Going to the mattresses in Wellington.

I've had a mad, full on three days in the capital  city Wellington this week.  My art class plus the first year music students took the bus down and back which was in itself a mission, as the trip takes over nine hours.

We stayed on the Waiwhetu Marae - sleeping all together on the floor of the wharenui (meeting house) on mattresses, and spent our day time visiting Te Papa - the national museum, and being 'culture vultures' in the CBD.

We were honoured to be allowed out the back of the museum, where are stored tens of thousands of artifacts, especially those relating to Māori history.  It was fascinating and almost overwhelming there, and the whole three days has given me material and knowledge that I will need months to assimilate and examine.

"Waharoa" - Te Papa, first floor.

This is the lower part of a lovely example of a traditional waharoa, a gateway or entranceway.  

The work was carried out by master carver Neke Kapua and his sons Tene and Eramiha, of Ngāti Tarawhai, a subtribe of Te Arawa of Rotorua. It is carved from a 22-metre single slab of tōtara that came from the central North Island.

Early-morning joggers along the waterfront, Wellington.

Ted Bracey

Memorial exhibition and tribute by Campbell Smith.

Living in the Waikato is like living a long rich evening- generous on the one hand yet sheltered and intimate on the other-  A sort of friendly twilight.

- Ted Bracey.

Uncle Ted

Image removed at the request of Ted Bracey's estate. 

Hamilton Museum tribute exhibition information

After the Rain...

I had a dream last night that the river came right up to the house and for some weird reason I had the fridge and freezer out on the verandah, and the piles were eroded away and the doors opened and all the food fell off the shelves into the flood.  You know how it is with dreams...  There's no way the river would ever flood that far, but I was still relieved to wake up.  

When I went for my walk this morning the rugby grounds were still flooded and the lake had attracted a gazillion arguing gulls.  The poor worms were huddled together in great knots to avoid drowning so I rescued a few, but there's plenty of them - tasty pickings for the birds -and lots of black grass grub beetles too, flailing ineffectually around in the water.

Beauty in Unexpected Places

Here today, for your viewing pleasure; a random choice from the archives, posted in haste before I trudge through the rain across the park and over the footbridge to the educational institution where I spend my days now...

Taken in a church yard somewhere in Sussex.

Camera-less

I feel naked.  I went down to Hawkes Bay over the weekend and drove back here to the Bay of Plenty, leaving my cameras (SLR and Point and Click) in my father's living-room.   They had been employed there taking photos of photos from the album he put together when he was fifteen.  The idea was to 'do' all the old photos and memories ... ha!  we got through one album in the weekend.  But it was great, and I know we are both very much looking forward to continuing the journey...

Anyway, back to the camera.  

I can't believe how attached I am to that thing.  And I must have seen 20 wonderful shots on the way home - the sky was bruised and dramatic with banks of towering cumuliform clouds, and the sunshine kept breaking through and highlighting a grove of trees or a barn, or the side of a hill...  

Never mind.  He's has kindly offered to post the point and click.

In the meantime here's a pic from the album.  Another 'beauty in unexpected places'.  The pretty pattern on the chest on one of 'my' thrushes.  Who incidentally visit very rarely now, and are very shy when they do, but are healthy and obviously thriving out there in the Wild World.

Coming soon:  My Big News  -  Why I Haven't Been Blogging So Much Lately.

Eye Candy Day 7