Walk the Walk

Among the most intelligent of the dogs - if they can't find enough to do, Border collies amuse themselves ...

Arietty and the Sith Lords Part 4

Part 4:  In which Arietty and Mary Explore Further and Get as Far as the Top of the Bank.

Roses.

 
It's a tough life being a rose in some people's gardens.
 
If you're my rose, you have to be able to be ignored completely, apart from being pruned once in winter, and picked over and dead-headed at random intervals during the summer. No spray will assist your survival.  I may throw some sheep poo around your base every now and then, and squash a few aphids if I'm passing. But for the most part you're on your own, young rose me lad.


 'Graham Thomas' is the only rose I've ever grown successfully.
Dear, sweet-scented 'Graham Thomas' flowers early, has a big flush mid-spring, and then always has at least one or two blooms at any time, all way through summer right up until the first frost.
 It's a hard life being a rose in my garden, and also in Tauranga where steady warmth and regular rains encourage bugs of all descriptions and also the piratical-sounding Black Spot.  GT has a bit of BS this year, but doesn't he look fine just the same?

Graham Thomas

Competition

Here's a competition for you.

It goes like this:  You send a photo of your front door to my email address (in my profile) and when I have a goodly amount, I will post a list of all the bloggers (and their countries) who have sent in photos, and, below the list, all the images.  In a different order, obviously. Your challenge is to try and pair the names with the images and then email me your answers.

The winner who guesses the most correct will win an exquisite 21 cm x 28 cm watercolour painting by the world-reknown artist Katherine Steeds, of their own front door.*

I'll do another post showing the right answers.



Let's hope that you do not now grab your camera and exit your door to find this visitor outside:

This is the home of Robert and Roslyn Loretta of South Carolina.  Their neighbour took this photo (possibly having had advanced notice of my competition).  Bob and Ros were inside at the time and think it may have been attracted to the smell of their chicken dinner cooking.

* Or another subject as arranged by and mutually agreeable to both parties.  The painting process will be documented here on this blog in the same way as the 'Cherries' painting was here.

The River Rises

We've had a lot of rain over the last week.
I've posted about my river flooding before here.
It's interesting to see the changes in the river as I look over the bank from the back garden.

At this point the river is still tidal.
It pleases me to imagine that from my very own back garden I could jump in one of our kayaks and paddle all the way down the river, out through the estuary, past the port, slip through the gap between The Mount (Maunganui) and Matakana Island, and out to sea!  Why, I could even paddle all the way to Blogland!*

Last week: A storm is threatening - look at that weird greenish light.

Tipping it down

Sunshine this morning

 *What a very linky post this turned out to be.

New Zealand Christmas

I was rather disappointed to see this year's Christmas stamps. I think they're rather poor compositions, uninspired subject matter and ugly clashing colours.  Even the envelopes of the first-day covers have boring and badly rendered images.  Ho hum.

I've been collecting stamps since I was a kid, and although recently that's consisted of just buying the first day covers, I've a nice collection of Christmas stamps since oh ever so long ago.

Ok, I'll tell you how long I've been carrying out this rather archaic and very not cool pastime (people don't seem to have 'hobbies' these days, do they?).

This (below) was the first Christmas stamp I can remember.  It was also the first time New Zealand put out a Christmas stamp at all.  There was a lot of concern over whether it should be produced - it was even discussed in parliament.  In the end it was so popular that 20 million had to be printed!
(You should know that in 1960 the population of New Zealand was only just over 2.4 million.)

Another concern was if it would be considered proper to deface the religious symbol (the nativity scene) with a postmark.

Rembrandt's 'Adoration of the Shepherds'
1960 New Zealand Christmas Stamp

At that time, I looked like this.  That's Virginia-from-next-door standing behind, and my little sister Jane in the tray. Dad put blocks of wood on the pedals so I could reach them. I remember that dress. It was yellow.

We always sent and received lots of Christmas cards in those days. When the mantlepiece ran out of room, we'd hang them over loops of string in front of the fireplace, which of course was never lit, it being midsummer in New Zealand. On Boxing day everyone went to the beach with all the leftovers in sandwiches, and lots of strawberries and apples, and we'd play in the sea all day and come home with sunburn everywhere except where our togs were, and sand in our crotches. Happy days!

Arietty and the Sith Lords, Part 3

Part 3.  In Which Arietty and Mary get as Far as the Bottom of the Steps and Learn to Look.