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Last week Wellington was a soggy place. On Thursday torrential rain caused flooding in some parts of the city and travel was badly disrupted. Thunder and lightning punctuated one of those late autumn days when the sky was only ever … Continue reading
Regular readers will know that Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast is one of our favourite places to visit. We’ve taken many picture of the view from the village looking out to sea and of the village from the beach, but it’s not often that we venture onto the water and see the village from the sea.
Good news though – it still looks great.
This picture is actually from a few years ago when we were returning from a day tour along the coast. Thanks to Gennaro and Salvatore’s boat hire for many great days on, and in, the water. As I look at the photo I can still hear Capitano Salvatore singing as we make our way home at the end of the day. Multo bene.
This morning young Bella quietly disappeared upstairs. Time passed and, as often happens, we suspected she was up to no good – but it turned out to be the opposite. She was curled up on the bed, on our pillows, asleep.
So not only was she rudely woken up but she then had a camera shoved in her face. What does a girl have to do for a good sleep around our place?
I’ve been playing around with colourising old black and white photographs using Photoshop. The technique is quite simple – if a little time consuming – and makes use of various blend modes to overlay colour on black and white while retaining the detail of the photograph.
Rather than trying to mimic a colour photo, the technique replicates the days when colour photos were simply black and white prints that had been hand coloured. Part of the fun is selecting the colours for clothes, backgrounds and the like. There is no reference colours so it’s all up to the imagination.
Below are a few examples of what can be done – using shots of various members of the family – well mainly me from many years ago.
I was driving home Thursday night. It was a beautiful evening, the rain that had hung around all day had cleared. It was still and clear. I had just picked up the 356 from the Powerhaus where it had a new ignition switch fitted and it was running like a dream.
All was well with the world.
I was winding around the hills of Wellington on one of those narrow roads that is only wide enough for two cars when a bus approached from the other direction. A bus always looks big but on narrow Grafton Road it looked huge. The only option was for one of us to mount the pavement to let the other pass. As the bus approached I realised that was going to be me. But no problems, it was a lovely night, there was room for both of us.
I used a driveway ramp to get my left hands wheels up onto the pavement. All went we’ll until my front and rear wheels dropped into the gap between the driveway ramp and the pavement and I was stuck. Completely stuck – I couldn’t move forward or backward. No amount of power would free the wheels.
Bugger.
A call to the AA rapidly had a service vehicle on the scene. The bemused AA man admitted that this was a first for him but with a gentle pull the 356 was free and the journey home was completed without incident and only a slight denting of pride.
I took this shot on a trip across the South Island a couple of years ago. The day started off overcast and raining in Christchurch but the further west we drove the better the weather became.
As we climbed up into the Southern Alps the sun was starting to show and the low grey cloud was clearing.
February is always a big birthday month at our place with both Jean and I celebrating another year passing. So blogging, quite rightly, takes a back seat to presents, cards, celebrations and birthday cakes.
Every so often there is a “big birthday” which warrants extra attention and this year it was one for Jean. There was a gathering of friends and family from all over the country and a night of merriment and good cheer. Followed by a day or so of quiet recovery.
To everyone who sent Jean and myself best wishes or who were part of the celebration, a huge thank you.
At the end of November, Jean and I decided to shout each other new phones for Christmas. The iPhone 4S that we each had were showing their age and the new iPhone 6 was beckoning.
Having heard about short supply and 2 week delay in delivery, we went shopping at the end of November assuming we’d get phones just before Christmas. As it turned out we walked out of the Spark shop on Lambton Quay holding two new iPhone 6 Plus’ which were active within a hour. Well done Daniel from Spark, two happy customers.
As a side note, we were Vodafone mobile customers but after their cock up with Jean’s roaming in Italy in August and the 59 minute wait on the phone for their call centre help a week or so prior, we were moving. Sorry Vodafone, you’re losing the plot in terms of support and as a result you’ve lost us as customers. By the way the 59 minute wait ended only because I hung up, not because they actually answered.
