A trip to the Zoo on a summery Wednesday..

When the day is hot in midsummer

the place to seek is somewhere cool ..

and shady..

and very green.

Our city zoo is perfect.

I had a special day today with
Victoria-Sofia..

a very sweet six year old and delightful company..



just the two of us exploring our lovely city zoo..

We thought the newcomers at the zoo, the meerkats, on tippy-toes always keeping watch,
are very cute.

Three young giraffes in a huddle of legs.

The African animals are always popular,

and so is old tuatara.
Hamilton Zoo is the perfect place on a hot summer's day..
cool under shady walks.

Another Summery Day..

The glorious colours of summer abound

as we move into high summer

there is that wonderful mellow holiday feeling,

of time spent with friends, chatting and eating outdoors.
Today I have eaten fresh fish caught by John at the beach,
freshly picked beans
and cherry tomatoes that taste of the sun, from my own tiny garden.

This morning Pete's first sunflower opened up like a magic visitor.
During the hot day we have watched this newborn brilliance following the sun
as a child follows its mother
and it makes us smile and feel glad,
even in the heat of the day.

Macrina  Wiederkehr writes how her childhood memories of summer do not include thoughts about heat.

I had never thought about this, but how true it is for me too.
Endless days on the beach as children, in the water,
down the paddocks and sandy banks, in the bush...
always busy and totally involved in play, never noticing the heat.
I remember running across the hot black iron sand, so hot it almost burnt my feet,
but I do not remember complaining of the day being too hot.

As I've grown older I have come to dislike summer heat.
I did not relish the thought of summer coming.

"the lights of the cosmos unite all people on the planet in a great oneness.
As the fiery stars, the intense sun and the reflective moonlight shines on us,
so they bathe each one who dwells on this beautiful sphere of life
with a great illuminating energy.."

As I think about summer now, as I learn to observe the seasons more closely,
I feel my attitude changing.
This heat of the sun is a blessing.
It is the season of flowering and fruitfulness, of seeding and life.
It is the season of playfulness and holiday.
It is the season of browned skin and perspiration.

I think I'm beginning to like Summer after all!

Already the time of summer flowering is over for some plants
and the seeds that hold the promise of new life are growing
in an abundance that always amazes me.

The cabbage trees have branches heavy with seeds..

and manuka flowers are replaced by their hard round buttony seeds.

No longer are the harakeke full of nectar drinking birds visiting the flowers
but have instead dark pods of flax seeds .

Under the oak trees acorns have already fallen and tiny shoots
are popping up ..until the lawnmowers cut them back.

While we are in this relaxed summery mood..
already the earth is providing for the season to come.

A weekend trip to Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty..

We took our dinner down to The Heads last evening
where Whakatane River meets the sea,
and watched the sunset behind the rock
where Wairaka the Maori Maiden stands.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

We sat on the rocks that were still warm from the very hot day just ending.

There are times when silence is all you need,

a setting sun
and the sound of the sea..

Ata ahua

The Whakatane River begins in the mountains of the Urewera,
the land of the Tuhoe people, the Children of the Mist.

The river meets the sea at the Whakatane Heads.

There on a rock is a beautiful sculpture of
 a young maori maiden
Wairaka. 

The story of Wairaka comes from the 12th century Great Migration.

The waka (canoe) of the fleet Mataaua, of the Tuhoe people, landed here and the men went ashore.
The women who waited, noticed a waka drifting back to sea.
Paddles were tapu to women, but Wairaka seized one and began to paddle the waka back to shore.
  As she paddled she chanted
"Ka whakatane au i ahau!"
I act as a man!

Her actions saved the women and the waka and gave a name to the place.

Today Wairaka stands on the rock where the river Whakatane meets the sea
and protects the boats that come and go in this beautiful place.
I always imagine she has climbed the rock to look at this new land
... her new home,
Aotearoa.


Thank you Linda, Stan and Damian for a wonderful weekend.
Thanks for all the laughter!
A little 'fortification' goes a long way!

Evening at the lake..

Today was hot and humid.
The north wind blew a taste of tropical heat
making us feel lethargic and looking for the coolness of shade.

Tonight my sister and I walked the lake path in the late twilight coolness,
a slender moon goddess
seeking our attentions.

We sat and listened to the lake waves lapping
and the gentle sound took us in memory back to the bay..
of endless golden summers of our youth;
of driftwood fires on the beach after dark..

of lovers walking hand in hand along the sands at the sea's edge..
  when life was careless and  love was easy.



Now the twilight of our years is before us
.. there is a quiet urgency
not to miss a moment of the beauty of this planet..

Early morning at the Lake.. again!

In the gorgeous blueness of the early summer morning lake
the pigeons swoop and fly in wide circles



and a flock of shags like a constellation in the sky
fly over a floating blue balloon.



Balloonists, pigeons, shags and me
all awake and enjoying the cool fresh air
of this beautiful place,

but the ducks
are still asleep
with heads tucked under wings,
floating like marker buoys
on the calm, silvery blue water of a pillowy lake.

I have a friend who cannot swim for fear of sinking and drowning.
Oh to trust my buoyancy enough to sleep on the water's surface!

Make fear a friend
and I  float and  fly!

Blue is peace and tranquility..

Summer sings a blue song
of  tranquility



blue of the sky
and silvery blue of the lake

blue
of the agapanthus

and hydrangea too..

as blue as the
eyes of Willow the cat

as blue as the robes of a Virgin Mary
at her time of Epiphany..

may this summer song of blue tranquility
echo in that virgin space
within my soul

where no one goes
but
Sempiterna
and
me..


All photos taken early this morning at Lake Rotoroa, Hamilton.

Colour colour colour.....

Look at these delicious fabrics.
When the Pam and Glenys retired from their wonderful decor business
they gave me their fabric sample books!!!
Oh lucky me!

I am in love with fabric and colour and texture..

and this is my year for creating something using this treasure trove.

Light and colour and texture.
Mysterious and magic!