August Is a Difficult Month

Sometimes July is super cold, then come August it's suddenly spring. This year we've had three cold spells after a relatively mild winter. We are running out of firewood!! (Please excuse the later winter mess.)    

Familiar

"Rubbish" at the back of Neel Leeming on Bridge Street looked familiar. Our house came with the mid-1980s model and it worked well until 2013. One of the reasons we had to give it up was the knobs kept slipping out of place, and our sparky told us he couldn't find any more of them. Since then, I quit removing the knobs and soaking on our new stove; I only wipe the best I can. 

No Such Place

Yo, there is no such place as Tokyo Town 東京町. I tried to read the blub at the bottom but that, too, looked like AI-gibberish, not even young-people-speak.

No More Red

Red Gallery is closing due to lease-non-renewal, possibly due in part to the over-long Bridge Street road work. I've hardly been there since ownership changed in 2014, but still, it's sad to see an established art gallery closing. 

Change of Scenery

Tawera Gallery, former Refinery ArtSpace, opened mid-August at Miller's Acres, the former home of  Visitor Information Centre.  

A few days before the opening.

Arts Council was renamed Hiwa, with a much bigger mission, and continues to share the space with the gallery.  

No More Refinery Art Space

The original Refinery ArtSpace gallery was a cavernous venue on Halifax Street, a real former refinery. It was my favourite space in Nelson, and I participated in a few exhibition as a weaver and drawing student. Due to earthquake safety risks, it moved temporarily to Hardy Street for perhaps a decade; recently this Hardy Street gallery closed, too. 

The gallery and Nelson Bays Arts Council moved to a shinier building. I haven't looked up what's going to happen to the old venue. 

Purple Wallflower

The day after I saw these on sale at the Mitre 10 garden centre, I saw these blooming at a cute house Rutherford Street, tall and fragrant and rather lovely. Do I have any room for this?  
 

Radiology Waiting Room

Nelson Hospital's radiology department waiting room is usually chock full, but on this day, for maybe 15 minutes, I was the only one. 

I like these decorations in different areas of the hospital, and I find this one very cheerful.   

Except... these aren't painted; they're stickers. 

Upstanding Osteospermum

 

Osteospermum usually doesn't stand upright but drapes over the side; ours covers a concrete retaining wall on the side of the driveway. I saw two or three of these uprights at the hospital the other week. This one was around 1m tall, planted inside a tallish (40cm? 50cm?) concrete pot. I wanted to have a closer look, but access was from a ward behind closed doors, and areas reserved for folks in need of a quiet place to sit and contemplate or converse, so I didn't try. 

A week later, I saw this at a high-end lighting shop Storey Collection on Collingwood Street. This pots was maybe 30cm high and the plant further 30cm. Staff said it had just been pruned by the manager/gardener who wasn't working that day. I may go back and enquire.  

Roman Viaduct??

A view from Nelson Hospital's outside walkway on Level 2. I always liked the structure that reminds me of a Roman Viaduct and imagined all sorts of weird reasons why Nelson might have one. Last month curiosity got the better of me and enlarged the photo; it turned out to be a... well, sometimes it's better not to find out.  

Leafy Greens

I am supposed to be on anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis. Leafy greens are in, nightshade vegetables are out. Well, not all out but maybe mindfully-consumed. 

Project #5

Winter project #5 of 6; the area looks HUGE but it's not that big, just much steeper. A few years ago in June we planted a whole bunch of rose Elena sticks, (tall with pale yellow flowers,) along the boundary fence, but only four survived. This year, with the towering bay reduced drastically, we're going to put in a ridiculous number of Elena sticks in obscenely short intervals in the hopes some will survive, preferably in regular intervals. I know, life doesn't work like that. 

Cooking as Science Experiment

Neighbour's Mum is a superb cook and among other things has supplied us annually with marmalade made from our grapefruits. Among them are ginger- and cardamon-added version, maybe too spicy for some but perfect for us. I am almost more excited about the overcooked version; she must share my mantra: all (my) cooking is science experiment. Sage thought, but not my own; it comes from my dad's dearest friend from our Minnesota days, a organic-chemist-turned-minerals-specialist, ex-Liverpudlian-turned-longtime-Melbournian Ron. 

