Christmas Eve Dinner

What a magnificent spectacle, a water wheel driving a spit roast. The heat from this fiendish roaster was intense and mouth watering. This was a really enjoyable, community dinner in the Far North at Ninety Mile Beach

Deer

A few snaps of Deer from over the years. Controlling wildlife is important to some people.
Would we be more repulsed if the deer were mounted in the pose they died just before their corpes were dragged into the taxidermists' workshop. I think it may not look so macho if the head was drooping with the tongue flopping out and oozing blood.

Wooley Christmas

The amount of skill, patience and love that go into hand knitting this amazing scene stuns me.
There's something about the simplicty of detail that reminds me of a very pixelated digital photo.
I hear rumours there is a huge resurgence in people taking up knitting and taking it to exciting new directions.

Christmas

Op shops, especially those directly connected to a church are totally irresistable. I feel drawn to them. There maybe some bargins, There are always visual treats. This one is in Oxford

Spike & Albert

Dear friends recently tragically, lost their beloved guinea pigs, Spike and Albert. The suspect is a small dog that most likely got into their cage and abducted them. The death of a pet is utterly taumatic. I felt great sorrow on a numerous levels. I had nick named them Nibbles and Timmy. Timmy was the name of my guinea pig when I was was a kid. Nibbles was named after a hampster on a popular cartoon sitcom.
The above pic is one I took when we were blessed with looking after them for a wee while. a wee while ago.
Much pleasure can be obtained just watching animals going about their daily existence.
Rest in peace, Spike and Albert.

Demolishing

There are many mean and brutal looking hunks of steel chomping their way through Christchurch at the moment. It reminds me Japanese monster movies.

Cyanotyping

Cyanotype is an old process that requires the sun and water to create a photographic image.
An emulsion is created with a mixture of Potassium Ferricyanide, Ferric-Ammonium Citrate and water.
This is then applied to a good water colour paper and left to dry in the dark
When it is dry the paper is ready to print with. Using either a Black & White negative or flattish objects such as leaves, feathers, lace etc It is then sandwiched under glass and put in the sunlight. Around 10mins exposure should be enough.
In a room that has no sun light entering it, remove the sensitised paper and place it in a tray of running water. After about 5-10mins it is fully developed and ready to hang up and dry, giving you a beautiful blue image.
The pic above shows a cyanotype in the process of exposure to sunlight.This was from an afternoon session of cyanotyping I had with friends recently on one of those rare Christchurch warm sunny days. It is being created in an old printing frame from the days before enlargers, or machine printers, when stuff was made of wood, metal and glass. If you wanted the whole process can be done with out the use of electricity.

Farewell Crow

Crow has passed on. She has always been scatty and slightly prehistoric looking. Her death was not unexpected. Araucanas are known for their blue shelled eggs. Crow only laid about six eggs in her short life. They were however, the most beautiful eggs I have ever seen. Too exquisite to use. I still have a couple I want to preserve somehow.
Chicken behaviour is endlessly fascinating, the night after Crow died, the other Araucana cuddled up with the two shavers on the floor of the coop, she has never done that before, preferring to sleep on the top perch.
The top pic shows Alex our second born attempting to dig Crow a grave with the assistance of Belinda. Eventually we had to lock her away or there may have been the need to dig the grave a little deeper.
Farewell Crow

Flower Power

Amid all the quake abandoned dwellings, the flowers continue to inhabit and blossom unabated. Most seem to flourish without the ever present gardener constantly 'tending' and controlling them. They feel to me like beautiful teenagers, seeking their own direction.