Coming Up Close

This bird wings mural is located in Paihia, symbolizing Journey Designs which sells womens clothing and it seems they also sell colourful face masks so I may pop in there next time we are in town. Linking up with Mural Monday .  

R (my daughter) and I were in Paihia yesterday for our normal Friday mother and daughter day out. We popped into one of our favourite local op shops. We admired their Halloween mannequins out the front of the shop along with bean bags for sale. The shop is located down an alleyway with other various shops such as bars, restaurants and clothing outlets.  We particularly liked this one especially because of the retro rainbow chairs that were also for sale. Linking up with Weekend Reflections , All Seasons and The Weekend Roundup .

Last week we had the tree guy here trimming our palm trees. We have 5 around our property and sometimes the leaves go brown and look really untidy so we contacted our landlord who arranged for Steve (above) to come and have a look. Immediately he got to work and also had a wood chipper he put everything into.  I don't know if you have heard of Phoenix Palm trees but they grow on average to about 18 metres tall and if you get stung by their leaves with your fingers/hands or stand on them they can lead to an infection, they really are nasty.  Linking up with  Skywatch Friday .

So while Summer is on it's way here I happened to see someone trying to sell Strawberries a bit earlier than expected. Sundays and Mondays are B's day off so I usually venture out for a long walk while he sleeps in. A large bowl of them was priced at $20 nzd and a smaller bowl was priced at $10, bit expensive I think and not sure how sweet they would be at this time of year either.  Linking up with  Our World Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  Through my lens , All Seasons ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

 On the way to Rawene is this little old bus stop painted (a few years ago by the look of it) with mostly Maori art and a Christian cross. Upon researching this I suspect the art was painted by local group Akau based in Kaikohe. Linking up with  Mural Monday .

Simply titled "Queues" - this is from the old days, photo taken about 4 years ago when we use to live in Mount Maunganui. The "Big Wave Cafe" is an iconic feature every day at the beach normally serving people with treats such as ice cream, milk shakes etc, back in the days before Covid when there were no worries about standing near someone, or standing in a queue of people. Been a while...but at the moment Delta seems to be passing through New Zealand at quite an iconic rate especially seeing as we are only a small island nation. With this morning's announcement about the change in alert systems it almost seems like we are going in and out of lockdowns, it would be nice to be able to be consistent in getting back to normal life but with large percentages of people not wanting to get vaccinated combined with our biggest city; Auckland having such a high infection rate at the moment it's hard to say when that will be.  There have been recent government mandat...

While we were going back and forth on the Opua ferry we saw these bikers waiting in line on the way home. We didn't have to wait long as the ferry was nearly at the wharf. But once we were on the ferry and on the way back they all got off their bikes to talk to each other, not sure what but something must've gotten their attention. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday .

While we were roaming around Rotorua earlier this year I saw this memorial within the old Government Gardens which commemorates Fred Wylie who was a young soldier from Galatea (located in the Bay of Plenty). Apparently he fought in the Boer War with the 4th New Zealand Contingent and was the son of the first store keeper in Rotorua.  He was killed leading an attack at Klipfontein on 26th May 1901 and was as "brave as a lion" according to the inscription, which might explain the lion's head fountain on front of the statue. The project to create the memorial was initiated by the people of Galatea and unveiled on 1904. Linking up with  Our World Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  Through my lens ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

So lately on my days off I've been pushing myself to get out walking again. While we were in lockdown it got too easy to stay home and vegetate so last week I spotted these California Poppies outside a property near the footpath. I'd say someone probably sprinkled a load of wildflower seeds over Autumn so they are sprouting now and don't they make a nice range of colour? This one is a Purple Vine creeper that has been climbing over my neighbour's wall - the flowers are so vibrant. And this one is a path that I follow on one of my nature walks around town.

