It Only Takes One

Got your attention? This is one of my favourite roses at Dunedin Botanic Garden; name is 'Wild Cat'. The flowers of 'Wild Cat' were looking stupendous when I visited on 10 April 2021, our autumn. New Zealand. Rose info: Floribunda, Dickson, UK pre 2009. Click on any of the images below to enlarge. Now I'd...

Centre Stage

Yesterday on our local walk Nigel had stopped to photograph this group of mostly-natives and I thought I'd take some photos too, while I waited. His primary purpose was to get photos of the robust climber and I was interested in the overall scene. Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand. Click on any photo to enlarge....

Island Beach

Found this beautiful island on a beautiful beach. Today we took the coast route home from Dunedin, and we've passed this beach access before. I thought it looked very inviting but it's one of those entrances that's hard to spot in time and next thing you've already whizzed past. Today we decided to turn around...

Poetry In Motion

I know the power of words... a poem by Steve Denehan. Steve is Dublin-born, lives in Kildare and I found his poem via Twitter. I've chosen to team his poem with a powerful image from Pepix who created an amazing effect when she flung boiling water into freezing cold air, an act of energy that's...

Fiordland, New Zealand

I recently found Samuel Bloch on Twitter - he's been travelling in New Zealand and taking awesome photos. Samuel describes himself as a French birder and photographer. He has a WP blog  Eiwawar  which I follow. Today he published a particularly fine post with photos of scenery and birdlife that he encountered while travelling the...

Stuff, by Harold Davis

As George Carlin put it in one of his most memorable routines, a house is nothing but a pile of stuff with a cover on it. In contrast, I suppose a home might be something more important than the mere stuff in a house, having to do with where the heart is. Since a home...

Life is like a CAMERA

Early March I was in Balclutha wandering around killing time, waiting for Nigel who had business in town. And found this. The kind shopkeeper gave me permission to take a photo (gift shop on the corner near Cafe 55). I really like the words.. do you? Life is like a ... CAMERA Cropped image Here's...

Kiwi Supernova

Most people know of "kiwifruit" as we call them in New Zealand. You might call them "kiwis". During my young childhood they were called "Chinese gooseberries". I've just found that the name change occurred on 15 June 1959 (it evidently took a while to catch on with the general population as I was born a...

Feathers Aren’t Always Fragile

Wisdom from a Great Blue Heron chick in South Carolina, USA. Are you feeling small, vulnerable and powerless? Right now it's a fight for survival... find the inner mongrel. Be fierce! Keep building strength (be patient, it takes time). One day you will FLY Photos taken by Ellen Jennings from  Passing By Photo  and used...

Rosa rugosa var. Ventenatia

When we visited Queens Park on March 02, 2019 we found this beautiful rose with a great bounty of rosehips and a prominent flower in bloom. I invited Nigel to also take some photos of the flower - he got a couple of lovely shots, included in this post. This rose garden is devoted to...

Two Prickly Characters

Summer Smile

Yesterday was like one big smile. Beautiful summer day, perfect temperature, blue sky. We headed over to Tapanui and then continued to Roxburgh in Central Otago via Moa Flat, a favourite route for us. At Roxburgh we looked in on a book and white elephant sale. I picked up a book for 40 cents and...