EDIT: The Dark Marmalade turned out to be an exquisite Smoked Grapefruit Marmalade, and we may just use it on our toast!

Verdict

The tree came with the house and over the decades we enjoyed many glasses of intensely sweet and tangy juice, while friends made fabulous marmalade. Some called it Tangelo, some called it, "Oh, I can't remember called but (insert-person) has the same," while yet others called it grapefruit.

Now that we're both on meds prohibiting grapefruits, we took a wee branch with a couple of fruits to the garden center to ask what it is. The verdict is, it's actually a pink grapefruit! If we, or it, lived north of Hamilton, (about halfway up the North Island,) the flesh will turn pink, but since we're too far south it's just a very pretty orange.

So, no more heavenly juice for us. Well, 1.4C every week or so. But more for friends, which is not a bad thing. 

Team Colour

Some customers drive or even kayak to the store in the proper color. Respect!

What's for Dinner?

A wee boy in ethnic costume. South Asian?? Dad might be a chef; he picked a cut, requested the butcher take off the fat, and separate the meat from the bone, stressing he's keeping the bone as well for the marrow. Dying to know what they're having for dinner tonight.

The Truth?

I've been growing hellebore singles in purples, slate, "claret" and a couple of whites since 1998. I was just recently thinking I've never seen a yellow, when, lo, what do I see at the garden centre! I was skeptical, though, about the very saturated color on the label so I asked a Facebook group, and most folks said it's a pale yellow-green. I'm good with that. I can't wait to see a flower in a year or two.  

 

We Got a Black Current Tree

We thought a mandarine or a tangerine tree would be nice where we cut back a giant bay tree. But there were so many different kinds and we couldn't make up our minds, so we came home with a black current bush - something else we thought we'd like. We're still interested in an easily edible citrus, though, so we'll go back.  
 

My Kinda Label

I was relieved to see this in the garden centre. We also have a tree some folks say is a grapefruit, others, tangelo, and a few others I can't remember. It came with the house and we didn't bother investigating, other than the fact it makes superb juice, marmalade, and the dried peel is nice all year round. Staff Vince said we should bring it in to have different staff opine and confuse us further; bless him, what fun!

To Feed or Not to Feed

H5N1 was discovered in a dead bird on the beach on North Island on 15 July; soon after in another, again on the North Island. There haven't been any more since according to the Internet, (though "they" say next lot we'll find will be a group,) but Social Media is full of advice on whether to feed wild birds, or give nectar, in which region, in what style of container, or how frequently. Many suggested to rely on government or environmental organizations, but they tell us what to do only if we find more than three sick or dead birds. (Stay away and report.) 

It reminded me of the early days of Covid, where even the specialists didn't know exactly what to do, but we also learned the most vulnerable native NZ birds have been vaccinated in recent months/years! 

We withheld both the seeds and nectar for a month, but with no new cases, we resumed normal feeding this month, while checking for new cases every few days in NZ and Australia. 

Easter in July???

I saw a little girl bending down looking very serious, while Mum and a baby brother waited nearby with a trolly full of groceries. The wee one was petting a bunny. 

Some folks around here celebrate Mid-Winter Christmas, but I never heard of Easter in August!

Jade Plant/Money Tree

Since I encountered my first Jade plant in 1974, I have never seen one with this many flowers! In front of Ikko Sushi, Marble Arcade, off Montgomery Carpark. 

We Break Our Regular Broadcast to Bring You...

Another traffic cone. Montgomery Carpark. 

Reopened

Tahunaui Breakfast Club was closed for a fortnight for a renovation, mostly in the kitchen area, but reopened with the inside slightly bigger with fantastic windows at the front. We're probably there every other weekend, if not for breakfast, then to get Ben's fav pretzels. On Tahunanui Drive. 

Custard Slice?

 

One of Ben's colleagues grew up around here, and told him this bakery had superb custard slices, my fav. It's may have been a decade ago that we heard this, and who knows how much the bakery has changed, but I still think I should give it a go. On Tahunanui Drive. 

Tree Art

Tides Hotel had a big (Kauri??) tree dying from root rot, so they got a tree guy who came with a big chain saw and promptly cut it down. He played around a bit, slapped on some paint, and the hotel thought, "Ah, why don't we put a spare table top!" And voilà! 

At least that's the way the story was told to us. Even the back were no paint finish was applied looked striking to us. I should have had Ben stand next to it to show how big the stump is. 

 

20th

Twenty years ago things weren't well in Lebanon and I was looking for information online, when I came across Beirut Daily Photo, a blog where a student Abdalla posted a photo of Beirut every day. Soon after I discovered that one Eric Tenin started Paris Daily Photo and there was a whole circle of blogs posting one photo of their city a day from all over the world. I thought it'd be a fun thing to take part in, showcasing Ben's photos, interspersed with my take on life. The Daily Photo circle was small enough we could visit every single city at least once a week, and we made lovely friends. 

This was in 2006; The Lord of the Rings films were still fresh in many folks' minds, and Nelson having had some involvement, (as did so most regions of this country,) we had an advantage in folks being interested in New Zealand. But Nelson is a tiny city, our social circle even smaller, and we began repeating locations and occasions unlike larger cities. (Goodness, how many sunsets did we post??) 

After five/six years, we hardly posted "daily"; we posted two in 2022 and none last year; but we find ourselves still posting pics on Facebook, Ben, landscapes and me, the most mundane everyday stuff, so when the spirit moves, you'll be seeing some more of our neck of the woods.

Thanks for visiting Nelson Daily Photo.   

This is the Cathedral Steps, the civic centre of our town, where (almost) all our celebration or protest take place, sometimes multiple on the same day. 

Don't Rush Me!

I love calendars and diaries on paper and still use a couple, after super careful consideration over which ones to purchase for a couple of months. Following years' stock started appearing in shops in early August as long as I can remember, except the the 18-months version that start mid-year. In 2026, though, some of these have been popping up since early June. Life must be so difficult for many, some must want to start escaping to 2027 ASAP. Me, I stopped planning anything except for the day's dinner. 

Magical Minutes

I'm not sure if it's during the cold season only, but there is a magical window of 10 to 15 minutes before sunset when the light turns golden and all the trees and flowers in town look magical. Old Bank Reserve, off Buxton carpark. 
 

Fun

Shine, Hardy Street. 
 

Modern Day Wheat Bag

With ceramic something or rather inside. So cute, I lament I couldn't think of a child who might like one. 
 

Choice

Miniature cyclamen were three, or four, for $12, or $15. But I couldn't decide which red I wanted, so I just got this one. But... it's now looking more dark pink than the red it was when I bought it.  
 

Curious

I saw this denim jacket in the window; I couldn't figure out if it was a blue carefully undyed, or somehow tied and dyed in that narrow band only. I stood outside the shop for a good 20 minutes. Not printed, though. Later, I tried to go back to the shop to have a close look, but I couldn't remember which shop it was - either the pre-loved clothes shop or one with fancy brand clothes, near State Cinema, on Trafalgar Street. I visited both, but couldn't find it. I shall wonder, until my next mystery. 

New Fav

 

Our new favourite eatery, Tahunanui Breakfast Club, Tahunanui Road, within walking distance from ours. They were temporarily closed for a fortnight for refurbishment. 

No Ice Cream on Special

 

There used to be some nice shops here.

Among them, Graham's Trading used furniture shop. Bridge Street. 
 

Three Generations

Queens Gardens, between Bridge and Hardy Streets. 
 

Late Late Afternoon

Hardy Street
 

A Fav

Former Children's Library, former Nelson Polytechnic School of Fishery, currently vacant(?) due to earthquake damage risk. One of my favourite buildings. Hardy Street. 
 

Pediatric Ward, Nelson Hospital