After two months using Apple’s biggest phone, I’m pleased to say that neither of us would swap them for anything. And so far, both phones are unbent and undropped and have become a necessary part of our lives.
And yes, bigger is better. The idea of using our 4S phones to sit and surf the net wasn’t an option given the screen size, but the 6 Plus is regularly used to do just that. In fact I no longer carry my iPad around as the 6 Plus has become the computer in my pocket.
The landscape mode – where you can swivel the phone 90 degrees and the desktop follows is great and the ability to use a split screen for mail and browsing is also a bonus.
It’s fast too, with all apps running without any lag and video and photos looking superb.
The downside of “Plus” is the stretch required to reach the top of the screen. Apple thought about this and with a double tap of the Home button the screen slides down for easier access but at times it is cumbersome to use and two hands are needed.
My litmus test for size was the ability to slip the phone into a jacket inside pocket. It fits perfectly and the lightness and slimness both help to not make it feel bulky.
Would we go back? No way. And now all we need to go with it is “the watch” – so roll on April.
It’s not often a single post can appeal to a range of different interests – but this one really hits the mark. It’s a picture of the dogs in our front yard but it offers so much more.
For dogs lovers it’s Bella taking some time out from patrolling the front gate with Poppie still on guard in the background. She’s wondering why I’m lying full length on the grass – hence the quizzical look.
For gardeners it’s a study in lawns – check out that lush green growth clipped to perfection and standing to attention – defying a hot and dry Wellington summer’s afternoon which is arguably one of the best summers anyone can remember.
For photographers the shot was achieved with the camera flat on the grass and was one of about 30 shots taken as the girls wandered around.
The camera used was my Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 18 – 70mm zoom lens set to 50mm, the aperture at F9 to keep Bella in focus and to throw Poppie slightly out of focus, and the shutter speed at 125th of a second to freeze any rapid movement. In Photoshop I replaced the original image of Poppie with one from another shot so she was looking up, cropped the shot using the rule of thirds (Bella’s head is about 1/3 of the way down the shot and 1/3 of the way in from the right), removed the distracting bright round hole in the gate, sharpened around Bella’s face and generally corrected the colour. Simple.
I’ve included the original shot for comparison.
In order from left to right – Georgie, Bella, Macey, and Poppie.
We had a “house full” of people for Christmas day – and briefly during the afternoon a “couch full” of dogs. Thanks to my dog wranglers for organising this shot.
It was a fun old year at our place. As always there seemed to be a lot happening but when I look back at the photos we’ve taken, our trip in August and those puppies – well Bella mainly – seem to dominate.
As the holiday season comes to its inevitable end, the team at our place want to thank all our friends and family for a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Whether it was spending time together in Wellington on Christmas Day or catching up in Auckland for a few days, it was a great holiday break. Thank you all.
As they say in Italy – Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo.
Last weekend was a big one for Poppie and Bella – they had two friends sleepover.
Macey and Georgie came to stay and for two days our house was a sea of moving Bichons. Wherever you looked there was a pair, or three, or four dogs playing, eating, sleeping or barking at the gate.
It was great fun for all involved and Sunday night our girls slept well, completely exhausted.
I’m a cricket fan. In fact I’m sitting watching the Black Caps play Pakistan as I write this and waiting for Kayne Williamson to score his double century – hopefully.
And as a show of support for the late Phil Hughes, today, the bat was out.
On Saturday we said goodbye to Rosie. Old age has been catching up with Rosie for the last few months – after all she was 18 years old – and we finally had to let her go.
When Rosie was young she was one of 5 cats in the household – don’t ask how that happened – and she was always the one to be picked on. But since 2011 she has been the queen of Kainui Road and has enjoyed the run of the house, the back yard and the neighbours.
She will be missed.
La dolce far niente 
