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Look Up!

Do you ever walk around your city, and look up, and suddenly notice you see a building or a landmark that you normally can't see from where you are?

The Mini Mall construction is progressing slowly but steadily. I was standing absentmindedly on Hardy Street on Wednesday and remembered being startled in that exact position six weeks ago. This is the photo I took then. I don't expect to see even the tip of the bell tower of the Cathedral from Hardy Street when the Mall is completed. (Earlier stages of the demolition for the Mall were posted here and here.)

Home Away from Home

Construction Site

The center of our town, on our main road, Trafalgar Street, is under construction. No, it's not a digger, but a compactor and a digger's attachment.

Daylight Moon

In the Central Business District, Nelson.

Waitaha Dawn

We went to a writing retreat over the weekend on a secluded bay in the Marlborough Sounds. We do this every year, for me to write short fiction (which I do one weekend a year) and for Ben to photograph the surrounds, and for us to catch up with friends whom we see once a year.

Well, this year, I discovered Sue had her first book published, with two or three coming out next year, and Barb finished her first novel Saturday afternoon at the workshop! Both of them worked on their respective works for 16 years under the guidance of our mentor, Joan. While Ben and I (and Kate, who bakes a mean Choc gateau) liken this annual event to a family reunion, others have been working seriously towards the realizing their dreams, and bl@@dy good on them!!

We also had new members join us, which made the people mix exciting; the only bad thing about these workshops is that they are too short, and I always swing between writing (which means I do lock myself in isolation and work away) or enjoy getting to know the other members.

You know I am not a morning person, but would you believe I shot this around 7AM on Saturday, during a short break? I can't wait for next year's workshop.

Three Seasons in One Day

Thursday. Gray, cold, miserable, then torrential rain, then sun and rainbow, then rain again. Here's one of my snappy, happy shots at around 4PM.

It reminded me of the furore we had a little while back when Tim Finn said the Crowded House song "Four Seasons in One Day" was inspired by his "home" Melbourne, not New Zealand. Some even asked if we could return our CDs based on the Consumer Guarantees Act, because the band had led us to believe it was about ... us, and here. We love our Kiwi bands.

Bedelia's Chic Bazaar

Bottom floor is Vic Rose pub, above is Bedelia's, a heaven of designer jewelry, clothes, bags and expensive bath products. And you might be familiar with this location at the bottom of the Cathedral Steps because we've posted the Symonds Gas Lamp four times thus far.

This is for Louise, who hosted/posted the Wellington DP from April 2006 to this May; when we started NDP last August, she was among the first to contact us, and as far as we know, she was the first in New Zealand to join DP.

We haven't made the 25-minute flight to Welly for a while, so we haven't managed to meet her, but enjoyed seeing our capital city through her eyes. This one of hers remains one of my all time favorites, but I know some of you enjoyed the saga of the lost weta inside her house as well. This is another favorite.

Although a lot of the posts went straight above, over, and beyond my head, her other blog, Teaching in the Digital Age, is enlightening, and at least added a lot of spiffy new words to my vocabulary. It's also wonderful to learn about her passion through this blog.

Good luck to you, Louise, and your family, and Bart. Let us know if you decide to come back.

(Louise, I went in to Bedelia's to try to shoot something feminine, but they were having a sale, over half the stuff in the shop 50% off, decoration wasn't as nice as it usually is, and there were too many people! So, until next time.)

PS. Hadn't realized we posted one of this building so recently. Sorry, guys.

Mapua Clean Up

No, forget the car; it's about the site beyond the fence.

The very heavenly-looking Mapua has the most contaminated site in the nation; the site by the waterfront used to be the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company plant (fertilizer?) and the cleaning up of the soil has been going on for a few years now. Recently Mapua residents have experienced some health issues, possibly connected to the clean up process. More on the clean up by the Ministry of Environment here; recent health concerns here.

We're away this weekend so the posting for the next couple of days will be a little erratic; apologies in advance.

Night Shot

I took this through the not so clean window. Meg called me to say I should shoot with the tripod from lounge when I was working on the computer in the study. So I set up the tripo, put the 24mm prime lens on and set the camera to 20sec/F4 and the result is this. The skinny moon looks a bit different in photo. The shiny dot on near top is Venues. Meg was quicker on her feet.

Boat Safety

Posted at Mapua Wharf.

Sky

Big sky!

Red Cars

It's not every day that we can say, "Ours is the cleaner one". The one on the right was imported from Japan; ours is "New Zealand new", meaning it's the same setup/configuration/??? as the Eunos Roadstar/MX5/Miata found in Europe. OK, that's all I remember Ben saying; the rest was la-la-lah to me.

Theirs had the original alloys and a bigger exhaust pipe; our tires stuck out more. Ours was a bluer red; theirs a more yellow red. Enough?

At the Bay Nursery/Bay Landscapes parking lot.

Morning Shot

Thank you for request Zannnie. I had posted few more shot in skecthbook here and here. Those are same day I took the industrial area shot.
I have one more extra to show you. This is another shot taken in Saturday Morning around 8:00AM.

Shape

Also at Queen's Gardens, late May, most likely while I waited for Ben to finish work on a Friday afternoon.

Industrial Area and Mountain

Again, this is from our window. This time, I'm looking slightly to the left/west. We have this industrial area beyond the residential area.

You can see our airport, which is roughly from the big red roof to the big white roof just this side of the water; the runway is between those buildings and the water, and you can see it extends to the right.

The industrial area has been spilling out of town and the port area, and into our end. There are dispatch yards, recycle center (surrounded by trees on the near side), storage, and shops (many to do with houses and DYI) which have moved out of town in search of more floor space.

The big factory in the distance is Nelson Pine MDF plant in Richmond. Beyond that, we have lifestyle blocks, farms, and hills and mountains to the west.

