mellow yellow Monday, Balloon

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This hot air balloon does not fly, but remains stationary as an advertising tool for this used car sales yard. Seen at New Lynn In West Auckland

Scenic Sunday: Stone walls at Otuataua

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Out at Mangere, at the Otuataua, there were miles and miles of stone walls. Some of the have crumbled, and farmers put an electric wire to prevent cows from crossing, and also deter adventurers like me.

The 100 ha Otuataua stonefields nearby are one of the few remnants of an original 8000ha of volcanic stonefields in the Auckland area, all intensively cultivated by early Maori settlers. The stones flung out in successive volcanic eruptions were used to demarcate garden plots and to warm the soil, extending the growing season for tropical crops like taro and kumara by one month.

Photohunt: Standing

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The pirate at the Block house bay beach is standing tall so the children can enjoy themselves.

weekend reflection: Entrance to an office building

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New Zealand has a lot of timber, and at an office building in Parnel, these wooden beams form the entrance,

Thursday Theme Song: You so vain

hootin--anni has a new meme.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MY NEW MEME THAT I HOPE SOME WILL FEEL LIKE JOINING IN ON THE CHALLENGE AND THE FUN [at least I hope the weekly challenge will be fun!]. It's loosely based on song lyrics [recorded songs since the beginning of time to today] and associating them with photos of yours...as I've done in the past...If you click on the link above, it'll take you to the Meme's Homepage for rules and buttons. There will be a Mr. Linky Widget for each individual week also. Do consider joining me sometime. Hope to see it flourish in time.

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I am doing a completely different take for this song. Just the chorus part on "You're so vain" I don't have a cat or a dog, but I often see dogs feeling very smug sitting in their owners cars, taken to places like beaches, parks, festivals. Then I see cats left to their own devices. I want to do this for all the cats of the world, singing this song, "You're so vain."

I went into a lot of trouble too.

I was snapping away someone's cat and now I have a secret. I walked to my blood test, and the technician told me not to put too much weight on it. But there was a cat,no, there were three. I whipped up my camera and started snapping. Before I knew it, I was bleeding badly, down to to my white top.

I went back to the diagnostic lab, they cleaned me up and put pressure on it. The one who saw me told the one who took my blood, " Your patient is bleeding badly."
They asked could someone come and get me. I said, I think my husband is still on the road. They told me to rest for a while before I walked home.

I didn't dare tell them or my family I was taking photos.
I am also sending this story to Madi, Japanese redneck and Gattina's cats, and all the cats in the world, Meow!


You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?


You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you

You're so vain (so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?

ABC Wedesday: B for Birthday

Sticky Taiwanese nougats from my friends Lily and Maggie.

Chinese dates





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Today, lunar 23rd is the first day that many people celebrate the Lunar New Year. On this day, the Kitchen God returns to Heaven to report to the Heavenly King all that he had heard. The Heavenly King will reward or punish the household based on the kitchen god's report.

There is a special cake which is very popular, it is called the NIEN GAO. Translated as New year Cake. In my dialect, we called it DAI TUNG JIET Accordingly, there is a Kitchen God CHOU DOW KUNG who listens to all the news and gossips of the household. On this particular day, called the Kitchen God returns to Heaven to report to the Heavenly King all that he had heard. The Heavenly King will reward or punish the household based on the kitchen god's report.

Men found a way, that is to serve the kitchen god this sticky NIEN GAO so he couldn't open his mouth to say all the bad things and other sweet lollies. Even if he could, he wouldn't because he himself would be accused of corruption, having eaten the cake.

I just found that the Hakkas which my husband and my mum belong to, they put the sweet Chinese dates in the cake.

My brother Joseph was born on the day the Kitchen God went to Heaven. My Grandma used to call him the little kitchen god. Every year, on Joseph's birthday, we had a big celebration. Every though we became Christians, tradition is not forgotten. If my grandma is still alive, she would say, the King of the Heavens have blessed Joseph very much. He has a beautiful wife, Audrey, wonderful boys and a great job.

Happy Birthday Joseph.

Mellow yellow Monday: Fire engine

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It was raining, we drove behind a fire truck. It probably just fought a fire, as it was cruising slowly, and the siren was off.

When I was in primary school, my teacher taught me this short song:

Fire's burning, fire's burning
Send the engine. send the engine.

Now, I teach my students, they like the sound effect of the fire engine, and I let them add it,

wee O! wee o!. The boys love it, while playing with my fire truck.

scenic sunday, block house bay

I was curious about the two steel bars. A very friendly elderly gentleman told me that they used to launch the surf rescue boats from the ramp. We tried to find the plague but we couldn't find it.


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The club house has a spacious 12 x 9 meter main area with solid wood floor, an upper meeting room plus a covered lookout balcony, kitchen, all facilities and sound system. Up to 130 people can be accommodated.

Three window walls face the sea with extensive covered decks: the sound of the tide is constant; seabirds soar in the updrafts, herons fish at the edge of the waters and nest in the great Pohutakawas along the shore.

You’ll also likely to meet kingfisher, pied stilts, oystercatchers, spoonbills, terns and Tuis amongst the resident birdlife.

Where are we?

Blockhouse Bay Boat Club -aka 3BC- is located at the end of Endeavour St , at the southwest (seaward) arm of Blockhouse Bay Beach Reserve, over the tide. You walk (about 300 metres) around the edge of the bay's footpath from the car park to the Boat Club, which is wheelchair-accessible.

