Spire

What a cool hut this could make. Like the old sheds, out buildings etc, a paddock full rescued spires
would be interesting.

Enchanted Gardens exhibition

Here are a couple of the six snaps I was invited to exhibit in a  group show called 'Enchanted Gardens' which is part of the Festival of Flowers. www.festivalofflowers.co.nz 
‘Enchanted Gardens’ presents works by 19 New Zealand artists.The exhibition considers the relationship between nature and people, their gardens and parks.
It's on until Feb 28 at the CPIT, City Campus, Rakaia Centre, (long black building sometimes referred to as Darth Vaders' coffin) Madras St, Christchurch
My pics are portraits of trees left 'still standing' after the earthquakes.

Summerhill Stone

Summerhill Stone was a type of concrete brick that was popular in the 1950's and 60's.
A big part of it's popularity was it came in many colors. This meant
it never needed painting and you could have all sorts of abstract geometric patterns.
The top pics is a motel in Reefton, which was the first town in New Zealand to have electricity.
The bottom one is the Methodist church hall in New Brighton that was built by my late Uncle Dick. As a tribute to his build quality, the brick church that stood beside it didn't survive the earthquakes. Sadly when the church was smashed up by the demolition company, they also obliterated a rare old pipe organ. Rumour has it that it was one of only three made by a local Christchurch company. One may  speculate that had this organ been in a church 'on the other side of town' there would of been great efforts to save it and not let it trashed for scrape.

Shed

Imagine how cool it would be to have a paddock populated with old sheds, huts. shelters and assorted abandoned small buildings/structures. This corrugated wee beauty is not abandoned. It sits alongside the railway station in Reefton. You don't see too many with a curved roof.

Pruning

Yet more tree control. The silver birch on the left is a protected tree, I think that means it is not allowed to be cut down. Normally I am against such molestation, for some reason this works. The monkey puzzle tree is rumored to have survived 80 years, so far.

Truncated

In the days when men had their haircut by a barber, the most brutal no nonsense 'style' was the 'short back and sides'. This standing corpse of a tree (stump seems too puny a word to describe the presence of this elephantine cliff of wood) reminds me of pictures of those nuggety blokes all shorn and ready for a hard day's 'yaka'. According to a plaque hanging on the fence this old gum tree was planted back in the 1860's in Motueka and was decapitated in 2006. The sign nailed to it  commands those who may have the desire/urge to climb it should forget it.

Whale

Another gull on the prowl for a tasty tidbit.  I'm pretty sure this Blue Eyebrowed whale didn't let the gull snatch any dinner. However I don't think the prowler went hungry that evening. It was summer's evening in Nelson and many holiday makers had infested the area to eat their fish & chips.

Gull

When ever you go fishing gulls are your constant companion. Perpetually hungry they never take their eyes of your pile of juicy bait. Occasionally one will entangle itself in your fishing line. This causes high excitement in the flock. Almost immediately, as the hapless bird struggles to free itself, every other gull within earshot will take to the wing and surround their distressed colleague. I puzzle over this behavior, are they showing concern and band together to so solidarity to downed brother/sister? or are they hoping for an easy meal? Once I have reeled the bird to shore and gently untangle it unharmed from the line and release it, the crowd disperses. Just an aside, those beaks are very sharp and pecky.