Driving through Wellington over the last few weeks a recently painted piece of street art on the corner of Cable and Chaffers Streets has caught my eye. The entire side of a building is covered in sharks – of all shapes, types and colours.
I think it’s a work of genius.
It was also painted for a very good cause as part of Shark Awareness Week. To find out more visit: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9144732/Shark-campaign-hits-the-wall.
If you get the chance, take a look.
A week ago I published a post about the outbreak of Spring in our garden – heralded by the first shoot appearing on our grapevine. Well, a week is a long time in spring, as the photos show.
The inevitable drive towards summer is gaining momentum.
Last weekend the family travelled to Nelson for a family birthday. Bella had her first flight while Poppie clocked up a few more miles for her frequent flyer account.
Moving the four of us is a military operation involving 2 suitcases, 2 dog cages, 2 cabin bags and, of course, us.
As always Nelson was warm and sunny – most of the time – and inviting. The birthday boy was turning 3 so Saturday was spent in the company of other 3 year olds of all ages. Vast amounts of sugar were consumed in a short space of time with the resulting laughter, tears, fun and chaos of a kids party.
By the end of the day the house resembled a toy shop with a strong “Cars” influence.
We arrived back home Monday afternoon with two tired dogs who immediately fell asleep on the bed. The humans weren’t far behind them.
Which dog ate my homework?
Bella has a thing for paper. It is simply too tempting to leave alone. This is something I need to remember when I leave papers on the office floor- for obvious reasons.
Bella, the culprit, is the innocent looking one on the left.
Aotearoa on the water – photo courtesy of Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand
For the last few weeks the entire country has been in the grip of “Cup Fever”. And in true America’s Cup fashion, every day’s racing is full of drama. A few days ago the Kiwi’s were ahead by 6 races and were making a place on the trophy shelf for the “Auld Mug”, only to have Oracle fight back and make this a real competition.
Whatever has been said about the new catamaran class the AC72’s, they make for spectacular racing and real heart in the mouth tension from the start – or pre-start as we all now know – to the finish.
As I write this the Kiwi’s require 2 wins to win the cup and the Amercians require 8. It sounds like a done deal but the last few races have been evenly split with Oracle improving each time they are on the water.
With 2 races tomorrow it might be all over – but don’t bank on it.
For the last 5 months Bella’s life has been a mix of eating, running, jumping, playing and sleeping. The worst thing that happened to her was occasionally getting under our feet which meant a yelp, a cuddle and then back to eating, running, jumping, playing and sleeping.
Yesterday that changed. Bella went to the vet for that little operation that puppies have to ensure that more puppies don’t mysteriously start to appear.
Since then, all Bella has wanted to do is yelp, lick her wounds and be held – by Jean or I, whoever is closest. On the ground she spins in circles trying to get to the wound which is obviously irritating her and yelping, before we pick her up for another cuddle.
As I write this she is curled up on my knee making little moaning sounds. To call her a “sad sack” would be an understatement.
What she doesn’t know is that by Monday her life will be back to normal – eating, running, jumping, playing and sleeping. We can’t wait.
Sad Bella after “that op” lying on my knee – photo credited Jean.
Those of you who know me, know that I’m not a morning person. The thought of getting up early (for whatever reason) is something to be avoided – unless lives are at risk or the end of the world is nigh.
Having said that, there is a brief period of time at the start of every holiday on the other side of the world when waking early is inevitable. It’s that 2 or 3 days when jetlag is ruling your life and waking at 3am with an overiding urger to eat dinner is the norm.
A few years ago we were in Rome when this short period was affecting us so – for the first time I can recall – I was up and out with a camera and tripod in Rome at 4am waiting for enough light to take some shots . Unlike other major world cities like Tokyo and New York, Rome sleeps at night. So the only people up at that time were newspaper delivery men, the occasional taxi driver and the even more occasional polizia – and me.
It was eerily quiet and I could hear my footsteps echoing off the building walls as I walked.
Within a few minutes of our hotel were the Spanish Steps and Piazza Babarini, both completely devoid of life, an amazing contrast with the rest of the day when they are full of tourists with struggling locals trying to make their way through the crowds.
