Coming Up Close

  I was walking past a cafe in Tauranga about 5 years ago when I spotted this man having a coffee alone in a cafe very early one morning. There are warmers in the background which have what looks like pies and pastries inside - us Kiwis love savoury pies. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections .

  I have decided to take a leaf out of the book of Thistles and Kiwis where there is a post each week about sharing "Small Pleasures". We had another new petrol station open up in town recently which is cheaper than the others, it's self serve and this is I think number 5. My daughter and I had lunch with one of my cousins in Hokitika again, we try to do this regularly. Coffee - I always ask for a large mocha. Thermal clothes that I can wear under my uniform at work. Fresh eggs from our chickens. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and Tom's signs .

  Apart from the odd fine days this has been the gist of our Winter so far. But Winter is good for going through clothes and things we no longer use. Last week my daughter and I dropped off 4 bags of items to one of our local op shops. And last week we had days of waking up and finding layers of ice outside on our deck. So we have had to be careful not to walk on it until it melted so we don't slip over. Linking up with  Through my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world ,  Wordless Wednesday .

  Can we call the building on the right "yellow"? I hope so. This is a photo of one of the roads around Devonport in Auckland. I use to work in this town many years ago and I vaguely remember at some point visiting this building, I could be wrong but I think it use to be a pub, there's something in the back of my memories where I vaguely remember visiting there for drinks when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I don't think it is now, we drove past it and it looked like the bottom level was now a cafe. There is a naval base in this suburb at the opposite end. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  Tomorrow (Friday) is known as Matariki and it is a public holiday. The word is Maori and the meaning of it is for the star cluster "Pleiades" which signifies the Maori New Year. The name Matariki is associated with the eyes of the God Tawhirimatea and it is a time of reflection, remembrance and celebration. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday .

  Last week we went out for a meal at one of the local restaurants "Speights Ale House". We've been there once before about 2 years ago, it's not often we get out as we all have conflicting days off. My choice, above was Tempura Prawns with sweet chilli sauce, one of my favourites.   We also ordered pull apart bread for us to share, this was covered with oliv oil and herbs - so yummy. The meal in the photo on the right was on the specials board - it was so tempting.  Linking up with  Through my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world ,  Wordless Wednesday .

    Most weekends we like to take our dog Bug to one of the local beaches (Rapahoe), She loves running around the wide open spaces sniffing at new smells. Yesterday it was a high of 10 degrees celsius so we made sure to dress warmly. In the last month we have been taking rubbish bags to clean up and beach and some of the things we've been finding are dirty nappies, pieces of metal and broken glass, plastic and household items. There are some bigger items like burned engine parts and car seats that we can't take with us. People are so dirty and lazy. Once we get them home they go in the rubbish bin. 

  Photo taken in Westport - Spring 2024 - how many yellow x can you see to the left on the road? Winter has hit here and the brunt of it seems to have come early. We've been here 3 years and so far each Winter we've had dustings of snow on the mountains behind us and bitter temperatures around July/August but we'vve had it this month instead.  Photo from Bob McAuliffe This photo I found on Facebook and it's of the fishing area near my work - the mountains in the background are covered with snow as we've had - 2 some nights. We don't get snow in the streets and usually by the afternoon what's on the mountains has melted. Arthur's Pass This was taken from the Arthur's Pass webcam which sometimes has been closed during the day because of snow and black ice so as Porter's Pass and Springfield etc. For the last 2 days it's been quite mild but then we are going to be back to the cold tonight.  We had a 2nd load of firewood delivered, the last lot ...

  On the edge of Hokitika Beach is this big anchor sitting on the rocks which is from the Schooner Tambo which was shipwrecked at the bar in 1866.  It was found during black sand mining in 1987 and is now part of the Tambo Shipwreck Memorial. The anchor was originally secured by the crew after the ship ran aground but a strong tide and current forced the ship back out to sea. The boat in the background is a reconstruction of the said ship. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's signs .

  Sunday was a crisp, cold, sunny Winter's day here. B and I decided to venture out and complete a short 20 minute walk around a wetlands in Blaketown. This photo above and the next few ones are of the water, bridge and pathway around the loop. We could feel the cold air and the temperature got to a chilly 10 degrees. To get back to the car we had to come out of the pathway loop and cross over the railway tracks. Trains only go through town a couple of times a day so there was no danger. Someone has written graffiti on one of the concrete overbridges. The West Coast has always been well known for it's coal industry. We don't use coal on our fire but many other people do as it's cheap. Looking torwards the port and industrial area... Looking over the railway tracks towards the rugby club then we turned around and walked back to the car. And here's a video I took on my phone of the walk as we went around, if you want to see the 20 minutes roughly of it here's a li...

  I think we are in for a very colder than normal Winter this season. This is our temperature this morning. Alot of towns around us have had snow. Hanmer Springs and the roads through Lindis Pass, Porters Pass and Athurs Pass were closed yesterday morning. We don't get snow in Greymouth except a light dustings on the mountains and apparently there was some on on the one behind my house. I took this photo outside my work of the lower part of Greymouth in town. The Regent Theatre is to the right on the corner and the Woodstock Restaurant is on the left. Sunny days but freezing cold nights.

  A street shot from Hokitika recently where most of the op shops are - there is a man waiting for someone to the left. This was a good day - a nice crisp sunny Winter's day. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections ,   S hadow Shot Sunday   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  After 3 days of rain we are due for some sun. Yesterday morning B woke me up early to help him in the backyard. Apparently we had a storm overnight that was so strong that it ripped the chicken coop and surrounding run out of the ground and sent it over into the neighbour's garden. There was B, me, my daughter and the neighbour all out there in the semi-dark lifting the chicken run over the fence. Thankfully the chickens were fine roaming around the backyard. The metal run is pretty much finished but it'll be ok to still use until B builds a new wooden area for them tomorrow. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's signs .

We are still trying to take my daughter's dog Bug to the beach over Winter on the odd non rainy day.  Oyster catcher birds at the edge of the high tide looking for tasty morsels that have washed up. The remains of an old pier at the edge of the tide and river that goes out into the ocean. Looking across the beach to the other side. But was sniffing new smells for the week and checking out rocks with us. Lots of old empty mussell shells covered in barnacles. Usually this beach is covered in driftwood and old tree stumps and branches. Sometimes people bring their cars and trailers here and chop up wood to take home. Linking up with  Through my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world ,  Wordless Wednesday .

  I took this photo of B's greenhouse this morning to shower how the cover has come off - that's how much wind we've had. He's got each end fastened down so hopefully today now that the rain has eased off he can get out and sort it out. Today, the 1st of June is the 1st day of Winter. I haven't done alot with the vege garden lately because when the 0 degree temperatures hit (we are due for those later next week) the produce doesn't like the cold. So I'll wait until later in the season to reorganize it. Linking up with All Seasons .