Gianni Pizza

On the side of actual Pizza Shop.

Too much of a good thing...

It's true!
Can't see customer? Well, I took this on the ANZAC day before 1pm. So. the shop is closed. The owner opened the door just after this shot was taken and had a little chat about the sign. - Penguino Ice Cream Cafe -

Afternoon

More at here and here.

Airplane Landing

Sometime last week.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Nancies

Nelson's popular A Capella group The Nancies had the last (for the time being, we hope) gig tonight at the Boathouse, due to our friend Kath Bee leaving Nelson to extend her career in Auckland and beyond. The venue was packed with appreciative audience.

The good news is, the gig was recorded live and will be made into a CD. If you are interested, email Kath; she won't be on line for a while as she's leaving on the 2 O'Clock ferry tomorrow, but she will make sure she or someone will be in touch with you.

We wish you all the very very best, Kath.

The Last of The...

Ben kept shouting, "Mop, mop," while I thought it was a purpose-built (?) helmet. Whichever, it's been a while, the hair-do. (Can you see? We were about to turn and I only got one shot.)

Friday

Bijou c. 1961-3

I knew Crackerjack had these plastic beads for a while, but I refrained from purchasing. The instruction says to arrange them in interesting formation and iron from the top to melt the beads and make flat plastic thingies, but when I was 3 and 4 and 5, these were the beads Mom gave me to make bijou. Instead of cottons or silks, she gave me thread-like elastics so the necklaces could get around my head, and bracelets around my hand.

On Saturday, I couldn't help myself.

I already posted this in my weaving blog, but thought some of you may feel nostalgic about these, too?

Saturday Lunch at Morrison St

After Kath's gig on Saturday, we went to Morrison St Cafe for lunch. Ben had a Nasi Goreng which came in this pan! The colors are drab but Ben said it was yummy. I had Tostadas with avocado and baked beans, though it had lots of fresh red onion I picked out. Tasty, though not spicy.

Morrison St and Saltwater are the only places in town I'm aware of who make their own brioche. Morrison's often have freuits and tend to be sweeter and great with coffee; Saltwater planer but possibly richer and nicer with eggs. My favorite brioche, however, are the ones I bake with a recipe that Merisi in Vienna gave me; light and elegant.

If you get on the mailing list for Morrison's newsletter (which always includes one of their recipes), they treat you to two free coffees during the month of your birthday, as I found out recently. Nice, isn't it, to be able to take a mate with you?

Sunset

Last Sunday, I saw a low cloud in front of the range. A few hours later the sky turned to this spectacular colour. This is taken with telephoto(135mm) and below is with wide-angle (24mm) in few minuets earlier.

Since You Ask...

At the Saturday Market.

Still Handsome

Remember the tree in the middle of NMIT courtyard that lost big branches in a storm last winter? The bold patches are definitely noticeable, but he's still very handsome.

Kath Bee Heads for Auckland

Nelson's bestest children's songwriter Kath Bee is heading for Auckland to try her songs on the big city kids. This morning Kath had a Good Bye gig at Crackerjack, an educational toy store that's always supported her enthusiastically.

I've been excited about this for months until this morning, when I realized it'll be a while before I can shoot her gigs again. The Nancies will have their last gig (for a while) next Saturday, and come Sunday, Kath will be on a plane.

Best of luck to you!

Dry Wood, New Woodburner, But No Heat

Yesterday we learned that "wetb@ck" is a derogatory term for illegal immigrants to the US. To us, it's a wood burner, (enclosed fire box), with a connection to the hot water cylinder. While we heat the room, heat absorbed by pipes at the top inside the box is sent to the cylinder on kitchen side of the wall, producing soft hot water for our bath. (Sorry, the lid is far too heavy for me to lift to show you the inside.) We don't even know if there is any other name for this mechanism in New Zealand. If you go to google.co.nz and look up the word, you find all kinds of folks who want to sell you such wood burners.

Painting the pipes at the back matte black is one of the many jobs for us in the coming weeks to tidy after the project, as you can see.

We had the second inspection for this burner by the Council yesterday, but there's something the plumber and the inspector disagree about a tempering valve and we still can't use this yet. Brrr...