Chinese

 

Photo of Joseph Marsella de Silva

My mother's side of the family is big, she is one of 10 siblings (now 8). When I was growing up it was common talk among everyone that this man in the above photo (my mother's grandfather) was of Spanish origin. My mother's father looked Spanish with his olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes as did most of his siblings, as does my mother, her twin sister, their oldest brother, my sister and some of my cousins so everyone accepted it.

Around 15 years ago I started working on my family tree. Everyone was easy to find except this man, for some reason I couldn't find him anywhere. A bunch of us; me, my mother, my sister, my brother, some cousins, an aunt and uncle took DNA tests and we were most surprised to see that he was not Spanish but instead Chinese from the south eastern part of China.

It explained alot. After looking through all the family photos we had, we realised that the Chinese ethnicity was staring at us in the face. So why the lies about being Spanish? Well after digging into New Zealand's history I realised that my great grandfather probably said that to avoid racism. I also found an article online about my grandfather's brother Jose being racially abused in Wellington many years ago when he was playing the violin. 

It's been quite a journey...

Campervan

 

Wherever you live in New Zealand, you will always see different types of campervans travelling around. Some self contained, some not.

I got some sad news earlier this week. One of my older cousins passed away from Motor Neurones disease, it was very quick, he only had it for 9 months - RIP Carl.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Whakatāne Fire Station

 

This is one of my favourite buildings. The Whakatane Fire Station located in Bay of Plenty was opened on May 29th 1954 and is run by volunteers.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Hari Hari Mosaic Garden

On 2 of our travels further down the West Coast we have stopped into the small town of HariHari. While the boys wandered off to look at something nearby, I spotted this mosaic garden that someone had set up. Hari Hari is a small settlement on the West Coast about and hour and 20 minutes from Greymouth and the population is approx 250 as of June 2024. Local HariHari artist Helen Hindman created the mosaics in the garden.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday.

Cowboy

 

I was in town last week getting a haircut when I happened to see this man dressed like a cowboy crossing the road, it's not often I see someone like this, each to their own I guess...

Bags - Simple Pleasures #3

 

Simple pleasures for this week: 

• I have the "Z App" for one of our local petrol stations named "Z". Because I use the app when I get petrol, I accumulate points and this week I was able to get a free mochaccino and it was pretty good.
• That I have the option of buying a keto type bread as I am wheat intolerant with normal bread.
• We've had rain on and off but nothing major so far unlike other parts of the country.
• That the rest of the "Squid Game" series has come back to Netflix.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Blue Ice

 

Last time we were in Franz Josef we were hoping to try this restaurant "Blue Ice" but they were closed on this particular day, shame because I'd heard they make mostly Asian style Thai food (my favourite), after looking at their menu they seem a bit overpriced, probably because this is mainly a tourist town. We ended up going to another cafe which had great food with great prices. Nice sunny Winter's day with a high of 10 degrees celsius, so quite pleasant.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's Signs.

St Lukes Anglican Church

 

This church is a tiny little one down a quiet country road in Whataroa and was dedicated on 10th July 1919. 

These stained glass windows were apparently given to the church by Henry Burrough and his sister in memory of their brother Joseph Burrough who died on active service in France on 22 June 1917.

The inside is well maintained, tiny and looked after. Apparently it's still holding services each week and is under the umbrella of the Christchurch diocese.

I was surprised I could open the door as many country churches are locked. This building was put together from an unused church originally located in Goldsborough

There is no cemetery attached as there is a main one further into town along the main street.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday.

Lake Ianthe

 

Yesterday we drove out on a road trip and this place is where we stopped on the way to stretch our legs. Lake Ianthe is also known as Matahi and is located in the South Westland area. In the Summer it's popular with people for boating, water skiing and swimming.

You can always tell who the Kiwis are and who the tourists are. The man in the photo above was reading a book in the Winter sun on a picnic bench.

And these people were getting busy setting up a picnic blanket which was a little strange to me, as it was a nippy 10 degrees celsius and there was a layer of heavy dew on the grass. We were all wearing Winter clothes.

This is a view of the distance, mountains all around. The lake was originally named by a surveyor named Matthews who was inspired by a story about a well known miner named Ian who lived in the area and was named "Ian the bush rat".

ANZ

 

One of the banks in Greymouth - ANZ meaning Australia New Zealand, quite popular but not mine. Photo taken along Mackay Street on a weekday morning when most people are at work.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Fog/Simple Pleasures #2

 

Last year in November while we were in Auckland we were on our way to visit B's sister and her husband. We drove past Kawakawa Bay, which in Summer is usually a lovely beach but this particular day it was very foggy and rainy - no one goes to the beach on a day like this, except people like me who like to look for rocks and shells to collect but we didn't stop.

Simple pleasures for this week:

• I am thankful that although with received Winter rain, we didn't get any flooding that the Nelson and Marlborough area got, some areas of Auckland even were hit by a tornado - pretty scary. Now again this weekend the Nelson area is under a heavy rain warning as is also the far north.
• I finished a couch throw blanket for B and now I'm starting on one for my favourite aunty (my mum's twin sister who has always been like a 2nd mum to me) which is going to be granny squares sewn together at the end of different colours.
• That B finished making a new house for the chickens after the old one blew over the neighbour's fence in a storm. The chickens greatly approve of their new house.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's signs.