Dad and daughter

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas... sun, holidays, smiles...

Jessica has been unwell and we thought we had lost her. But she is a fighter and is getting better every day. Which apparently is quite strange for a rabbit. 

Christmas

We are quite excited, we get to put up our Christmas tree and have Christmas at home for the first time for a very long time. We dusted off the decorations, untangled the tinsel, and generally began the festive fun.

Reservoir hut

I walk past this little walkway out to a little hut suspended over the water in the reservoir every week. Not once have I wondered why it is there or what is done inside this little room. Now my mind is running away with ideas and possibilities - a secret base for the Thunderbirds? Maxwell Smart's entrance to his underground lair?

Ross creek meanderings

I took my mum for a walk around the Ross Creek Reservoir.

Sunny days

A day in the life of St Clair Poles

It is amazing the difference that light can make to the same image.

Auckland Harbour

Another shot from my wander at the wharf.

Queens Wharf

I'm working in Auckland today. I went for a walk down to the waterfront at the end of the day.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth put on her new tutu for our photoshoot today and then she poured on the charm. This is one gorgeous girl!

St Clair montage

Oklahoma

Last night we enjoyed a performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! Z was playing the part of Ali Hakin complete with a 'Persian' accent. I haven't laughed so much for a very long time. I even think Z's performance was funnier than that of Eddie Albert in the movie.

A walk on the beach

A friend gave me the challenge of looking for an image to take in black and white. It was really difficult to see in that way, and find a scene with high contrast. But it was a fun challenge.

Dunedinmusic.com birthday party

Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart and A Distant City played at Re-Fuel tonight for the dunedinmusic.com birthday party.

The promise of spring

OBHS Battle of the bands

Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart won Battle of the Bands last night at Otago Boys High School.

Stripes

I've just repapered my daughter's bedroom wall and the stripes were calling out to be used as a backdrop. As always no one in my house would volunteer to be my model so I had to do it myself. I then played with some Photoshop actions I had downloaded. What did you do with your Saturday?

Blue

Unseen in Dunedin for a while - blue sky. Sometimes you just need to look up to help lift your spirits.

Carisbrook

The old ticketing booth at the 'house of pain' which I suppose will not see use again now that it has been replaced with a shiny new stadium...

Cromwell educamp

Another image from yesterday. 

We had the best time. We left home at 6:30am to drive through fog for hours to get to Cromwell. The fog didn't lift until we arrived. Then I got to spend a few hours listening to teachers talk about the exciting and innovating things they do in their classroom to support teaching and learning with technology. I took my camera along but I decided that since it was Saturday, I was going to be selfish and rather than try and capture things on film, I would actually be present in the room and take part in the conversations, and I loved it. The images above are from our trip home. We had lunch with Pete the Geek and then stopped at various amazingly beautiful places to look for geocaches (well Claire and Anne looked for the caches and risked life and limb in various crevices while I took photos). 

A day with friends

Mt Stuart wind farm

I had the most marvellous day today with Claire and Anne. We drove down to Cromwell to attend Educamp and then wound our way back home looking for geocaches and finding the most magnificent sights that would have otherwise been lost to us.

Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart in the OBHS choir (Mandate)

Z had a choir concert today and Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart, who are all in the choir, performed an acoustic version of some of their songs. 

Sunday walk

Another Sunday walk. I'm not taking many photos lately. The house on the left sits right up high on the top of the hill. It always makes me think of scary movies. It would be fantastic if it was set in the middle of an open field with scary trees all around it. But alas, it is on the top of a hill above a messy urban setting filled with students. But I'm sure it was once a scary old house with an old lady, in a flowing white nighty gazing out the window at a life gone by. How did things go so wrong? Where did all the people go? Is this all there is? Emptyness and feelings that can only be satiated with a strange psycho type scene in a bathroom with flowing shower curtains, repeated music and a delicate blonde?

Ross Creek meandering

A Sunday walk

I went for my usual Sunday walk today and I don't think I will ever take the beauty of this track for granted.

Rain drops and blue sky

Blue sky reflected

The sun finally came out in Dunedin and my mood improved considerably :).

Creative parking

A tight squeeze in Paris

There has been a lot of talk this morning about the ability of men and women to park due to the news item about the Mayor in Triberg, Germany creating parking spaces especially for women as they cannot park as well as men.

