Coming Up Close

 So despite my calendar saying it's not 1st December yet, it seems the local supermarkets have their decorations up.  This particular one had mini Christmas trees up in each department with this colourful one in the bakery section in amongst the cookies and brandy snaps etc. I'm thankful this year I'm not working supermarket retail - there's only so many times I can handle hearing Mariah Carey festive songs each day... Linking up with Our World Tuesday , Through my lens , Tuesday Treasures and My Corner of the World .

On the side of the Kaeo 4 square (for those who don't know what this is, a 4 square is like the local store or dairy where you can buy groceries in small amounts) there is this mural I've had to photograph in 2 pieces because of it's long length.   This one was painted by local Whangaroa High School students depicting the town's local history and identity. From ocean life to people through to the Maori culture of the area the mural is 2.4m high and almost 15m long.  Linking up with Mural Monday .

 I was out with my daughter walking through town yesterday and we spotted this wooden type Christmas tree outside the local Florist shop, someone has created this version which is probably easier to put out on display and bring back inside again. I've been trying to figure out my own Christmas lights, I've put up 2 lots, one of each of the backyard fences but I have a really really long one that I accidentally broke so B fixed it for me but it still won't work. Seeing as my lights are about 2-3 years old and I didn't really pay that much for them I might just order a new set next week. So masks have just been made mandatory on all public transport here in New Zealand but because our town is a bit too small, we don't have a local bus service so I wonder how bus drivers will monitor people wearing them or not. I feel sorry for them.  Lastly I don't know if anyone else has been receiving spam comments about boomers, I've been getting them for quite some time an

 Earlier this week I put up some yellow lights along our back fence along with a light up owl that I'd bought online - both are solar powered. I still have another set of coloured lights to figure out where to put up but might look at the front of our house. Here in NZ alot of people decorate their front yards and houses with coloured lights including novelty ones like light up Santa, candles, kiwi and other animals. Last weekend we had B's sister and her husband up for 3 days on holiday as they are travelling through the north island and we had my parents here for 2 days at the same time. I don't know about you, I like people visiting but it's nice to have our house back again once they leave. Linking up with Skywatch Friday .

When we first moved up here to the far north we visited a well known Kauri forest named Puketi Forest or Manginagina native Kauri walk .  Kauri trees here in NZ are highly thought of and protected so most walks like this that contain them have cleaning stations at the entry. The walk runs around in a 15-20 minute loop from start to finish with many native plants and trees plus vegetation on the forest floor. It's very quiet and luckily while we were there yesterday we were the only ones. Native fern fronds are also known as our silver fern (Ponga or Mamaku) and can grow up to 20 metres high. At various turns around the walk there are signs up detailing the history of the area and of the trees. When the first settlers came here in the 1800s many Kauri trees were sadly cut down and used for building but the gum was used for trading.  As well as Kauri other trees also grow here such as Taraire, Kohekohe, Towai and Northern Rata. Birds such as Fantails, Kokako, North Island Brown Kiwi,

 Is anyone else having problems with Blogger at the moment? It all started with me trying to add a new blog link but for some reason the widget I'm using within the theme won't save or do anything. Until I get it sorted out I've had to remove my blog links and will try putting them up again shortly, so if you don't see your blog in my favourites don't worry I'll still come visit everyone. Anyway, my contribution for this week's Monday Mural is this illustration I saw in Kaeo just after Winter this year.  Someone has painted these colourful words on the side of a public loo next to the local playground. I haven't managed to find who the artist is but the words are about family connections, whanau (family), coming together and connectivity. It certainly brightens up the small town. Kia kaha.

Some updates from my week. These poppies were growing in a client's garden where they are self seeding.  On Thursday while I was at another client's house I spotted this baby Thrush on her back deck, after shooing the dog away I gently moved the bird to another part of the garden where it hopped off on it's own. And yesterday while out on my walk I saw one of our local shops has started to decorate their window in preparation for Christmas. My post for Weekend Reflections  and Tom's Weekend Roundup .