often this is only the second one I've seen in 11 years here.  I was on a natural high for some time after this wonderful encounter.  Woohoo.

I've named this photo our watchful guardian because In Māori tradition the morepork was seen as a watchful guardian. It belonged to the spirit world as it is a bird of the night. 

Reference: Department of Conservation - ruru

Less cropped version with the hose behind!

No object implies the existence of any other

By Ian Burn 1967. Synthetic polymer paint on wood, mirror and lettering.
Seen in the Art Gallery of NSW central Sydney. 

I love the view this gave into perhaps another world? 

On my last work trip in Dec last year I managed to steal an afternoon to walk around the Botanical Gardens and the Art Gallery of NSW. A lovely gallery and it would have been nice to spend longer there but the warm summer sun beckoned.

One for the eye hurters club

The rather bright result of taking a photo of an old water colour painting and fooling around with the colours in photoshop.

N i c e ...

Black Hole Sun - Postmodern Jukebox Vintage Cover ft. Haley Reinhart

Latitude 41° 36.8’ south Longitude 175° 17.4 East aka Cape Palliser

For Frank's birthday we took a trip to Cape Palliser on the east southern tip of the North Island (New Zealand).  The road to get there is a little mad but the reward is a beautiful rugged coast that is isolated and perfectly refreshing. The steep steps to the lighthouse made for an adventure that required a hand on the rail as gusty winds whipped by.  The ocean roared like a jet aeroplane taking off and blow holes next to the windy road required well timed walk by's!

More information about the Cape Palliser Lighthouse.

Position: Latitude 41° 36.8’ south  Longitude 175° 17.4 East

This light shone for the first time on 27^th October 1897.  The lighthouse is notable for the 261 steps it takes to reach it.  When these steps were first built they were greeted enthusiastically as they replaced a slippery narrow path up the rock face that was especially dangerous at night.

The cast iron tower stands 18 metres high and 78 metres above sea level.  The light flashes twice every 20 seconds and can be seen for 26 nautical miles (48 kilometres).

The 1000-watt lamp operates on mains electricity with a diesel generator for standby power.  The light originally burnt oil as a light source and was converted to diesel generated electricity in 1954, and then to mains electricity in 1967.

The light was fully automated in 1986 and the lighthouse keeper was withdrawn.

The operation of the light is now completely automatic and is monitored by a computer and Maritime NZ staff in Wellington.

Foul Mouthed Organic Seed Talks About Agrochemicals

A lovely day on Oriental Parade beach

This morning I woke up and thought 'I should make a piece of art today' knowing it would make me happy :)  Having recently watched some great instructions on how to create watercolour paintings in Photoshop I did some experimenting. 

The original photo was taken on a lovely autumn afternoon on the Wellington waterfront. Frank was skate boarding while I wandered down on the beach camera in hand.  It was delightful on the beach that day and so lovely to see karoro gulls chilling out, bobbing around gently in the shallow clear water with the famous fountain spraying water far in the air way in the distance.

I liked how this brush combination made lines like a coloured pencil drawing or etching as Al suggested.  Feel free to click on the image as it's best viewed large!


Such fun! I look forward to the next creation.

Storm brewing; the urban view

These clouds were like a little slice of magic. 

It was a wonderful day of watching them. 

They rolled through menacing

as if they would break

into a thunderstorm any moment.

Masking the sun then giving her back

for a few minutes at a time.

We basked in the semi tropics

enjoying the tepid temptation.

Jumping into the warm salty pool

when the clouds finally broke.

Fat droplets made pretty sploshes

when they hit the rippling surface.

Fun times were had in that Ponsonby pool.

While the clouds pretended to crackle

but only twice broke into thunder.

Not praying mantis

This tiny praying mantis was hanging out on the table outside at our friend’s house. To ensure his longevity I decided to move him to a safer place in the trees. When I put my hand out he happily walked on and of course photos had to be taken (which weren't entirely easy with only one hand available!). 

I was blown away with his amazing movements which were also rather entertaining. He started on a walk up my arm, stopping for a quick prayer then some crazy head twisting. I’m pretty sure it turned 180° for cleaning (I think) or maybe he just enjoy contorting his body! In one photo he is barely recognisable as a praying mantis. 


When I went to put him on a tree he wasn't terribly happy to go. After I had encouraged him to get on the plant he stretched out towards me almost like he didn’t want me to go. So I put my hand out again and what do you know he leapt back onto me. I had a new friend! And I found out that praying mantis can jump.

Eventually I had to socialise with humans so found another tree and encouraged him to alight again then wished him a fond farewell.  Feeling uplifted by the experience.

Enjoying this as my desktop background

The wonderful vista looking west from the summit of Takaka hill. 

Yummy recipe

YUM! Thanks Mum :)

Sylvie doodle with a dash of Photocandy

Our good friends have a beautiful cat named Sylvie. She has a gorgeous tabby coat with beautiful black eyeliner and the most amazing ear whiskers I've ever seen, they are so long they curl back behind her ears, just one long white whisker in each ear. She's a very sweet and cute cat who loves to chase a piece of grass around.

Photo candy app

Zen habits; enjoy the mist ...

More excellent advice from LEO BABAUTA
Zen Habits - Why We Struggle with Change

Such a fun night I can't believe it's a year ago already!

That's 3x me playing with pod poi play in the lounge at Jon & Bigi's summer party.  Thanks to Andrew for the photos.

Wellington Railway Station

Trusty old Railway Station. Central Wellington.  Such a grand old beauty she is!

Who knows if it's true but it could be :)

Happy new year everyone!

Apologies for the shakes!