German mayor defends 'women only' parking spaces >>

It made me think of this picture I took when I was in Paris a couple of years ago. I was intrigued as to how this car got into this spot, and how they were going to get out. And now I wonder if the creative parker was male or female.

Pinocchio deux

I have to say, it was the most random children's play I have seen. Not only were the children in rapt attention hanging on every word, the non children were in fits of laughter :) (and being told off by snotty toddler parents).

Pinocchio

Went to watch Z in another play today - Pinocchio. It was hilarious. Random characters popping up in a story I new so well. J and I laughed all the way through while rows of toddlers were mesmerised.

Archives New Zealand

Today I was lucky enough to go on a tour of Archives NZ. I actually stood in front of the original Treaty of Waitangi, all nine sheets! It was amazing to think of the stories each of these objects held, the lives they had touched, the lives they could still touch. There are a wealth of resources that could be used in the classroom, and the best thing is that they are rights free as they are public domain. Here are a few links where you can access some of the items:

http://www.youtube.com/user/archivesnz

http://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/

http://www.ecasttv.co.nz/

http://www.etv.org.nz/education/login.php

http://archives.govt.nz/

Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart

I had the best day today. I went to the Attic to film Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart for their Rock Quest video. The venue was amazing.

You can see the videos on my youtube channel >>

Mercure

I stayed at the Mercure Hotel in Auckland, however I could see the Mercure Hotel through my bedroom window. Very confusing.

Rangitoto

A photo taken by a friend. I have just spent four days in Auckland and it was nice to see the sun again. I feel totally revived.

A romantic moon

1st place Smoke Free Rock Quest

Can you believe it, what a week! Tonight Z's other band, Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart won first place at the Otago region Smoke Free Rock Quest. It was very exciting.

My other team

Thought I would post a picture from my other team. I'm very lucky to have such wonderful colleagues.

The team

These are some of the lovely people I am very lucky to work with. Thank you Nigel for such a lovely photo.

OUSA battle of the bands

I stayed up late last night - real late for me. But it was worth it. A Distant City played in the finals of the OUSA battle of the bands and they won! It was the best I have ever heard them play and in the dark at 1am in the morning it was okay for a mum to scream and jump up and down when the winners were announced.

Googling

I was googling my online self and quite liked the way Google displayed the images I had taken.

Weekend walking

Random iphone images from my weekend walk. We walk across a bridge and down a path to wander around a reservoir then back down the path, out on the road past this marvelous old house which I am told used to be a corner shop that a certain little boy used to visit in his horse and cart (kidding).

Fabulous

I promised myself when my knee started to feel better I would buy some FABULOUS shoes. My knee is feeling better (sorta, kinda, ish).

Thoughtful and the mighty heart

Last night I got to see Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart play for the first time and it was a treat. My Z is a talented drummer.

Graduation day

Today was graduation day. I now have a Masters in Education. It was wonderful that my three kids could all be there, I'm a very lucky girl. Josh was the official photographer for the day :)

Autumn wanderings

Each Sunday I go for a walk/run with a friend. Over the years we have shared our life's ups and downs through the changing seasons.

Tablecloth

I took this photo when I was out to dinner with Christina and Chris in Auckland.

Skyflower

Playing around with merging two images ...

South Perth foreshore

My last image from Perth. I caught up with my friend Judy for coffee at the Boatshed on the South Perth Foreshore. The view was amazing. I was very lucky that Perth put on such great weather while I was there.

Deborah's Chair

One of the best things about coming back to Perth is catching up with Deb. We went for our Sunday walk around the bridges. We had planned to take this photo at Christmas but were talking too much that we missed the chair. So here it is now.

Artist

On a lovely warm ANZAC day, this gentleman was relaxing and painting the city of Perth across the Canning River.

Tree

I always like the look of this tree when I ride past it. So what did I do today ... Did my usual bike ride and exercises and run. Then took mum to the shops as she asked me to teach her how to cook with her slow cooker. So we bought a cookbook, ingredients, and came home and made a spicy red lentil soup. Then I braved the peak hour traffic jams to meet a friend for coffee. We hadn't seen each other in about a decade so there was lots of catching up to do. It is amazing listening to people's life stories, and a privilege.

Canning River

Another day in Perth. I was a good girl and rode around the river, did my exercises, ran for 5 minutes and then went to Yoga at the end of the day with Deb. My physiotherapist will be pleased.