In Napier along the waterfront and promenade is this iconic statue sitting amongst the flower beds. Named "Pania", according to mythology she was a beautiful maiden who lived on the east coast of New Zealand and by day she swam around about with creatures of the reef world  but after sunset she would go to a stream that ran into a bay where Napier now exists. Karitoki, the handsome son of a Maori chief quenched his thirst every evening at the stream where Pania rested. He was unaware she was observing him for many weeks until one night she whispered a faint spell which carried on the wind to him when he turned around to see her emerge from her hiding place. They fell in love and pledged their lives to each other and were secretly married. Pania and Karitoke went to his house (Whare) but because it was dark no one saw them enter. In the morning she was preparing to leave but he tried to stop her. She explained that as a creature of the ocean, when the sirens of the sea called ...

We were visiting one of our local supermarkets last week, not one we usually go to but another one to see the difference in prices and it was encouraging to see a pop up covid vaccination station. I thought we only had one that is normally located in a different street so it was encouraging to see this 2nd one. There is a big vaccination drive in my region this weekend, apparently a bunch of mobile buses will be travelling around to the more isolated communities because the rate up here is quite low. Last week or so we had 2 women travel up here with fake essential worker papers, it turned out that they were both positive for covid and after going into hiding they have been found but one is still unco-operative. Bit by bit the places where they have been are becoming known and one place in my town has now been named so people are being encouraged to get tested. The numbers in Auckland have been going up, down, up, down so who knows how far it will go but it's interesting that those...

We were in Russell last week on our day off and decided to lunch again at our favourite place - the Duke of Marlborough Hotel . They weren't as busy as they normally are in Spring but at least they had quite a few customers. Regions here are still bordered off so the only people mostly visiting would be fellow Northlanders. I ordered a grilled Hapuka (fish) with blanched asparagus and a type of layered potato/kumara cake - so yummy! B ordered hot chips with a burger but I think his eyes were bigger than his tummy because he had trouble finishing. Linking up with  Our World Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  Through my lens ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

While we were holidaying in Taupo back in April I saw this mural/painting of a rooster on the outside of a locked up utility box. Apparently it was painted by artist Paul Walsh and named "Ruapehu Rooster". Linking up with Mural Monday .

Last time I was in Kaikohe for work I spotted this lady walking her dog, at one point which was being a bit naughty but instead of being annoyed she bent down and gave him a huge hug and pat, he looked very pleased with himself and was probably thinking "mission accomplished".  So our region in New Zealand is back in level 3 again due to a positive case in Whangarei. Seems to be a woman who travelled up from Auckland with a friend using false documentation pretending to be an essential worker (meaning someone who is like a caregiver or someone who has to keep working through lockdown). Apparently they visited several towns up here on their road trip, they can't find one woman but the one they could find has been unco-operative - just what we need...not. So many selfish people around it seems with their own agendas. I will find out next week whether I am able to keep working or whether I have to wait until we are back in level 2 again. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections ...

Earlier this week I noticed all these people waiting outside one of the banks in town, happy to see they are all wearing masks. Businesses here are pretty picky with people wearing them when they are inside their premises. It's a good thing really. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday .

So last week I decided to move myself off the couch on my day off and get back into walking around my usual route. On the first street a Rhododendron tree was in full flower and funnily enough the lady walking in front of me was wearing pink, I thought the colours went together quite well. Linking up with  Our World Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  Through my lens ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

 I spotted another mural on the side of a building in Kaikohe last time I was there. This one which on the front says "Whakamana reo rangatira" meaning "Lift up the chiefly language". As it celebrates Maori Language Week it was painted by local group Akau in the hope that it and the other murals around the town would encourage people to learn te reo for themselves. Linking up with Mural Monday .

Last weekend my daughter and I drove out to our local shopping complex to have a look around. I had been looking online for some of those scented drawer packs that make your clothes smell yummy and in the end I found some at Bed, Bath and Beyond on sale. Anyway I happened to snap this photo of a lady enjoying a coffee outside the cafe, it seemed to be such a perfect thing to be doing on a lazy Saturday morning. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections  and  The Weekend Roundup .