When our house was first built in 1962, there was nothing but sheep paddocks between us and the water, we're told. When we moved here, the top half of the view out of our window was pristine, the bottom half not so; 10 years on, the ratio is now top 1/3 nice vs. bottom 2/3 not nice. Still, the view to the North is pretty much residential.

Not Sure If This Tree Was Supposed To Change Colors....

I had thought this one was an evergreen; if it is, it's a catastrophe. At Queen's Gardens in late May.

Golf Field and Snow Caped Mountain

This is last Sunday from lounge window. It was a cold day and I see no one at the golf course near the air port.

A Vet Or ??

I'll let you decide.

Morning - Rainbow

This is from our living room window; on 7 June at 8:16 AM, we saw this rainbow.

Weekend Breakfast

It happened like this.

I went to an Arts Expo dinner at the Saltwater Cafe & Bar a week ago Tuesday. (More on the Expo here, here, and here.) On Friday I had coffee with foodie Nancy, and told her about Saltwater's chocolate tart, which she hadn't had; she asked me if I'd had breakfast there, and I hadn't. So on Saturday, Ben & I went to research breakfast, (oh, the things we do for DP), except when the food arrived, I got a bit too preoccupied, and even though I had the camera out on the table, I neglected my duties. So what do you do as a responsible DPer? We went back yesterday, and this time Ben reminded me about the camera. Phew.

Arguably one of the best breakfast places in town and the prices are reasonable. But it is known for the seafood, so we'll have to go back, again, sooner or later. Their chocolate tart is probably one of the best deserts I've ever had in Nelson; you have been warned.

Ben had Big kiwi breakfast with bacon, sausage, slow roasted tomatoes, toasted sour dough and eggs - poached, fried or scrambled; I had Toasted brioche with grilled banana, bacon and maple syrup. Now, the brioche I bake are heavier and cakier; I don't know if it's the toasting that does it, but theirs is airy and lighter. I must try slicing and toasting my brioche the next time I make some.

I Can't Let This Autumn Go!

Last weekend, near Gecko in Motueka. I just looked up and saw the leaves and....

The Gecko Theatre

This is a sign of the very little theatre in Motueka. They show very artistic film there.

Motueka Mosaic Bench

I found this at the front of museum at High Street, Motueka.
(Google map and zoom out for relative location from Nelson CBD)

Trafalgar SQ

This is just before the cafe opens for dinner. It's just about 6PM.
The photo is not quite sharp but I liked the atmosphere so end up in here. (1/15sec F2.8 +1/3EV ISO-900)

End of Autumn

Yesterday, Queen's Birthday (though it really isn't yesterday), we went around the region looking for autumn one last time, and arrived at McLean (SP?) Recreational Area on the road from Tapawera to Motueka. This is a tiny camping/big picnic area by a river, and is consistently occupied by campers during the summer, but after a bit of rain and a cold blast, there was nobody today.

Imagine a park-like setting, beautiful autumnal colors above, and after a good dump of rain, the sky is clear and the light sparkling, though very muddy below. And every time the wind blew, yellow, orange, red and purple leaves would dance all around. Well, except wherever I was standing. There were about a dozen liquid maples within a 12-meter radius, and I'd look at the light and the direction of the wind and run to whichever tree was releasing the leaves, but I was always too late, or the camera took too long to focus, or the cloud moved in and ruined the colors.

So this is my best shot. Trust me, it was quite fantastic to see and hear lots of leaves taking the time to come down to earth; it's their last show and we were there to witness it. And it's the end of autumn here, for sure.

Evening Traffic

Almost full moon at front of cathedral step. This is a traffic who's going home after a day of hard work.

Winged People

Do you have tiny, winged people living in your city? In Nelson, there are quite a few. I particularly love the tiny fairies in pink dresses and dirty gummy boots (rain boots, rubber boots, Wellies; what do you call them?)

Victoria Rose at Evening

This is a pub called Victoria Rose. Many live band plays there. Here is a B&W version for who loves B&W conversion.

June Theme Day: The View from Our Bedroom

You asked for it; the Liquid Amber tree just outside our bedroom; to the left is also a tiny cherry tree. This was taken yesterday morning. Autumn is coming to an end and the leaves are 60-70% gone, but we feel this year we had a particularly beautiful and long autumn. (And yes, I'm up a bit early to finish my first "art" proposal.)

Today is Theme Day. Other DP Blogs have also posted "The View from My/Our Bedroom" shots. Please click on the links below to view them.

Seattle (WA), USA - Manila, Philippines - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Toruń, Poland - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Seoul, Korea - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Vantaa, Finland - Madison (WI), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Omaha (NE), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Stockholm, Sweden - Grenoble, France - Lubbock (TX), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Arradon, France - Hyde, UK - Joplin (MO), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Kansas City (MO), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Manila, Philippines - Sydney, Australia - Stavanger, Norway - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - London, UK - Chandler (AZ), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Singapore, Singapore - Hamburg, Germany - Sydney, Australia - Tenerife, Spain - Moscow, Russia - Lyon, France - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Anderson (SC), USA - Oslo, Norway - Evry, France - Hayle, UK - Mumbai, India - Kitakami, Japan - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - La Antigua, Guatemala - Paderborn, Germany - San Diego (CA), USA - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Madrid, Spain - Lyon, France - Selma (AL), USA - Shanghai, China - Baziège, France - Cologne (NRW), Germany - North Bay (ON), Canada - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Stayton (OR), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Hong Kong, China - Trier, Germany - Joensuu, Finland - Paris, France - Greenville (SC), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Cork, Ireland - Bastia, France - Vancouver, Canada - Brookville (OH), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Mainz, Germany - Minneapolis (MN), USA