Up to 50% Off

Nothing I wanted/needed was discounted, so boo hoo!

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.