travel

Still winter. But Spring is coming. The daffodils are starting to brighten the world.

tee shirt, glass and bottle with Brave Brewing Company written on

You’ve got to be in it to win it! Surprise when we got to Hamilton Beer and Wine this evening to find I had won a prize draw I’d entered a few weeks ago and won a tee shirt, glass and flagon from Brave Brewing Co!

giant geodesic cube lit up in pink in front of the painted wall of the library

Kirikiriroa, Hamilton is fast becoming a centre for amazing pieces of art. We already have an ever changing array of beautiful murals brightening up the city thanks to Boon Street Festival. This week was the unveiling of a temporary installation of 4 intricately-designed geometric sculptures that light up and change colour. Hybycozo is part of the Boon After Dark initiative;

“We want to help people engage with art throughout their ordinary lives. Our vision is ‘art everywhere, everyday’ and having sculptures in Garden Place is a significant way we can achieve this.”

two rain jacket clad women wave through a rain spattered car window at someone inside

Training continues rain or shine!

Cat training continues!

Nigel and I went along to the protest against Fletcher Building to show our support for tangata whenua at Ihumātao. More information can be read here, and here and here. There are heaps of other articles out there; a Google search will find them!

A rainbow over Steele Park. Now mainly used for sports fixtures for the local schools and sports clubs, it has an interesting military history.

a bearded man sits with folded arms on a settee in a living room

Nigel.

I love people-watching in cafes and stole this photo of this young couple. This was a break in their conversation. I have grappled with using this photo as one of my choices for this challenge after listening to this podcast from the Digital Human series from the BBC. It talks of how in the age of easy photo and video creation, twitter feeds and facebook posts we unwittingly or even wittingly use other people to create our own stories. What right have we to do that? What right have I to publish a photo of someone else without their permission or knowledge? I have convinced myself that this posting is ok because I am making no comment about them, nor building a story about them, but I am still uneasy. Don’t post it then, I hear you say! But the photographer and slightly artistic part of me likes the photo, the framing of it, the suggestion of a story, the beauty of two young people…..

On the trails again…. true words those!

Why won’t our cats drink the water we put in bowls for them but tie themselves in knots to drink water from the bath?

Back in Taumarunui and the cherry blossom is out. Love the brightness against the mistiness of the rain and a flooded river.

Rainbow over

Rainbow over Te Rohe Pōtae – King Country. Another time I was down here, a good friend and colleague died and I saw a rainbow a few minutes after I heard. This time, only yesterday, I heard of the death of a friend I haven’t seen for a long time but who had a special place in my heart.

The course I am doing at Te Wananga has an online component and it’s really hard to get to 100%!

Another Thursday evening at “Three Beer Thursday” in Craft Hamilton. Played a bit of cribbage too.

Amazing what you see when you look up in a cafe.

pallisades on a hill with a range of hills in the distance

This week is the celebration for the Kingitanga and I spent the day at Turangawaewae in Ngaruawahia today. I was lucky enough to get onto the history tour. Our last stop was Puke i aahua pā site. The story of the place is told in this blog post. We didn’t get out of the bus here so I went back on my way home. The palisades have been reconstructed to show what they would have been like 150yrs ago. Remnants of originals lie buried in the ground. You can see from the view what a commanding position it was. I also took this 360º image from the hill just above the palissades.

Winter Roses. Hellebore.

dark coloured fluffy cat lying on a bed, paws in front

A cat. Just that!

I love it when I get a window seat and a clear sky! There was a bigger story to this photo to explain why I didn’t fly directly to Wellington and had to go via Palmerston North. Moral of the story – make sure you aren’t a minute late to check in!