Julie and Artisan Breads

This is Julie Cahusac de Caux, owner, manager, baker at the Artisan Breads at Founders Park.

Founders is a park where historic buildings are brought and refurbished to show how people used to live around Nelson. I read something about Julie three or so years ago, and from memory, she's Canadian who learned baking while living in Europe. (I must go fact-checking because I could be completely wrong!) Anyway, she opens shop for four hours on Tuesdays and six on Fridays, when she sells bread and pastries, many of which I can't remember the names of because I had never heard of them.

I go see her every once in a while to get her delectable ciabatta, as one of my hobbies is to bake ciabatta and I need periodic reminder how these are supposed to look. She also makes mean canele. And because I never carry cash, she lets me buy on credit.

She's looking for a part-time baker. Anyone interested? I'll put in a good word for you.

Hung Out to Dry

Saw this on my way to see Julie at Founders Park; this is either the kindy or the creche (nursery school) inside the Park. Julie appears tomorrow.

Mainly Natives Plant Nursery

We went to see our friend Georgina, who, together with hubby Grant, started the Mainly Natives Plant Nursery in March last year. Georgina and I used to work at the Polytech together; we left roughly at the same time, started new lives roughly at the same time, and Mainly Natives opened about six months after I sold my work for the first time.

In New Zealand, it rains more in autumn/winter time, so nurseries are busy this time of the year. The day we went to see her, we caught a bit of gray cloud in between torrential rain. She didn't want me to post this picture, because there are so few plants, but this is a good thing for their business. In the last decade or so, Kiwis have been planting more native plants, not only for their sculptural looks, but because they require less care.

Here's a picture from a very similar angle Georgina took perhaps over a year ago. It looks tidier, but I'm happy she's selling many plants.

Singer & His Dog

At Trafalgar Street.

Richmond Late Night Shopping - Car Park

After dark at Richmond Mall Car Park. Every Thursday is a late night shopping day and Friday fro Nelson. Another shot from this night.

Red and Yellow

Motorcycle parked at side of the road. (Hardy Street)

Fountain

At Trafalgar SQ. Here is the whole thing.

Another Beautiful Day

A lamp post at Trafalgar SQ. We had a once-in-50-years rain in a short period yesterday morning; Meg heard we had 75mm in one hour. She's cleaning up a few photos she managed to get yesterday, but we live on the side of the hill, and we were nowhere near any of the flooded areas.

Vinyard Cafe - Allan Scot at Blenheim

This is out of Nelson. We have many similar vineyard Cafes/Restaurants in Nelson/Marlborough area. Have your favorite glass of wine and a cheese platter and enjoy your afternoon.

Wait!

Benches at the other side of park. These are on the side of the soccer (football) field.

Again, I Ask

In Rugby, why do they call it a "try" when they've successfully scored a goal? Why not... a goal?

I'd never been right up against a real rugby goal, and I was amazed how wide and tall it was. Can't be hard to kick penalties, thought this little old lady who nearly tripped over a black-and-white mouth piece on the ground. Ewwww....

Pull!

At the park behind Nelson Hospital. There is a rugby field, a cricket pitch and a soccer field here. Nearby College (that's what some high schools are called) practice rugby here. By the time we left, the College boys were arriving in Rugby outfits.

Future All Blacks

Littlelies from Victory School enjoying a short training session before the big ones from Nelson College arrive for a proper practice.

Push!

At the park behind the Nelson Hospital.

Best Deal in Town??

Ben's a healthy diabetic; except for the once-every-two-years eye check, and the regular blood sugar level test he does himself, he lives a normal life.

With these eye checks, he needs eye drops to have his pupils dilated, and he was told this time darker eyes take longer to dilate, and even longer to get back to normal. So we started the long wait afterwards at Nelson Hospital's cafeteria with a coffee, and a piece of cake. (Gosh, that sounds bad....)

At NZ$2.50, this has got to be the biggest piece of cake you can buy in town, and it was chock full of nuts and fruits. The thick end of the wedge was well over 3cm, and we almost couldn't finish the one piece between us.

Hospital cafeteria is an interesting place; there are doctors, nurses and staff taking breaks, there are those celebrating recovery or births, and then there are distraught people, waiting, coping, or just sitting. They did a good job giving the cafeteria and the chapel big windows looking out on a big park and lots of trees when they rebuilt the main building.

Luckily, we don't have to go there very often.

Vine II

This is other side of the road.

The Water Thing

And right behind where I stood to shoot this was this... thing; I'm not sure what it is, but my guess is it has something to do with water. It's only about a meter tall.

Vine I

Almost all the grapes are already harvested, but the leaves gives photographer something else to be excited about.

Wait for Meeeeeee.....

I was standing in the middle of the road between Zest and Stingray cafes, and looked up, and saw them.

Under The Tree

I would like to have a nap under a tree like this. I believe this is an oak tree. Almost all these leaves have fallen by now. The photo was taken in late April.