For the last week or so I’ve been keeping an eye on our grapevine. When I say “our grapevine”, I mean the one we share with our neighbours and which now runs almost the entire length of the fence between our houses.
In summer it’s covered in leaves. In early autumn it’s covered in grapes but for the last 3 months it’s been bare, doing it’s best impersonation of a dead plant.
Our first clue that spring is on the way and that summer is around the corner is the appearance of the first shoot from those seemingly dead sticks.
And today that first shoot appeared. Summer is coming.
Our little puppy who used to fit in the palm of our hands is now a gangly 18 week old teenager with a mind of her own.
We’ve had a dog trainer come in and help us to wrangle her into line. She’s much better behaved but still has those moments of total abandon when she laps the couch repeatedly at full speed with no regard for anything in her way – whether it be me or Poppie or any piece of furniture that she runs into as her turning circle increases.
In the last couple of weeks she has worked out how to jump up on our bed and Poppie’s last haven of peace and quiet is now gone. But Bella seems to know that the bed is not a place to misbehave and it’s not unusual to find them both side by side, surrounded by their toys, sound asleep.
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It’s been a few days of shake, rattle and roll in Wellington. And that goes for the ground as well as people’s nerves. Around 40 kilometres south of Wellington and about 20 kilometres down, the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates … Continue reading
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Since April 2011 there have been 299 posts to this blog so this one is officially number 300. Over the last 2 and a bit years we’ve covered our trip to Europe – which was the reason for starting this … Continue reading
As Bella grows she is starting to copy Poppie. Whatever Poppie does, Bella does. When Poppie spends time on the back of the couch watching the world go by, so does Bella.
To Poppie it’s a distraction, to Bella it’s just being friends.
Having successfully survived Wellington’s recent storm, we started to think of other storms we’d been through – and the one that sprung to mind first was, funnily enough, an Italian storm.
It was during our stay in Positano in November 2011. After unusually good weather we were warned by the locals that the weekend was going to be stormy. It happened to be a weekend when we had visitors from the UK and New Zealand staying with us at Villa Greta.
Now, please understand, by storm we mean weather that was less than idyllic. Which involved wind (a bit), rain (not a lot) and seas that were rough (all to be taken in context of the Med just being a giant bath).
Our Saturday started with a visit the the beach at Positano and a late breakfast at Buca de Bacco. Apart from a strong breeze and the overcast conditions the only clue that there was a storm was the surf hitting the wharf. But despite the poor weather the resident beach artist was painting – as he does every day – a beautiful sunny vista full of blue skies, blue seas, bright sun and Bougainvillaea cascading down the sides of houses on the hill, somewhat at odds with reality.
In the afternoon we drove down the coast to Amalfi. The roads were treacherous and largely awash in places. The Amafi Coast has no real storm water drainage system – other than the water rushing downhill towards the sea as fast as possible – down streets, across roads and over cliffs until eventually ending up in the sea. This system meant we were often driving along roads more like rivers and through villages where every lane was a steam cascading towards the sea.
In Amalfi the sea was crashing against shore and the sea side carpark that we had used only a few months previously in summer was now forming the breakwater and largely underwater. The wonderful thing was that, by the time we had driven up from Amalfi to the top of the cliffs to Ravello the weather had cleared and we had magnificent views looking east along the coast towards Salerno. Normal transmission had resumed.
One of the things that our dear old dog Daisy used to enjoy was standing on the arm of our couch, looking out the lounge window to the street, and barking at everyone that walked past.
She taught Poppie and now, it seems, Poppie is passing it on to the next generation.
On Friday I photographed Poppie and her barking apprentice Bella, on the arm of the couch, waiting for a new victim to come into view.
It reminded me of a similar photo from 2005. The only difference is 8 years and a new couch.
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Following the storm last week I did another photo trip around Wellington’s southern coast. Everywhere there were remnants of the storm – rooves covered in tarpaulins rather than tiles, sea walls partially demolished and road edges undermined and collapsing. Even … Continue reading
Toscanakiwi 