Balance

Libby over at D-scribes has been writing about the robins nesting in her hedge. Over and over again, I am grateful, not to mention over-awed, by the wild-life that appears in my garden and around my house. Watching regulars and noticing new visitors, often feels like the greatest privilege in Life for me.



This stick insect appeared in our back porch a few days ago, probably forsaking the raspberry canes around the entrance as they loose their leaves. It's body is about three inches long and it is a native species. I have never seen them on trees or shrubs, so can't be sure if they are truly native to this area, or the offspring of some babies I released about ten years ago. They apparently like the rosaceous plants even though the rose family is not endemic to New Zealand. The trap, it seems, in having taken to an introduced plant species, is dealing with the deciduous nature of roses, raspberries, brambles et al. Come leaf-fall, they have to leave home and look for winter shelter elsewhere.



I had another go at photographing the bellbird. His shape makes a nice silhouette and his wing flashes are just visible in this photo. The bellbird seems like the fantail and tui, to have adapted well to modern gardens. They enjoy feeding on the flowers of the introduced eucalyptus, garden clematis, and ripe orchard fruits. And as I mentioned in my previous post, non-spider-proofed weather boards harbour a rich winter food source.  



These cats: they are not the best of friends, so this was a rare recent shot of acceptance if not companionship. They are both hunters. They hunt in this garden mercilessly. Aelfy, the black cat, is a mouser, which is a blessing. But he also catches skinks, ground-feeding birds and fledglings. Catkin, the tabby, who spent his first year fending for himself in the wild, is a big game hunter, though he seems less inclined to bring down hares, rabbits and poultry now that he has been neutered.  Somehow the bird population, continues to thrive in this garden of mainly introduced species. What I see is that the birds' strength is the scruffy places, the untrimmed, untamed, overgrown spinneys. Introduced gorse and hawthorn provided dense prickly havens, unappealing to cats, while the native pohuehue vine - which I curse endlessly - provides an impenetrable cat puzzle and good nesting sites. Untidy weedy overgrowth and old seed stems - that the good gardener learns to trim away - are full of insect life: good for the birds and bio-diversity in general. The lizards get half a chance in a weed bank too. 

With recent controversy over the place of cats in New Zealand, we could maybe give equal thought to how our human inclinations - affect the birds.


Gorse Ulex europeaus
Hawthorn Crataegus spp
Pohuehue, muehlenbeckia Muehelenbeckia australis

Postcard From Cairo

Well actually it was posted in Italy: it arrived this morning, a reminder that Keith and Barbara will be back to retrieve their bus in a few days time.
A whole month of Autumn days has passed since they parked their bus and flew off ...

Foggy mornings;

Rainy days; and for the first time early in April, I saw the garden's bellbird feeding within inches of my kitchen window. His mossy plumage with white wing flashes usually makes him hard to find high in the trees as he chimes his lovely call: "like small bells exquisitely tuned," according to Captain Cook. This little nectar feeder had been feasting on the late pears, but the end of supply and wet weather drove him down to hunt insects on spent perennial seed stalks, as well as using this potted tree to hunt weatherboard spiders from. So close at times I could see his beady black eyes, but never easy to photograph through wet glass.

After the rain there is always sunshine again, and a return to outdoor dining. 
Finding ourselves in Lyttelton on a warm sunny afternoon inclined us to ambling, eating ice creams and viewing the street art.

There hardly seems anything left of the commercial area of the port town

but the local community responded to the destruction caused by the ongoing earthquakes, with optimism and creativity. While there are shocking reminders of the damage at every turn, the town had a quiet energy about it - and no shortage of photographic subjects!

Back at home one of the joys of a moist autumn are the field mushrooms that pop up across the land. There are never enough at one picking for more than a slice of toast or two, but that makes them one of the season's prizes: to be cooked quickly with butter in a stainless steel pan, laid on good grainy toast with some fresh parsley and savoured for lunch.

Just as the mild, wet weather brings out the mushrooms, so it  makes the grass grow. I like to think that one more cut and it will be time to take the mowers in for their annual service.

But, with one month to go before I leave for an English summer I suspect this grass has a lot more growing to do before cold weather checks its growth.

Bellbird, Korimako, Makomako  Anthornis melanura

Looking for Good

It's nearly a month since I last blogged. Not that I don't think about it. But with a birthday to celebrate...

a music video to find props for ...

apple cordons to prune...

Dunedin Street stock to photograph...

and post!

not to mention finalising and awarding a memorial scholarship,

... there's neither the time nor mental energy for blogging. An unfortunate side effect of this is that I am not checking in on all my favourite blogs as regularly as I would like, nor have I been paying daily attention to my Comment feed.  