A Photographer's Bag

Ben's been taking lots of photos this past week with his fancy new camera. He had this week off. It's a great time of the year to go around the region looking for autumnal colors (Ok, that may be my primary interest). I'm not sure who this little guy is, but he guarded Ben's equipment for the duration of one shoot.

Autumn Light II

The autumn light and leaves series was running on Ben's sketchbook from 22/April through 4/May, include some shots from local vineyard. Please check out if you have interested and missed out.

Just Arrived

We had to drop our car at the Mitsubishi dealer for service the other day, and parked behind this red one. It must have just arrived from the port; it says Nelson on the rear window.

There are a lot of Japanese imports in Nelson, probably like anywhere else. Some of the commercial vehicles still have the names of the organizations in Japan: "so-and-so kindergarten" on the side of a van, "this-and-that Construction" on small- or mid-sized trucks, and so forth. We've also been approached by a few strangers, who find us by word of mouth, to read car maintenance records to see if the vehicles have been in serious accidents before.

Autumn Light I

Missed the Chance

These guys were looking straight at us until the car turned a corner. We followed, but they weren't interested in us any more. Darn!

Hide and Seek

Lunch break at the primary school. Not a good weather on the day (30th/April), but the rain had a little brake to allow children to play.

Back Entrance

This is the back of the Courthouse. (See front here.) If you've been naughty and on remand, you are delivered on a van that goes inside this cage; they shut the cage before you're let out the van.

But that's just my theory. Police is to the left, just behind where I was standing, and I do know there are basement cells there, because I read it in the paper... Soooo.... they wouldn't transport the baddies just to cross the drive way, would they?

Sunset

It's just beautiful, isn't it?

Stingray Cafe

I shot this sitting at what's becoming my usual seat in the big Zest Cafe on Church Street, (as opposed to the little Zest on Hardy Street). It's Stingray Cafe across the street. They have good food and the best coffee in Nelson (said Trish, and she knows her coffee, so you'd better listen to her), but I've only been there once. The thing is, there seems to be an unusually high ratio of male clients there, (usually between 4:0 and 8:0), so I hesitate to enter alone.

I'll go back with Ben or Trish next time and give you a report.

Mac's Brewery

Mac's Brewery was Nelson's local brewery; sometime in the last couple of years they moved to Wellington's waterfront, seen in this shot. They changed the labels, put on a series of TV ad (something we never saw in our 10+ years in Nelson), and is becoming a national brand. I'll have to go shoot the original brewery down the road; that one is closed down and up for sale. So if any of you want to start a brewery in Nelson...

I prepared this post initially for yesterday's theme day.

PS. Has anyone noticed one of our shots in yesterday's seaside gallery Theme Day post?

May Theme Day: City Exchange

Budapest all over Rabbit Island, by Ben, or as Isabella says, Budapest grows on trees in Nelson. (And the "making" shots and my best here.)

It's amazing how much more spectacular the photos looked printed in a larger size of A4; Budapest is so much lovelier enlarged. By having these beautiful photos all around me, I'm not sure if my stone-building envy was cured or worsened. And though we chose the relatively colorful for this purpose, some of the B&W ones, especially those of the fog over the river, are moody and romantic.

Budapest Daily Photo can be found here; Zsolt's (note: two o's in the URL) Flickr has more of Budapest and beyond. Zsolt, and Zannnie, we hope you keep on posting many more beautiful shots of the lovely city, and thanks for your friendship!!

And of course today is DP Theme Day and many other DP bloggers have participated in the City Exchange. To view their contributions, please click on the following places:

Monte Carlo, Monaco -Rome, Italy - Singapore, Singapore - Tenerife, Spain - Rotterdam, Netherlands - London, UK - Montréal (QC), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Naples (FL), USA - Bastia, France - Hong Kong, China - Mazatlan, Mexico - Buenos Aeres, Argentina - Manila, Philippines - Arradon, France - Madison (WI), USA - Evry, France - Seoul, Korea - Shanghai, China - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Sequim (WA), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Hamburg, Germany - Toruń, Poland - Nelson, New Zealand - Madison (WI), USA - Vantaa, Finland - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Dubai, UAE - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Cork, Ireland - Stockholm, Sweden - Menton, France - Tel Aviv, Israel - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Kitakami, Japan - Stayton (OR), USA - Szentes, Hungary - Stavanger, Norway - Grenoble, France - Villigen, Switzerland - Paris, France - Hyde, UK - Moscow, Russia - Joplin (MO), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Greenville (SC), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Asheville (NC), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Madrid, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Oulu, Finland - Lubbock (TX), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Vancouver, Canada - Seattle (WA), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Manila, Philippines - Lyon, France - New York City (NY), USA - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Brookville (OH), USA - Hayle, UK - Wailea (HI), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - San Diego (CA), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy