Suspended

Mid-June, two cases of H5N1 avian flu were found on the remote beach/es (??) near Wellington. A few weeks later, there were lots of talks in Facebook groups about everybody ceasing garden bird baths, water/nectar or seed/fruit feeding. I checked the Dept of Conservation and Forest and Bird websites, but neither listed anything about home gardens, only about when and how to report sick or dead birds. There have been cuts to the environmental agencies by the current government, but more to the point, it reminded me of the early days of Covid when so much was unknown. I learned some endangered birds in New Zealand have been immunized, while certain species were less prone to catch the flu as they don't congregate.

We arbitrarily decided we'll quit when a third case was found, as we knew in Australia the spread was quicker and greater, in which case it was a matter of time we found more. A third case was discovered a fortnight ago, again in Wairarapa, so I checked the websites again; Forest and Bird website is defunct for all intents and purposes, but Dept of Conservation had added "Avoid feeding backyard birds".

So, there we have it. Both Nectar and seeds ceased a week and a big ago, we hope temporarily but we get it's going to be a long one. I'm already worried about water for the summer as we expect a hot one with not a lot of rain, and we usually had three water stations for birds and bees.

We will miss watching tuis the most. 

After more than a decade, remembering not to feed seeds to the sparrow in the morning has been a hard habit to break.  

Rapid

One night last week, we had one of those spectacular sunsets. What made it super special was within 15 or 20 minutes, the sky suddenly turned gold,

then orange, (though not as saturated as this,) 

then pink, even pinker than this, 

And finally, near-achromatic gradation. What a show! 

Dancing Tree

Queen's Gardens. 
 

I'm a Classy Bird

(Read the title like David Mitchell in "Upstart Crow".)

Ben's soda on the left, mine on the right. Not always, but I just felt like Italian mineral water this week. 

Future Plan

 

Vanilla Custard Slice this week. Summer Berry Brownie or Hazelnut, Cacao & Ginger Bar next week? Tahunanui Breakfast Club. 

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.