The venue is ideal for:, meetings; educational events; performances; meditations; team-building; mediations; exhibitions, conferences and marine, aquatic activities.

Plenty of history here. The Seawall is 80 years old. Great place for a picnic. There is a barbecue, large children's playground for the 3 - to 7 year olds and toilets.

Out on the water is a good place to achieve high speeds board sailing if the wind is up. The beach conditions depend very much on the tide.
Links

In the late 1930s, a group of young Blockhouse Bay men formed the Blockhouse Bay Surf Lifesaving Club.

They took their training very seriously and were coached by Barney Clews. During the week the club members would train at Blockhouse Bay beach doing exercises on the shore, and swimming across from Te Whau Point to the sandbank and back again. On Friday nights they caught a bus to Karekare, where they stayed in the clubhouse over the weekend and did their surf training, before travelling back to town on Sunday night.

The area was a popular holiday resort in the 1920s for Aucklanders, with city families making the long journey over rough roads to spend the summer in their holiday cottages or camping on the beach. But with cars, the beach is less popular, because it is not a beautiful beach and across the harbour, is the sewage plant.

When I went, it was low tide, and there was a red dinghy in the mud flat. The reclaimed sand wasn't appealing.

Photohunt:hands

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These sets of hands enjoy what they are doing.

weekend reflection: Car

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Happy New Year to you all. Here in New Zealand, it is 15 minutes past midnight. I just watched the fireworks from our Sky tower.

TTS:thistle of scotland/badge of scotland

hootin--anni has a new meme.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MY NEW MEME THAT I HOPE SOME WILL FEEL LIKE JOINING IN ON THE CHALLENGE AND THE FUN [at least I hope the weekly challenge will be fun!]. It's loosely based on song lyrics [recorded songs since the beginning of time to today] and associating them with photos of yours...as I've done in the past...If you click on the link above, it'll take you to the Meme's Homepage for rules and buttons. There will be a Mr. Linky Widget for each individual week also. Do consider joining me sometime. Hope to see it flourish in time.
http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/
In the Summer, I go hiking a lot. When I see the Thistle, I think of my Scottish friends.

Even weeds can be beautiful when you try to appreciate them. Some of them grow in the fringe of my garden, and the prickles make it too difficult to weed. The Thistle is the symbols of Scotland -

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant - on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation to protect the plant against herbivorous animals, discouraging them from feeding on the plant. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape of a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flowerheads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle

The thistle ranks next to the rose in British heraldic importance. Although of ancient origin, as the rose, the reason for its importance remains largely a matter of mystery. The thistle grew wild upon the mountain sides and in the valleys of the British Isles, thriving in the cool, damp climate. Noted for its prickly beauty and tenacity through all adversity, it has long been a Scottish ethnic symbol, commonly known as

"The Flower Of Scotland."

According to ancient legend, the adoption of the thistle as a national symbol dates from the battle of Largs. In this battle one of the Danish invaders disclosed an attempted surprise attack on a Scottish clan by his cry of agony caused by stepping barefooted upon a thistle.

The earliest recorded appearance of the thistle was on silver coinage in 1474. At that time badges were most popular and largely used, particularly by the noble. Shortly after 1474 the reigning Scottish King, James III, chose the thistle for his own badge. By 1540 the thistle had become recognized as the national emblem of the kingdom. Also in that year a the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle was founded.



THE THISTLE O' SCOTLAND
SUAICHEANTAS NA H-ALBA
(As sung by Willie Main)

O, the Thistle o' Scotland was famous of auld,
Wi' its toorie sae snod and its bristles sae bauld;
Tis the Badge o' my Country, it's aye dear tae me,
and thocht o' them baith brings the licht tae ma e'e.

Its strength and its beauty the storm never harms;
It stan's on its guard like a warrior in arms;
Yet its down is as saft as the gull's on the sea,
And its tassle as bricht as my Jeanie's blue e'e. [Chorus]

O, my country, what wonder yer fame's gane afar;
For yer sons hae been great baith in peace and in war;
While the sang and the tale live they'll aye win respect,
The lads neath the bonnets wi' thistles bedeckt. [Chorus]

Lang syne the invaders cam owre to our shore,
And fiercely our Thistle they scutched and they tore;
When they maist thocht it deid, twas then it up bore,
And it bloomed on their graves quite as strong as before. [Chorus]

My blessings be yours. Is there Scotcsman ava
Wad stan' by and see ony harm on ye fa' ?
Is there gentle or semple wha lives in our land
Wad refuse to drink health to the Thistle sae grand. [Chorus]

ABC Wednesday: A for avocado.

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I went to Mangere stone walls, and found a sign saying the trees are free for the picking. Stewart Rennie a descendant of the pioneering family planted the trees with his son in 1980. I can only conjecture that he gave the trees to the people of Auckland. I tried to search more on him, but there are not much information.

The trees are now managed by the Manukau City Council.

The avocados were not ripe when I went.

mellow yellow Monday: Wind socks

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At the Half Moon Bay Marina, near to the Contol Tower is this wind sock. Do you suppose it is to tell the boaties the wind speed, and not to go out to the Ocean is the wind is too strong?

Scenic Sunday: Arataki-visitor-centre

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Next month, I will be helping my Maori friend Ngarimu and I will be sleeping in his Marea and help spread the message of Zero waste. Here are some cravings of Maori Gods I saw at Arataki-visitor-centre

photohunt: Shadows

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Shadows of trees.