One post in particular has irked a reader and I suddenly realise the responsibility that goes with hosting an online forum - because enabling the Comment facility makes a blog a forum.  I am not prepared to let one individual rant, rave and publicly villify Father Jack or anyone else I have written about. Like anyone else I am quite capable of biased, unkind and intolerant thoughts. However, I choose not to express them on this site, hoping that visitors will appreciate the peace and reflection that they find here. For those visitors who cannot recognise and respect a haven when the see it, I will wield my censor's pen.

Thankfully, I am surrounded - and especially this past week - by wonderful people who love Life and are generous in their living of it. 

A wedding brought friends from around NZ and the World, together. 

Two guests, Keith and Barbara, have availed themselves of Lady Mondegreen's Secret Bus Stop, as they travel via the wedding to Cairo!

Welly Jewell Dyk, and his family lunched with us.

Handy Andy, worked hard here, ate up all last season's hazelnuts, and partied hard.

Acceptance, forgiveness, reflection, joy, and forward movement were all evident during the various gatherings, including the wedding itself, which brought old friends and  family together last week.

Jane and Gary, thank you for being such strong and uplifting focal points in all of our lives.

That strength will surely nourish your marriage.

Around Rotorua

So little time these days to honour Lady Mondegreen's Secret Garden: to make interesting blog posts ... and sad to have lost the ability to Comment on most of my favourite blogs.

But this morning - a real letter in the mail, with even more remarkably, photographic prints enclosed! Memories of a January holiday; of friends gathered together: was it really less than two months ago? Whatever, a letter in an envelope is always a treat to read. And just by chance, I had been out early and returned home with a delicious pain au chocolate for my breakfast. Reasons to relax for awhile and remember:

The pleasure of dancing with, and to the music of friends from around the country, and from around the World, during the NZ annual Morris Dancing Tour held this year, in and around Rotorua ...

The realisation that other tourists can provide as much novelty as the local sights ...

 which are spectacular, at every turn, from the Colonial grandeur of the Bath House in the Government Gardens 

to the remarkable harnessing of geothemal energy by the Wairekei Power Station, near Taupo.

Rotorua's tourist industry dates back to the 19th century, 

but the Amorangi Museum at Holden's Bay seems to be a well-guarded secret: a superb small enthusiast run heritage park, where curatorial excellence is combined with a trusting openess, to entice visitors into a disconcertingly familiar past. (Am I really that old?).

What a thrill to make a new friend - entirely as a result of this blog - and to go fishing with him.  

Ernie Skudder, the great-grandson of Thomas Skudder, who built my childhood home, runs a tourist fishing operation in Rotorua, and treated Kitty and me to a trip - a first for both of us - with impressive results.

Kitty caught most of those fish, while Ernie and I discussed his family and my house. 

Cooking the rainbow trout, became a social business that evening in the holiday park kitchen, as fellow-campers contributed onions and seasoning, and David rescued it from the barbecue. It was perfect, with plenty to go around all the helpers.

After a few more days sight-seeing, notably taking in the Wai-o-Tapu thermal reserve,

It was time to head home to the Secret Garden and Earthquake repairs.

Thanks for the photos David!


Breakfast china: Avondale Selection (Crown Lynn) 'Camelot'

Rebuilding

The Christchurch Rebuild: it's an interesting concept.  While the words summon up a grand plan for a major international construction project and a beautiful 21st Century city, for many people it means reaching resolution with insurance companies, the Earthquake Commission, and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority before eventually getting back into a safe, habitable home.

Alongside the need for housing stability there is also strong motivation to get commercial areas back into business. The block above is in the central city, while the site below - in Merivale - will gradually render the shipping container, street façade obsolete.

The small shopping precinct below, replaces a 1930s brick building housing a set of suburban 'corner' shops. 

Across town, on the corner of Rossall St and Holmwood Rd, is another rebuilt corner precinct. Both of these new shopping centres were buzzing with activity when I stopped to photograph them.

Whether or not a distinct post-earthquake look will emerge (as happened with Napier during the flowering of Art Deco sensitivity), is uncertain. The arcade of shops above, certainly relates more to similar recent development, than buildings further along the street that were renewed before the earthquakes, during a faux-Mediterranean fervour. 

This building (also in Merivale) clad in copper, is certainly one of the most avant-garde rebuilds that I have seen, but will probably remain one-of-a-kind.

As will, I suspect the temporary Anglican cathedral, being constructed of cardboard tubing to a design by Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban.