Sunset From Our Lounge

This is a view from our lounge (living room). It is a rather ordinary sunset but I like to watch the colors change minute by minute. This is approximately at 9:45 PM on 15 January.

Oh You Fabulous Women You!!!

Lovely Kath Bee and her friends busked as Nancies in front of the ANZ bank, 1pm yesterday.

Nelson is kind to buskers, and if you're really good, people will come up and demand to buy your CD. These women were, I say in a totally unbiased way, superb. The pitch was perfect (except when they had one glitch), atmosphere just delightful, and two of them write songs to boot.

If I remember correctly, there's a buskers' festival next week.

Comet McNaught

How lucky I am. It's in here and I can see it from our lounge.
The photo was taken at 24/Jan/2007 10:21PM. Another shot in sketchbook.

And What's Emily Thinking?

I think she looks like an Emily. I think she was angry for being uprooted from her school and her friends, and was determined to hate this place. She's also exhausted and scared and she might cry any minute.

You know, Emily could be the great-great-grandmother of someone I know!

(I haven't forgotten Dad, either, but he's much taller than me, so this is the best I could do. His right ear seems to indicate he played rugby in the old country.)

Footbridge in The Rain

Believe it or not, this is a private bridge. This photo was taken 9 Jan 2007 near the gorge in Brightwater.

Mother's Mixed Feelings

I was very lukewarm about Early Settlers until last week, when I got up close and personal. It's quite a good piece of work. Look at the mother, for example; at once she looks relieved to be off the ship, a little worried about what to expect from her new home, and probably is wondering how she is going to feed her family on this first day.

AO TEA ROA

This is probably the most famous mural in Nelson, at Wakefield Quay. Aotearoa is the indigenous Maori name for New Zealand, meaning, "Land of Long White Cloud".

Meg's Map says: "Aotearoa" was painted by mural artist Chris Finlayson in 1984. Scenery, window structure and clouds are set into a carved timber panel. The pattern at the top reflects a tuku tuku design found in marae meeting houses and found in Celtic, African and Middle Eastern art forms. The building used to be the city electricity facility and is still commonly known as the 'Powerhouse".

You may have noticed the angle is almost identical any time this mural is shot. That's because this is at the side of one of Nelson's busiest stretch of road, and there isn't much room to play with, unless you have an exceptional insurance policy.

Coming out of Nelson, this mural is just before The Boat Shed (right about the letter "l" of (Wakefield Quay" io the map); opposite of The Cut, before Tahunanui Beach. It's almost worth hiring/renting a convertible two-seater just to drive top down this stretch, according to my brother.

Well, They Can't Just Microwave It !?

Here's the Fish & Chip shop mentioned yesterday. The sign reads "PARKING 15 mins ONLY 7 DAYS". I doesn't look too busy in this photo because it was a little early, but this is one of the most popular, and in a little while you'd be lucky if you can get away in half an hour; we've waited as long as 45 minutes for our fish, chips, and deep-fried pineapple rings. Wait, I had to wait longer, but that's another story entirely.

I shot this on 14 October, but took this long to decide to post because Mr two-fish-extra-salt-on-chips is looking this way. I thought of "defacing" him so he couldn't be identified, but I like it just the way it is. I do love people photos, but am still nervous about taking them, let alone posting.

I will not be able to visit your blogs in the coming week/s, though Ben will continue to post my pics. I hope to catch up with you when my busy week passes. Thanks.

Salt Water Cafe & Bar

When we went there, it was under previous management and called Olivia's; they served good seafood and wine. On the left are a fish monger and one of the most popular fish & chips shops in town. This is Wakefield Quay, near these folks.

Flying Girl

7PM, Saturday 6 January, Kaiteriteri Beach. Can you feel the little girl is in a panic to squeeze as much fun out of the last minutes of the holiday as possible?

Mosaic - Whole View

The entrance of HUB youth centre/theatre on New Street in the CBD; this is the entire mosaic facade from across the street. One last extra shot here.

Meg's Map says: "Hub Mosaic. The Hub is a community centre for young people. The heart and star mosaic, by Nelson sculptor Valeska Campion, was installed in 1999. The side panels of individually crafted ceramic tiles were created as a community arts project, involving Nelson schoolchildren and sponsor companies. "

Keropok Man, Meg is sitting in the corner, facing the wall.

Speaking of New Zealand Ice Creams....

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream is a New Zealand treat; it's vanilla ice cream with golden Hokey Pokey nuggets; the New Zealand Ice Cream Industry says after vanilla, this is Kiwis' second favorite flavor, followed by chocolate and strawberry.

To your right, Hokey Pokey ice cream in the ice cream container. To the right, my version: break the Crunchie chocolate bar in the wrapping, unwrap, mix content with ice cream, preferably when it's still soft immediately after coming home from the supermarket. You get crunchier Hokey Pokey this way. (But if you want a quick fix, you just pile it on, like in this photo.)

(Culture of New Zealand in Wiki has a special section on Dairy Fat!!)

Mosaic 2

This is a part of mosaic facade on the right side of a theatre entrance. On this side, you can find many tiles specially made for sponsors.

Flax Flowers

These flax leaves were at least 3 meters high, so the flowers must be well over 4 meters; I was looking straight up to try to shoot a bee in one of them. At the Toad Hall car park.